This project is concerned with emotional factors ascertainable in parents during the pregnancy period, reactivity to infant cries that have varying degrees of aversiveness, and the unique individuality of the infant as factors that collectively influence the course of the parent-infant relationship in the first year of life. First-time expectant mothers and their spouses were studied neonatally, and parents and infants were followed at 3, 9, and 12 months. Nonpregnant women were also studies with a subset of the procedures at times corresponding to the prenatal and 3 month periods. The study employs multiple levels of measurement, including observational, self-report, and physiological procedures. Data collection has been completed. Preliminary analyses, particularly for the prenatal and 3 month periods, have yielded several important findings. Among these are the following: (1) Physiological reactivity (change in heart rate) to the mildly stressful stimuli of recorded infant cries is attenuated among pregnant compared to non-pregnant women even though both groups are generally similar in their subjective ratings of cries with differing degrees of aversiveness. (2) Infant individuality was captured with biobehavioral markers early in life, including the acoustic properties of the infant's cry and a measure of heart rate variability; these indices show reliable associations with dimensions of infant temperament. (3) The appraisal of depression during pregnancy with a standard psychometric procedure, the Beck Depression Inventory, is sharpened by differentiating it into clusters that reflect cognitive-affective, reactivity, and somatic symptoms. This distinction highlighted differential patterns of change that tended to be obscured with the total Beck Depression Inventory. (4) A new questionnaire procedure was developed that measures parents' self-confidence in their nurturing skills. It shows good psychometric properties, meaningful relationships with other constructs, and is sensitive to the parents' accrual of experience with the infant. The various components of the investigation will converge in the appraisal of their contribution to the parent-infant attachment relationships at 12 months. Further analyses, especially the longitudinal course of measures, are being pursued.
