Comparing emotional coordination in early spontaneous mother–infant and father–infant interactions

Abstract

We compare matching of facial expressions and attunement of emotional intensity in spontaneous communication of mothers with infants and of fathers with infants, in families in Crete. Eleven infant-mother and 11 infant-father dyads were videorecorded at home in familiar interactions from the 2nd to the 6th month. Microanalysis of infant, maternal and paternal facial expressions of emotion provided evidence of quantitative differences that favour father-infant interaction as more playful, but the infants' behaviours with mothers and fathers show similar developmental curves. These results are discussed in the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity and of the emotional support parents give to developing motives of infants.

Comparing Fathers' Physical and Toy Play and Links to Child Behaviour: An Exploratory Study

“…Fagan et al () conclude that we should not conceptualize fathering as different to mothering, because there is not sufficient evidence that the constructs of fathering and mothering are unique, effects on children are generally similar and mothers' and fathers' caregiving roles are conflating. Nevertheless, while the basic human psychological processes are similar, there is strong evidence for differences between mothers and fathers in frequency, intensity and timing (Cabrera, Cook, McFadden, & Bradley, 2011; Majdandžić, Möller, de Vente, Bögels, & van den Boom, ), and research continues to find fathers more playful (Kokkinaki & Vasdekis, ). At the same time, we acknowledge that typologies of fathering vary within and across cultures (Paquette, Bolte, Turcotte, Dubeau, & Bouchard, ; Roopnarine, Lasker, Sacks, & Stores, ).…”

“…John, Halliburton and Humphrey () observed qualitatively different patterns of behaviours but similar child outcomes – fathers were more physical and challenging, and mothers were more structuring and guiding – but there were no differences in child responsivity to parents. Similarly, Kokkinaki and Vasdekis () found stronger emotional matching and attunement in father–infant interaction than mother–infant, but no differences in child's interest in either parent.…”

“…But the evolving social movement of involved fatherhood has stimulated a focus on fathers, and new theories have emerged to suggest that fathers have a particular and possibly specific role in children's development. Most notably, their interaction is characterised by play, whether in caregiving or leisure (Coyl‐Shepherd & Hanlon, ; Kokkinaki & Vasdekis, ). However, although there is increasing evidence of paternal influences on child outcomes such as language and cognition, researchers are not yet clear on the features of play that are most valuable in terms of child development.…”

Beyond the Words: Comparing Interpersonal Engagement Between Maternal and Paternal Infant-Directed Speech Acts

“…In the first semester of life, there are agerelated transformations in the way infants regulate their feelings and express their interests to their companions (Trevarthen and Aitken, 2003). In the same period, relevant studies comparing emotional engagement in playful interactions of infants with their mother and father did not find significant differences in parental sensitivity and synchrony, but they showed variations in emotional matching and attunement (Braungart-Rieker et al, 1998;Feldman, 2003;Kokkinaki and Vasdekis, 2015;Branger et al, 2019).…”

Measuring Dynamics of Infant-Adult Synchrony Through Mocap

“…Studies exclusively using descriptive measures of synchrony often compare the matching frequency or duration of different parent-infant behaviors among groups, e.g., the matching of facial expressions between mother-twins vs. mother-singletons (Kokkinaki and Markodimitraki, 2019) and father-infant vs. mother-infant (Kokkinaki and Vasdekis, 2015). Probabilistic measures have been incorporated to study the brain basis of synchrony (Atzil et al, 2014), the role of parental oxytocin in infant-parent coordination (Gordon et al, 2010), and the effects of mother-infant synchrony on infant physiological and behavioral regulation (Pratt et al, 2015).…”