Maternal perception of the neonate as related to development

Abstract

One hundred and twenty, full-term, normal, first-born infants were categorized at one month of age into a high-risk or low-risk group for possible development of emotional and developmental deviations. The predictions were based on measurements of the mother's perception of her infant as compared to the average. At age 4 1/2, the children were evaluated by two child psychiatrists who had no knowledge of the children's predictive risk rating. A statistically significant association was evident between prediction and outcome. This paper describes the methodology and discusses the implications of the findings.

Separation-Individuation Theory and Attachment Theory

“…A mother's description of an ideal infant compared to her description of her own infant also has powerful predictive implications. Broussard (1970) asked mothers to classify their one-month-old infants as better than average or not better than average. Infants whose mothers rated them worse than average showed three times as many psychological problems at age four and this increased level of disturbance was still evident at age ten.…”

The Use of the Parental Alliance Measure with Women Parenting Children with Disabilities

“…Early research on parent-child interactions focused on both effects of parental behaviors that influence the child and child behaviors that influence parents (Brody, 1956;Broussard & Hartner, 1970;White, 1971;Thomas et al, 1963). Recent research has considered the effect of the parenting alliance and cooperation on the child's behavior (Weissman & Cohen, 1985) as well as the child's behavior on the parental alliance (Abidin & Brunner, 1995).…”

The development of the self-concept in the young child

“…Broussard and Hartner (1970) conducted a longitudinal study in which one hundred and twenty full term firstborn infants were categorized at one month of age into a high-risk or low-risk group for the potential development o! later emotional problems.…”