PURPOSE This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a mother/infant-toddler health program developed to enhance parenting knowledge, behavior and confidence in low income mothers and home environment. METHODS A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. Sixty-nine dyads of mothers and infant-toddlers (aged 0-36 months) were provided with weekly intervention f...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to test a coding system, the Maternal-Infant Synchrony Scale (MISS), for assessing synchrony of feeding interaction between a mother and her preterm infant. The secondary aim was to describe mother and preterm infant synchrony during feeding and the change over time. METHODS A descriptive, longitudinal design using data collected during an earlier study w...

Maltreatment from the caregiver induces vulnerability to later life psychopathologies, yet attraction and comfort is sometimes provided by cues associated with early life maltreatment. We used a rat model of early life maltreatment with odor-0.5 mA shock conditioning to produce depressive-like behaviors and questioned whether stimuli associated with maltreatment would restore emotional neurobeh...

In many primate species a close attachment between mother and infant provides a secure base for the infant when the infant is frightened or under stress. In cooperatively breeding primates infant carrying is divided among several individuals in the group, with the mother often doing little more than nursing. In these species it is not clear which individual would best serve as a secure base for...

While the question how community design influences user behaviors in online communities has recently attracted considerable research, few studies empirically evaluate the influencing factors of specific user behaviors. Building on Ren et al.’s (2007) conceptual framework of identity-based vs. bond-based attachment in online communities, this study evaluates the influence of numerous antecedents...

Objective To assess the efficacy of an intervention designed to improve the mother-infant relationship and security of infant attachment in a South African peri-urban settlement with marked adverse socioeconomic

We find infant faces highly attractive as a result of specific features which Konrad Lorenz termed "Kindchenschema" or "baby schema," and this is considered to be an important adaptive trait for promoting protective and caregiving behaviors in adults, thereby increasing the chances of infant survival. This review first examines the behavioral support for this effect and physical and behavioral ...