The present investigation was aimed towards elucidating the processes that linked maternal representations of their 7-month-old infant with individual differences in infant emotion regulation. Participants were 100 mother-infant dyads recruited from local pediatric clinics, and comprised a range of socio-economic and demographic circumstances. Mothers' representations of their infant were assessed via a semi-structured, attachment-based interview, and maternal behavior was observed in a variety of contexts, including a free play, teaching task, and the Still Face procedure. Infant emotion regulation was assessed along a number of behavioral and affective display dimensions upon resuming interaction with his or her parent following the Still Face procedure (i.e., the reengagement episode). Results indicated that mothers' representations were indeed related to differences in maternal behavior and infant emotion regulation. In general, mothers with balanced and positive/coherent representations were more sensitive, less rejecting, less intrusive and expressed more positive affect during interaction with their infant. Patterns of association between mothers' representations and behavior varied according to the nature of the interactive task, with a greater number of associations obtained for the more challenging, stress-inducing, tasks (i.e., the teaching task and Still Face procedure). In addition, the specific type of maternal behaviors associated with differences in mothers' representations varied according to the interactive task. Furthermore, mothers with balanced and positive/coherent representations had infants who demonstrated more positive affect and more attention seeking/contact maintenance upon resuming interaction following the still face, even when controlling for the amount of distress the infant displayed while his or her mother held a still face. Finally, results provided support for the hypothesis that some aspects of maternal behavior mediate the association between her representation of the infant and individual differences in infant emotion regulation. While maternal representation classifications were related to self-reported depressive symptomatology, in the present investigation, maternal depression was unrelated to infant behavior during the Still Face. Results are discussed emphasizing the important role that may be played by maternal representations in shaping mothers' behavioral and emotional responsivity and sensitivity to the infant, thus promoting intergenerational continuity in attachment representations and affect regulation style.Ph.D.Clinical psychologyDevelopmental psychologyPsychologySocial psychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132672/2/9977249.pd
