Infant Temperament: Stability/Change in Rural Appalachia

摘要

This study examined conditions associated with stability and change in infanttemperament in a high-risk population of economically disadvantaged rural Appalachian mothers and infants. The aims of the study were to: (1) Identify infant, mother, and family demographic variables that predict stability and change in difficulty and social responsiveness; (2) determine antecedent social/contextual characteristics and maternal characteristics as well as neonatal infant variables that predict stability and change in temperament; (3) relate patterns of stability and change in temperament to the quality of mother-infant interaction over the first year of life and to attachment security at 15 months of life; and (4) evaluate the risk of less optimal early socioemotional development associated with each of the variables measured.