Enhancing Sensitive Parenting: Comparing Narration and Behavioural Mirroring Strategies in Mother–Infant Interactions

IF 2.4 4区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Infant and Child Development Pub Date : 2026-05-20 DOI:10.1002/icd.70110

Abigail L. Blum, Julia Garon‐Bissonnette, Lucy S. King, Kathryn L. Humphreys

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Despite extensive research on caregiver sensitivity interventions, the specific behavioural mechanisms underlying their effectiveness remain unclear. The present study isolates these mechanisms by testing whether brief instructions to narrate or behaviourally mirror infant behaviours can immediately improve caregiver sensitivity. Mothers–infant dyads ( N = 129, 85% White, 4% Hispanic or Latine; infants aged 6 months) participated in a 10‐min ‘free play’ interaction coded for caregiver sensitivity. Prior to the final 2 min, mothers were randomly assigned to ‘narrate’ or ‘mirror’ their infant's behaviours, or to a control condition. Analyses of within‐person changes in sensitivity revealed that mothers instructed to ‘narrate’ were more sensitive after receiving these instructions than before. In contrast, mothers instructed to ‘mirror’ were less sensitive after receiving the instructions than before. Mothers assigned to the control group showed no change in sensitivity. These findings show narration can improve sensitivity while mirroring may be counterproductive with preverbal infants.

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增强敏感教养：比较叙述与行为镜像策略在母婴互动中的作用

尽管对照顾者敏感性干预进行了广泛的研究，但其有效性背后的具体行为机制仍不清楚。目前的研究通过测试简短的说明或行为反映婴儿的行为是否能立即提高照顾者的敏感性来分离这些机制。母亲-婴儿二人组（N = 129, 85%白人，4%西班牙裔或拉丁裔；6个月大的婴儿）参与了10分钟的“自由游戏”互动，编码为照顾者敏感性。在最后2分钟之前，母亲们被随机分配到“叙述”或“模仿”婴儿的行为，或进入一个控制条件。对个人敏感性变化的分析显示，接受“叙述”指示的母亲在接受这些指示后比之前更敏感。相比之下，被指示“照镜子”的母亲在收到指示后比之前更不敏感。被分配到对照组的母亲在敏感性方面没有变化。这些发现表明，叙述可以提高敏感性，而镜像可能对不会说话的婴儿起反作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Infant and Child Development PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

2.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Infant and Child Development publishes high quality empirical, theoretical and methodological papers addressing psychological development from the antenatal period through to adolescence. The journal brings together research on: - social and emotional development - perceptual and motor development - cognitive development - language development atypical development (including conduct problems, anxiety and depressive conditions, language impairments, autistic spectrum disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders)