Maternal Touch in Object- and Nonobject-Oriented Play Interactions: A Longitudinal Study at 7 and 12 Months.
Social touch is a crucial part of how mothers interact with their infants, with different touch types serving distinct purposes in these exchanges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how mothers' touch behavior adapts to specific interactive tasks, particularly throughout infancy. To...
| Publicado en: | Developmental Psychology Vol. 61; no. 8; pp. 1565 - 1578 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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American Psychological Association
Aug2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=186508228&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 186508228 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00121649 DPS jtl: Developmental Psychology issn: 00121649 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2025 vid: 61 iid: 8 pid: 34 pub: American Psychological Association artinfo: ui: 186508228 10.1037/dev0001897 ppf: 1565 ppct: 13 formats: tig: atl: Maternal Touch in Object- and Nonobject-Oriented Play Interactions: A Longitudinal Study at 7 and 12 Months. aug: au: Serra, Juliana F. Miguel, Helga Araújo, Filipe Sampaio, Adriana Pereira, Alfredo F. affil: Psychological Neuroscience Lab, Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, Maryland, United States Center of Technology and Systems, Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias, NOVA University of Lisbon su: Portugal Play Task performance Parenting Age distribution Psychology of mothers Mother-child relationship Motherhood Interpersonal relations Infant psychology Research funding Infant development Touch Descriptive statistics Longitudinal method Medical coding Data analysis software Time sug: subj: Play Task performance Parenting Age distribution Psychology of mothers Mother-child relationship Motherhood Interpersonal relations Portugal Infant psychology Research funding Infant development Touch Descriptive statistics Longitudinal method Medical coding Data analysis software Time keyword: infant's development mother–infant interactions play tasks social touch infant's development mother–infant interactions play tasks social touch ab: Social touch is a crucial part of how mothers interact with their infants, with different touch types serving distinct purposes in these exchanges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how mothers' touch behavior adapts to specific interactive tasks, particularly throughout infancy. To address this gap, we observed mother–infant dyads at 7 and 12 months during three structured social play tasks: (a) play with objects, (b) play without objects, and (c) play with a difficult object. Using an adapted version of the Ordinalized Maternal Touch Scale, we categorized every touch performed by the mother. The effect of the infant's age and play tasks on the proportion of time mothers touch their infants was evaluated using Bayesian beta mixed models, taking into account both the total quantity and the Ordinalized Maternal Touch Scale touch categories. Results showed that (a) the frequency of maternal touch is prevalent in dyadic interactions and lowered in triadic object play; (b) mothers used affectionate, static, and playful touch categories more often in dyadic play tasks; (c) in triadic play task, mothers used object-mediated touch more frequently; (d) the total frequency of maternal touch decreased across infant age, which was primarily due to a decrease in static and object-mediated touch; and (e) maternal touch varies depending on the complexity of object play task. Our findings suggested that the developmental trajectory of maternal touch behavior is modulated by the infant's evolving needs and the different challenges in object versus nonobject play tasks. Public Significance Statement: This article emphasizes the critical role of social touch in mother–infant interactions and how it adapts to different play interactions throughout infancy. By examining mother–infant dyads at 7 and 12 months during three different play scenarios, our research reveals that maternal touch behaviors vary with the infant's age and the complexity of the task. These results may guide interventions and support strategies to improve developmental outcomes. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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