THE RELATION OF MEDICAL RISK AND MATERNAL STIMULATION WITH PRETERM INFANTS DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVE, LANGUAGE AND DAILY LIVING SKILLS

High-risk (HR) and low-risk (LR) preterm infants (N = 212) and full-te rm infants (FT, N = 128) from low socio-economic homes were studied wi th their mothers in the home at 6 and 12 months of age. Infants' cogni tive, language and daily living skills were evaluated in relation to m others' warm sensitivity, use of strategies which maintained the infan ts' attention and directiveness. Higher levels of maternal attention-m aintaining were positively related to infant development for all group s. During toy play, attention-maintaining was most strongly related to expressive language skills for the HR infants; during toy play and da ily activities, this maternal behavior was more strongly related to co gnitive and language skills for both preterm groups than for the FT in fants. Copyright (C) 1996 Association for Child Psychology and Psychia try.