DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME AS A FUNCTION OF THE GOODNESS-OF-FIT BETWEEN THE INFANTS CRY CHARACTERISTICS AND THE MOTHERS PERCEPTION OF HER INFANTS CRY

Objective. To determine whether the ''goodness of fit'' between infant cry characteristics and the mother's perception of the cry is related to developmental outcome at 18 months of age. Design. This was a pros pective, longitudinal study from birth to 18 months performed in a bli nded manner. Setting. The study was conducted in a maternity hospital, including normal and special care nurseries and a laboratory for deve lopmental follow-up. Patients. The 121 term and preterm infants and th eir mothers were selected to meet medical criteria. Measurement. Acous tic analysis of 1-month infant cry and the mother's perception of the same cry was used to divide subjects into four groups representing mat ches and mismatches between infant cry characteristics and maternal cr y perception. Primary outcome measures of cognitive, language, motor, and neurologic outcome were administered at 18 months. Caretaking envi ronment measures were also recorded. Results. Statistically significan t (P < .05) findings showed that matched groups scored higher on measu res of language and cognitive performance than infants in the mismatch groups, with a particular advantage for infants in the matched group in which mothers accurately perceived the higher-pitched cries of thei r infants. There were no differences between the groups in biologic or sociodemographic factors. Group differences were observed in social s upport and maternal self-esteem. Conclusions. Matches and mismatches b etween infant cry characteristics at I month and the mother's percepti on of the cry are related to cognitive and language outcome at 18 mont hs in term and preterm infants. This relation is probably due to trans actional processes in which developmental outcome is affected by the c larity of the infants' signals and by the ability of the mother to acc urately perceive her infants signals. The mother's ability to read her infant's cues may be affected by factors such as social support and s elf-esteem.