Fa. Pedersen et al., PRENATAL MATERNAL REACTIVITY TO INFANT CRIES PREDICTS POSTNATAL PERCEPTIONS OF INFANT TEMPERAMENT AND MARRIAGE APPRAISAL, Child development, 67(5), 1996, pp. 2541-2552
In a sample of 60 primiparous women, cardiac response and ratings of s
ubjective aversiveness to recordings of unfamiliar infant cries were s
tudied at 32 weeks' gestation. Regression analyses were used to examin
e relations between cardiac acceleration and subjective aversiveness a
nd 3 groups of postnatal dependent variables: perception of infant tem
perament, the mother's emotional state, and her appraisal of her marri
age. Mothers who prenatally rated the cry recordings as more aversive
postnatally described their 3-month-old infants as more fussy/difficul
t and unpredictable. With statistical control for prenatal variation o
n the emotional state and marital outcome measures, cardiac accelerati
on predicted later marital quality. Women who showed greater cardiac a
cceleration to the cries described their postnatal marital relationshi
ps more negatively.