WORKING MODEL OF THE CHILD INTERVIEW - INFANT CLINICAL STATUS RELATEDTO MATERNAL PERCEPTIONS

Parental perceptions and subjective experience of infants have long be en considered important in clinical work with infants and families. Us ing three different samples of infants, we compare mothers' representa tions of their infants in clinically referred and nonreferred groups, using the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI). Twenty-four mot hers of infants with failure to thrive (and 25 matched controls), 17 m others of toddlers with sleep disorders (and 20 matched controls), and 13 mothers of infants seen in a general infant psychiatry clinic part icipated. Compared to their nonclinical counterparts, mothers of infan ts with clinical problems had representations of their infants that we re significantly more likely to be classified distorted or disengaged. Infant gender, age, and birth order were independent of maternal clas sifications. We conclude that the WMCI is a useful structured intervie w to categorize mothers' perceptions and subjective experience of thei r infant and relationship with the infant. Mothers' WMCI classificatio ns are associated with the clinical status of the infant.