Intrusive and withdrawn behaviours of mothers interacting with their infants and boyfriends

Investigated stability and change in intrusive and withdrawn interaction be haviours of 23 mothers in Study I and 31 mothers in Study 2. Comparisons be tween mother-infant and mother-boyfriend interactions revealed that mothers who had been withdrawn with their infants were quiet, bored-looking, physi cally distant, and underinvolved with their boyfriends. Mothers who had bee n intrusive with their infants were verbally sharp and controlling with the ir boyfriends. These findings suggested stability across social contexts. C omparing maternal responding to instructions to think about themselves (sel f-focus) or their infants (infant-focus) revealed that infant-focusing atte nuated intrusive behavior among intrusive mothers and self-focusing attenua ted negative affect among withdrawn mothers. These findings suggested that cognitive focusing ameliorates nonoptimal maternal behaviours and has diffe rential effects on intrusive and withdrawn mothers.