Investigated stability and change in intrusive and withdrawn interaction be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who had been withdrawn with their infants were quiet, bored-looking, physi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ted negative affect among withdrawn mothers.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rential effects on intrusive and withdrawn mothers.