1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« The relationship between individual differences in behavioral sensitivity and mother-child adrenocortical attunement to potentially challenging situations remains unclear. In the present study we examined mother’s, child’s, and dyad’s behavioral sensitivity in relation to synchronous changes in mother’s and child’s adrenocortical response. » (p. 2)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
« Sixty-three mother-child dyads, participated in two home visits. The first visit included a mother-child interactive free-play task, used to measure mothers’ and children’s behavioral sensitivity; the second visit consisted of a child IQ test, included a potentially stressful situation for both mother and child. Salivary cortisol samples were collected from mother and child before and after the IQ test. » (p. iii)

Instruments:
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« Synchronization of behavior, emotions and physiology in mother-child dyads appears to be related to adaptive functioning in children. While non-human research has repeatedly demonstrated synchrony (i.e. attunement) of mother and offspring physiological response to a stressful situation, only one study has examined this phenomenon in human dyads. The present study aimed to replicate the finding of mother-child adrenocortical attunement in a human population, as well as examine the relation between adrenocortical attunement and individual differences in behavioral sensitivity. […] Results indicated the existence of mother-child adrenocortical attunement in reaction to a stressful situation. Further, attunement varied as a function of behavioral sensitivity (mother’s, child’s and dyad’s behavioral sensitivity). Findings suggest that physiological attunement may coexist with behavioral sensitivity in at-risk populations, and that child behavioral sensitivity are equally related to adrenocortical attunement. In conclusion, measures of behavioral sensitivity containing information on both partners may be more informative than measures based exclusively on one partner’s behavior when examining dyadic interactions in relation to psychophysiological responses to stress. » (p. iii)