1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« Touch plays an essential role in mother-infant interchange, however investigations have focused primarily on the role of distal modalities of communication, such as affect and gaze. The present study was designed to investigate the functions of maternal touching during a Still-Face procedure between mothers and their fullterm 5½-month-old infants. The objectives were to (1) document how the overall duration, the types, and the functions of touch employed by mothers varied across both Normal periods, (2) clarify the impact of infants’ and mothers’ distress on the function and duration of touch provided to infants, (3) investigate the reciprocal relationship between functions of touch and infants’ affect, and (4) examine how maternal regulatory behaviours provided in the transition period were predicted by infants’ affect, and how they influenced the amount of nurturing touch during the Reunion Normal period. » (p. iii)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
40 dyades mère-enfant

Instruments :
- Caregiver Infant Touch Scale (CITS; Stack et al., 1996; 2006)
- Functions of Touch Scale (FTS; Jean, Girouard & Stack, 2005)

Types de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« Results indicated that mothers adapted the functions of touch they used across period, and according to infants’ affect and distress level. Mothers used more nurturing function of touch when their infants were fretting of distressed, whereas they used more playful function of touch in order to get their infants smiling. Moreover, findings revealed that the transition periods played a critical regulatory role and influences subsequent maternal behaviour. Together, these results highlight mothers’ ability to sensitively adjust the function of their touch according to their infants’ affect, while at the same time underscoring the importance of touch as a channel of communication. » (pp. iii-iv)