Mother-infant (one and five months) interactions: affective aspects, complexity and predominant parental systems / Interações mãe-bebê de um e cinco meses: aspectos afetivos, complexidade e sistemas parentais predominantes

Abstract

Early interactions seem to be adaptive, it is fundamental to know them in order to understand human ontogenesis. This study compares data of observations of mother-baby dyads, analyzing the behavior of the partners, the complexity of the interchanges and their affective components. The participants were 56 dyads (28 with one-month old babies and 28 with five-month old babies), filmed in their homes in free situations. Interaction episodes were identified and analyzed. The results showed the effect of the factor type of dyad (one or five months-old babies) in four dependent variables that indicate complexity of the interactions. Differences in the manifestation of reciprocal affectivity of the partners were observed in the two groups. The interactions were predominantly face-to-face when the babies are one-month old, and the system of object stimulation is predominant when the babies are five-months old. This indicates a tendency observed in Western urban groups. The affective manifestations and the presence of interactions which are characterized by the system of body contact favor the formulation of a hypothesis of the presence of an autonomous relational pattern. The results confirm the literature about the possibility of interchanges in initial stages of the development, and the study contributes for the knowledge of its characteristics. The affective aspect is stressed, and its constitutive role in interactions is emphasized, assuming its importance in child development.

Keywords

• Mother-infant interaction
• parental systems
• complexity
• affective aspects