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The Roles of Mothers’ Partner Satisfaction and Mother-Infant Communication Duration in Mother-Infant Adrenocortical Attunement

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Abstract

Physiological attunement between mothers and infants is emerging as an important indicator of infant information processing, emotion regulation, and health outcomes. Far less understood is the role of paternal support and maternal satisfaction with her partner in facilitating the mother-infant biorhythm. This exploratory study evaluated the impact of maternal satisfaction with her romantic partner and mother-infant communication features on mother-infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis attunement. Mothers were asked to complete a series of questionnaires in the presence of her infant, requiring approximately 45 min, occupying maternal attention and serving as a mild challenge for the infant. After completion of the questionnaires, mothers’ and infants’ saliva were collected and later assayed for cortisol. Maternal reports of couple satisfaction (n = 33) impacted mother-infant adrenocortical attunement such that those reporting more satisfaction with their partner showed more attunement with their infants. Maternal reports of couple satisfaction (n = 33) were associated with lower infant, but not lower maternal cortisol levels. Finally, mothers who reported engaging in more infant-directed speech (n = 47), a potential index of maternal sensitivity, showed more attunement with their infants. Removal of an outlier (infant cortisol) reduced the findings to marginal significance in the predicted direction. Though this study is exploratory and the findings are tentative, we conclude that one way that fathers may indirectly contribute to infant outcomes is through social support of the mother, and that infant-directed speech may facilitate mother-infant attunement.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by a National Science Foundation-Research Experience for Undergraduates grant (SMA 1358847). The authors would also like to thank Sunny Herron, Lauren Pixley, Stacey Hamilton, Emily Ingram, & Maria Jovanovski for their contribution to the project.

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  1. Department of Psychology, 116 North Murray, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Nikki J. Clauss, Jennifer Byrd-Craven, Shelia M. Kennison & Kristine J. Chua

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  1. Nikki J. Clauss
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Appendix

Appendix

Mother-Infant Talk Time

Instructions: Please indicate how many minutes you spend talking or singing to your infant during each of the below listed time frames

  1. 1)

    On the typical morning between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. I spend approximately ______ minutes (out of the 180 min) talking or singing to my infant.

  2. 2)

    On the typical morning between 9 a.m. and noon I spend approximately _______ minutes (out of the 180 min) talking or singing to my infant.

  3. 3)

    On the typical afternoon between noon and 3 p.m. I spend approximately _______ minutes (out of the 180 min) talking or singing to my infant.

  4. 4)

    On the typical afternoon between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. I spend approximately _______ minutes (out of the 180 min) talking or singing to my infant.

  5. 5)

    On the typical afternoon between 9 p.m. and midnight. I spend approximately _______ minutes (out of the 180 min) talking or singing to my infant.

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Clauss, N.J., Byrd-Craven, J., Kennison, S.M. et al. The Roles of Mothers’ Partner Satisfaction and Mother-Infant Communication Duration in Mother-Infant Adrenocortical Attunement. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 4, 91–107 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-017-0078-8

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