James W. Plunkett

Attachment Security in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

Infants of very low birth weight (VLBW) (n = 34) and a comparison group of 40 full-term infants were observed in Ainsworths Strange Situation at 14 and 19 months and observed in the home at 14 months of age, using Waterss Attachment Q-set. Results indicated that at 14 months VLBW infants were more likely than the full-term infants to be insecurely attached when rated using the Q-set but not when using the Strange Situation. However, at 19 months VLBW infants were also more likely than full-term infants to be insecurely attached in the Strange Situation assessment. There were no associations between the Q-set and Strange Situation measures of attachment security. These results are discussed in terms ofthe social-emotional development of VLBW infants.

The Relationship of Parental Knowledge to the Development of Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

This study examined the relationship between parental experience, parental knowledge, and the development of extremely low birth weight infants. The subjects (N = 40) were extremely high-risk infants averaging 1000.0 grams birthweight and 28.1 weeks gestational age. The study found that mothers of preterm infants called upon the same types of experiences and sources of information about infancy as mothers of full-term infants. Further, ratings of maternal accuracy on the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory accounted for 13% to 15% of the variation on the Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 8 months corrected age. The infants of mothers with greater than average knowledge about infancy scored approximately one standard deviation higher on both the MDI and the PDI than did the infants of mothers who had less than average knowledge about Infancy. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Patterns of Attachment among Preterm Infants of Varying Biological Risk

The attachment relationships of 33 high-risk premature infants, all with moderate to severe respiratory illness and hospitalizations of more than 1 month at birth, are compared to the attachment patterns of 23 healthy, premature infants who were initially hospitalized for less than 1 month. Infants with respiratory illness and moderate to lengthy hospitalizations displayed a significantly different pattern of attachment that was more anxious-resistant (C) (36% vs. 9% C relationships) than that of infants in the healthy, premature group. Moreover, the pattern of attachments of the healthy preterm group was statistically indistinguishable from the attachment relationships reported by Ainsworth for her normative Baltimore study. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that high-risk preterm birth uniquely and specifically shapes the quality of the care giving relationship into the second year of life.

Parents' treatment expectations and attrition from a child psychiatric service

In a large Child Psychiatric Service a structured questionnaire completed by parents (N = 80) prior to clinic contact tested the hypothesis that congruence between parent expectations and clinic actions as to the form, duration and process of treatment would be associated with greater acceptance of services. Empirical support was found for the importance of congruent expectations of treatment form and duration, but not of treatment process.

Affective expression among preterm infants of varying levels of biological risk

Abstract This investigation examines the association between risk status and the quality of emotional arousal and regulation among preterm infants in the second year of life. The behavior of 55 preterm infants stratified into three risk groups by severity and chronicity of respiratory illness was recorded during the procedures of the Strange Situation. Measures of emotional responsiveness included temporal and intensity features of facial and vocal expressions as well as concurrent activity with toys. Significant relationships between neonatal risk status and these expressive and regulatory features were observed. Infants in the High-Risk group ( N = 16) differed from healthy Low-Risk infants ( N = 23) and from those in the Moderate-Risk group ( N = 16). The High-Risk infants showed a greater sensitivity to distress arousal at low levels of stress and less ability to modulate distress once aroused. High-Risk infants also demonstrated significantly less adaptive play with toys than the other preterm infants. In short, this study suggests that, when placed under stress, High-Risk preterm infants in their second year of life become more distressed and demonstrate less ability to recover from this distress and effectively re-engage their environment than preterm infants born at lower risk.

Socioemotional adaptation of preterm infants at three years

This study investigated the relationship of risk status at birth and attachment in the second year of life to measures of socioemotional adaptation at age 3. The subjects were 52 preterm infants stratified into three groups according to the severity and chronicity of their respiratory illness. Two videotaped laboratory procedures were used to code both the quality of mother-child interactions in a structured teaching task situation and the childs functioning under stress. The results show that although early risk history alone does not manifest itself as a pervasive disruption to the mother-child relationship, attachment history was associated with differential dyadic interactions. Moreover, when placed under stress without adequate maternal support, the fragility of the high-risk infants emerged. The article concludes with implications for clinical practice.

Cranial sonography and neurological examination at term and motor performance through 19 months of age

This study examined the role of cranial sonography and neurological examination in the prediction of developmental progress during the first 19 months of life in extremely preterm infants. Forty-seven infants with mean birth weight 993 ± 197 g and gestational age 27.9 ± 1.9 weeks were studied. Each infant was classified as normal, suspect, or abnormal using cranial sonography and a structured neurological examination. Developmental outcome was assessed using the Infant Neurological International Battery (INFANIB) at 4, 8, and 14 months and the Rockford Infant Developmental Evaluation Skills (RIDES) at 19 months. Sonographic classification was the best predictor of outcome through 14 months, F(2.72) = 12.4, p < .001. The neurological examination predicted performance only at 4 months. No infant classified as normal on both examinations was abnormal on follow-up. Infants with suspect or abnormal neurological examinations had normal outcomes if their sonographic findings were normal.

Linguistic Production Abilities of 3-Year-Old Children Born Premature with Low Birth Weight

Using norm-referenced and informal language sample analyses, this study describes the language production abilities of 30 children born premature with low birth weight. Only four of the subjects demonstrated clinically significant language problems at 3 years of age. The language problems of these four children did not appear to be related systematically to their birth weight, gestational age, length of neonatal hospitalization and severity of respiratory illness, socioeconomic status, family structure, or cognitive level and were best characterized by circumscribed expressive syntax difficulties.

Cranial sonography and neurological examination of extremely preterm infants.

Fifty‐one extremely preterm infants were studied to ascertain whether there is an association between sonographic abnormalities and neurological examination at term, controlling for factors such as low birthweight and chronic lung‐disease. Their mean birthweight was 956g and mean gestational age was 27·9 weeks. Sonography was performed at least once during the first week, twice within the first month, and once within a month of term‐corrected age. Neurological assessment was used to classify the infants as normal, suspect or abnormal at term. Infants were divided into three groups, based on sonographic findings: group 1 (no hemorrhage), group 2 (grade 1 to 3 hemorrhage but normal sonogram or unilateral ventriculomegaly at term) and group 3 (periventricular leukomalacia, grade 4 hemorrhage or ventriculomegaly at term). On neurological examination, 23 infants were found to be normal, 15 suspect and 13 abnormal. On sonography, 27 infants were placed in group 1, 12 in group 2 and 12 in group 3. Sonographic findings and birthweight were the best predictors of the infants performance on the neurological examination at term.

Perceptions of quality of life following divorce: a study of children's prognostic thinking.

The general quality of latency-aged childrens prognostic thinking and the way in which they view the long-range impact of divorce upon peer adaptation are explored. When interviewed about responses to two fictional peers with marked behavior problems, 80 children in the third and fifth grades displayed an optimism in their prognostic thinking about the future of these peers. In general, peers from divorced homes were perceived as having a more positive future adjustment than peers from intact homes. However, male subjects from disrupted homes revealed a significantly pessimistic orientation regarding the impact of divorce upon the future; females from disrupted homes had a strikingly optimistic view. Implications for school-based interventions are discussed.