Affective regulation in at-risk mother-infant dyads

Research was aimed to assess differences in quality of interdyadic exchanges and in mutual affective regulation of mother-infant dyads with depressive risk factors, with psychosocial risk conditions, with the both risk elements (psychosocial and depressive) and with no risk factor. When children were 6 and 12 months olds, dyads have been contacted in order to videorecord natural dyadic interactive exchanges, which were coded using appropriately built scales of evaluation of mother-infant interaction. Although all the dyads evidenced an improvement in the quality of interaction, dyads with the both risk conditions show lower maternal sensitivity, lower cooperation, higher interfering behaviors and negative affective states, both at 6 and 12 months, differentiating from dyads with no risk condition and with simple risk factors.