A mother and her child in 1912. Mothers who better understand their infant's signals are said to have higher maternal sensitivity.
Maternal sensitivity is a mother's ability to perceive and infer the meaning behind her infant's behavioural signals, and to respond to them promptly and appropriately. Maternal sensitivity affects child development at all stages through life, from infancy, all the way to adulthood. In general, more sensitive mothers have healthier, more socially and cognitively developed children than those who are not as sensitive.[1] Also, maternal sensitivity has been found to affect the person psychologically even as an adult.[2] Adults who experienced high maternal sensitivity during their childhood were found to be more secure than those who experienced less sensitive mothers.[2] Once the adult becomes a parent themselves, their own understanding of maternal sensitivity will affect their own children's development.[2] Some research suggests that adult mothers display more maternal sensitivity than adolescent mothers who may in turn have children with a lower IQ and reading level than children of adult mothers.[3]
There are different ways of assessing maternal sensitivity, such as through the use of naturalistic observation,[4] the Strange Situation,[5] maternal-synchrony,[6] and maternal mind-mindedness.[7] There are also a number of ways of measuring maternal sensitivity in the scientific world, which include Ainsworth's Maternal Sensitivity Scale (AMSS),[8] the Maternal Behaviour Q-sort (MBQS), and the Pederson and Moran Sensitivity Q-Sort.[9]
^Wu, Tiejian; Wallace E. Dixon; William T. Dalton; Fred Tudiver; Xuefeng Liu (2011). "Joint Effects of Child Temperament and Maternal Sensitivity on the Development of Childhood Obesity". Maternal and Child Health Journal. 15 (4): 469–477. doi:10.1007/s10995-010-0601-z. PMID 20358395. S2CID 24929495.
^ abcCite error: The named reference dev psy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Demers, Isabelle; Bernier, Annie; et al. (July 2010). "Mind-mindedness in adult and adolescent mothers: Raltions to maternal sensitivity and infant attachment". International Journal of Behavioral Development. 34 (529): 529–537. doi:10.1177/0165025410365802. S2CID 143670689. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
^McLeod, B. "Mary Ainsworth – Strange Situation". SimplyPsychology. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
^Zentall, S.R.; Boker S.M.; Braungart-Rieker, J.M. (2006). "Mother–Infant synchrony: A dynamical systems approach". Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Development and Learning. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.491.8160.
^Meins; et al. (2002). "Maternal Mind-Mindedness and Attachment Security as Predictors of Theory of Mind Understanding". Child Development. 73 (6): 1715–1726. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00501. PMID 12487489.
^Benson, Janette B.; Haith, Marshall M., eds. (2009). Social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Academic. ISBN 978-0-12-375065-5.
^Moran, G.; Pederson, D. R.; Pettit, P.; Krupka, A. (1992). "Maternal sensitivity and infant-mother attachment in a developmentally delayed sample". Infant Behavior and Development. 15 (4): 427–442. doi:10.1016/0163-6383(92)80011-i.
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test, with an 81% sensitivity for Down syndrome and 5% false-positive rate. Third-trimester prenatal testing generally focuses on maternal wellbeing and reducing...
'70s underpinned basic concepts and topics relative to maternal responsiveness and sensitivity to infant distress. She introduced the concept of the "secure...
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production in contrast with the natural low levels which result maternalsensitivity. Although the pathophysiology of HG is unclear, one of the most commonly...
child is as important to the child-father attachment relationship as maternalsensitivity during caregiving is for the child-mother attachment relationship...
Maternal deprivation is a scientific term summarising the early work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants...
information to AM broadcast signals Ainsworth's MaternalSensitivity Scale, a measure of maternalsensitivity Aeronautical mobile-satellite service Auto-Moto...
of children with the 7-repeat allele of DRD4. Parenting that has maternalsensitivity, mindfulness, and autonomy–support at 15 months was found to alter...
the mother must decrease the insulin sensitivity of her muscles to conserve more glucose for both the maternal and fetal brains. This adaptation can...
ultrasound, evaluates anatomic structures of the fetus, placenta, and maternal pelvic organs. This scan is an important and common component of routine...
to maternal sensitivity to infants. Abel has developed paradigms for scanning infant brains as a way of examining the effects of maternal exposures on...
complications such as an abscess should be considered. In 2015, about 11.8 million maternal infections occurred. In the developed world about 1% to 2% develop uterine...
relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and later maternalsensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants. Infant Mental...
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can occur to naturally occurring chemicals in foods, as in salicylate sensitivity. Drugs sourced from plants, such as aspirin, can also cause these kinds...
Her results led to the identification of four key dimensions of maternal care: sensitivity - insensitivity, cooperation - interference, acceptance - rejection...
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