Sixty-nine
mothers of babies 12-14 months of age participated in the study. Researchers
separated the mothers and babies and put the mothers through a stressful
interview-type situation. Evaluators then gave either positive, negative, or no
feedback to the mothers. Obviously, the mothers who received negative feedback
experienced more stress and an increased heart rate. After the stressful
experience, mothers were reunited with their babies. Soon after the babies’
heart rates were found to increase, as if they caught on that their mothers
were stressed. The greater the mother’s stress response, the greater the baby’s;
if the mother was exposed to a negative stress, there was an even bigger impact
on her infant’s physiology.
While the authors admit that there is more
research needed to figure out how this happens, the results are interesting.
They hypothesize that babies may track their mothers’ emotions through changes
in her smell, facial expression, or the tension in her voice. What do you think
of this study? Have you noticed your baby picking up on the tension in your
body? How does that affect your baby’s behavior?
Reference
Waters SF,
West TV,
Mendes WB.
Stress Contagion: Physiological Covariation Between Mothers and Infants. Psychol Sci. 2014 Jan 30. [Epub ahead of print]
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