Six-Week Postpartum Subclinical Maternal Dependency and Self-Criticism and 12-Month Mother-Infant Interactive Facial Movement Contingency: A Microanalytic Application of the Kestenberg Movement Profile

Robin Herbst-Paparne, Pace University

Abstract

Associations between 6-week postpartum maternal depressive experiences (i.e., dependency and self-criticism) and 12-month mother-infant interactive movement contingencies were evaluated for a community sample of 67 mother-infant dyads. In conjunction with prior studies of which the current investigation is a continuation (Bromberg, 2015; Reale, 2011), videotaped movement in the faces of mothers and their infants was coded on a nearly frame-by-frame basis, using study-specific adaptations of Kestenberg Movement Profile shape flow elements (KMP; Kestenberg Amighi, Loman, Lewis, & Sossin, 1999). Lag sequential analyses yielded associations between each type of depressive experience and specific aggregated mother-infant interactive movement contingencies, underscoring the notion that differing subtypes of maternal depressive experiences are uniquely associated with features of non-verbal, movement-based communications between a mother and her infant. Specifically, the sequence of Mother Total Shrink followed by Infant Total Grow was negatively correlated with maternal DEQ six-week Dependency scores, r(65) = -.31,/? = .013 and the sequence Mother Total Shrink followed by Infant Total Shrink was positively correlated with maternal DEQ sixweek Self-Criticism scores, r(65) = .30,p = .017. Findings from exploratory analyses point to the positive association between the frequency of dyad-level total growing movements and maternal DEQ six-week Self-Criticism scores, r(65) = .25, p - .042. Exploratory findings also point to the improved sensitivity of employing half-second time lags over full-second time lags when analyzing movement in a microanalytic framework.

Subject Area

Behavioral psychology|Psychology|Clinical psychology

Recommended Citation

Herbst-Paparne, Robin, "Six-Week Postpartum Subclinical Maternal Dependency and Self-Criticism and 12-Month Mother-Infant Interactive Facial Movement Contingency: A Microanalytic Application of the Kestenberg Movement Profile" (2016). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI10291248.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI10291248

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