Date of Award

August 2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Health Sciences

First Advisor

Victoria Moerchen

Committee Members

Kris Barnekow, Susan Cashin, Teresa Johnson

Keywords

Attachment, Infant Development, Parent-infant Interaction, Physical behavior, Reflective Functioning, Touch

Abstract

Research focusing on the physical domain of the parent-infant interaction is limited and the research that has been done focuses largely on maternal touch. When touch is studied empirically, it is often within an interactive context that introduces specific constraints and is often not considered within the context of global caregiver-infant interaction. At the same time, the study of global caregiver-infant interaction often omits intentional measurement of physical aspects of the interaction by not including physical behaviors as a direct part of assessment. As a result, there is little understanding of the impact a caregiver’s physical behaviors have on the quality of global caregiver-infant interaction or on the infant’s developmental trajectory. This dissertation took two approaches to addressing this gap. In Study 1, we conducted a descriptive review of 29 global caregiver-infant interaction assessment tools and coding schemes that included caregiver physical behaviors, from which we identified measurement items within tools that directly captured caregiver physical behaviors. We then coded physical behaviors using a 3-level approach: Physical Behavior, Functional Intention of Physical Interaction, and Qualitative Descriptors. We found that global assessment tools that include a greater number of caregiver physical behaviors in their assessment approach also have more psychometric history than tools that assess fewer physical behaviors. With study 2 we examined how discrete physical behaviors are displayed by mothers during mother-infant interactions and how they relate to maternal reflective functioning (RF), a construct related to infant attachment. Twenty mothers and their 4-month-old infants participated in two interactive contexts, a teaching interaction and a 5-minute free play interaction. The teaching interaction was coded for global interaction; both interactions were coded for maternal physical behaviors and mother-infant physical attunement, and Maternal RF was assessed. During teaching interactions, maternal physical behaviors were related to non-physical constructs measured in global assessment of the parent-infant interaction. Further, maternal RF was correlated with maternal physical behaviors, maternal intentional touch, and mother-infant physical attunement. These studies highlight the degree to which physical behaviors have been overlooked in empirical research and argue for the importance of caregiver physical behaviors in promoting infant development and secure attachment.

Available for download on Thursday, August 27, 2026

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