Research at TRI
HIGH
Caesarean
Section
Field, T., & Widmayer, S. (1980).
Developmental follow up of infants delivered by Caesarean section and general
anesthesia. Infant Behavior and
Development, 3, 253-264.
•
Infants delivered by caesarean section and general anesthesia were compared
with those delivered vaginally with local-regional or no anesthesia. Findings
included the absence of neonatal behavior differences, and perhaps more
interesting, the more optimal interaction and temperament ratings of the
C-section group during follow up assessments. Results are discussed in the
context of an emergency caesarean altering the mother’s perceptions of her
infant.
Field, T., Dempsey, J., Ting, G.,
Hallock, N., Dabiri, C., & Shuman, H.H. (1982). Respiratory distress
syndrome: Perinatal prediction of one year developmental outcome. Seminars in Perinatology, 6, 288-293.
• A
number of perinatal variables were entered into multivariate regression
analyses to determine which variables predicted the one-year Bayley Mental and
Motor scores of infants surviving the respiratory distress syndrome. A greater
number of the RDS infants received low motor scores as opposed to low mental scores,
suggesting that intervention efforts with this group might focus on the
development of early sensorimotor skills.
Cocaine
Exposed Infants
Eisen, L.,N., Field, T.,M., Bandstra, E.S.,
Roberts, J.P., Morrow, C.,Larson, S.K., & Steele, B. (1991). Perinatal
cocaine effects on neonatal stress behavior and performance on the Brazelton
scale. Pediatrics, 88, 477-480.
•
Newborns were assessed for the effects of maternal cocaine use on their
performance on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale and on their
stress behaviors during the Brazelton as tapped by the Neonatal Stress Scale.
The cocaine-exposed newborns experienced more obstetric complications, had
smaller head circumferences, showed more limited habituation abilities on the
Brazelton Scale, and exhibited more stress behaviors than control newborns.
Cocaine
Exposed Infants
Scafidi, F., Field, T., Wheeden, A.,
Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Symanski, R., Zimmerman, E., & Bandstra E.S.
(1996). Cocaine-exposed preterm neonates show behavioral and hormonal
differences. Pediatrics, 97, 851-855.
• A
comparison between cocaine-exposed and non-cocaine-exposed preterm neonates
suggested that the cocaine-exposed neonates were born to mothers who had higher
parity and more obstetric complications. In addition, mothers of
cocaine-exposed preterm neonates visited, touched, held, and fed their infants
less frequently than mothers of nonexposed infants. The cocaine-exposed infants
had smaller head circumferences at birth, spent more time in the neonatal
intensive care unit, and had a greater incidence of
periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhages. They also had inferior Brazelton
cluster scores, including lower state regulation and range-of-state scores, and
greater depression. During sleep-wake behavior observations, they showed
difficulty maintaining alert states and self-regulating their behavior, and
they spent more time in indeterminate sleep and had decreased periods of quiet
sleep and increased levels of agitated behavior, including tremulousness,
mouthing, multiple limb movements, and clenched fists. Finally, higher urinary
norepinephrine, dopamine, and cortisol levels and lower plasma insulin levels
were noted in the cocaine-exposed preterm neonates.
Failure
to Thrive Infants
Goldstein, S., & Field, T. (1985).
Affective behavior and weight changes among hospitalized failure to thrive
infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 6,
187-194.
•
The affective behavior and weight change of nonorganic failure-to-thrive,
organic failure-to –thrive, and control infants were compared across their
hospitalization. Among the failure-to –thrive infants, positive responses to
stimulation at the initial assessment were related to weight loss across the
hospitalization, while positive responses to the same stimulation at the middle
assessment were related to weight gain. An increase in positive affect across
hospitalization occurred only for the infants who gained weight. Paradoxically,
the losers may have experienced hospital stimulation as less adequate than
maternal stimulation, while the gainers may have experienced hospital
stimulation as more adequate than home stimulation.
Feeding
Instructions
Field, T. (1977). Maternal stimulation
during infant feeding. Developmental
Psychology, 13, 539-540.
•
Maternal stimulation during infant feeding was compared for groups of 4-month
old bottle-fed and breast-fed normal and high-risk infants. There were no
differences in the amounts of maternal stimulation of the breast and bottle-fed
groups. The high-risk male infants received more stimulation during sucking
periods but were also observably more disorganized in their feeding than other
groups, suggesting that the mother’s sensitivity cannot be assessed
independently of the infant’s responsivity.
Heart
rate Variability
Woodson, R., Field, T., & Greenberg,
R. (1983). Estimating neonatal oxygen consumption from heart rate. Psychophysiology, 20, 558-561.
•
The relationship between heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption was
investigated in a sample of low-risk, term neonates. Findings suggest that HR
may provide a flexible, non-restrictive means of estimating neonatal oxygen
consumption.
Zeskind, P.S., & Field, T. (1982).
Neonatal cry thresholds and heart rate variability. Infant Behavior and Development, 51-60.
•
This study compared infants who required a single stimulus to induce crying
with infants who required multiple stimulus applications on spectral and
durational measures of infant crying, and measures of heart rate variability.
In addition to showing a shorter cry duration and a more frequent occurrence of
high pitched cry sounds, multiple stimulus infants showed a greater heart rate
variance and range marked by both higher peaks and lower depths of HR activity.
The findings were used to support a model of infant crying which suggests that
increased thresholds and higher pitched cry sounds characteristic of the infant
at–risk may be associated with processes affecting neonatal autonomic
stability.
HIV
Exposed Infants
Scafidi, F., & Field, T. (1997).
Brief report: HIV exposed newborns show inferior orienting and abnormal
reflexes on the Brazelton Scale. Journal
of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 105-112.
•
Infants of HIV-positive and HIV-negative mothers were assessed on the Brazelton
Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Infants exposed to HIV-positive mothers
were disadvantaged from birth due to their mothers having obstetric
complications and to the infants having orienting problems and abnormal
reflexes on the Brazelton Newborn Scale. These problems may be early precursors
of the later visual-spatial delays and hypertonicity noted in these infants.
Low
Income Infants
Hossain, Z., Field, T., Pickens, J.,
Malphurs, J.& del Valle, C. (1997). Fathers' care giving in low-income
African-American and Hispanic-American families. Early Development and Parenting, 6, 73-82.
•
The present study assessed fathers' and mothers' relative involvement in infant
care giving tasks in low-income African American and Hispanic American
families. Analysis showed that involvement in childcare differed as a function
of the gender of the parent. Fathers spent one half the time mothers did in care
giving. However, fathers' and mothers' participation in care giving did not
vary as a function of ethnic group. African American parents reportedly
received more family support than Hispanic American parents. Although
relationships were noted between age, income, education, length of marriage,
social support, and involvement in infant care giving, these sociodemographic
variables did not predict parents' participation in childcare. The results are
discussed in relation to the preconceived notion that low-income, minority
fathers are `uninvolved'.
Postterm Infants
Field, T., Dabiri, C., Hallock, N.,
& Shuman, H. (1977). Developmental effects of prolonged pregnancy and the
postmaturity syndrome. Journal of
Pediatrics, 90, 836- 839.
•
The development of post term, post mature infants was compared to that of
normal control infants during the first year of life. The post term, post
mature infants had more prenatal complications and received lower Brazelton
interaction and motor scores at birth. They scored lower on the Denver
developmental scale and were rated "difficult" babies by their
mothers. Their Bayley motor scores were equivalent to those of the control
infants, but their mental scores were lower. Their mothers reported a higher
incidence of illnesses and of feeding and sleep disturbances.
Field, T., Hallock, N., Ting, G.,
Dempsey, J., Dabiri, C., & Shuman, H. H. (1978). A first year follow-up of
high-risk infants: formulating a cumulative risk index. Child Development, 49, 119-131.
•
Comparisons between normal term, preterm RDS, and post term post mature infants
suggested that the groups differed across the first year of development.
Although the post mature infants were not designated medically at risk at
birth, they had experienced prenatal complications, performed poorly on the
Brazelton neonatal assessments, had ‘difficult’ temperaments, were inattentive
during mother-infant interactions, and received depressed Bayley mental scores.
The RDS infants who were considered medically at risk due to their postnatal
complications also performed poorly on the Brazelton, were rated as having
difficult temperaments, were inattentive during mother-infant interactions, but
received markedly lower Bayley motor than mental scores.
Field, T., Ting, G., & Shuman, H. H.
(1979). The onset of rhythmic activities in normal and high risk infants. Developmental Psychobiology, 12, 97-100.
•
The onset of rhythmic activities was compared for 2 groups of high-risk infants
(a preterm Respiratory Distress Syndrome and a post term post mature group) and
a normal term group over their 1st year of life. Differences suggest that the
onset dates for rhythmic activities are not affected by the perinatal
complications of RDS or postmaturity, but are related to gestational age
differences. A comparison of the 3 groups on Bayley 1st-year motor skills
revealed group differences even after an adjustment for gestational age
differences, suggesting that the development of motor skills, unlike the
development of rhythmic activities, may have been affected by these perinatal
complications.
Preterm
Infants
Field, T.M., Hallock, N.F., Dempsey,
J.R., & Shuman, H.H. (1978). Mothers' assessments of term and preterm
infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Reliability and predictive
validity. Child Psychiatry and Human
Development, 9, 75 85.
•
Assessments of term and preterm RDS infants were made by mothers on an
adaptation of the Brazelton scale. The mothers’ assessments were not
significantly different from those assessments made by trained clinicians, and
both mothers and clinicians assigned less optimal ratings to preterm infants.
These findings suggest that mothers’ assessments are reliable and have some
predictive validity during early infancy.
Field, T., Dempsey, J., & Shuman, H.
H. (1979). Bayley behavioral ratings of normal and high risk infants: Their
relationship to Bayley Mental Scores. Journal
of Pediatric Psychology, 4, 277-283.
•
The Bayley Infant Behavior Record [IBR] was given to normal and high-risk
infants at 8, 12 and 24 months. Correlations between the Primary Cognition
Composite score and concurrent Bayley Mental scores were reliable at each age,
and the Primary Cognition Composite score, particularly at 12 months, was an
efficient predictor of 2- year Bayley Mental performance. These results suggest
the value of assessing test-taking behaviors in both normal and high-risk
infant groups.
Field, T., Greenberg, R., Woodson, R.,
Cohen, D., & Garcia, R.(1984). A descriptive study of facial expressions
during Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessments. Infant Mental Health Journal, 5, 61-71.
•
The facial expressions of term and preterm neonates were recorded during the
Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment. Although the examiner’s face and voice
were more effective than inanimate stimuli in eliciting positive expressions in
term neonates, the reverse was true for preterm neonates. Thus facial
expressions may provide additional information on the degree to which neonates
experience stimulation as pleasant/unpleasant and on individual differences in
responsiveness to physical and social stimulation.
Morrow, C., Field, T., Scafidi, F.,
Roberts, J., Eisen, L., Hogan, A.E., & Bandstra, E.S. (1990).
Transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates during neonatal behavioral
assessments and heelsticks. Journal of
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 11, 312-316.
•
This study evaluated the effects of neonatal behavioral assessments and
heelsticks on transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates. Observed
changes during the behavioral assessments occurred in a small number of
infants, primarily during the few test procedures administered to the infants
outside of their isolettes. Accordingly, it is suggested that time outside the
isolette and associated temperature changes may be more critical variables than
the assessments per se.
Temperament
Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F.,
& Goldstein, S.(1987). Reliability, stability, and relationships between
infant and parent temperament. Infant
Behavior and Development, 10, 117 122.
•
Reliability, stability, and relationships between infant and parent temperament
were assessed using infant adaptations of 2 childhood temperament inventories.
Both scales were moderately reliable, stability was moderate for the 4- to 18
–month periods, and significant correlations were noted between mother and
infant temperament ratings.
Field, T. (1989). Infancy risk factors
and risk taking. Comments on Rauh's paper. European
Journal of Psychology of Education, 4, 175-176.
• The
Hellgard Rauh paper: Rauh is basically suggesting that a model of risk requires
the incorporation of several concepts including stress and coping and in that
context personality characteristic such as vulnerability/resilience.
Vulnerability certainly impacts on the infant’s ability to cope with stress.
Protective factors such as a nurturant environment are also part of the
equation of predicting outcomes from early risk factors.