Mothers’ feelings about infants’ negative emotions and mother-infant interactions among the Gamo of Southern Ethiopia

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Parents’ exposure to stressful ecosocial situations, like inadequate resources, is linked to parents’ perceptions of infants’ fussing and crying and less sensitive caregiving. However, studies supporting these findings predominantly come from Western contexts of parenting and infant care. Ecosocial situations may have different effects on parenting and infants in distinct cultural contexts. In this study, the link between Gamo mothers’ expressions of stress about their infants’ negative emotional displays (N = 29 mothers and infants) and mother-infant interactions was investigated. Mothers who expressed stress in response to their infants’ negative emotions demonstrated fewer interactions overall with their infants compared to mothers who did not express stress. Regression analyses showed that mothers who did not express stress had infants that fussed and cried more in their presence than infants of mothers who did not express stress, albeit insignificant. These results are discussed in the context of Gamo infancy in Southern Ethiopia.

Original languageEnglish
JournalInfant Behavior and Development
Volume54
Pages (from-to)22-36
Number of pages15
ISSN0163-6383
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.

    Research areas

  • Ethiopia, Infant emotion, Mother-infant interaction

ID: 393162252