ASSOCIATION OF MATERNAL SELF-REPORT AND OBSERVATIONAL DATA AT THREE POINTS POSTPARTUM

Purposes/Aims: A comparison of observational data with self-report data has the potential to reveal discrepancies between maternal subjective experience as reported through questionnaire responses and objective relational behavior, observed in mother-infant dyadic interaction.  Rationale/Conceptual Basis/Background: Guided by Tronick’s Mutual Regulation Model, the purpose of this study is to examine the relations among maternal self-report data related to symptoms of depression, anxiety and parental stress with observations of maternal affect and gaze, in the Face-to-Face Still Face Paradigm (FFSF) at 16, 24, and 43 weeks postpartum.  Tronick’s renowned Still-Face procedure provides an opportunity to examine objective measures of relational behavior, such as gaze and affect in mother-infant dyadic research.  Methods: This cross-sectional study aims to explore the relationship of these observational behavioral measures with questionnaire responses in a community sample of 98 mothers who participated in an NIH funded study, Stability of Coping and Memory for Social Stress (5R01HD050459-02), conducted by Tronick, Snidman, DiCorcia & colleagues (2013). Videotaped interaction of mother-infant dyads were coded with the Gaze-Faze system and maternal self-report data, based on responses to the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) are in the process of being analyzed in relation to this behavioral data.  Primary hypotheses focus on the relationship between subjective and objective measures in the context of and in response to an acute social stressor, the Still-Face procedure, while secondary hypotheses are aimed at comparisons between the three different groups of mothers, stratified by infant age.  Data from 41 mothers (with16 week old infants), 38 mothers (with 24 week old infants) and 19 mothers (with 43 week old infants) will be analyzed using descriptive-correlational, analysis of variance, and multivariate regression statistical methods. Results: Results will be interpreted in relation to convergences and discrepancies between subjective maternal data and objective behavioral data in order to highlight the significance of multiple measures.  Implications: In both clinical as well as research settings, incorporating multiple measures facilitates cross-validation of findings, potentially mitigating the limitations of each assessment and/or measurement procedure.  In addition, insights gained through examining potential convergences and discrepancies generated from subjective versus objective data may provide an impetus for further refinement of relational measures in mother-infant dyadic research.  It is vital for health professionals such as psychiatric mental-health and maternal-child nurses to understand normative patterns of dyadic interaction in order to conceptualize risk factors likely to undermine development and healthy parent-child relationships.  In addition, it is critical that both self-report and observational measures be incorporated into nursing research studies focused mother-infant interaction due to the inherent complexity of dyadic processes.