An Examination of Changes in Emotion Co-Regulation Among Mother and Child Dyads During the Strange Situation.

The present study applied State Space Grid analysis to describe how preschooler-mother dyads co-regulate emotion in the Strange Situation. Second-to-second mother and child affect during pre-separation play (baseline) and the final reunion (post perturbation) episodes of the Strange Situation were coded for 80 dyads. Change in emotion co-regulation across the two Strange Situation episodes was examined with linear mixed models for groups with secure and insecure classifications.

Light is beneficial for infant circadian entrainment: an actigraphic study.

Aim: This article is a report of an exploratory study of the relation between light exposure and circadian rest-activity patterns in infants.

Background: Ambient light is a major environmental stimulus for regulation of circadian rhythm of sleep and wake in adults, but few studies have been conducted to examine environmental light exposure in relation to rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters of infants.

Methods: An intensive within-subject design was used with a convenience sample of 22 infants (mean postnatal age 49·8 days) who wore a combined light and activity monitoring device for seven consecutive days at home.

Mother-infant activity synchrony as a correlate of the emergence of circadian rhythm.

Objective: Entrainment to the day-night cycle is critical for infant sleep and social development. Synchronization of infant circadian systems with the social 24-hr day may require maternal activity signals as an entraining cue. This descriptive and exploratory research examines the activity level and circadian pattern in mothers and infants.

Twenty-four hours light exposure experiences in postpartum women and their 2-10-week-old infants: an intensive within-subject design pilot study.

Background: Adequate light exposure is critical for entraining circadian rhythms, regulating sleep-wake cycles, and maintaining optimal mood. Yet, few studies have reported normative data on light exposure experiences in postpartum women and young infants; none has examined the two simultaneously.

Objectives: The objective of this pilot study was to document the 24-h light exposure experiences in postpartum women and their infants.

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects at least 10% to 15% of postpartum women, including more than 600,000 American mothers in 2003 alone. Dramatic changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system in the transition from pregnancy to postpartum coupled with research on the psychobiology of depression provided the foundation for this study. The purpose of this study was to compare the reactivity and regulation of the HPA axis components, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol, in depressed and nondepressed postpartum women.