Semester Award Granted

Summer 2025

Submission Date

August 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Nancy Aaron Jones

Abstract

The impact of infant fear responses on mother stress throughout the first year of life was investigated in this study. Between six and fourteen months, thirty mother-infant pairs were examined at three different time intervals. Maternal responses from the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) and behavioral observations made during standardized lab tasks were used to evaluate infant fear. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to measure maternal stress at all time points, and behavioral stress was coded during the first session. The findings showed no overall significant correlation between the mother's subjective stress and the behavioral fear of her infant. However, the growth curve analysis revealed a significant relationship between visit timepoint and infant fear, in which changes in infant age and changes in their fear responses during each condition were related to changes in maternal stress. In particular, mothers of infants who were fearful reported feeling more stressed at visit 2 but less stressed by Visit 3, which may indicate a potential adaptation effect. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between infant fear scores from the IBQ-R and behavior coding, and behavioral mother stress was inversely connected with perceived stress. These results imply that maternal stress is time and context-dependent and subject to change as mothers adapt to the emotional patterns of their infants across development.

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