Cognitive and behavioral-emotional functioning during the early school-age years for preterm born children : the role of the mother-child relationship

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Lynda M. Richtsmeier (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Susan P. Keane

Abstract: The present study investigated whether the mother-child relationship functioned as a moderator (i.e., protective factor) in reducing the effect of biological risk on preterm born children's cognitive and behavioral-emotional functioning during the early school-age years. Preterm born children's cognitive and behavioral-emotional functioning was also compared to a group of demographically similar full-term born peers. The Perinatal Risk Inventory (PERI) was used to determine the severity of preterm born children's perinatal medical complications, and provided a measure of biological risk. Both children's and mother's perceptions of the quality of the mother-child relationship were obtained. Significant predictors of preterm born children's cognitive and behavioral-emotional functioning during the early school-age years included, severity of children's perinatal medical complications, current stressors in the family context, and children's and mother's perceptions of the quality of the mother-child relationship, and these factors had differential effects depending on the outcome assessed. Analyses provided preliminary support for the hypothesis that the mother-child relationship functioned as a moderator of the relationship between biological risk and preterm born children's cognitive and behavioral-emotional functioning during the early school-age years. The only significant group difference found between preterm and full-term born children was in their reports of depressive symptoms.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1996
Subjects
Mother and child
Premature infants $x Development $v Longitudinal studies
Premature infants $x Psychology $v Longitudinal studies

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