Mother-Infant Behavioural Synchrony and Infant Stress Patterns During Maternal Mobile Device Use: The Role of Mothers' Sensitivity and Attachment Style

Abstract

The ubiquity of mobile technologies in recent years has led to growing concerns about caregivers’ frequent engagement with mobile phones while interacting with their infants. This “technoference” may produce a “still face” effect that is stressful for infants. The current study aimed to replicate previous work on the impact of mothers’ distraction with a mobile phone in their child’s presence by examining changes in infant stress behaviours across the three phases of a modified Face-to-Face Still-Face Paradigm. The effect of maternal sensitivity on those stress behaviours was also examined. Additionally, this study sought to address gaps in the literature on the relationship between infant stress and other relational factors including dyadic behavioural synchrony and maternal attachment style, respectively, in the context of technoference. One hundred and eight mother-infant dyads participated in a virtual session that required the mother to become engaged with her cell phone and withdraw attention from her infant in a modified still-face set up. The proportion of infant stress behaviours across phases of engagement was assessed, and mothers’ sensitivity during the mother-infant interaction was evaluated with the mini Maternal Behaviour Q-Sort-video. The behavioural synchrony between mothers and infants across phases was also coded. Mothers’ attachment-related anxiety was assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Scale. Results revealed a robust still-face effect consistent with previous research. Maternal sensitivity was found to significantly predict reduced odds of pulling away and negative facial expressions in infants as expected, but greater odds of self-comforting. Contrary to hypotheses, mother-infant synchrony did not change meaningfully during maternal cell phone engagement and was not found to be significantly associated with sensitivity. Additionally, there was no meaningful association between maternal attachment-related anxiety and infant stress or synchrony, respectively. These findings illustrate the complexity of defining and measuring dyadic synchrony, particularly in a virtual, naturalistic context and emphasize the need for guidelines and parenting interventions focused on the mindful use of mobile technology during infant care. Future research could explicate the effects of infant stress on the synchronicity of their interactions with mothers, and the role of maternal sensitivity and maternal attachment anxiety in this relationship.