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RESEARCH ACROSS THE GLOBE
England: GAIN Study The GAIN Study (Growth in At-risk Infants) is a longitudinal study of 90 very preterm/very low birth weight infants born in the Southeast of England. The focus of the study is to determine whether early infant regulatory behaviours (i.e. feeding, sleeping and crying) are related to later catch-up growth, attachment and developmental progress. In order to assess the impact of neonatal irritability on mother-infant interaction and still-face at three months corrected age, the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) was conducted by the researchers at 40 weeks post-conceptual age (ie term), and in addition the mother was asked to rate irritability and crying duration (Mother and Baby Scale, Wolke 1995; Crying Patterns Questionnaire, St. James Roberts & Halil, 1991). Results show that whereas NBAS-assessed irritability classification (Kaye, 1978) predicted emotional regulation during interaction at three months, neither mother-rated irritability nor crying duration was related to interaction. A larger proportion of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) than appropriate-for-gestational- age (AGA) infants were rated as irritable during the NBAS (50% vs 25%). Irritable infants who were born SGA showed the highest regulation problems during interaction and presented the greatest challenge for mothers' sensitive response. It will be of interest to see whether the infants who displayed neonatal irritability will continue to exhibit emotion regulation deficits in the second year of life, and whether this will impact on their attachment relationships and developmental progress.
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GAIN Study, Department of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire
