PEDIATRICS Vol. 81 No. 3 March 1988, pp. 412-418
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Behavioral Responsiveness in Preterm Infants With Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Cynthia T. Garcia-Coll PhD1, Laura Emmons BA1, Betty R. Vohr MD1, Alison Monds Ward BS1, Benjamin S. Brann MD1, Phillip W. Shaul MD1, Steven R. Mayfield MD1, and William Oh MD1

1 From Brown University and Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence; University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque; and University of Texas Health Science Center, Dallas

Preterm infants with varying degrees of intraventricular hemorrhage (none, n = 21; grade I to II, n = 22; grade II to IV, n = 24) and a group of full-term infants (n = 21) were compared with regard to behavioral responsiveness and parental reports of the infant's temperament. Behavioral responsiveness was assessed during the presentation of 15 visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli at 3 months of age (corrected age for preterm infants). Summary scores for positive and negative responsiveness, as well as sociability, soothability, and overall activity levels, were derived from behavioral observations by coders who were unaware of the infant's characteristics. The Bates Infant Characteristic Questionnaire was completed by the main care giver and scored on four summary variables: fussy-difficult, unadaptable, dull, and unpredictable. Preterm infants, regardless of the presence or severity of intraventricular hemorrhage, showed less positive responses and less overall activity in response to stimulation. Infants with grade I to II intraventricular hemorrhage were less sociable and more difficult to soothe than fullterm control infants. Individual differences in positive, negative, sociability, and soothability were related to the questionnaire scores of fussy-difficult and unadaptability. Both prematurity and degree of intraventricular hemorrhage affect behavioral responsiveness and these individual differences are related to parental reports of the infant's temperament.

Key Words: intraventricular hemorrhage • preterm infant • temperament

Submitted on January 14, 1987
Accepted on June 2, 1987




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M. H. Bornstein, J. M. Gaughran, and I. Segul
Multimethod Assessment of Infant Temperament: Mother Questionnaire and Mother and Observer Reports evaluated and compared at Five Months using the Infant Temperament Measure
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[Abstract] [PDF]