We compared the ability of several groups of women to distinguish infant cry-signals. The cry-signals were taped reproductions of the Wasz-Hockert et al., (1964) study. Subjects were mothers and non-mother practical nursing students and mothers known to have battered their children. The results supported previous findings on ability to recognize cry-signals by mothers and non-mothers. The findings were not supportive of our primary hypothesis to determine if abusive mothers were less likely to correctly identify infant cry-signals than non-abusive mothers.

The unusual high-pitched cry of the high-risk infant has been shown to be rated as generally more aversive than low-risk infant cries. Because psychophysiological measures may provide sensitive indicators of perceptual differences which occur as a function of the listener's personality, the relation between heat rate (HR) to low-and high-risk infant cries and introversion-extraversion was examined. Introverts were predicted to show a greater amount of HR acceleration to infant cries than extraverts due to the introvert's lower threshold for psychophysiological activity. Extraverts were predicted to show a greater amount of HR deceleration to infant cries due to the extravert's high threshold for psychophysiological activity. A between groups design was used in which 40 introverts and 40 extraverts listened to a series of low-or high-risk infant cries while their HR was monitored. A significant personality by cry type interaction was found for HR acceleration but no significant differences were revealed in the post-hoc tests. Nonparametric analysis, however, revealed that introverts gave reliably more responses of greater HR acceleration to high- than to low-risk infant cries, suggesting that high-risk infant cries are perceived as more aversive. Heightened perceptual awareness by the introvert may be resulting in the greater differentiation of HR responses between cry types. Implications of these findings with child abuse and neglect are discussed. / M.S.

The temporal organization underlying durational components of naturally occurring infant cries was examined in 46 1-month-old infants, half of whom had been diagnosed as having colic. In a standard 90-sec crying bout for each infant, the presence or absence of expired cry sound was determined at .05-sec intervals. Binary spectrum analysis of the data detected between 8 and 23 reliable cycles in the expiration of sound in the cries of all infants. The data were characterized by a wide range of individual differences in the frequencies at which these cycles occurred and in other characteristics of the spectra. Although infants with and without colic did not reliably differ in the mean, variability, or range of the durations of expirations or bursts, the two groups were distinguished by their distributions of the total number of peaks in the power spectrum and by the frequencies at which the highest power peak, slowest cycle, and fastest cycle occurred. This study provides the first known systematic examination of the rhythmicities underlying infant crying. / Master of Science

This study was conducted to replicate and extend previous research on infant caregiver behavior by demonstrating negative reinforcement of infant caregiver behavior in response to crying and teaching appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying. A computerized infant simulator was used to create a laboratory simulation of infant caregiving. In Study 1, participants were exposed to negative reinforcement conditions and an extinction condition. In the negative reinforcement condition, participants engaged in caregiving responses to escape from the cry. In the extinction condition, the cry was inescapable and two of three participants stopped engaging in the previously reinforced caregiving response. Data was collected on cumulative duration of caregiving responses. In Study 2, participants were taught a task analysis of appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying using behavior skills training. Data were collected on percentage of completed appropriate care responses. Results showed acquisition of appropriate care responses following training.

Bakgrund: Studier visar att spädbarnskrik är påfrestande för föräldrar och tillgång till stöd kan bidra till att föräldrar klarar denna påfrestning bättre. Distriktssköterskan inom barnhälsovården i Sverige har en unik möjlighet att ge stöd till föräldrar, få studier beskriver dock vad distriktssköterskan ger för stöd till föräldrar som lever med just ett skrikigt spädbarn. Syfte: Att beskriva distriktssköterskans stöd till föräldrar som lever med ett skrikigt spädbarn. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med tio distriktssköterskor. Intervjumaterialet analyserades sedan med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Vid analysen av intervjumaterialet framkom tre kategorier och åtta underkategorier som bildar studiens resultat. Utreda skrik inkluderade två underkategorier: att hjälpa föräldrarna bena upp skriksituationen samt att utesluta fysisk sjukdom hos spädbarnet. Hantera skrik inkluderade tre underkategorier: att informera om spädbarns behov, att ge råd om åtgärder som kan minska skriket samt att rekommendera avlastning. Stärka föräldrarna inkluderade tre underkategorier: att vägleda föräldrarna att hitta egna hanteringsstrategier, att bekräfta föräldrarnas känslor samt att ge positiv förstärkning. Slutsats: Den påfrestning spädbarnsskrik har på föräldrar ställer krav på att distriktssköterskan inom barnhälsovården i Sverige ger stöd till föräldrarna för att de ska ges förutsättningar att kunna skydda och ta hand om sitt spädbarn. Det är dessutom avgörande att verksamheten säkerställer möjligheten för distriktssköterskan att vara tillgänglig för att detta stöd överhuvudtaget ska kunna ges. Ytterligare studier krävs för att kunna fastställa att föräldrar som lever med ett skrikigt spädbarn erhåller det stöd de faktiskt önskar och är i behov av. / Background: Studies show that infant crying is stressful for parents and access to support can help parents cope with this stress better. The district nurse in Swedish child health care has a unique opportunity to provide support. Few studies, however, describe what kind of support the district nurse give to these parents. Aim: To describe the district nurse’s support for parents with a crying infant. Method: The study has a qualitative approach in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten district nurses. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings: The analysis of the interviews revealed three categories and eight subcategories that form the result of the study. Investigating the crying included two subcategories: to help parents analyse the cry situation and to exclude physical illness in the infant. Managing infant crying included three subcategories: to inform about infants needs, to advice on measures that can reduce infant crying and to recommend relief. Strengthening parents included three subcategories: to guide the parents to find their own coping strategies, to confirm the parents feelings and to give positive reinforcement. Conclusion: The stress infant crying has on parents requires the district nurse in Swedish child health care to provide support to parents to enable them to protect and care for their infant. It is also important to ensure that it is possible for the district nurse to be available in order for this support at all to be given. Further studies are needed in order to make sure that parents with a crying infant actually receive the support they want and need.

This study evaluated the impact of delivery of the Period of PURPLE Crying (PURPLE), in a group of first-time mothers. Frustration with crying is reported as a trigger for abusive head trauma (AHT).The primary objective was to determine whether there was a change in knowledge about crying and shaking after exposure to PURPLE. Factors associated with behavioral responses to crying were studied as was the utility of PURPLE. There was a significant increase in knowledge about infant crying (P = 0.001) after program delivery that was predicted by low baseline knowledge (P < 0.01). There was a non-significant negative change in shaking knowledge (P = 0.5), which may have been the consequence of high baseline knowledge of shaking. The PURPLE program was characterized as informative and useful by participants. Additional to evaluate the impact of program delivery on other caregivers and on the rates of AHT is recommended.

Using session events from nine dyads (counsellors-in-training and their clients), the present study examined how counsellors-in-training react to client weeping events. Trainees' reactions were observed across three different phases of psychotherapy (early, middle, and late) in order to investigate whether there were important changes in counsellors' reactions across time. Two studies---using distinct but complementary methodological perspectives---were employed for this investigation. / Results from the first, quantitative analysis indicated that, during weeping events, trainees adopted a mainly warm and empathic attitude towards their clients. To a lesser degree, they adopted an exploratory stance by working with clients' thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Finally, they demonstrated almost no negative attitudes that would be characterized by a defensive or judgmental style. A further important finding from this analysis was that therapist attitudes and behaviours did not significantly change across the three phases of psychotherapy. / A finer-grained, qualitative examination using discovery-oriented methodology indicated that changes in trainees' behaviours and attitudes over time were discernible. Therapists became more focused on the present, learned to balance their focus on clients' cognitions as well as emotions, and used a variety of interventions to do so. Throughout all three phases, they were found to adopt an empathic and accepting attitude towards their clients. Trainees were also found to become more active and solution-oriented in the last phase of therapy. In terms of the quality of trainees' tasks, some commonalities were found between tasks judged positively and negatively regardless of time, however, no clear pattern of quality of tasks was found across the three phases.

Lic.-avhandling (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

The results of a first cross-cultural study on adult crying in 30 countries including Peru are presented. Vingerhoets et al. (1997) from the University of Tilburg have analyzed motives, tendencies and frequency of crying, emotions and feelings that provoke crying, as well as differences and similarities among countries and sexes. Results show that women have a tendency to cry more frequently and intensively than men. It has also been noted that, in certain countries, there is a link between crying in women and their monthly period. / Se presentan los resultados de un primer estudio transcultural del llanto del adulto que comprende 30 países, entre los que se encuentra el Perú. Vingerhoets et al. (1997) de la Universidad de Tilburg, Holanda, analizan las causas, tendencia y frecuencia del llanto, emociones y sentimientos que inducen al llanto, diferencias y similitudes entre los países y los sexos. Los autores encuentran que las mujeres tienden a llorar con más frecuencia e intensidad que los varones, advirtiendo que en algunos países las mujeres establecen mayor relación entre la tendencia al llanto y el ciclo menstrual que en otros.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / O objetivo desta tese consistiu em saber se os sentidos compartilhados e os significados construídos sobre o choro das crianças nas creches públicas do município de Juiz de Fora, durante as sessões reflexivas com as coordenadoras/diretoras, produzem espaços de reflexão teórica sobre as práticas capazes de criar uma prática de reflexão. Pelo tipo de problema formulado optei por trabalhar a perspectiva metodológica a partir do paradigma crítico de pesquisa, concretizado na modalidade de pesquisa crítica de colaboração, com enfoque sócio-histórico-cultural. Isto se justifica porque busco compreender o lugar do choro das crianças nas práticas das coordenadoras/diretoras, procurando identificar se a consciência das ações institucionalizadas pode produzir mudanças nas práticas no interior das creches. O corpus discurso da tese constitui-se de 10 sessões reflexivas, cujos dados produzidos foram organizados e analisados a partir da perspectiva teórico-metodológica dos Núcleos de Significação de Aguiar e Ozella (2006). O campo teórico está circunscrito no diálogo entre Vigotski, Bakhtin e Wallon. Isso porque estes autores contribuíram, sobremaneira, para a discussão sobre sentido, significado; linguagem e consciência, zona de desenvolvimento proximal, além do estudo da emoção, em especial, sobre a manifestação do choro da criança no contexto da creche. A arquitetura dos Núcleos de Significação revelou a necessidade de aprofundar questões relacionadas aos diversos olhares para o choro da criança; estratégias para lidar com o choro a partir da visão das coordenadoras/diretoras; o controle/descontrole/não controle do choro; a inter-relação do choro, da creche e da família e, finalmente, a reflexão teórico-prática como possibilidade de reverberação no cotidiano da creche. As análises confirmaram três premissas básicas: a) que a emoção constitui-se como o primeiro recurso de interação com o outro, que antecede a própria representação simbólica e por isso é valioso o aprofundamento deste assunto em cursos de formação; b) quando tornamos a cena vivida mais clara, essa clareza pode trazer elementos para outras possíveis intervenções, para outros possíveis diálogos sobre o choro da criança. A perspectiva de transformação pode acontecer exatamente no diálogo entre o cotidiano, a história e espaços de reflexão; c) que o fundamental, nos contextos de formação, é não focalizar apenas o conteúdo a ser transmitido sem possibilidade de reflexão sobre o próprio contexto a que se destina porque é pelo possível distanciamento e necessário estranhamento das práticas rotineiras, esporadicamente ou quase nunca questionadas, que a reflexão e a crítica se estabelecem. / The objective of this thesis is to find out whether shared feelings and constructed meanings for childrens crying in public nursery schools of the city of Juiz de Fora, during reflection sessions with coordinators/principals, produce theoretical reflection spaces on practices that may create a reflection practice. Based on the type of problem formulated, I chose to work the methodological perspective from a critical research paradigm achieved in the critical collaboration research modality with a social-historical-cultural focus. This is justified by the fact that I seek to understand the place childrens crying occupies in the practices of coordinators/principals, and try to identify if awareness of institutionalized actions can produce changes in a nursery schools internal practices. The thesis discourse corpus consists of 10 reflecting sessions; all resulting data was organized and reviewed from the Aguiar and Ozella (2006) Signification Nuclei theoretical-methodological perspective. The theoretical field is included in the dialogue among Vigotski, Bakhtin, and Wallon. This is because these authors have immensely contributed to the discussion on meaning, significance, language and conscience, the proximal development zone, as well as the study of emotion, especially on the manifestation of childrens crying in the context of a nursery school. The Signification Nuclei architecture revealed the necessity to go deeper into these questions relating to the different outlooks on childrens crying; strategies to deal with the crying from the view of coordinators/principals; the control/uncontrol/non-control of crying; the interrelation of crying, nursery school, and family, and finally the theoretical-practical reflection as a possibility to reverberate in a nursery schools everyday life. Analyses confirmed three basic premises: a) that emotion constitutes the first interaction resource with the other, which antecedes the symbolic representation itself and therefore it is of great value to go deeper into this subject in educational courses; b) that when we make the experienced scene clearer, this clearness can bring elements for other possible interventions, for other possible dialogues on childrens crying. The transformation perspective can happen exactly in the dialogue between everyday life, history and reflection spaces; c) that the fundamental aspect, in the context of education, is not to focus only on the context to be transmitted without the possibility of reflection on the target context itself, because it is through the potential withdrawal from and necessary strangeness of routine practices, sporadically or almost never questioned, that reflection and critique are established.