812 EMOTlONAL ENGAGEMENT: THE COMMON THREAD LlNKlNG THE SHARABLE WORLDS OF MOTHER AND INFANT Lenore Weissmann, Carol Harding, Susan Kromelow & Judith Arand Center for Children, Families and Community Loyola University Chicago 1041 Ridge Road Wilmette, IL 60091 A longitudinal design is employed examining the mother-infant relationship in the ongoing context of normal development. The normal relationship is investigated across a range of domains including the social, emotional, cognitive and kinesthetic. It is hypothesized that a construct labelled here as “emotional engagement” represents a reciprocal interactive process, informing and connecting the social, emotional, cognitive, and kinesthetic development of each mother/infant relationship. “Emotional engagement” represents the sharable world of the mother and infant and, although this world is unique to each relationship, the quality of its impact on infant development is predicted to provide common patterns across the social, emotional, cognitive, and kinesthetic (touch) development of observed dyads.

Emotional engagement: The common thread linking the sharable worlds of mother and infant

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812

EMOTlONAL ENGAGEMENT: THE COMMON THREAD LlNKlNG THE SHARABLE WORLDS OF MOTHER AND INFANT

Lenore Weissmann, Carol Harding, Susan Kromelow & Judith Arand

Center for Children, Families and Community Loyola University Chicago

1041 Ridge Road Wilmette, IL 60091

A longitudinal design is employed examining the mother-infant relationship in the ongoing context of normal development. The normal relationship is investigated across a range of domains including the social, emotional, cognitive and kinesthetic. It is hypothesized that a construct labelled here as “emotional engagement” represents a reciprocal interactive process, informing and connecting the social, emotional, cognitive, and kinesthetic development of each mother/infant relationship. “Emotional engagement” represents the sharable world of the mother and infant and, although this world is unique to each relationship, the quality of its impact on infant development is predicted to provide common patterns across the social, emotional, cognitive, and kinesthetic (touch) development of observed dyads.