Touch Research Institute Books

Anorexia

Hart, S., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Nearing, G., Shaw, S., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2001). Anorexia nervosa symptoms are reduced by massage therapy. Eating Disorders, 9, 289-299.

Nineteen women diagnosed with anorexia nervosa were given standard treatment alone or standard treatment plus massage therapy twice per week for five weeks. The massage group reported lower stress and anxiety levels and had lower cortisol levels following massage. Over the five-week treatment period they also reported decreased body dissatisfaction on the Eating Disorder Inventory and showed increased dopamine and norepinephrine levels.

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Anxiety

Field, T., Ironson, G., Scafidi, F., Nawrocki, T.,Goncalves, A., Burman, I. , Pickens, J., Fox, N., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1996). Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertness and math computations. International Journal of Neuroscience, 86, 197-205.

Adults were given a chair massage, and control group adults were asked to relax in a chair for 15 minutes, two times a week for five weeks. Frontal delta power increased for both groups, suggesting relaxation. The massage group showed decreased alpha and beta power, and increased speed and accuracy on math computations. At the end of the five-week period depression scores were lower for both groups but job stress scores were only, for the massage group.

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Back Pain

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Krasnegor, J., & Theakston, H. (2001). Lower back pain is reduced and range of motion increased after massage therapy. International Journal of Neuroscience, 106, 131-145.

Massage therapy was compared to relaxation for chronic low back pain. By the end of the study, the massage therapy group, as compared to the relaxation group, reported less pain, depression and anxiety and improved sleep. They also showed improved trunk and pain flexion performance, and their serotonin and dopamine levels were higher.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., & Fraser, M. (2007). Lower back pain and sleep disturbance are reduced following massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapy, 11, 141-145.

Massage therapy versus relaxation therapy with chronic low back pain patients was evaluated for reducing pain, depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances, for improving trunk range of motion (ROM) and for reducing job absenteeism and increasing job productivity. Thirty adults with low back pain with a duration of at least 6 months pain participated in the study. On the first and last day of the 5-week study participants completed questionnaires and were assessed for ROM. By the end of the study, the massage therapy group, as compared to the relaxation group, reported less pain, depression, anxiety and sleep disturbance. They also showed improved trunk and pain flexion performance.

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Blood Pressure

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Krasnegor, J. & Theakston, H.(2000). High blood pressure and associated symptoms were reduced by massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 4, 31-38.

High blood pressure is associated with elevated anxiety, stress and stress hormones, hostility, depression and catecholamines. Massage therapy and progressive muscle relaxation were evaluated as treatments for reducing blood pressure and these associated symptoms. Adults who had been diagnosed as hypertensive received ten 30 min massage sessions over five weeks or they were given progressive muscle relaxation instructions (control group). Sitting diastolic blood pressure decreased after the first and last massage therapy sessions and reclining diastolic blood pressure decreased from the first to the last day of the study. Although both groups reported less anxiety, only the massage therapy group reported less depression and hostility and showed decreased cortisol.

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Burns

Field, T., Peck, M., Krugman, S., Tuchel, T., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C. & Burman, I. (1998). Burn injuries benefit from massage therapy. Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, 19, 241-244.

Twenty-eight adult patients with burns were randomly assigned before debridement to either a massage therapy group or a standard treatment control group. State anxiety and cortisol levels decreased, and behavior ratings of state, activity, vocalizations and anxiety improved after the massage therapy sessions on the first and last days of treatment.

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Field, T., Peck, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Krugman, S., Burman, I. & Ozment-Schenck, L. (2000). Post burn itching, pain, and psychological symptoms are reduced with massage therapy. Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, 21, 189-193.

Twenty patients with burn injuries were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment control group during the remodeling phase of wound healing. The massage therapy group received a 30-minute massage with cocoa butter to a closed, moderate-sized scar tissue area twice a week for 5 weeks. The massage therapy group reported reduced itching, pain, and anxiety and improved mood immediately after the first and last therapy sessions, and their ratings on these measures improved from the first day to the last day of the study.

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Diego, M. & Field, T. (2009). Moderate Pressure Massage Elicits a Parasympathetic Nervous System Response. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119, 630-639.

Twenty healthy adults were randomly assigned to a moderate pressure or light pressure massage therapy group, and EKGs were recorded during a 3-minute baseline, during the 15-minute therapy group, and EKGs were recorded during a 3-minute baseline, during the 15-minute massage period and during a 3-minute post massage period. EKG data were then used to derive the high frequency (LH), low frequency (LF) components of heart variablilty and the low to high frequency ratio as noninvasive markers of autonomic nervous system activity. The participants who received the moderate pressure massage exhibited a parasympathic nervous system response characterized by an increase in HF, suggesting increased vagal efferent activity and a decrease in the LF/HF ratio, suggesting a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic activity that peaked during the first half of the massage period. On the other hand, those who received the light pressure massage exhibited a sympathetic nervous system response characterized by decreased HF and increased LF/HF.

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Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2010). Moderate pressure is essential for massage therapy effects. International Journal of Neuroscience, 120, 381-385.

Moderate pressure appears to be necessary for massage therapy effects. Studies comparing moderate and light pressure massage are reviewed and they suggest that growth and development are enhanced in infants and stress is reduced in adults, but only by moderate pressure massage. The stimulation of pressure receptors leads to increased vagal activity which, in turn, seems to mediate the diverse benefits noted for massage therapy.

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Dance

Leivadi, S., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Rourke, M., DÕArienzo, S., Lewis, D., del Pino, N., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (1999). Massage therapy and relaxation effects on University dance students. Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, 3, 108-112.

Thirty female university dancers were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or relaxation therapy group. The therapies consisted of 30-minute sessions twice a week for five weeks. Both groups reported less depressed mood and lower anxiety levels. However, cortisol decreased only for the massage therapy group. Both groups reported less neck, shoulder, and back pain after the treatment sessions and reduced back pain across the study.

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Depression

Field, T., Grizzle, N., Scafidi, F., & Schanberg, S. (1996). Massage and relaxation therapies’ effects on depressed adolescent mothers. Adolescence, 31, 903-911.

Thirty-two depressed adolescent mothers received ten 30-minute sessions of massage therapy or relaxation therapy over a five-week period. Subjects were randomly assigned to each group. Although both groups reported lower anxiety following their first and final sessions, although only the massage therapy group showed behavioral and stress hormone changes, including a decrease in anxious behavior, heartrate and cortisol levels.

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Ironson, G., Field, T.M., Scafidi, F., Hashimoto, M., Kumar, M., Kumar, A., Price, A., Goncalves, A., Burman, I. , Tetenman, C., Patarca, R. & Fletcher, M.A. (1996). Massage therapy is associated with enhancement of the immune system’s cytotoxic capacity. International Journal of Neuroscience, 84, 205-217.

Twenty nine gay men with HIV received massage for 1 month. Major immune findings for the effects of the month of massage included an increase in Natural Killer Cell number. Major neuroendocrine findings included a decrease in cortisol. Anxiety also decreased and relaxation increased which were correlated with increased in NK cell numbers.

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Sunshine, W., Field, T.M., Quintino, O., Fierro, K., Kuhn, C., Burman, I. & Schanberg, S. (1996). Fibromyalgia benefits from massage therapy and transcutaneous electrical stimulation. Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, 2, 18-22.

Adult fibromyalgia syndrome subjects were randomly assigned to a massage therapy, a transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS), or a transcutaneous electrical stimulation no-current group for 30-minute treatment sessions two times per week for 5 weeks. The massage therapy subjects reported lower anxiety and depression, and their cortisol levels were lower immediately after the therapy sessions on the first and last days of the study. The TENS group showed similar changes, but only after therapy on the last day of the study.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Taylor , S., Quintino, O., & Burman, I. (1997). Labor pain is reduced by massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology, 18, 286-291.

Twenty-eight women were recruited from prenatal classes and randomly assigned to receive massage in addition to coaching in breathing from their partners during labor , or to receive coaching in breathing alone. The massaged mothers reported a decrease in depressed mood, anxiety and pain, and showed less agitated activity and anxiety and more positive affect following the first massage during labor. In addition the massaged mothers had shorter labors, a shorter hospital stay and less postpartum depression.

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Field, T., Quintino, O., Henteleff, T., Wells-Keife, L. & Delvecchio-Feinberg, G. (1997). Job stress reduction therapies. Alternative Therapies, 3, 54-56.

The immediate effects of brief massage therapy, music relaxation with visual imagery, muscle relaxation, and social support group sessions were assessed in 100 hospital employees at a major public hospital. The effects of the therapies were assessed using a within-subjects pre-post test design and by comparisons across groups. The groups reported decreased anxiety, depression, fatigue, and confusion, as well as increased vigor following the session.

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Field, T.M., Sunshine, W., Hernandez-Reif, M., Quintino, O., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., & Burman, I. (1997). Massage therapy effects on depression and somatic symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome. Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 3, 43-51.

Twenty subjects with chronic fatigue immunodeficiency syndrome were randomly assigned either to a massage therapy or an attention control group. Although depression and anxiety scores were initially as high as clinically depressed patients, analyses of the before versus after therapy session measures on the first and last day of treatment revealed that immediately following massage therapy depression scores, pain, and cortisol levels decreased more in the massage versus control group.

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Elderly

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Quintino, O., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (1998). Elder retired volunteers benefit from giving massage therapy to infants. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 17, 229-239.

Elderly retired volunteers give massage to infants and were compared with those receiving massage themselves. After the first and last day sessions of giving massages, the elderly retired volunteers had less anxiety and depression and lower stress hormones. Over the 3-week period, depression and stress neurotransmitters decreased and lifestyle and health improved.

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Headaches

Hernandez-Reif, M., Dieter J., Field, T., Swerdlow, B., & Diego, M. (1998). Migraine headaches are reduced by massage therapy. International Journal of Neuroscience, 96, 1-11.

Twenty-six adults with migraine headaches were randomly assigned to a wait-list control group or to a massage therapy group, who received two 30-minute massages per week for five consecutive weeks. The massage therapy subjects reported fewer distress symptoms, less pain, more headache free days, fewer sleep disturbances, and they showed an increase in serotonin levels.

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Muitiple Sclerosis

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Field, T., & Theakston, H. (1998). Multiple sclerosis patients benefit from massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2, 168-174.

Twenty-four adults with multiple sclerosis were randomly assigned to a standard medical treatment control group or a massage therapy group that received 45-minute massages twice a week for 5 weeks. The massage group had lower anxiety and less depressed mood immediately following the massage sessions and, by the end of the study, they had improved self-esteem, better body image and image of disease progression and enhanced social functional status.

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Pregnancy

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Hart, S., Theakston, H., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C. & Burman, I. (1999). Pregnant women benefit from massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 20, 31-38.

Twenty-six pregnant women were assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group for 5 weeks. Both groups reported feeling less anxious after the first session and less leg pain after the first and last session. Only the massage therapy group, however, reported reduced anxiety, improved mood, better sleep and less back pain by the last day of the study.

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Latifses, V., Bendell Estroff, D., Field, T., & Bush, J. (2005). Father massaging and relaxing their pregnant wives lowered anxiety and facilitated marital adjustment. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 9, 277-82.

Fathers learned to massage their pregnant wives conducted progressive muscle relaxation. Massage therapy lowered the fathers’ anxiety and improved marital adjustment.

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Field, T., Deed, O., Diego, M., Gualer, A., Sullivan, S., Wilson, D. & Nearing, G. (2009). Benefits of combining massage therapy with group interpersonal psychotherapy in prenatally depressed women. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therpies, 13, 297-303.

One hundred and twelve pregnant women who were diagnosed depressed were randomly assigned to a group who received group Interpersonal Psychotherapy or to a group who received both group Interpersonal Psychotherapy and massage therapy. The data suggested that the group who received psychotherapy plus massage attended more sessions on average, and a greater percentage of that group completed the 6-week program. The group who received both therapies also showed a greater decrease in depression, depressed affect and somatic-vegetative symptom scores on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scal , a greater decrease in anxiety scale scores and a greater decrease in cortisol levels. The group therapy process appeared to be effective for both groups as suggested by the increased expression of both positive and negative affect and relatedness during the group therapy sessions.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O. & Figueiredo, B. (2009). Pregnancy massage reduces prematurity, low birthweight and postpartum depression. Infant Behavior & Development, 32, 454-460.

One hundred and twelve pregnant women who were diagnosed depressed were randomly assigned to a group who received group Interpersonal Psychotherapy or to a group who received both group Interpersonal Psychotherapy and massage therapy. The data suggested that the group who received psychotherapy plus massage attended more sessions on average, and a greater percentage of that group completed the 6-week program. The group who received both therapies also showed a greater decrease in depression, depressed affect and somatic-vegetative symptom scores on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, a greater decrease in anxiety scale scores and a greater decrease in cortisol levels. The group therapy process appeared to be effective for both groups as suggested by the increased expression of both positive and negative affect and relatedness during the group therapy sessions.

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Field, T. (2010). Pregnancy and labor massage therapy. Expert Review of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 5, 177-181.

Women who received massage therapy reported decreased depression, anxiety, and leg and back pain. Cortisol levels decreased and, in turn, excessive fetal activity decreased, and the rate of prematurity was lower in the massage group. In a study of labor pain, women who received massage therapy experienced significantly less pain, and their labors were on average 3 h shorter with less need for medication. An underlying mechanism we have been exploring is that these effects are mediated by increased vagal activity.

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Premenstrual Syndrome

Hernandez-Reif, M, Martinez , A., Field, T., Quintino, O., Hart, S., & Burman, I. (2000). Premenstrual syndrome symptoms are relieved by massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 21, 9-15.

Twenty-four women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a relaxation therapy group. The massage group showed decreased anxiety, depressed mood and pain immediately after the first and last massage sessions. The longer term effects of massage therapy included a reduction in pain and water retention and overall menstrual distress.

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Field, T. (In Press) Pregnancy and Labor Alternative Therapy Research. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

Medline and papers were reviewed for the most popular complementary and alternative therapies used during pregnancy and labor, including massage therapy, acupuncture, relaxation, yoga, and exercise. The pregnancy research suggests that alternative therapies have been effective for reducing pregnancy-related back and leg pain and nausea and for reducing depression and cortisol levels and the associated prematurity rate. The labor research generally shows that alternative therapies reduce pain and thereby the need for medication.

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Sexual Abuse

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Hart, S., Quintino, O., Drose, L., Field, T., Kuhn, C., & Schanberg, S (1997). Effects of sexual abuse are lessened by massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 1, 65-69.

Women who had experienced sexual abuse were given a 30-minute massage twice a week for 1 month. Immediately after the massage the women reported being less depressed and less anxious and their salivary cortisol levels decreased following the session. Over the 1-month treatment period the massage therapy group experienced a decrease in depression and in life event stress. Although the relaxation therapy control group also reported a decrease in anxiety and depression, their stress hormones did not change, and they reported an increasingly negative attitude toward touch.

ADHD

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T. & Thimas, E. (2001). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: benefits from Tai Chi. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 5, 120-123.

Thirteen adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) participated in Tai Chi classes twice a week for 5 weeks. Teachers rated the children’s behaviour on the Conners Scale during the baseline period, after the 5 week Tai Chi session period and 2 weeks later. After the 10 Tai Chi sessions the adolescents displayed less anxiety, improved conduct, less daydreaming behaviours, less inappropriate emotions, and less hyperactivity. These improved scores persisted over the 2-week follow up (no Tai Chi period).

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Anxiety

Field, T., Morrow, C., Valdeon, C., Larson, S., Kuhn, C., & Schanberg, S., (1992). Massage reduces anxiety in child and adolescent psychiatric patients. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 125-131.

Compared with a control group who viewed relaxing videotapes, the massaged subjects were less depressed and anxious and had lower saliva cortisol levels after the massage. In addition, nighttime sleep increased for both groups over the study period and urinary cortisol and norepinephrine levels decreased, but only for depressed patients.

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Platania Solazzo, A., Field, T., Blank, J., Seligman, F., Kuhn, C., Schanberg, S., & Saab, P. (1992). Relaxation therapy reduces anxiety in child and adolescent psychiatric patients. Acta Paedopsychiatrica, 55, 115-120.

Two groups were formed for the study; the control group watched a one hour relaxing videotape, while the treatment group participated in a one hour class consisting of yoga exercise, a brief massage, and progressive muscle relaxation. Decreases were noted in both self-reported anxiety and anxious behavior and fidgeting as well as increases in positive affect in the relaxation therapy, but not the videotape group. Cortisol decreased following both relaxation therapies.

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Arthritis

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Seligman, S., Krasnegor, J., Sunshine, W., Rivas-Chacon, R. Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1997). Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: Benefits from massage therapy. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 607-617.

Children with mild to moderate juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were massaged by their parents 15 minutes a day for 30 days (and a control group engaged in relaxation therapy). The children’s anxiety and cortisol levels were immediately decreased by the massage, and over the 30-day period their pain decreased on self-reports, parent reports, and their physician’s assessment of pain (both the incidence and severity) and pain-limiting activities.

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Asthma

Field, T., Henteleff, T, Hernandez-Reif, M., Martinez, E., Mavunda, K., Kuhn, C., & Schanberg, S. (1998). Children with asthma have improved pulmonary function after massage therapy. Journal of Pediatrics, 132, 854-858.

Thirty-two children with asthma were randomly assigned to receive either massage therapy or relaxation therapy. The children’s parents were taught to provide one therapy or the other for 20 minutes before bedtime each night for 30 days. The younger children who received massage therapy showed an immediate decrease in behavioral anxiety and cortisol levels after massage. Also, their attitude toward asthma and their peak air flow and all other pulmonary functions improved over the course of the study. The older children who received massage therapy reported lower anxiety after the massage. Their attitude toward asthma also improved over the study, but only one measure of pulmonary function (forced expiratory flow 25% to 75%) improved. The reason for the smaller therapeutic benefit in the older children is unknown; however, it appears that daily massage improves airway caliber and control of asthma.

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Autism

Escalona, A., Field, T., Singer-Strunk, R., Cullen, C., & Hartshorn, K. (2001). Brief report: Improvements in the behavior of children with autism following massage therapy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 513-516.

Twenty children with autism, ages 3 to 6 years, were randomly assigned to massage therapy and reading attention control groups. Parents in the massage therapy group were trained by a massage therapist to massage their children for 15 minutes prior to bedtime every night for 1 month and the parents of the attention control group read Dr. Seuss stories to their children on the same time schedule. Conners Teacher and Parent scales, classroom and playground observations, and sleep diaries were used to assess the effects of therapy on various behaviors, including hyperactivity, stereotypical and off-task behavior, and sleep problems. The children in the massage group exhibited less stereotypic behavior and showed more on-task and social relatedness behavior during play observations at school, and they experienced fewer sleep problems at home.

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Field, T., Lasko, D., Mundy, P. & Henteleff, T., Kabot, S., Talpins, S. & Dowling, M. (1997). Brief report: Autistic children’s attentiveness and responsivity improved after touch therapy. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 27, 333-338.

22 autistic preschool children who had attended a special preschool half days for 2 years were assigned to 2 groups, touch therapy and a touch control group. Touch aversion decreased in both the touch therapy and the touch control groups, off-task behavior decreased in both groups, orienting to irrelevant sounds decreased in both groups, but significantly more in the touch therapy group.

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Bulimic

Field, T., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Fierro, K., Henteleff, T., Mueller, C., Yando, R., & Burman, I. (1998). Bulimic adolescents benefit from massage therapy. Adolescence, 33, 555-563.

Twenty-four female adolescent bulimic inpatients were randomly assigned to massage therapy a standard treatment control group. The massaged patients showed immediate reductions (both self-report and behavior observation) in anxiety and depression. In addition, by the last day of the therapy, they had lower depression scores, lower cortisol levels, higher dopamine levels, and they showed improvement on several other psychological and behavioral measures.

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Cerebral Palsy

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Largie, S., Diego, M., Manigat, N., Seoanes, M., & Bornstein, J. (2005). Cerebral palsy symptoms in children decreased following massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 175, 445-456.

Twenty young children with cerebral palsy recruited from early intervention programs received 30 minutes of massage or reading twice weekly for 12 weeks. The children receiving massage therapy showed fewer physical symptoms including reduced spasticity, less rigid muscle tone overall and in the arms, and improved fine and gross motor functioning. In addition, the massage group had improved cognition, social and dressing scores on the Developmental Profile, and they showed more positive facial expressions and less limb activity during face-to-face play interactions.

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Cognitive

Hart, S., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Lundy, B. (1998). Preschoolers’ cognitive performance improves following massage. Early Child Development & Care, 143, 59-64.

Preschoolers were given WPPSI subtests, including Block Design, Animal Pegs and Mazes, before and after receiving a 15-minute massage or spending stories with an experimenter. Results revealed that Performance on the Block Design improved following massage, and accuracy was greater on Animal Pegs in the massage group, particularly in more temperamental children.

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Depressed

Jones, N.A., & Field, T. (1999). Massage and music therapies attenuate frontal EEG asymmetry in depressed adolescents. Adolescence, 34, 529-534.

EEG asymmetry, specifically (greater relative right frontal activation,) is associated with negative affect. Depressed adults show stable patterns of this asymmetry. The present study assessed the effects of massage therapy and music therapy on frontal EEG asymmetry in depressed adolescents. Thirty adolescents with greater relative right frontal EEG activation and symptoms of depression were given either massage therapy or music therapy. EEG was recorded for three-minute periods before, during, and after therapy. Frontal EEG asymmetry was significantly attenuated during and after the massage and music sessions.

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Dermatitis

Schachner, L., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Duarte, A.M., & Krasnegor, J. (1998). Atopic dermatitis symptoms decreased in children following massage therapy. Pediatric Dermatology, 15, 390-395.

•Young children with atopic dermatitis were treated with standard topical care and massage by their parents for 20 minutes daily for a 1 month period. A control group received standard topical care only. The children’s affect and activity level significantly improved, and their parent’s anxiety decreased immediately after the massage therapy sessions. Over the 1 month period, parents of massaged children reported lower anxiety levels in their children, and the children improved significantly on all clinical measures including redness, scaling, lichenification, excoriation, and pruritus. The control group only improved significantly on the scaling measure.

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Diabetes

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., LaGreca, A., Shaw, K., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1997). Massage therapy lowers blood glucose levels in children with diabetes. Diabetes Spectrum, 10, 237-239.

Children with diabetes were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or relaxation therapy group. The children’s parents were taught one or the other therapy. The immediate effects of the massage therapy were decreased parental anxiety and depressed mood, depressed child anxiety, fidgeting and depressed affect. Over the 30-day period, compliance with insulin and food regulation improved and mean blood glucose levels decreased.

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Down Syndrome

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Largie, S., Diego, M., Mora, D. & Bornstein, J. (2006). Children with Down Syndrome improved in motor function and muscle tone following massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 176, 395-410.

Twenty-one moderate to high functioning young children with Down syndrome receiving early intervention (physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy) were randomly assigned to also receive two 30-min massage therapy or reading sessions (control group) per week for two months. On the first and last day of the study, the children’s functioning levels were assessed using the Developmental Programming for Infants and Young Children scale, and muscle tone was assessed using a new preliminary scale (the Arms, Legs and Trunk Muscle Tone Score). Children in the massage therapy group revealed greater gains in fine and gross motor functioning and less severe limb hypotonicity when compared with the children in the reading/control group.

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HIV

Diego, M.A., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Friedman, L. & Shaw, K. (2001). HIV adolescents show improved immune function following massage therapy. International Journal of Neuroscience, 106, 35-45.

HIV+ adolescents recruited from a large urban university hospital’s outpatient clinic were randomly assigned to receive massage therapy or progressive muscle relaxation two-times per week for 12 weeks. To assess treatment effects, participants were assessed for depression, anxiety and immune changes before and after the 12 weeks treatment period. Adolescents who received massage therapy versus those who experienced relaxation therapy reported feeling less anxious and they were less depressed, and showed enhanced immune function by the end of the 12 week study. Immune changes included increased Natural Killer cell number. In addition, the HIV disease progression markers (CD4/CD8 ratio and CD4 number) showed an increase for the massage therapy group only.

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Leukemia

Field, T., Cullen, C., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Sprinz, P., Beebe, K., Kissel, B. & Bango-Sanchez, V. (2001). Leukemia immune changes following massage therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 3, 1-5.

Twenty children with leukemia were provided daily massage therapy by their parents and were compared to a standard treatment control group. Following a month of massage therapy, depressed mood decreased in the children’s parents, and the children’s white blood cell and neutrophil counts increased.

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Field, T., Seligman, S., Scafidi, F. & Schanberg, S. (1996). Alleviating posttraumatic stress in children following Hurricane Andrew. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 17, 37-50.

As compared to a video attention control group, the children who received massage therapy reported being happier and less anxious and had lower cortisol levels after therapy.

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Reviews

Field, T. (1995). Massage therapy for infants and children. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 16, 105-111.

•Data are reviewed on the effects of message therapy on infants and children with various medical conditions. The infants include: premature infants, cocaine-exposed infants, HIV-exposed infants, infants parented by depressed mothers, and full term infants without medical problems. The childhood conditions include: abuse (sexual and physical), asthma, autism, bulimia, burns, cancer, dermatitis, developmental delays, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychiatric problems. Generally, the massage therapy resulted in lower anxiety and stress hormones and improved clinical course. Having grandparent volunteers and parents give the therapy enhanced their own wellness and provided a cost-effective treatment for the children.

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Field, T. (1998). Touch therapy effects on development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 22, 779-797.

In this review empirical data are presented on the use of touch therapy, specifically massage therapy for improving the clinical course of several conditions including growth and development of preterm infants, reducing pain, increasing attentiveness, diminishing depression, and enhancing immune function. Potential underlying mechanisms for the massage therapy effects are proposed for each of these conditions. The general effects appear to derive from the stimulation of pressure receptors and the ensuing increase in vagal activity and slowing physiology which in turn facilitates a more relaxed behavioural state, decreases cortisol, and increases immune function, particularly natural killer cells.

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Sleep

Field, T., Kilmer, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Burman, I. (1996). Preschool children’s sleep and wake behavior: Effects of massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 120, 39-44.

The massaged children as compared to children in the wait-list control group had better behavior ratings on state, vocalization, activity, and cooperation after the massage sessions on the first and last days of the study. Also, the massaged children had a shorter latency to naptime sleep by the end of the study.

Cocaine

Wheeden, A., Scafidi, F.A., Field, T., Ironson, G., Valdeon, C. & Bandstra, E. (1993). Massage effects on cocaine-exposed preterm neonates. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 14, 318-322.

Cocaine exposed preterm neonates were randomly assigned to a control group or massage therapy group. The massaged infants averaged 28% greater weight gain per day although the groups did not differ in intake, showed significantly fewer postnatal complications and stress behaviors than did control infants, and demonstrated more mature motor behaviors on the Brazelton examination at the end of the 10-day study period.

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Depressed

Field, T., Grizzle, N., Scafidi, F. Abrams, S., Richardson, S., Kuhn, C., & Schanberg, S. (1996). Massage therapy for infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 19, 107-112.

The infants who experienced massage therapy compared to infants in the rocking control group spent more time in active alert and active awake states, cried less, and had lower cortisol levels, suggesting lower stress. Over the 6-week period, the massage-therapy infants gained more weight, showed greater improvement on emotionality, sociability, and soothability temperament dimensions, and had greater decreases in stress neurotransmitters/hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol).

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Father

Cullen, C., Field, T., Escalona, A. & Hartshorn, K. (2000). Father-infant interactions are enhanced by massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 164, 41-47.

Infants were given massages by their fathers for 15 minutes prior to their daily bedtime for one month. By the end of the study, the fathers who massaged their infants were more expressive and showed more enjoyment and more warmth during floor-play interactions with their infants.

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Habituation

Cigales, M., Field, T., Lundy, B., Cuadra, A., & Hart, S. (1997). Massage enhances recovery from habituation in normal infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 20, 29-34.

Research shows that touch stimulation can positively affect physiological, behavioral, and social development among infants. However, empirical evidence of the effects of touch on infants’ cognitive performance is lacking. In this study, 56, 4-month-olds were given either 8 minutes of massage, play, or no stimulation prior to an audiovisual habituation task. Infants who received massage showed response recovery from habituation during test trials, whereas those in the other two conditions did not.

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Oil

Field, T., Schanberg, S., Davalos, M., & Malphurs, J. (1996). Massage with oil has more positive effects on normal infants. Pre and Perinatal Psychology Journal, 11, 75-80.

As compared with infants who received massage without oil, infants who received massage with oil were less active, showed fewer stress behaviors and head averting, and their saliva cortisol levels decreased more. Also, vagal activity increased following massage with oil versus massage without oil.

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Preterm Infants

Scafidi, F.A., Field, T.M., Schanberg, S.M., Bauer, C.R., Tucci, K., Roberts, J., Morrow, C., & Kuhn, C.M. (1990). Massage stimulates growth in preterm infants: A replication. Infant Behavior and Development, 13, 167-188.

Forty preterm infants were assigned to treatment and control groups. The treatment infants averaged a 21% greater weight gain per day , were discharged 5 days earlier, and performed better on the habituation cluster items of the Brazelton scale. Treatment infants were also more active during the stimulation sessions than during the nonstimulation observation sessions (particularly during the tactile segments of the sessions).

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Kuhn, C., Schanberg, S., Field, T., Symanski, R., Zimmerman, E., Scafidi, F., & Roberts, J. (1991). Tactile kinesthetic stimulation effects on sympathetic and adrenocortical function in preterm infants. Journal of Pediatrics, 119, 434-440.

Urine norepinephrine and epinephrine values increased significantly only in the stimulated babies. Furthermore, urine dopamine and cortisol values increased in both groups, and serum growth hormone decreased in both groups.

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Scafidi, F., Field, T., Schanberg, S.M. (1993). Factors that predict which preterm infants benefit most from massage therapy. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 14, 176-180.

Preterm infants were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or control group. The massage therapy infants gained significantly more weight per day than the control infants. Seventy percent of the massage therapy infants were classified as high weight gainers whereas only forty percent of the control infants were classified as high weight gainers. The control infants who, before the study, consumed more calories and spent less time in intermediate care gained more weight. In contrast, for the massage group, the pattern of greater caloric intake and more days in Intermediate care before the study period along with more obstetric complications differentiated the high from the low weight gainers, suggesting that the infants who had experienced more complications before the study benefited more from the massage therapy.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O., Figueiredo, B. & Ascencio, A. (2006). Moderate Versus Light Pressure Massage Therapy Leads to Greater Weight Gain in Preterm Infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 574-578.

Sixty-eight preterm infants were randomly assigned to a moderate or to a light pressure massage therapy group to receive 15 massages three times per day for 5 days. Behavior state, stress behaviors and heart rate were recorded for 15min before and during the first 15-min therapy session. Weight gain was recorded over the 5-day therapy period. The moderate versus light pressure massage group gained significantly more weight per day. During the behavior observations the moderate versus light pressure massage group showed significantly lower increases from the pre-session to the session recording on: (1) active sleep; (2) fussing; (3) crying; (4) movement; and (5) stress behavior (hiccupping). They also showed a smaller decrease in deep sleep, a greater decrease in heart rate and a greater increase in vagal tone. Thus, the moderate pressure massage therapy group appeared to be more relaxed and less aroused than the light pressure massage group which may have contributed to the greater weight gain of the moderate pressure massage therapy group.

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Diego, M. A., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O., Ascencio, A., Begert, G. (2007). Preterm infant massage elicits consistent increases in vagal activity and gastric motility that are associated with greater weight gain. Acta Paediatrica, 96, 1588-1591.

Massaged infants exhibited consistent short-term increases in vagal activity and gastric motility on both the first and the last days of the 5-day study that were associated with weight gain during the 5-day treatment period.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M. & Field, T. (2007). Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activity after 5 days of massage therapy. Infant Behavior & Development, 30, 557-561.

The preterm infants in the massage therapy group received three 15-min massages each day for 5 consecutive days, with the massages consisting of moderate pressure stroking to the head, shoulders, back, arms and legs and kinesthetic exercises consisting of flexion and extension of the limbs. The preterm infants receiving massage therapy showed fewer stress behaviors and less activity from the first to the last day of the study.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Dieter, J., Kumar, A., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2008). Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factor I (IGF-1) Increase in Preterm Infants Following Massage Therapy. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 29, 463-466.

To determine if massage therapy increased serum insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in preterm neonates. Forty-two preterm neonates were randomly assigned to massage therapy (body stroking and passive limb movements for three, 15-minute periods per day for 5 days) or a standard treatment control group. On days 1 and 5, the serum collected by clinical heelsticks was also assayed for insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and weight gain and kilocalories consumed were recorded daily. Despite similar formula intake, the massaged preterm neonates showed greater increases during the 5 day period in: 1) weight gain; 2) serum levels of insulin; and 3) insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Increased weight gain was significantly correlated with insulin and IGF-1.

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Diego, M. A., Field, T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2008). Temperature increases in preterm infants during massage therapy. Infant Behavior & Development, 31, 149-152.

A greater increase in temperature was noted for preterm infants receiving massage therapy versus the control group; even though the incubator portholes remained open during the 15 min massage therapy session but not for the control group over an equivalent time period.

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Diego, M. A., Field, T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2009). Procedural pain heart rate responses in massaged preterm infants. Infant Behavior & Development, 32, 226-229.

Heart rate (HR) responses to the removal of a monitoring lead were assessed in 56 preterm infants who received moderate pressure, light pressure or no massage therapy. The infants who received moderate pressure massage therapy exhibited lower increases in HR suggesting an attenuated pain response. The heart rate of infants who received moderate pressure massage also returned to baseline faster than the heart rate of the other two groups, suggesting a faster recovery rate

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Dieter, J., Kumar, A., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2008). Preterm infant massage therapy research. Infant Behavior & Development, 33, 115-124.

• In this paper, preterm infant massage therapy studies are reviewed. Research on ways of delivering the massage is also explored including using mothers versus therapists and the added effects of using oils. The use of mothers as therapists was effective in at least one study. The use of oils including coconut oil and safflower oil enhanced the average weight gain, and the transcutaneous absorption of oil also increased triglycerides. In addition, the use of synthetic oil increased vagal activity, which may indirectly contribute to weight gain. The weight gain was associated with shorter hospital stays and, thereby, significant hospital cost savings. Despite these benefits, preterm infant massage is only practiced in 38% of neonatal intensive care units.

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Preterm Neonates

Field, T., Schanberg, S. M., Scafidi, F., Bauer, C. R., Vega Lahr, N., Garcia, R., Nystrom, J., & Kuhn, C. M. (1986). Tactile/kinesthetic stimulation effects on preterm neonates. Pediatrics, 77, 654 658.

The stimulated neonates averaged a 47% weight gain, were more active and alert during sleep/ wake behavior observations, and showed more habituation, orientation, motor and range of state behavior. Their hospital stay was also 6 days shorter, saving the hospital approximately $3,000 per infant.

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Scafidi, F., Field, T., Schanberg, S., Bauer, C., Vega Lahr, N., Garcia, R., Poirier, J., Nystrom, G., & Kuhn, C.M.(1986). Effects of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation on the clinical course and sleep/wake behavior of preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 91-105.

Forty preterm infants were placed in a control or treatment group. The treated infants averaged a 47% greater weight gain per day and spent time more awake and active during sleep/wake behavior observations. On the Brazelton scale the treated infants showed more mature orientation, motor, habituation, and range of state behaviors.

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Morrow, C., Field, T., Scafidi, F., Roberts, J., Eisen, L., Larson, S., Hogan, A., & Bandstra, E. (1991). Differential effects of massage and heelstick procedures on transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 14, 397-414.

During the heelstick procedure, transcutaneous oxygen tension declined an average of 14mmHg. When compared to tactile-kinesthetic massage, transcutaneous oxygen tension during heelstick lower than during stimulation.

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Preterm Newborns

Field, T., Scafidi, F., & Schanberg, S. (1987). Massage of preterm newborns to improve growth and development. Pediatric Nursing, 13, 385-387.

Stimulation enhanced weight gain and responsiveness, and may affect later growth and development.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Diego, M. (2006). Newborns of depressed mothers who received moderate versus light pressure massage during pregnancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 54-58.

Compared to the group of neonates whose mothers received light massage, neonates whose mothers received moderate pressure massage spent a greater percent of the observation time smiling and vocalizing, and they received better scores on the orientation, motor, excitability, and depression clusters of the Brazelton scale.

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Ratpups

Pauk, J., Kuhn, C., Field, T., & Schanberg, S. (1986). Positive effects of tactile versus kinesthetic or vestibular stimulation on neuroendocrine and ODC activity in maternally-deprived rat pups. Life Sciences, 39, 2081-2087.

The study demonstrates that neither kinesthetic nor vestibular stimulation effects changes associated with maternal deprivation. Results indicate that tactile interactions between rat pups and their mothers modulate pup physiology.

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Reviews

Schanberg, S., & Field, T. (1987). Sensory deprivation stress and supplemental stimulation in the rat pup and preterm human neonate. Child Development, 58, 1431-1447.

• The data suggest that the effects of maternal deprivation in the rat pup are regulated by a specific form of tactile stimulation. Only brush stroking of maternally deprived rat pups returned growth parameters to normal. Other forms of stimulation, including kinesthetic and vestibular stimulation, were ineffective in restoring normal functions. Other data are presented demonstrating that very small neonates given tactile-kinesthetic stimulation, gained more weight per day, and show more mature habituation, orientation, motor, and range of state behaviors on the Brazelton assessment.

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Field, T. (1994). Infant Massage. The Journal of Perinatal Education, 3, 7-14.

Compared to preterm infants who are not massaged, massaged infants gain 47% more weight, remain awake and active a greater percentage of the observation time, better performance on the Brazelton scale, and are hospitalized on average 6 days fewer than control infants. Similar effects pertain to preterm infants prenatally exposed to cocaine and HIV. Although, these infants also show reduced stress behaviors following the study period. Depressed mothers massaging their infants and grandparent volunteers as massage therapists also suggest that both the infant and person giving the massage can reap benefits, such as fewer anxiety and stress levels. These studies also suggested that infant’s drowsiness, quiet sleep, alertness, and tracking increased, while activity and fussiness decreased following the massage.

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Field, T. (2001). Massage therapy facilitates weight gain in preterm infants. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 51-54.

Studies from several labs have documented a 31 to 47% greater weight gain in preterm newborns receiving massage therapy (three 15-min sessions for 5–10 days) compared with standard medical treatment. Although the underlying mechanism for this relationship between massage therapy and weight gain has not yet been established, possibilities that have been explored in studies with both humans and rats include (a) increased protein synthesis, (b) increased vagal activity that releases food-absorption hormones like insulin and enhances gastric motility, and © decreased cortisol levels leading to increased oxytocin.

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Field, T. (2010). Massage therapy facilitates weight gain in preterm infants. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 51-54.

In this paper, preterm infant massage therapy studies are reviewed. Massage therapy has led to weight gain in preterm infants when moderate pressure massage was provided. In studies on passive movement of the limbs, preterm infants also gained significantly more weight, and their bone density also increased. Research on ways of delivering the massage is also explored including using mothers versus therapists and the added effects of using oils. The use of oils including coconut oil and safflower oil enhanced the average weight gain, and the transcutaneous absorption of oil also increased triglycerides. In addition, the use of synthetic oil increased vagal activity, which may indirectly contribute to weight gain. The weight gain was associated with shorter hospital stays and, thereby, significant hospital cost savings. Despite these benefits, preterm infant massage is only practiced in 38% of neonatal intensive care units. This may relate to the underlying mechanisms not being well understood.

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Sleep

Field, T., & Hernandez-Reif, M., (2001). Sleep problems in infants decrease following massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 168, 95-104.

Infants and toddlers with sleep onset problems were given daily massages by their parents for 15 minutes prior to bedtime for one month. Based on parent diaries the massaged versus the control children (who were read bedtime stories) showed fewer sleep delay behaviors and had a shorter latency to sleep onset by the end of the study. Forty-five minute behavior observations by an independent observer also revealed more time awake, alert and active and more positive affect in the massaged children by the end of the study.

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Survey

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Feijo, L., & Freedman, J. (2006). Prenatal, perinatal and neonatal supplemental stimulation: A survey of neonatal nurseries. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 24-31.

A recent survey was conducted on stimulation of mothers and babies during pregnancy and the neonatal period. The survey was responded to by 82 neonatology staff members from Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at hospitals in the United States. Some forms of stimulation were extremely common including (1) skin-to-skin following birth in the delivery room (83% of hospitals); (2) containment (swaddling and surrounded by blanket rolls) in the NICU (86%); (3) music in the NICU (72%); (4) rocking in the NICU (85%); (5) kangaroo care (98%); (6) non-nutritive sucking during tubefeedings in the NICU (96%); and (7) breastfeeding in the NICU (100%). Other forms of stimulation occurred less frequently including (1) pregnancy massage (19%); (2) labor massage (30%); (3) the Doula (assistant who comforts during labor and delivery) (30%); (4) waterbeds in the NICU (23%); and (5) preterm infant massage in the NICU (38%).

Academics

Sanders, C., Field, T, & Diego, M. (2001) Adolescents’ academic expectations and achievements. Adolescence, 36, 795-802.

High school seniors from middle to upper socioeconomic status families completed questionnaires on behavioral and psychological aspects of adolescent life. Academic expectations were found to be highly correlated with academic achievement.

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Break-up Distress

Field, T., Diego, M. & Sanders, C. (2001). Adolescent depression and risk factors. Adolescence, 36, 492-498.

• A sample of 192 university students who had experienced a recent breakup of a romantic relationship was divided into high versus low score groups based on the Breakup Distress Scale. Females had higher Breakup Distress Scale scores. The group who had high Breakup Distress Scale scores reported having less time since the breakup occurred, did not initiate the breakup, reported that the breakup was sudden and unexpected, felt rejected and betrayed, and had not yet found a new relationship.

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Depression

Field, T., Diego, M. & Sanders, C. (2001). Adolescent depression and risk factors. Adolescence, 36, 492-498.

• High school seniors from a suburban private high school were administered a comprehensive questionnaire to determine differences between adolescents who rated the quality of their parent and peer relationships as high or low. Adolescents with high parent and high peer relationship scores had more friends, greater family togetherness, lower levels of depression and drug use, and higher grade point average.

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Lasko, D., Field, T., Gonzalez, K.P., Harding, J., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (1996). Adolescent depressed mood & parental unhappiness. Adolescence, 31, 49-57.

A set of self-report scales on depression, parental happiness, intimate relationships, social support, self-esteem, and risk-taking behavior were administered to adolescents to determine the relationship between depression and these other variables. Adolescents with depressed mood were found to be less intimate with both parents, felt less social support, and had lower self-esteem than their peers. Adolescents who perceived their mother or father as unhappy also reported less intimacy with both parents and less social support.

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Divorce

Gonzalez, K., Field, T., Lasko, D., Harding, J., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (1995). Adolescents from divorced and intact families. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 23, 165-175.

Adolescents were given a set of scales on relationships (intimacy with parents and peers, social support, family responsibility-taking) and psychological variables (happiness, self-esteem, depression and risk-taking) to determine the effects of divorce on these variables. The adolescents from divorced families differed very little from those of intact families. As might be expected the adolescents from divorced parents perceived less intimacy with their father as well as less social support, and they assumed more family responsibilities.

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Drug Use

Field, T., Scafidi, F., Pickens, J., Prodromidis, M., Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Torquati, J., Wilcox, H., Malphurs, J., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1998). Polydrug-using adolescent mothers and their infants receiving early intervention. Adolescence, 33, 117-143.

This study investigated the effects of an intervention for polydrug-using adolescent mothers. The drug rehab mothers improved on several lifestyle variables. They demonstrated a lower incidence of continued drug use and repeat pregnancy, and a greater number continued school, received a high school or general equivalency diploma, or were placed in a job. Thus, a relatively cost-effective high school based intervention had positive effects on both adolescent mothers who had used drugs and their infants.

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Scafidi, F.A., Field, T., Prodromidis, M. & Rahdert, E. (1997) Psychosocial stressors of drug-abusing disadvantaged adolescent mothers. Adolescence, 32, 93-100.

The Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered to disadvantaged adolescent mothers who abused drugs during pregnancy and nondrug-abusing disadvantaged adolescent mothers. Results suggest that drug-abusing mothers were depressed while the non-drug abusing mothers were not depressed. In addition, the drug-abusing mothers reported more mental and physical health problems, more problematic family and peer relationships, poorer social skills, more aggressive behavior, less constructive use of leisure time, and a lower educational and vocational status than did nondrug abusing adolescent mothers.

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Eating Concerns

Mueller, C., Field, T., Yando, R., Harding, J., Gonzalez, K.P., Lasko, D., & Bendell, D. (1995). Under-eating and over-eating concerns among adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 1019-1025.

Adolescents were given a set of scales to determine their concerns about eating (under-eating or over-eating), and perceptions of family and peer intimacy, social support, self-esteem, depression and exercise. Although only 10% stated that they were “underweight” and 21% that they were “overweight”, as many as 50% reported having eating concerns. As compared to those who did not have concerns about eating, those who where concerned about under eating felt that they had poorer relationships with their mothers and fathers, less social support, lower self-esteem and less exercise. Those concerned about overeating perceived having an intimacy problem only with their fathers and scored higher on the depression scale.

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Employment

Largie, S., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Sanders, C. & Diego, M. (2001). Employment during adolescence is associated with depression, inferior relationships, lower grades and smoking. Adolescence, 36, 395-401.

A self-report questionnaire was administered to high school seniors to collect data on the psychological, behavioral, and social aspects of their lives. Adolescent employment was associated with (1) greater depression; (2) inferior relationships with parents and best friends, including less time and physical contact with parents; (3) lower grade point average; and (4) smoking.

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Exercise

Field, T., Diego, M. & Sanders, C. (2001). Exercise positively affects adolescents’ relationships and academics. Adolescence, 36, 105-110.

High school seniors were administered a questionnaire that gathered information on their exercise habits, relationships with parents and peers, depressive tendencies, sports involvement, drug use, and academic performance. Students with high levels of exercise had better relationships with their parents, were less depressed, spent more time involved in sports, used drugs less frequently, and had higher grade point averages then did students with a low level of exercise.

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Family Responsibility-Taking

Taylor, S., Field, T., Yando, R., Gonzalez, K.P., Harding, J., Lasko, D., Mueller, C. & Bendell, D. (1997). Adolescents’ perceptions of family responsibility-taking. Adolescence, 32, 969-976.

A scale was developed to solicit adolescents’ perceptions of their family responsibility-taking (defined as helping out and being supportive). Adolescents were administered this scale together with self-report measures of intimacy with parents and peers as well as other psychological variables. Results revealed that adolescents who felt they assumed more family responsibility reported less depression, more intimate relationships with their parents and higher self-esteem.

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Gifted Students

Field, T., Harding, J., Yando, R., Gonzalez, K., Lasko, D., Bendell, D., & Marks, C. (1998). Feelings and attitudes of gifted students. Adolescence, 33, 331-342.

Differences between the self-perceptions of gifted high school freshmen and nongifted peers were assessed regarding intimacy with family and peers, social support, family responsibilities, self-esteem, depression, and risk-taking behavior. Gifted Students and their teachers were also administered the Perceptions about Giftedness Scale. Gifted students reported feeling the same as or better than their peers about their academic and social skills, and their teachers closely agreed. Gifted students also perceived themselves as being more intimate with friends, assuming fewer family responsibilities, and taking more risks.

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Interactions

Feldstein, S. & Field, T. (2002). Vocal behavior in the dyadic interactions of preadolescent and early adolescent friends and acquaintances. Adolescence, 37, 495-513.

Conversational interactions of sixth-grade friends and acquaintances in mixed-and same-gender pairs were computer analyzed so that the individual and dyadic time patterns of their vocal behavior could be examined. Boy-boy pairs used more and longer segments of simultaneous speech with acquaintances than with friends whereas the girl-girl pairs did the opposite.

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Lundy, B.L., Field, T.M., McBride, C., Field, T., & Largie, S. (1998). Same-sex and opposite-sex best friend interactions among high school juniors and seniors. Adolescence, 33, 280-289.

Adolescents were videotaped during same-sex and opposite-sex interactions in the eleventh and twelfth grades. In both grades females felt more comfortable during same-sex interactions than during opposite-sex interactions, and they rated their same-sex partners more positively than did males. Females in both grades and males in eleventh grade showed more peer intimacy than did males in twelfth grade. Eleventh-grade females showed the most playful behaviors (the most engaged state).

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McBride, C., & Field, T. (1997). Adolescent same-sex and opposite-sex best friend interactions. Adolescence, 32, 515-522.

In the present study, 48 high school juniors selected their best same-sex and opposite-sex friends for a videotaping of 10-minute face-to-face interactions together. Females felt more comfortable with same-sex interactions than during opposite-sex interactions, and they rated their same-sex partners more positively than the males. Although second-by-second codings of the videotapes yielded no group differences on the percentage of time the dyads were in interested or animated states, females were in more playful states during their same-sex interactions and males were more playful during their interactions with females.

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Internalizers/Externalizers

Lasko, D., Field, T., Bendell, D., Yando, R., Scafidi, F., La Greca, A., & Trapani, L. (1997). Adolescent psychiatric patients’ interactions with their mothers. Adolescence, 32, 977-988.

Adolescent psychiatric patients and their mothers engaged in two dyadic interactions. The participants rated themselves and each other on four behavioral dimensions (calmness, friendliness, involvement, and bossiness) during a videotaped playback. Analyses were conducted based on classification of adolescents as internalizers/externalizers, depressed/nondepressed, and socially anxious/nonanxious. Internalizing adolescent dyads were significantly calmer, friendlier, and more involved than were externalizing adolescent dyads. The dyads in which the adolescents scored lower on the depression scale were calmer, friendlier, and more involved than were the dyads with adolescents who had higher depression scores. No differences were noted between high and low socially anxious dyads.

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Internet Use

Sanders, C., Field, T., Diego, M. & Kaplan, M. (2000). The relationship of internet use to depression and social isolation among adolescents. Adolescence, 35, 237-242.

• High school seniors were administered a questionnaire that measured low (less than 1 hour per day), moderate (1-2 hours per day), and high (more than 2 hours per day) internet use as well as their relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers and depression. Low internet users, as compared with high users, reported better relationships with their mothers and friends.

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Intimacy

Field, T., Lang, C., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (1995). Adolescents’ intimacy with parents and friends. Adolescence, 30, 133-140.

Adolescents’ perceived levels of intimacy with their mothers, fathers and close friends were examined as a function of demographic, school and psychological variables. Students with same-sex friends and greater interest in school reported greater intimacy with their mothers. Students with higher self-esteem, lower depression, and lower risk-taking scores reported greater intimacy with their mothers and fathers. The greatest number of relationships with positive variables involved intimacy with mothers.

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Music

Field, T., Martinez, A., Nawrocki, T., Pickens, J., Fox, N. & Schanberg, S. (1998). Music shifts frontal EEG in depressed adolescents. Adolescence, 33, 109-116.

The present study investigated the effects of music on mood state and right frontal EEG activation associated with chronic depression. No group differences or changes were noted for observed or reported mood state. However, cortisol levels decreased and relative right frontal EEG activation was significantly attenuated during and after the music procedure, interpreted as less with withdrawal.

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Peer Relationships

Field, T., Diego, M. & Sanders, C. (2002). Adolescents’ parent and peer relationships. Adolescence, 37, 121-130.

High school seniors from a suburban private high school were administered a comprehensive questionnaire to determine differences between adolescents who rated the quality of their parent and peer relationships as high or low. Adolescents with high parent and high peer relationships scores had more friends, greater family togetherness, lower levels of depression and drug use, and a higher grade point average.

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Posttraumatic stress

Pickens, J., Field, T., Prodromidis, M., Pelaez-Nogueras, M., & Hossain, Z. (1995). Posttraumatic stress, depression and social support among college students after Hurricane Andrew. Journal of College Student Development, 36, 152-161.

A survey of college students conducted one month after Hurricane Andrew hit Southern Florida included an impact assessment, the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors, the Reaction Index, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory, and a Pre-/Post-hurricane Stressors and Hassles Survey. Students who reported having experienced the most severe impact damage from the storm also reported having experienced the most stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Nearly half of the students who sustained high damage to their dwellings could be classified as depressed.

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Risk-Taking Behavior

Gonzalez, J., Field, T., Yando, R., Gonzalez, K.P., Lasko, D., & Bendell, D. (1994). Adolescents’ perceptions of their risk-taking behavior. Adolescence, 29, 701-709.

A questionnaire comprised of several self-report scales was administered to adolescents to assess differences between high and low sports and danger risk-takers on relationship and personality variables. Sports risk-takers reported more danger-related risk-taking and more drug use but higher self-esteem than did nonrisk takers. Danger risk-takers reported greater sports-related risk-taking and more drug use as well as less intimacy with their mothers, less family responsibility-taking, and less depression than did their nonrisk-taking counterparts.

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Sports

Sanders, C., Field, C., Diego, M., & Kaplan, M. (2001). Moderate involvement in sports is related to lower depression levels among adolescents. Adolescence, 35, 793-797.

High school seniors completed a questionnaire that gathered data on sports involvement, depression, intimacy with parents and friends, and grade point average. The moderate sports involvement group (3 to 6 hours per week) had lower depression scores than did the low sports involvement group (2 hours or less per week).

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Substance Use

Diego, M.A., Field, T. & Sanders, C.E. Academic Performance, Popularity and Depression Predict Adolescent Substance Use. (2003). Adolescence, 38, 35-42.

• High school seniors completed a questionnaire on their feelings and activities, including their use of drugs. Adolescents with a low grade point average, high popularity, and high depression were more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and smoke marijuana than were their peers.

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Suicide

Field, T., Diego, M. & Sanders, C. (2001). Adolescent suicidal ideation. Adolescence, 36, 241-248.

Adolescent suicidal ideation and its relationship to other variables was tapped by a self-report questionnaire administered to high school seniors. Eighteen percent responded positively to the statement “sometimes I feel suicidal.” Those who reported suicidal ideation differed from those who did not on a number of variables including inferior family relationships, family history of depression, inferior peer relations, less emotional well-being, greater drug use, and lower grade point averages.

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Violence

Silver, M.E., Field, T., Sanders, C., Diego, M. (2000). Angry adolescents who worry about becoming violent. Adolescence, 35, 663-669.

In the present study, 34% of adolescents responded affirmatively to the following statement: “Sometimes I get so angry that I worry I will become violent.” These adolescents (the anger group) were compared with the nonanger group, and several differences were found. Results showed that the anger group (1) reported less intimacy with parents, received less support from them, and was less close to siblings; (2) had more opposite-sex friends, dated more frequently, and more frequently had a boyfriend or girlfriend ; (3) had a lower grade point average; (4) were more depressed; and (5) used marijuana more frequently.

Diego, M., Jones, N.A., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., McAdam, V., Galamaga, R. & Galamaga, M.(1998). Aromatherapy positively affects mood, EEG patterns of alertness and math computations. International Journal of Neuroscience, 96, 217-224.

EEG activity, alertness, and mood were assessed in 40 adults given aromatherapy using two aromas, lavender (relaxing odor) or rosemary (stimulating odor). Participants were also given simple math computations before and after the therapy. The lavender group showed increased drowsiness, they had less depressed mood and performed the math computations faster and more accurately. The rosemary group showed greater alertness, were more relaxed, and only faster not accurate at completing the math computations.

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Fernandez, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Sanders, C., Diego, M., & Roca , A. (2004). EEG during lavender and rosemary exposure in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 91-100.

This study investigated whether exposure to lavender or rosemary would change EEG activity and behavior in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Although the groups did not differ at baseline and the two odors did not differentially affect the EEG, the infants of depressed mothers showed increased relative left frontal EEG asymmetry from baseline to the odor exposure phase. Infants of non-depressed mothers showed no change in frontal EEG asymmetry from baseline to the odor exposure phase.

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Field, T., Cullen, C., Largie, S., Diego, M., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2008). Lavender bath oil reduces stress and crying and enhances sleep in very young infants. Early Human Development, 84, 399-401.

Very young infants were given a bath with or without lavender-scented bath oil. The mothers in the lavender bath oil group were more relaxed, smiled and touched their infants more during the bath. Their infants looked at them a greater percentage of the bath time and cried less and spent more time in deep sleep after the bath. The cortisol levels of this group of mothers and infants significantly decreased, confirming the behavioral data showing increased relaxation of the mothers and their infants. These findings support a body of research showing the relaxing and sleep-inducing properties of lavender aroma.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Cisneros, W., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., & Gil, K. (2005). Lavender fragrance cleansing gel effects on relaxation. International Journal of Neuroscience, 115, 207-222.

Alertness, mood, and math computations were assessed in healthy adults who sniffed a cosmetic cleansing gel with lavender floral blend aroma, developed to be relaxing. EEG patterns and heart rate were also recorded before, during and after the aroma session. The lavender fragrance blend improved mood and made the participants feel more relaxed, and perform math computations faster.

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Sanders, C., Diego, M., Fernandez, M., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. & Roca, A. (2002). EEG asymmetry responses to lavender and rosemary aromas in adults and infants. International Journal of Neuroscience, 112, 1305-1320.

Frontal EEG asymmetry shifting from baseline was examined in adults and infants exposed to lavender and rosemary. Results showed significant EEG shifting in the lavender group, with a positive shift to greater relative left frontal EEG activation.

Aerobics

Alpert, B., Field, T., Goldstein, S., & Perry, S. (1990). Aerobics enhances cardiovascular fitness and agility in preschoolers. Health Psychology, 9, 48- 56.

Thirty minutes of aerobics were provided daily for a period of 8 weeks for a group of children while other children engaged in freeplay on the school playground. The aerobic group showed decreases in heart rate, and increases in agility and self-esteem following the exercise program. These findings suggest that cardiovascular fitness, agility and self-esteem can be facilitated in preschoolers by aerobics.

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Art

Aylward, K., Hartley, S., Vega-Lahr, N., Greer, J., & Field, T. (1993). An art appreciation curriculum for preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 96, 35-48.

A 10- week art appreciation curriculum was provided for preschool children for one-half hour per week in small groups in their classroom. Following the course the children showed greater involvement in art and tended to be more consistent in their artwork preferences. They were also better able to distinguish paintings from sculptures, and they improved on tasks that involved naming artists and identifying artists’ works. Finally their self-esteem scores increased.

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Autism

Field, T. & Diego, M. (2008). Vagal Activity, Early Growth and Emotional Development. Infant Behavior and Development,31, 361-373.

A review of the research on infant vagal tone suggests that vagal activity is associated with both infant growth and infant socioemotional development. Vagal activity has been noted to increase following the stimulation of pressure receptors, as in massage therapy. Vagal activity, in turn, stimulates gastric motility which mediates weight gain in infants. Vagal activity has also been notably elevated during synchronous mother-infant interactions and positive affect, providing confirmatory data for the Porges “social engagement system” model. In contrast, low vagal activity has been noted in prenatally depressed mothers (and prenatally angry and anxious mothers) and their infants, as well as in children with autism. These studies highlight the relations between vagal activity and the social behaviors of attentiveness, facial expressions and vocalizations.

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Field, T., Nadel, J., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Russo, K., Vchulek, D. & Lendi, K. (2008). Children with Autism Are More Imitative With An Imitative Adult Than With Their Parents. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 1-6.

Children with autism (mean age = 6 years) were videotaped first interacting with a parent and then with an unfamiliar researcher who imitated the child’s behaviours. The researcher showed more imitative and playful behaviours than the parents. In turn, the children showed more imitative behaviour when playing with the imitative researcher than with their parents.

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Nadel, J., Field, T., Escalona, A., & Lundy, B. (2007). Children with autism approach more imitative and playful adults. Early Child Development and Care, 177, 461-465.

Children with autism were selected to be in high-approach and low-approach groups based on a median split of their proximity-seeking behavior with adults (looking at, approaching and touching adults) during videotaped interactions. The same videotapes of those two sets of interactions were then coded and analyzed for the adult partners’ behaviors. The adult interaction partner of high approach children showed more looking at child, smiling at child, moving toward child, inviting child to play, imitating child in play and being playful.

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Day Care

Bendell, D., Stone, W., Field, T., & Goldstein, S. (1988). Children’s effects on parenting stress in a low income, minority population. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 8, 58- 71.

Relationships between parenting stress as measured by the Parenting Stress Index and other maternal and child characteristics were investigated in a sample of low income mothers and their 5- to 8- year- old children who were at risk for educational disabilities. Because the children’s behavior and academic achievement constituted significant sources of parent stress, supportive counseling services may be needed that are often required for children of low income, less well-educated parents.

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Field, T., Masi, W., Goldstein, S., Perry, S., & Parl, S. (1988). Infant daycare facilitates preschool social behavior. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 3, 341- 359.

Preschool-age children entering infant day care at varying times and receiving varying amounts of infant day care were compared on their reunion-with-parent behavior, teacher and parent ratings of their behavior, and playground play interactions. Continuous infant day care in quality centers facilitated preschool social behavior and does not negatively affect attachment behavior.

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Field, T. (1991). Quality infant day-care and grade school behavior and performance. Child Development, 62, 863-870.

The amount of time spent in full-time center care was positively related to the number of friends and extracurricular activities of the children. In addition, more time in the center was positively related to parents’ ratings of the children’s emotional well-being, leadership, popularity, attractiveness, and assertiveness and negatively related to aggressivity. Children with more time in high-quality day-care showed more physical affection during peer interactions, were more often assigned to the gifted program, and received higher math grades.

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Depression

Field, T., Sandberg, D., Goldstein, S., Garcia, R., Vega Lahr, N., Porter, K., & Dowling, M. (1987). Play interactions and interviews of depressed and conduct disorder children and their mothers. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 17, 213- 233.

Normal, depressed and conduct disorder children (M age = 5 years) were interviewed (as were their mothers) and observed in free play and puzzle completion tasks both alone and together with their mothers to determine differences in temperament, behavior problems and play interaction behaviors. The depressed children reported more “depressed” feelings, lower self- esteem and more external locus of control. Although their mothers were indistinguishable from mothers of normal children on interviews, their dyadic play behavior together suggested less fantasy play and less involvement. The conduct disorder children’s interview responses did not differ from their normal peers, although their mothers reported more self-depression, more external locus of control and less nurturant childrearing practices and rated their children as having more active temperaments. The conduct disorder children were more active motorically and less interactive during play sessions, and their mothers were less interactive and more disapproving than the other mothers. The results are discussed in the context of the literature on different behavior problems, self-concept, temperament and childrearing practices in these two groups of disturbed children.

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Lundy, B., Field, T., McBride, C., Abrams, S., & Carraway, K. (1997). Child psychiatric patients’ interactions with their mothers. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 27, 231-240.

This study investigated whether child psychiatric patients and their mothers interacted differently as a function of whether the children were diagnosed as having internalizing or externalizing disorders. The children and their mothers were rated on eight behavior dimensions as they engaged in a ten-minute play session. Overall, both children with internalizing and externalizing disorders showed fewer positive behaviors when their mothers were depressed. Children with an externalizing disorder appeared to be more affected by their mothers’ depression than those with an internalizing disorder. Based on the present findings then, there appeared to be a strong relation between maternal depression and child psychiatric patients’ behaviors (i.e., affect, interactiveness, eye contact and whether the child included the mother in their play interactions).

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Disturbed Children

Gonzalez, K., Field, T., Lasko, D., La Greca, A., & Lahey, B. (1996). Social anxiety and aggression in behaviorally disordered children. Early Child Development and Care, 121, 1-8.

Boys attending classes for the behaviorally disturbed were given questionnaires on trait anxiety, social anxiety, empathy, depression and self esteem, and teachers rated them on aggression to test the hypothesis that anxiety and empathy attenuate aggression. Contrary to the hypothesis, anxiety and empathy scores were not correlated with aggression. However, scores on all of these measures were higher than those for normative samples suggesting that this sample had a limited range. A second important finding was that social anxiety was positively correlated with trait anxiety and depression.

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Drug Effects

DeCubas, M.M., & Field, T. (1993). Children of methadone-dependent women: Developmental outcomes. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,63, 266-276.

A group of school age children was assessed for possible effects of prenatal exposure to methadone compared to a control group of non-exposed children. Methadone-exposed children exhibited greater anxiety, aggression and rejection, and their mothers reported more behavior problems.

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Fantasy Play

Field, T., DeStefano, L., & Koewler, J. (1982). Fantasy play of toddlers and preschoolers. Developmental Psychology, 18, 503- 508.

Reality play, object and person fantasy play and announced fantasy play were observed during the free play of children age 1 to 5 years in their mixed-age preschool class. Comparisons were made across three different age groups, and a subsample of children was observed again a year later to determine age differences and the developmental course of these types of play. Although the age curves are linear for some and curvilinear for other types of reality/fantasy play, a general developmental progression emerged from reality play to object fantasy to person fantasy and announced fantasy play.

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Friends

Field, T., Greenwald, P., Morrow, C., Foster, T., Guthertz, M., Healy, B. & Frost, P. (1992). Behavior state matching during interactions of preadolescent friends versus acquaintances. Developmental Psychology, 28, 242-250.

Face-to face interactions of sixth-grade friend and acquaintance pairs were videotaped, heart rate was recorded, and saliva cortisol was sampled. Greater coherence in the friend pairs’ behavior states and in the acquaintance pairs’ vocal activity suggested that the friend pairs more often shared the same behavior state (e.g., playful), and the acquaintance pairs more often paid attention to each others’ turn- taking signals, so that when one person talked, the other was silent.

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Field, T., Miller, J., & Field, T. (1994). How well preschoolers know their friends. Early Child Development and Care, 100, 101-109.

Preschoolers were observed during classroom and playground play and were subsequently interviewed. The best friend choice of 81% of the children was confirmed by at least one other source (teacher, classroom, or playground observation). The children were also accurate about several of their best friends’ characteristics including their hair color, relative age and height. The children’s most common reasons for having friends were “for play” and because they “liked” their friends.

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Goldstein, S., Field, T., & Healy, B. (1989). Concordance of play behavior and physiology in preschool friends. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 10, 337- 351.

Close friends and acquaintances were identified among nursery school toddlers and preschoolers based on behavioral observation sociograms and child and teacher sociometric ratings. Greater concordance was noted for friend versus acquaintance pairs on some play behaviors, suggesting that friends become attuned to each others’ behaviors and physiological rhythms as early as the toddler/preschool stage. Furthermore, stress experienced by young children may be reduced by the presence of a close friend, thereby reinforcing the notion that early friendships play an important role in development.

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Handicapped

Field, T. (1981). Ecological variables and examiner biases in assessing handicapped preschool children. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 6, 155- 163.

Handicapped preschool children’s developmental assessment performance and test taking behaviors were positively affected by the presence of toys in the waiting room and by being given the developmental prior to the physical assessment. Having an examiner familiar with the child or the child’s record tended to deflate scores, suggesting that the familiar examiner may have had lesser expectations of the child which, in turn, may have limited attempts at eliciting optimal performance of the child. Examiners who had recent experience in testing normal children systematically assigned lower scores to the handicapped children suggesting that examiners without recent experience in testing normal children may have had handicapped children rather than normal children as a frame of reference.

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Field, T., Roseman, S., DeStefano, L., & Koewler, J.H.(1981). Play behaviors of handicapped preschool children in the presence and absence of non handicapped peers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2, 49- 58.

Minimally handicapped children and non-handicapped children were observed playing as separate classes and as a combined group on their preschool playground. The results suggest that the normal children were not negatively affected and the handicapped children were positively affected by the integrated play situation.

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Greenberg, R., & Field, T. (1982). Temperament ratings of handicapped infants during classroom, mother, and teacher interactions. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 7, 387- 405.

The temperament of normal and same-developmental age, developmentally delayed, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and audio-visually handicapped infants was assessed by the infants’ mothers, teachers, and an independent observer using the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Mothers tended to rate their infants’ temperament as being less difficult than did the observers who, in turn, assigned less-difficult ratings than teachers. Normal, developmentally delayed, and Down syndrome infants received less-difficult ratings than cerebral palsy and audiovisually handicapped infants on most of the temperament dimensions rated during classroom play. The interaction context also appeared to affect temperament ratings with more difficult ratings assigned during classroom play than during dyadic interactions.

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Hospitalization

Field, T. Alpert, B., Vega Lahr, N. Goldstein, S., & Perry, S. (1988). Hospitalization stress in children: Sensitizer and repressor coping styles. Health Psychology, 7, 433- 445.

To examine the effects of individual sensitizer/repressor coping styles on responses to hospital procedures, children (mean age = 6.5 years) were observed during hospitalization for minor surgery. The sensitizer children were more talkative, expressive, and active during hospital play observations and required fewer hours of intensive care.

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Imitation

Lubin, L., & Field, T., (1981). Imitation during preschool peer interactions. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 4, 443- 453.

Two to four-year-old preschool children’s peer interactions were observed during free play. A curvilinear relationship between age and imitation was noted with three-year-olds engaging in the greatest amount of imitation. The use of imitation as an interaction also contributed to the greatest amount of variance on sustained interactions.

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Legal Interviews

Field, T., Malphurs, J., Yando, R., Bendell, D., Carraway, K. & Cohen, R. (2008). Legal interviewers use children’s affect and eye contact cues to assess credibility of their testimony. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 1-7.

Based on interviews with 120 children ranging from age 3 to 12, legal interviewers rated the grade school and middle school age children as competent and as understanding the meaning of lying. The interviewers rated the grade school children as more credible ‘witnesses in court’ than either the preschool or the middle school age children. The cues they reported using most frequently were affect and eye contact.

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Music

Field, T. (1999). Music enhances sleep in preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 150, 65-68.

Background classical guitar music was played to preschool children at naptime on alternate days in order to assess its effect on naptime sleep onset. On the music versus no music days the children fell asleep faster and the toddlers faster than the preschoolers.

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Peer Preferences

Field, T. (1982). Same sex preferences of preschool children: An artifact of same age grouping? Child Study Journal, 12, 151- 159.

Preschool children, aged 2 to 5 years, were observed during free play with a group of same-age and a group of mixed-age classmates. More frequent play with same-sex peers occurred during the same-age than the mixed-age group play situation. Data suggests that comparable verbal fluency may be a significant factor in the formation of peer preferences. Children may prefer same-sex children in the same-age situation because they are more closely matched on verbal abilities.

Play

Roopnarine, J.L., & Field, T.M. (1983). Peer directed behaviors of infants and toddlers during nursery school play. Infant Behavior and Development, 6, 133 138.

Peer-directed behaviors of infants and toddlers were observed during nursery school free play at the beginning and end of a semester. Both infants and toddlers directed positive behaviors toward their peers more frequently than negative behaviors. At both observation periods toddlers engaged in more distal social behaviors, particularly vocalizing and laughing, than infants. These data and other reports in the literature suggest that proximal contact behaviors may be more affected by time apart with peers and distal social behaviors may be more age-dependent.

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Segal, M., Peck, J., Vega Lahr, N., & Field, T. (1987). A medieval kingdom: leader follower styles of preschool play. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 8, 79- 95.

Three studies were conducted to determine the validity and utility of a leader-follower preschool social style classification system developed by Adcock and Segal (1983) called the Medieval Kingdom. In their system, preschool children were classified as Lords, Bishops, Vassals, and Serfs as a function of their leader-follower styles. The Lords and Bishops exhibited more frequent leadership behaviors (organization/maintenance of play), while Serfs showed more follower-type behaviors (nondirective and peripheral play behaviors). Vassals’ behaviors fell between those of the Lords/Bishops and the Serfs. Finally, a case study investigated the utility of pairing leaders-followers to reduce the aggressive behavior of followers in the classroom. Verbal reinforcement of the dyadic play of paired leaders and followers facilitated a reduction in aggressive behavior.

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Separation Stress

Field, T. (1984). Separation stress of young children transferring to new schools. Developmental Psychology, 20, 786- 792.

Preschool children who were transferring to new schools were observed during a 2-wk period prior to the separation from their classmates who were not transferring. Results showed that children who were leaving the school, compared to those who were staying, showed greater fantasy play, physical contact, negative statements and affect, and less fussiness, lower activity level, lower tonic heart rate, and less illness, as well as changes in eating and sleeping patterns. Shortly after their departure, this agitated behavior appeared to diminish in the children who were leaving but increased for those who remained in the school. This behavior pattern may represent a coping response to separation in an environment that is laden with cues of the losses associated with separation.

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Field, T., Gewirtz, J. L., Cohen, D., Garcia, R., Greenberg, R., & Collins, K. (1984). Leavetakings and reunions of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their parents. Child Development, 55, 628- 635.

The leave-taking and reunion behaviors of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents were observed as the children were “dropped off” and “picked up” at their nursery school each day. Parent behaviors such as verbal explanation, distracting the child, latency to leave, and “sneaking out of the room” were correlated with children’s distress and leave-taking distress was related to ambivalent behavior at reunion.

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Field, T., & Reite, M. (1984). Children’s responses to separation from mother during the birth of another child. Child Development, 55, 1308- 1316.

Preschool children’s behavioral and physiological responses to separation were monitored before, during, and after their mothers’ hospitalization for the birth of a sibling. Following the mother’s return, decreases were noted in positive affect, activity level, heart rate, and active sleep suggestive of depression.

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Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., & Jagadish, S. (1984). Separation stress of nursery school infants and toddlers graduating to new classes. Infant Behavior and Development, 7, 527-530

The play behaviors and sleep patterns of infants (15 months) and toddlers (24 months) were observed during the first and fourth week of the month preceding and following their graduation to new nursery classes. The infants as compared to the toddlers were less agitated just prior to graduation, but more agitated during the first week in their new class. Those infants/toddlers who moved to a new class with a close friend appeared to be less affected by the transfer than those who did not move with a close friend.

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Field, T. (1991). Young children’s adaptations to repeated separations from their mothers. Child Development, 62, 539-547.

Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were observed before, during, and after separations from their mothers, who were attending conferences (M = 4 days). Only the first separation was stressful. Infants and children in this study seemed to adapt to repeated separations.

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Field, T. (1996). Attachment and separation in young children. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 541-561.

Separations may be stressful to the infant and young child because of the loss of a major source of reinforcement. Reinforcement is typically provided by the mother in the form of adequate stimulation and arousal modulation. Loss of control, feedback, and predictability, which are clearly important features of their interaction, could also occur during separations.

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Fox, N., & Field, T. (1989). Individual differences in preschool entry behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 10, 527- 540.

Preschool entry behavior was investigated in three-year-old children who were entering preschool for the first time. Individual differences in the children’s vagal tone, a measure of parasympathetic control over heart rate, and temperament predicted solitary and interactive behavior patterns over the first 6 weeks of preschool. Children with high vagal tone and activity level and low distractibility showed a greater decrease in solitary play behavior and a greater increase in interactive play behavior over the first 6 weeks of preschool.

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Teacher/ Child Ratios

Field, T.M. (1980). Preschool play: Effects of teacher/child ratios and organization of classroom space. Child Study Journal, 10, 191- 205.

Eight white, middle-class, 3-4-year old children were observed in four daycare classrooms varying on two dimensions: teacher/child ratios and physical layout. A number of sex and group differences emerged which suggested that the optimal classroom for facilitating peer interactions and fantasy play among middle-class, preschool children was the classroom featuring a low teacher/child ratio and partitioned special play areas.

Temperament

Field, T. & Greenberg, R. (1982). Temperament ratings by parents and teachers of infants, toddlers, and preschool children. Child Development, 53, 160- 163.

Temperament ratings of infants, toddlers, and preschool children were made by their parents and their all-day nursery school teachers to determine whether low parent-observer reliabilities previously reported may relate to differential experience with children. Despite the teachers’ extensive contact with these children, convergence coefficients were no greater than those generally reported in the literature. The dimensions on which there was interrater agreement were rhythmicity at the infancy stage and persistence and adaptability at the toddler/preschool stage. Convergence of parent and teacher ratings was greater at the toddler/ preschool stage than during infancy.

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Testimony

Field, T., Malphurs, J., Yando, R., Bendell, D., Carraway, K. & Cohen, R. (2008). Legal interviewers use children’s affect and eye contact cues to assess credibility of their testimony. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 1-7.

Based on interviews with 120 children ranging from age 3 to 12, legal interviewers rated the grade school and middle school age children as competent and as understanding the meaning of lying. The results of this study indicate discrete age differences among abused children in terms of their credibility as witnesses in court. Children aged six to nine were viewed as the most credible future witnesses and least vague in their responses to questions about their alleged abuse. Younger children (three to five) were viewed by the Children’s Center interviewers as the least credible future witnesses, perhaps because of other variables including difficulty retrieving information about the abuse, lack of competence and a lack of understanding the meaning of truth and lying. The oldest children (10–12) understood truth and lying and had little difficulty retrieving and recalling information about their abuse. However, the interviewers found this group of children to be more vague in their responses and less consistent in their statements, perhaps indicating a higher level of coercion and suggestibility among this age group. The oldest group was also seen as less credible future witnesses, possibly as a result of these inconsistencies.

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Touching

Cigales, M., Field, T., Hossain, Z., Pelaez-Nogueras, M., & Gewirtz, J. (1996). Touch among children at nursery school. Early Child Development & Care, 126, 101-110.

Naturalistic observations of touching behaviors were conducted among children, ranging from 3 to 64 months of age. Preschool children engaged in touching behavior similar to touching observed among adults. Touch involved “vulnerable body parts” more often among toddlers than among preschoolers. ‘Negative’ responses to being touched occurred more often among toddlers than among preschoolers, and task-related touch occurred less often in the preschool than in the toddler and infant classes.

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Field, T., Harding, J. Soliday, B., Lasko, D., Gonzalez, N.,& Valdeon, C. (1994). Touching in infant, toddler & preschool nurseries. Early Child Development and Care,98, 113-120.

Observations were made in infant, toddler and preschool nurseries to establish baseline touching between children and their peers and teachers. Positive touch (including holding, hugging, kissing, handholding, and caregiving) increased following a request to teachers to increase their touching. Boys were touched in a positive way more frequently than girls, and progressively less positive touch was noted across ages from the infant to toddler to preschool nurseries. Carrying and caregiving in the nurseries were correlated with time spent holding by parents during end-of day reunions. Teacher ratings of touch behavior were related to actual behavior, i.e. how often the teacher thought she touched the child was correlated with how often the child was actually touched, and how much the child liked being touched correlated with how much the child was touched during reunion with the parents.

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Type A Behavior

Vega Lahr, N., & Field, T. (1986). Type A behavior in preschool children. Child Development, 57, 1333- 1348.

Type A behaviors were observed in a group of 48 preschool children in different free-play and competitive situations. The data were consistent with other findings on type A behavior in preschool children and suggest that the behavioral dimensions of type A (competitiveness and impatience-aggression) may emerge as early as the preschool years, particularly in competitive situations.

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Vagal Activity

Field, T. & Diego, M. (2008). Vagal Activity, Early Growth and Emotional Development. Infant Behavior and Development,31, 361-373.

A review of the research on infant vagal tone suggests that vagal activity is associated with both infant growth and infant socioemotional development. Vagal activity has been noted to increase following the stimulation of pressure receptors as in massage therapy. Vagal activity, in turn, stimulates gastric motility which mediates weight gain in infants. Vagal activity has also been notably elevated during synchronous mother-infant interactions and positive affect, providing confirmatory data for the Porges “social engagement system” model. In contrast, low vagal activity has been noted in prenatally depressed mothers (and prenatally angry and anxious mothers) and their infants, as well as in children with autism. These studies highlight the relations between vagal activity and the social behaviors of attentiveness, facial expressions and vocalizations.

Anxiety

Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Deeds, O., Ascencio., A., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2010). Comorbid depression and anxiety effects on pregnancy and neonatal outcome. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 23-29.

The comorbid group had higher scores than the other groups (depression alone and anxiety alone groups) on self-report measures of depression, anxiety, anger and daily hassles, and they had lower dopamine levels. As compared to the non-depressed group, they also reported more sleep disturbances and relationship problems. Moreover, the comorbid group also experienced a greater incidence of prematurity.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Ezell, S., & Siblalingappa, V. (2010). Depressed mothers and infants are more relaxed during breastfeeding versus bottlefeeding interactions: brief report. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 241-244.

Depressed and non-depressed mothers and their 3-month-old infants were videotaped during breastfeeding and bottlefeeding interactions. The breastfeeding mothers showed less burping and less intrusive behavior during the nipple-in periods as well as during the nipple-out periods. In addition, the breastfeeding mothers and their infants received better ratings on the Interaction Rating Scales.

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Anxiety/Anger

Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Salman, F., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Yando, R. & Bendell, D. (2002). Prenatal Anger Effects on the Fetus and Neonate. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 22, 260-266.

Women were classified as experiencing high or low anger during the second trimester of pregnancy. The high-anger women also had high scores on depression and anxiety scales. In a follow-up across pregnancy, the fetuses of the high-anger women were noted to be more active and to experience growth delays. The high anger mothers’ high prenatal cortisol and adrenaline and low dopamine and serotonin levels were mimicked by their neonates’ high cortisol and low dopamine levels. The high anger mothers and infants were also similar on their relative right frontal EEG activation and their low vagal tone. Finally, the newborns of high-anger mothers had disorganized sleep patterns (greater indeterminate sleep and more state changes) and less optimal performance on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (orientation, motor maturity and depression).

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. & Feijo, L. (2002). Breastfeeding in depressed mother-infant dyads. Early Child Development and Care, 172, 539-545.

Depressed versus nondepressed mothers were interviewed on their breastfeeding practices and perceptions of their infants’ feeding behavior when their infants were eight-months-old. The depressed mothers less often breastfed, they stopped breastfeeding their infants significantly earlier in infancy and they scored lower on a breastfeeding confidence scale. Independent of maternal depression, mothers who breastfed rather than bottlefed their infants had higher confidence levels and rated their infants as less alert and less irritable during feedings.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Yando, R. & Bendell, D. (2003). Pregnancy anxiety and comorbid depression and anger effects on the fetus and neonate. Depression and Anxiety, 17, 140-151.

Women were classified as experiencing high or low anxiety during the second trimester of pregnancy. The high anxiety women also had high scores on depression and anger scales. In a follow-up across pregnancy, the fetuses of the high anxiety women were noted to be more active and to experience growth delays. The high anxiety mothers’ high prenatal norepinephrine and low dopamine levels were followed by their neonates having low dopamine and serotonin levels. The high anxiety mothers’ newborns also had greater relative right frontal EEG activation and lower vagal tone. Finally, the newborns of high anxiety mothers spent more time in deep sleep and less time in quiet and active alert states and showed more state changes and less optimal performance on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (motor maturity, autonomic stability and withdrawal).

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Field, T., Diego, M., Dieter, J., Hernandez-Reif, M, Schanberg, S. Kuhn, C., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (2004). Prenatal depression effects on the fetus and the newborn. Infant Behavior & Development, 27, 216-229.

Prenatal mood and biochemistry levels were assessed in women with and without depressive symptoms during their second trimester of pregnancy. At the neonatal period maternal and neonatal biochemistry, EEG and vagal tone levels were assessed, neonatal behavioral states were observed and the Brazelton neurobehavioral assessment was conducted. The mothers with depressive symptoms had higher prenatal cortisol levels and lower dopamine and serotonin levels. Mothers with depressive symptoms were also more likely to deliver prematurely and have low birthweight babies. The newborns of mothers with depressive symptoms had higher cortisol levels and lower dopamine and serotonin levels, thus mimicking their mothers’ prenatal levels.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Schanberg S., Kuhn, C. & Gonzalez-Garcia, A. (2004). Prenatal maternal biochemistry predicts neonatal biochemistry. International Journal of Neuroscience, 114, 981-993.

Depressed and nondepressed mothers were recruited prenatally at an ultrasound clinic. Their urine samples were assayed for cortisol, catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine) and serotonin. Their urines were assayed again at the neonatal period, and their newborns’ urines were also assayed at that time. The depressed versus the non-depressed mothers showed significantly higher cortisol and norepinephrine and significantly lower dopamine levels across the pre- and postnatal assessments. At the postnatal assessment all levels had decreased except the serotonin levels for both groups. Regression analyses on the mothers’ postnatal biochemistry with the prenatal biochemistry entered as predictor variables showed highly significant, specific relationships between each of the catecholamines, cortisol, and serotonin. The newborns’ biochemistry (except for epinephrine) was higher than the maternal biochemistry.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Schanberg S., Kuhn, C. & Gonzalez-Garcia, A. (2004). Prenatal predictors of maternal and newborn EEG. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 533-536.

Mothers were recruited at a prenatal ultrasound clinic at which time they were given the CES-D for depression and the State-Trait Anxiety inventory, and their urines were assayed for cortisol, norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. At the neonatal period the mothers were assayed on frontal EEG asymmetry. Correlations analyses revealed that the mothers’ frontal asymmetry was negatively related to prenatal depression and the frontal asymmetry of the newborn was positively correlated with the mothers’ frontal asymmetry. The neonates’ EEG frontal asymmetry was also, like the mothers’, negatively related to prenatal maternal norepinephrine and positively related to prenatal maternal serotonin.

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Diego, M., Field, T., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2005). Prepartum, postpartum and chronic depression effects on neonatal behavior. Infant Behavior & Development, 28, 155-164.

Neonates born to mothers reporting symptoms of depression at any time point exhibited greater indeterminate sleep than neonates of non-depressed mothers. Neonates born to mothers reporting prenatal depression spent more time fussing and crying and exhibited more stress behaviors than neonates born to non-depressed mothers or neonates born to mothers exhibiting symptoms of depression only during the postpartum assessment. Moreover, neonates born to mothers exhibiting symptoms of depression both in the prepartum and postpartum assessments received lower Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment scores than neonates of non-depressed mothers or neonates born to mothers who exhibited symptoms of depression only in the prepartum or postpartum assessments.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Gil, K., & Vera, Y. (2005). Prenatal maternal cortisol, fetal activity and growth. International Journal of Neuroscience, 115, 423-429.

Pregnant women were given the CES-D for depression and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were asked to provide a urine sample to be assayed for cortisol, norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. Ultrasound sessions were conducted and coded for fetal activity and estimated fetal weight. Regression analyses were then conducted with fetal activity and fetal weight as outcome variables. Gestational age entered both analyses as the first variable followed by prenatal cortisol as a predictor of fetal activity and prenatal eortisol as a predictor of estimated fetal weight.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Diego, M., Bendell, D., & Yando, R. (2005). Anxiety and anger effects on depressed mother-infant spontaneous and imitative interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 1-9.

Depressed mothers with high and low anxiety were compared and depressed mothers with high and low anger were compared on their spontaneous and imitative interactions with their 3-month-old infants. The high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time smiling, showing exaggerated faces, game playing and imitating, more time moving their infants’ limbs, but equivalent amounts of time vocalizing and touching. The infants of high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time smiling and more time in distress brow and crying, but spent equivalent amounts of time on other behaviors. The high anger versus low anger mothers differed in the same ways that the high anxiety mothers differed from the low anxiety mothers. However, the infants of high versus low anger mothers differed on all behaviors (less time spent smiling, vocalizing, and showing motor activity and imitation and more time spent showing distress brow, gaze aversion and crying). During the imitation versus the spontaneous play sessions the mothers in all groups spent less time smiling, vocalizing, touching and game playing and more time showing imitative behavior. The infants also showed increased time in imitative behavior but also increased time spent crying during the imitation sessions.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Diego, M., & Sanders, C. (2005). Infants of depressed mothers facing a mirror versus their mother. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 48-53.

Behavioral responses were assessed in 3–6-month-old infants of depressed mothers placed face-to-face in front of a mirror versus in front of their mother. Infants showed more positive behavior (smiling) with their mothers versus the mirror but also showed more negative behavior (gaze aversion, distress brow and crying) during the mother condition. These differences highlight the infants’ greater affective responses (both positive and negative) to their mother versus the mirror. Equivalent amounts of vocalizing to the mother and mirror suggested that the mirror does elicit social behavior, with the infants perhaps enjoying watching themselves talk. Group differences suggested that the infants of depressed mothers showed less gaze aversion with their mothers, perhaps because their mothers were less interactive. When in front of the mirror, they vocalized more and gaze averted less than the infants of non-depressed mothers, suggesting that the mirror was particularly effective in eliciting vocalizations in infants of depressed mothers.

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Field, T., Nadel, J., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K. & Sanders, C. (2005). Depressed mothers’ infants show less negative affect during non-contingent interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 426-30.

Infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers were videotaped interacting with their mothers in the paradigm which consists of three segments including: (1) a free play, contingent interaction, (2) a non-contingent replay of the mothers’ behavior that had been videotaped during the first segment, and (3) a return to a free play, contingent interaction. As compared to infants of non-depressed mothers, infants of depressed mothers showed less negative change (less increase in frowning) in their behavior during the non-contingent replay segment.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Deeds, O., Contogeorgos, J., Ascencio, A. (2006). Prenatal paternal depression. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 579-583.

Prenatal depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger, and daily hassles were investigated in non-depressed pregnant women and their depressed and non-depressed partners. Depressed versus non-depressed fathers had higher depression, anxiety, and daily hassles scores.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M. (2006). Risk Factors and stress variables that differentiate depressed from nondepressed pregnant women. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 169-174.

Pregnant women were recruited at prenatal clinics at around 20 weeks gestational age. They were interviewed on several demographic variables, risk factors and stress questionnaires. On average, the depressed pregnant women were younger, had lower education levels and socioeconomic status and were less often married. Fewer of the depressed women and their partners were happy when they were told they were pregnant, a greater number of the depressed women experienced a stressful situation during pregnancy, more of the depressed women were prescribed antibiotics during pregnancy, the depressed women had less optimal obstetric complications scores, and a greater percentage of them delivered prematurely.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Diego, M. (2006). Stability of mood states and biochemistry across pregnancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 262-267.

Pregnant women were recruited during their second trimester of pregnancy and were assessed as depressed or non-depressed. They were given a second assessment when they were approximately 32 weeks gestational age. At both assessments they were given self-report measures and provided urine samples for assays of cortisol, catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine) and serotonin. They were also given the VITAS scale for lower back pain and leg pain and a sleep disturbance scale. The stability of mood states and biochemistry across pregnancy (20 and 32 weeks) were assessed inasmuch as mood states and biochemistry have been noted to predict prematurity and low birthweight. Significant correlations were noted for all variables except serotonin. Relationships between mood states and biochemistry were also noted but only between cortisol and depression, cortisol and anxiety, and epinephrine and anxiety. Significant stability was noted between the 20-week measures and the 32-week measures including depression, anxiety, anger, and cortisol.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Ascencio, A., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2007). Prenatal dysthymia versus major depression effects on maternal cortisol and fetal growth. Depression and Anxiety, 25, 1-6.

The major depression group had more self- reported symptoms, although the dysthymia group had higher prenatal cortisol levels and lower fetal growth measurements as measured on their first ultrasound. Thus, depressed pregnant women with dysthymia and major depression appear to have different prenatal symptoms.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Feijo, L., Gil, K. and Sanders, C. (2007). Responses to animate and inanimate faces by infants of depressed mothers. Early Child Development and Care, 177, 533-539.

Forty infants (mean age 5 months) of depressed mothers and non-depressed mothers were seated in an infant seat and were exposed to four different degrees of animation, including a still-face Raggedy Ann doll (about two-feet tall suspended in front of the infant), the same doll in an animated state talking and head-nodding, an imitative mother and a spontaneously interacting mother (the more animate mother condition). The infants spent more time looking at the doll, but they smiled and laughed more at the mother. The infants of depressed versus non-depressed mothers showed less laughing and more fussing when their mothers were spontaneously interacting, but showed more laughing and less fussing during the mother imitation condition. Paradoxically, the infants of non-depressed mothers were negatively affected by the imitation condition, showing less smiling and laughing and more fussing than they had during the spontaneous interactions.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K. and Sanders, C. (2007). Still-face and separation effects on depressed mother-infant interactions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 28, 314-323.

Maternal emotional and physical unavailability have differential effects on infant interaction behavior as noted in a study by Field, Vega-Lahr, Scafidi, and Goldstein (1986). In that study, four-month-old infants experienced their mother’s still face and a brief separation from the mother. Spontaneous interactions preceded and followed these to serve as baseline and reunion episodes. Although the infants became more negative and agitated during both conditions, the still face elicited more stressful behaviors. The present study replicated the Field et al. (1986) study but also compared infants of depressed and infants of non-depressed mothers. The infants of depressed versus those of non-depressed mothers were less interactive during the spontaneous interactions, as were their mothers, and they showed less distress behaviors during the still-face condition. During the return to spontaneous interaction following the still-face condition, they were also less interactive, as evidenced by fewer positive as well as fewer negative behaviors. Their mothers were also less active. The non-depressed mothers and infants were extremely active, as if trying to reinstate the initial spontaneous interaction. Minimal change occurred during the separation condition except that both groups of infants vocalized less than they had during the spontaneous interaction. During the reunion following the separation period, the infants of depressed versus non-depressed mothers were paradoxically more active, although their mothers continued to be less interactive.

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Field, T., Yando, S., Bendell, D., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Vera, Y., & Gil, K. (2007). Prenatal depression effects on pregnancy feelings and substance use. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 17, 111-125.

Depressed and nondepressed mothers were given a set of self-report measures, including the CES-D (depression), the STAI (anxiety), the STAXI (anger), the Perinatal Anxieties and Attitudes Scale, a questionnaire on substance use and the Feelings About Pregnancy and Delivery Scale that includes scales on coping, support, intimacy, common knowledge of depression, and cultural effects on pregnancy. During the neonatal period, the depressed mothers scored higher on the depression, anger, and anxiety scales as well as the Perinatal Anxieties and Attitudes Scale. They also reported using more substances including cigarettes, caffeine, and medications (primarily antibiotics). Their scores on the Feelings About Pregnancy and Delivery Scale were lower including the coping, support, intimacy, and cultural effects scores. In addition, they reported having more stressful situations during pregnancy, being less happy when finding out they were pregnant and their significant other being less happy when finding out about the pregnancy.

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Pelaez, M., Field et al. (2007). Disengaged and authoritarian parenting behavior of depressed mothers with their toddlers. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 145-148.

Mothers with depressive symptoms were classified as authoritarian a greater percentage of the time and disengaged a greater percentage of the time than non-depressed mothers. The non-depressed mothers were classified as permissive a greater percentage of time than the group of mothers with depressive symptoms. The groups did not differ on time spent showing authoritative behaviors. The toddlers of mothers with depressive symptoms followed their mothers’ instructions for a lesser percent of time, and they displayed aggressive play behavior for a greater percentage of time than the toddlers of non-depressed mothers.

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Diego, M., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., & Gil, K. (2008). Caffeine use affects pregnancy outcome. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 17, 41-49.

Women were interviewed during pregnancy on their depression and anxiety symptoms, substance use and demographic variables. A subsample was seen again at the neonatal stage, and their infants were observed for sleep-wake behavior. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were related to caffeine use. Women who consumed more caffeine also smoked more, were younger, were less educated, reported less sleep effectiveness and more obstetric complications. Their newborns were lower birthweight, they spent less time in REM sleep, and they showed more stress behaviors including hiccups, tremors and jerkiness.

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Field, T. (2008). Prematurity and Potential Predictors. International Journal of Neuroscience, 118, 277 – 289.

Prematurity continues to be the leading cause of neonatal death and developmental disability, highlighting the importance of identifying potential predictors of prematurity as well as interventions that can be linked to the predictors. This review covers recent research on potential psychological, physiological, and biochemical predictors. Among the psychological stressors are depression, anxiety, difficult relationships, and lack of social support. Biochemical predictors include corticotrophin releasing hormone, cortisol, and fetal fibronectin. A program of research that links an intervention for prematurity with a predictor for prematurity, that is, massage therapy to reduce cortisol and, in turn, reduce prematurity, is then presented.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O., Holder, V., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2008). Depressed Pregnant Black Women Have a Greater Incidence of Prematurity and Low Birthweight Outcomes. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 10-16.

Pregnant black depressed women were compared to pregnant black non-depressed women on self-report stress measures and cortisol levels at mid and late pregnancy and on neonatal outcomes. The depressed women had higher anxiety, anger, daily hassles and sleep disturbance scores and a greater increase in cortisol levels across pregnancy. These higher stress levels may have contributed to the greater incidence of prematurity and low birthweight neonatal outcomes noted in the depressed group, and they may partially explain the higher rate of prematurity and low birthweight among black women.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Deeds, O., Ascencio, A., Schanberg, S. and Kuhn, C. (2008). Prenatal dopamine and neonatal behavior and biochemistry. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 590-593.

Depressed pregnant women (N=126) were divided into high and low prenatal maternal dopamine (HVA) groups based on a tertile split on their dopamine levels at 20 weeks gestation. The high versus the low dopamine group had lower Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) scores, higher norepinephrine levels at the 20-week gestational age visit and higher dopamine and serotonin levels at both the 20- and the 32-week gestational age visits. The neonates of the mothers with high versus low prenatal dopamine levels also had higher dopamine and serotonin levels as well as lower cortisol levels. Finally, the neonates in the high dopamine group had better autonomic stability and excitability scores on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale. Thus, prenatal maternal dopamine levels appear to be negatively related to prenatal depression scores and positively related to neonatal dopamine and behavior regulation, although these effects are confounded by elevated serotonin levels.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Deeds, O., Contogeorgos, J., Ascencio, A. (2008). Chronic Prenatal Depression and Neonatal Outcome. International Journal of Neuroscience, 118, 95-103.

Pregnant women were recruited at approximately 22 weeks gestation at prenatal clinics. Of these, 20% were diagnosed as depressed. The women were seen again at approximately 32 weeks gestation and after delivery. Chronicity of depression was evidenced by continuing high depression scores in those women diagnosed as depressed. Comorbid problems were chronically high anxiety, anger, sleep disturbance, and pain. Less optimal outcomes for the depressed women included lower gestational age and lower birthweight of their newborns.

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Field, T., Diego, M. and Hernandez-Reif, M. (2008). Prenatal dysthymia versus major depression effects on the neonate. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 190-193.

Depressed pregnant women were classified as dysthymic or major depression disorder based on the Structured Clinical Interview for Depression and followed to the newborn period. The newborns of dysthymic versus major depression disorder mothers had a significantly shorter gestational age, a lower birthweight, shorter birth length and less optimal obstetric complications scores. The neonates of dysthymic mothers also had lower orientation and motor scores and more depressive symptoms on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale. These findings were not surprising given the elevated cortisol levels and the inferior fetal measures including lower fetal weight, fetal length, femur length and abdominal circumference noted in our earlier study on fetuses of dysthymic pregnant women.

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Field, T., Diego, M. A., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Ascencio, A., Schanberg, S. and Kuhn, C. (2008). Prenatal dysthymia versus major depression effects on maternal cortisol and fetal growth. *Depression and anxiety, 25, 11-16.*

To determine differences between pregnant women diagnosed with Dysthymia versus Major Depression, depressed pregnant women (N=102) were divided by their diagnosis into Dysthymic (N=48) and Major Depression (N=54) groups and compared on self-report measures (depression, anxiety, anger, daily hassles and behavioral inhibition), on stress hormone levels (cortisol and norepinephrine), and on fetal measurements. The Major Depression group had more self-reported symptoms. However, the Dysthymic group had higher prenatal cortisol levels and lower fetal growth measurements (estimated weight, femur length, abdominal circumference) as measured at their first ultrasound (M=18 weeks gestation). Thus, depressed pregnant women with Dysthymia and Major Depression appeared to have different prenatal symptoms.

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Diego, M. A., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C. and Gonzalez-Quintero, V. H. (2009). Prenatal depression restricts fetal growth. Early Human Development, 85, 65-70.

Midgestation (18-20 weeks GA) estimated fetal weight and urine cortisol and birthweight and gestational age at birth data were collected on a sample of 40 depressed and 40 non-depressed women. Estimated fetal weight and birthweight data were then used to compute fetal growth rates. Depressed women had a 13% greater incidence of premature delivery and 15% greater incidence of low birthweight than non-depressed women. Depressed women also had elevated prenatal cortisol levels and fetuses who were smaller and who showed slower fetal growth rates and lower birthweights. Mediation analyses further revealed that prenatal maternal cortisol levels were a potential mediator for the relationship between maternal symptoms of depression and both gestational age at birth and the rate of fetal growth. After controlling for maternal demographic variables, prenatal maternal cortisol levels were associated with 30% of the variance in gestational age at birth and 14% of the variance in the rate of fetal growth.

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Field, T., Diego, M. and Hernandez-Reif, M. (2009). Depressed mothers’ infants are less responsive to faces and voices. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 239-244.

A review of our recent research suggests that infants of depressed mothers appeared to be less responsive to faces and voices as early as the neonatal period. At that time they have shown less orienting to the live face/voice stimulus of the Brazelton scale examiner and to their own and other infants’ cry sounds. This lesser responsiveness has been attributed to higher arousal, less attentiveness and less “empathy.” Their delayed heart rate decelerations to instrumental and vocal music sounds have also been ascribed to their delayed attention and/or slower processing. Later at 3-6 months they showed less negative responding to their mothers’ non-contingent and still-face behavior, suggesting that they were more accustomed to this behavior in their mothers. The less responsive behavior of the depressed mothers was further compounded by their comorbid mood states of anger and anxiety and their difficult interaction styles including withdrawn or intrusive interaction styles and their later authoritarian parenting style. Pregnancy massage was effectively used to reduce prenatal depression and facilitate more optimal neonatal behavior. Interaction coaching was used during the postnatal period to help these dyads with their interactions and ultimately facilitate the infants’ development.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M. and Ascencio, A. (2009). Prenatal dysthymia versus major depression effects on early mother-infant interactions: a brief report. Infant Behavior and Development, 32,129-131.

Maternal dysthymia and major depression effects on mother-infant interactions were assessed when the infants were 3-months-old. The dysthymia group mothers spent less time smiling, touching and imitating their infants and more time moving their infants’ limbs. The infants of the dysthymia group mothers spent less time smiling and more time showing distress behaviors.

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Moszkowski, R. J., Stack, D. M., Girouard, N., Field, T. M., Hernandez-Reif, M. and Diego, M. (2009). Touching behaviors of infants of depressed mothers during normal and perturbed interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 183-194.

The present study investigated the touching behaviors of 4-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers during the still-face (SF; maternal emotional unavailability) and separation (SP; maternal physical unavailability) procedures. Forty-one dyads participated in the present study. Dyads were from low SES backgrounds, and they exhibited poor relationship qualities (e.g. poor maternal sensitivity, low infant responsiveness). Thus, they were considered at-risk. Results indicated that infants exhibited more patting and pulling when mothers were unavailable during the SF and SP procedures. Moreover, depression affected infants’ tactile behaviors: infants of depressed mothers used more reactive types of touch (i.e. active touching behaviors, such as grab, pat, pull) than infants of non-depressed mothers during emotional and physical unavailability, suggesting greater activity levels in infants of depressed mothers. Negative relationship indicators, such as maternal intrusiveness and hostility, predicted soothing/regulatory (i.e. nurturing) and reactive/regulatory types of touch, even after controlling for maternal depression. Taken together, these results underscore the importance of touch for infant communication and regulation during early social interactions.

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Cortisol

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Diego, M. (2006). Stability of mood states and biochemistry across pregnancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 262-267.

Relationships were noted between cortisol and depression, cortisol and anxiety, and epinephrine and anxiety. Stability was noted between the 20-week and 32-week measures including depression, anxiety, anger, and cortisol. These were, in turn, correlated with each other and with low back pain, leg pain, and sleep disturbance.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Figueiredo, B., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (2006). Prenatal cortisol, prematurity and low birthweight. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 268-275.

In comparison to the low cortisol group of depressed pregnant women, the high cortisol group of depressed pregnant women had higher CES-D depression scores and higher inhibition scores prenatally. Their fetuses had smaller head circumference, abdominal circumference, biparietal diameter, and fetal weight. Also, their neonates were shorter in gestational age and lower birthweight and they had lower Brazelton habituation and higher Brazelton reflex scores.

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Field, T. & Diego, M. (2008) Cortisol: The culprit prenatal stress variable. International Journal of Neuroscience, 118, 1181-1205.

Elevated prenatal cortisol has been associated with several negative conditions including aborted fetuses, excessive fetal activity, delayed fetal growth and development, prematurity and low birthweight, attention and temperament problems in infancy, externalizing problems in childhood, and psychopathology and chronic illness in adulthood.

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Demographics

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M. (2006). Risk factors and stress variables that differentiate depressed from nondepressed pregnant women. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 169-174.

On average, the depressed pregnant women were younger, had lower education levels and socioeconomic status and were less often married. Some stress variables and risk factors depressed mothers experienced included a greater number of stressful situations during pregnancy, more prescriptions for antibiotics, less optimal obstetric complication scores, and a greater incidence of premature delivery.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O., Holder, V., Schanberg, S. and Kuhn, C. (2009). Depressed pregnant black women have a greater incidence of prematurity and low birthweight outcomes. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 10-16.

Pregnant black depressed women were compared to pregnant black non-depressed women on self-report stress measures and cortisol levels at mid and late pregnancy and on neonatal outcomes. The depressed women had higher anxiety, anger, daily hassles, sleep disturbance scores and cortisol levels at both prenatal visits. These higher stress levels may have contributed to the greater incidence of prematurity and low birthweight neonatal outcomes noted in the depressed group, and they may partially explain the higher rate of prematurity and low birthweight among black women.

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EEG

Field, T., Fox, N., Pickens, J., & Nawrocki, T. (1995). Relative right frontal EEG activation in 3- to 6-month-old infants of “depressed” mothers. Developmental Psychology, 31, 358-363.

A greater number of depressed mothers and their infants versus nondepressed mothers and their infants displayed right frontal EEG asymmetry. These data indicate that the depressed affect exhibited by infants of depressed mothers is associated with a brain electrical activity pattern similar to that found in inhibited infants and children and in chronically depressed adults.

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Jones, N.A., Field, T., Davalos, M. & Pickens, J. (1997). EEG stability in infants/children of depressed mothers. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 28, 59-70.

The stability of EEG was examined in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers from 3 months to 3 years. Of the 32 infants seen at 3 months, 15 were seen again at 3 years of age. Seven of the eight children who had exhibited right frontal EEG asymmetry as infants still showed that EEG asymmetry pattern at the 3 year visit. Children with right frontal EEG asymmetry at 3 years were observed to be more inhibited during an exploratory play task, and children of depressed versus non-depressed mothers were less empathetic during simulated maternal distress.

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Jones, N.A., Field, T., Fox, N.A., Davalos, M., Malphurs, J., Carraway, K., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1997). Infants of intrusive and withdrawn mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 20, 177-189.

Two styles of mother-infant interactions have been observed in depressed mothers, including an intrusive style (overstimulating behavior) and a withdrawn style (understimulating behavior). To examine how these styles affect infants, we assessed infants and their mothers who had been assigned to intrusive or withdrawn profiles based on their face-to-face interaction behaviors with their 3-month-old infants. The results indicated that infants of withdrawn mothers showed less optimal interaction behavior, greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to decreased left frontal EEG activation and increased right frontal EEG activation), and lower Bayley Mental Scale scores at 1 year. Infants of intrusive mothers had higher catecholamine and dopamine levels, and their EEG patterns showed greater relative left frontal EEG asymmetry (due to increased left frontal EEG activation and decreased right frontal EEG activation).

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Jones, N., Field, T., Fox, N.A., Lundy, B., & Davalos, M. (1997). EEG activation in one-month-old infants of depressed mothers. Development & Psychopathology, 9, 491-505.

In the present study, EEG was recorded in 1-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. The infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left frontal activation), and this pattern at 1 month was significantly related to 3-month EEG asymmetry. Right frontal EEG asymmetry was also related to more frequent negative facial expressions (sad and pre-cry faces) during the Brazelton exam. Finally, the infants of depressed mothers showed more indeterminate sleep, were less active and cried less than infants of non-depressed mothers.

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Jones, N.A., Field, T., Fox, N.A., Davalos, M., Lundy, B., & Hart, S. (1998). Newborns of mothers with depressive symptoms are physiologically less developed. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 537-541.

Infants of mothers with depressive symptoms were compared on physiology and behavior to infants of nonsymptomatic mothers. The newborns of depressed mothers had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left hemisphere activation), lower vagal tone, and less optimal scores on the Brazelton, suggesting that maternal depression symptoms during pregnancy may be contributing to newborn neurobehavioral functioning.

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Jones, N., Field, T., & Davalos, M. (2000). Right frontal EEG asymmetry and lack of empathy in preschool children of depressed mothers. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 30, 189-204.

EEG activity, empathic reactions to emotion-inducing stimuli, and the ability to complete a teaching task were examined in preschool children of depressed and non-depressed mothers. EEG activity from frontal and parietal regions was recorded. The children of depressed mothers had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry, a pattern that typically accompanies greater negative affect, and showed less empathic responses to a crying infant as well as to their own mothers’ simulated distress. Children of depressed mothers were slower in completing the teaching task (involving mutual cooperation with their mother), and they spent more time asking for help than children of non-depressed mothers. Further, the depressed mothers stated their approval less often and spent less time helping their children complete the task.

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Diego, M.A., Field T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2001). BIS / BAS scores are correlated with frontal EEG asymmetry in intrusive and withdrawn depressed mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22, 665-675.

Differences between different style-depressed mothers, intrusive and withdrawn, were examined by the use of the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scales ( BIS / BAS ) and EEG activity from the mid-frontal and parietal regions. Withdrawn mothers had left frontal EEG hypoactivation, higher Behavior Inhibition ( BIS ), and lower Behavior Activation ( BAS ) scores than the intrusive mothers.

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Diego, M.A., Field T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2001). CES-D depression scores are correlated with frontal alpha asymmetry. Depression and Anxiety, 13, 32-37.

In order to evaluate the relationship between frontal EEG asymmetry and depressive symptomology, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale [CES-D] was given to women, and their EEG was recorded from the mid frontal and parietal regions during a 3 min baseline recording. As expected from previous research on depression, CES-D scores were negatively correlated with frontal EEG alpha asymmetry scores and positively correlated with left frontal EEG alpha power.

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Jones, N.A., Field, T., Fox, N.A., Davalos, M. & Gomez, J. (2001). EEG during different emotions in 10-month-old infants of depressed mothers. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 19,, 295-312.

EEG activity of 10-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers was compared during stimuli designed to produce happy and sad responses. During a baseline recording and during their happy facial expressions, infants of depressed mothers showed greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry compared to infants of non-depressed mothers.

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Diego, M.A., Field, T., Hart, S., Hernandez-Reif, M., Jones, N., Cullen, C., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (2002). Facial expressions and EEG in infants of intrusive and withdrawn mothers with depressive symptoms. Depression and Anxiety, 15, 10-17.

When intrusive and withdrawn mothers with depressive symptoms modeled happy, surprised, and sad expressions, their 3-month-old infants did not differentially respond to these expressions or show EEG changes. When a stranger modeled these expressions, the infants of intrusive vs. withdrawn mothers looked more at the surprised and sad expressions and showed greater relative right frontal EEG activity in response to the surprise and sad expressions as compared to the happy expressions. These findings suggest that the infants of intrusive mothers with depressive symptoms showed more differential responding to the facial expressions than the infants of withdrawn mothers. In addition, the infants of intrusive vs. infants of withdrawn mothers showed increased saliva cortisol following the interactions, suggesting that they were more stressed by the interactions.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2002). Relative Right Versus Left Frontal EEG in neonates. Developmental Psychobiology, 41,147-155.

Although infants have been noted to have greater relative right or left frontal EEG as early as the neonatal period, other ways in which these newborns differ have not been reported. In this study, 48 newborns were divided on the basis of greater relative right versus greater relative left frontal EEG to determine whether these groups differed in other ways at the neonatal period including behavior, physiology, and biochemistry. We also were interested in whether these EEG patterns were related to any prenatal maternal variables including mood states (depression, anxiety, anger) and biochemistry as well as fetal activity. The greater relative right frontal EEG newborns had mothers with lower prenatal and postnatal serotonin and higher postnatal cortisol levels. The mothers of the greater relative right frontal EEG newborns also had greater relative right frontal EEG activation and lower vagal tone. The greater relative right frontal EEG newborns themselves had elevated cortisol levels, showed a greater number of state changes during sleep/ wake behavior observations, and performed less optimally on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment including the habituation, motor, range of state, excitability, and depressive symptoms scales. These data suggest that greater relative right frontal EEG newborns may be at greater risk for developmental problems than those with greater relative left frontal EEG activation. In addition, a discriminant function analysis correctly classified 67% of the newborns’ EEGs by prenatal maternal variables, suggesting that these might be used to target pregnant women for prenatal intervention.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif M., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (2002). Right Frontal EEG and Pregnancy/Neonatal Outcomes. Psychiatry, 65, 35-47.

Pregnant women that were recruited during their second trimester were given EEGs and divided into greater relative right and left frontal EEG activation groups. The greater relative right frontal EEG women had lower dopamine levels during their second trimester and lower dopamine and higher cortisol levels during the neonatal period. The newborns of the right frontal EEG mothers also showed greater relative right frontal EEG, had lower dopamine and serotonin levels, spent more time in indeterminate sleep and had inferior Brazelton scores.

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Diego, M., Field, T., Jones, N.A., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2006). Withdrawn and intrusive maternal interaction style and infant frontal EEG symmetry shifts in infants of depressed and non depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 220-229.

Infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG activation than infants of non-depressed mothers. Infants of depressed withdrawn mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG activation than infants of depressed intrusive mothers.

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Diego, M., Jones, N., Field, T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (In Review). Frontal EEG Asymmetry Gender Differences in Infants of Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers. Developmental Psychobiology.

Gender differences in resting frontal EEG asymmetry patterns were examined in infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers. Distinct frontal EEG asymmetry pattern differences were noted in male and female infants as a function of their being born to depressed or nondepressed mothers. Female infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry than infants of nondepressed mothers. Male infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers did not exhibit any frontal EEG asymmetry differences.

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Diego, M. A., Jones, N. A. and Field, T. (2010). EEG in 1-week, 1-month and 3-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Biological psychology, 83, 7-14.

EEGs were examined in data collected from 348 1-week, 1-month and 3-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers across several studies. Both the percentage of infants exhibiting spectral peaks and the frequency in Hz at which those peaks were exhibited increased with age. Consistent with previous studies, infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater left frontal EEG power, suggesting greater relative right frontal EEG activity than infants of non-depressed mothers. This profile was apparent across a narrow frequency range, which shifted from 3-9Hz at 1 week of age to 4-9Hz by 3 months of age.

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Jones, N. A., Field, T. and Almeida, A. (2009). Right frontal EEG asymmetry and behavioral inhibition in infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 298-304.

Recent studies have shown associations between maternal psychopathology and inhibited behaviors in infants. Moreover, physiological factors have been identified as affecting the continuity of behavioral inhibition across childhood. The purpose of the present study was to examine electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and inhibited behavior in 12-month-old infants of depressed versus non-depressed and mothers. Repeated measures MANOVAs indicated that the infants of mothers with stable psychopathology had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry, a pattern that typically accompanies greater negative affect and greater withdrawal behaviors. Infants of affectively ill mothers also showed more proximal behaviors toward a stranger and a novel toy than infants of well mothers, but fewer non-proximal behaviors toward their mothers. These results are discussed within a framework of behavioral inhibition for infants exposed to early psychopathologies in their mothers.

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Father-Infant Interactions

Field, T., Hossain, Z. & Malphurs, J. (1999). Depressed fathers’ interactions with their infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 20, 322-332.

Four groups of depressed (depressive symptoms) and non-depressed fathers and mothers were compared during interactions with their 3- to 6-month-old infants to determine how depressed versus non-depressed fathers interacted with their infants and how their interactions compared with depressed mothers interacting with their infants. Depressed and non-depressed fathers received similar ratings and depressed fathers received higher interaction ratings than depressed mothers. Although depressed fathers did not seem to behave negatively with their infants, their non-depressed partners showed less optimal interaction behaviors with their infants.

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Hossain, Z., Field, T., Gonzalez, J., Malphurs, J.,DelValle, C., & Pickens, J. (1994). Infants of depressed mothers interact better with their non depressed fathers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15, 348-357.

To determine whether infants of depressed mothers interact better with their non-depressed fathers, twenty-six 3- to 6-month-old infants were videotaped during face-to-face interactions with their parents. The depressed mother group consisted of twelve 3- to 6-month-old infants and their depressed mothers and non-depressed fathers. The control group was composed of 14 non-depressed mothers and non-depressed fathers and their 3- to 6-month-old infants. In the depressed mother group, the non-depressed fathers received better interaction ratings than the depressed mothers. In turn, the infants received better interaction ratings when they interacted with their non-depressed fathers than with their depressed mothers. In contrast, non-depressed fathers and mothers and their infants in the control group did not differ on any of their interaction ratings. These findings suggest that infants’ difficult interaction behaviors noted during interactions with their depressed mothers may not extend to their non-depressed fathers. The data are discussed with respect to the notion that non-depressed fathers may buffer the effects of maternal depression on infant interaction behavior.

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Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Field, T., Cigales, M., Gonzalez, A., & Clasky, S. (1994). Infants of depressed mothers show less “depressed” behavior with their nursery teachers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 15, 358-367.

The infants’ behavior ratings improved when they interacted with their familiar teachers compared to their interactions with their depressed mothers. The infants’ low activity level and negative affect were specific to their interactions with their depressed mothers.

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Prodromidis, M., Abrams, S., Field, T., Scafidi, F., Rahdert, E.R. (1994). Psychosocial stressors among depressed adolescent mothers. Adolescence, 29, 331-343.

The study sought to determine whether depressed adolescent mothers experience more psychosocial stressors than do nondepressed mothers and which stressors best predict maternal depression. Depressed mothers consistently reported more problems in most areas of psychosocial functioning. Data suggest the best predictors for maternal depression were mental health status, family relations, and social skills.

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Fathers’ Perceptions of their infants’ behavior

Hart, S., Field, T., Stern, M., & Jones, N. (1997). Depressed fathers’ stereotyping of infants labeled depressed. Infant Mental Health Journal, 18, 436-445.

This study investigated whether depressed and non-depressed fathers stereotyped infants labeled depressed and how they viewed their own infants. Fathers rated depressed versus normal infants lower on sociability and cognitive competence. Depressed versus non-depressed fathers rated depressed infants lower on social behavior, potency, and sociability. Depressed fathers rated their own infants lower on social behavior, potency and cognitive competence as well as being more vulnerable.

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Mother Infant Interactions

Field, T., Healy, B., Goldstein, S., Perry, S., Bendell, D., Schanberg, S., Zimmerman, E. A., & Kuhn, C. (1988). Infants of depressed mothers show “depressed” behavior even with non-depressed adults. Child Development, 59, 1569-1579.

Depressed mothers and their infants received lower ratings on all behaviors than non-depressed mothers and their infants. Although the infants of depressed versus non- depressed mothers also received lower ratings with the stranger adult, very few differences were noted between those infants-ratings when interacting with their mother versus the stranger, suggesting that their depressed style of interacting is not specific to their interactions with depressed mothers but generalizes to their interactions with non- depressed adults as early as 3 months of age.

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Lowenstein, M., & Field, T. (1990). Maternal depression effects on infants. Devenir, 12, 52-65.

This review supports the theory that infants develop different interaction styles depending on their mother’s affect. If the mother is affectively unavailable, the infant must find ways to self-regulate which may unsuccessfully result in distress and depressed affect. The literature also suggests that a depressed maternal style is much more distressing to infants than physical unavailability.

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Field, T., Morrow, C., Healy, B., Foster, T., Palestine, D. & Goldstein, S. (1991). Mothers with zero beck depression scores act more “depressed” with their infants. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 253-262.

Mothers who scored zero on the Beck Depression Inventory were compared to depressed mothers and non-depressed mothers during face-to-face interactions with their 5-month-old infants. The zero Beck mothers and their infants received lower ratings and were in less positive behavior states (alone or together) than the high scoring Beck depressed mother/infant dyads even more frequently than the non-depressed mother/infant dyads. The lower activity levels, less expressivity, and less frequent vocalizing were suggestive of depressed behavior in both the mothers and their infants. The infants of the zero Beck mothers had lower vagal tone and lower growth percentiles than the infants of non- depressed mothers.

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Pickens, J.N. & Field, T. (1993). Facial expressivity in infants of “depressed” mothers. Developmental Psychology, 29, 986-988.

Infants of both depressed and low-scoring mothers showed significantly more sadness and anger expressions than infants of non-depressed mothers.

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Field, T. (1994). The effects of mother’s physical and emotional unavailability on emotion regulation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 208-227.

Emotion dysregulation can develop from brief or more prolonged separations from the mother as well as the more disturbing effects of her emotional unavailability, such as occurs when she is depressed. Emotional unavailability was investigated through two laboratory situations; the still face paradigm and the momentary leave-taking. The still face had more negative effects on the infants-interaction behaviors than the physical separation. The most extreme form of emotional unavailability, mothers’ depression, had the most negative effects. Changes in physiology, play behavior, affect, activity level, sleep organization, and regulating functions, such as eating, persist for the duration of the mothers depression.

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Mothers’ perceptions of their infants

Field, T., Morrow, C. & Adlestein, D. (1993). Depressed mothers’ perceptions of infant behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 99-108.

Black mothers with high and low Beck Depression Inventory scores were videotaped interacting with their infants. To determine whether the mothers with depressive symptoms perceived their infants’ behavior more negatively, both the mothers and trained observers (naive to group assignment) coded the videotapes. Both the mothers and the observers coded the infants of symptomatic mothers more negatively. However, the symptomatic mothers coded their infants; behavior even more negatively than the observers did. In contrast, they coded their own behavior more positively than the observers did. Both groups of mothers underestimated their own negative behavior.

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Field, T., Estroff, D., Yando, R., del Valle, C., Malphurs,J., & Hart, S. (1996). “Depressed” mothers’ perceptions of infant vulnerability are related to later development. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 27, 43-53.

Depressed mothers assigned greater vulnerability scores to their infants, and their infants engaged in less exploratory play and had lower Bayley mental and motor scores. The depressed mothers’ vulnerability scores at 3 months were related to less exploratory play in their infants as well as lower Bayley mental scores at 12 months.

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Martinez, A., Field, T., Pickens, J.N., Raag, T., Yando, R., Bendell, D., & Blaney, P. (1996). Mothers’ perceptions of infants labeled depressed. Early Development and Parenting, 5, 15-22.

Depressed and non-depressed mothers participated in a videotaped interaction with their own infant and then rated the videotape using the Infant Stereotyping Scale and the Interaction Rating Scale. In addition, one half of the mothers rated another videotape of an unfamiliar infant who was labeled psychologically depressed, and the other half rated a videotape of the same infant with no label given. Both the depressed and non-depressed mothers rated the depressed labeled infant more negatively than the non-labeled infant on the attributes of physical potency, cognitive competence, sociability, and difficult behavior. Physical appearance was the only rating that wasn’t biased by the depressed label. Mothers’ ratings of their own infants were more positive than the ratings of the non-labeled stimulus infant. Depressed mothers did not see their infants more negatively except on one rating. They rated the physical appearance of their own infant more negatively than non-depressed mothers.

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Jones, N.A., Field, T., Hart, S., Lundy, B., & Davalos, M. (2001). Maternal self-perceptions and reactions to infant crying among intrusive and withdrawn depressed mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22, 576-586.

This study compared intrusive and withdrawn mothers’ ratings of their own interaction styles with their infants and the behaviors of videotaped models of intrusive and withdrawn mothers. Withdrawn mothers rated themselves as less withdrawn than the model withdrawn mother. Intrusive mothers viewed themselves as more intrusive than the model intrusive mother. Both groups viewed their own infants as more outgoing than the infants of the model intrusive and withdrawn mothers. The withdrawn mothers reported feeling more distressed when they observed an infant (of an intrusive or withdrawn mother) crying, suggesting that they felt more empathy than the intrusive mothers.

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Neonatal Behavior

Abrams, S.M., Field, T., Scafidi, F. & Prodromidis, M. (1995). Newborns of depressed mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 16, 233-239.

Infants of depressed mothers demonstrated poorer performance on the orientation cluster of the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment scale; revealing inferior orientation to the inanimate stimuli. Infants of depressed mothers also showed less motor tone and activity and more irritability and less robustness and endurance during the examination.

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Hart, S., Field, T., & Roitfarb, M. (1999). Depressed mothers’ assessments of their neonates’ behaviors. Infant Mental Health Journal, 20, 200-210.

Neonates were assessed at delivery and again at 1 month by examiners and by their depressed or non-depressed mothers. Examiners rated neonates of depressed mothers lower than neonates of non-depressed mothers on state organization. At delivery, newborn infants of depressed mothers were given lower state regulation scores by their mothers than by the examiners and, 1 month later, examiners state regulation ratings were as negative as those of the depressed mothers. Conversely, infants of non-depressed mothers were given higher social interaction scores by their mothers than by the examiners, and 1 month later, examiner ratings of social interaction were as positive as those of the non-depressed mothers.

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Field, T., Pickens, J., Prodromidis, M., Malphrus, J., Fox, N., Bendell, D., Yando, R., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2000). Targeting adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms for early intervention. Adolescence, 35, 381-414.

Infants of mothers with depressive symptoms show developmental delays if symptoms persist over the first 6 months of the infant’s life, thus highlighting the importance of identifying those mothers for early intervention. Mothers with depressive symptoms and mothers without depressive symptoms and their infants were monitored to identify variables from the first 3 months that predict which mothers would still be symptomatic at 6 months. A dysregulation profile was noted for the infants of depressed mothers, including lower Brazelton scores, motor scores indeterminate sleep, and elevated norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine levels at the neonatal period, and greater right frontal EEG activation, lower vagal tone, and negative interactions at the 3-and 6-month periods.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Schanberg, S. Kuhn, C., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (2002). Prenatal depression effects on the fetus and neonate in different ethnic and socio-economic status groups. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 20, 149-157.

Eighty-six depressed pregnant women were compared by ethnic group, (Hispanic and African-American), and by socio-economic status (upper/lower) on prenatal and neonatal outcome variables. The Hispanic mothers were older, had a higher SES and had higher prenatal norepinephrine. Their fetuses were also more active. At the neonatal period they has higher anger scores, but also higher serotonin levels, and their infants had higher dopamine and lower cortisol levels and they spent less time in deep and indeterminate sleep. The comparison by middle/lower socio-economic status revealed that the middle SES group was older, had more social support and showed less depressed affect but higher norepinephrine levels prenatally.

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Field, T., Diego, M. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2007). Prenatal Dysthymia versus Major Depression Effects on the Neonate. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 190-193.

The neonates of dysthymic versus major depression disorder mothers had a shorter gestational age, lower birthweight, shorter birth length, less optimal obstetrics complication scores, lower orientation and motor scores, and more depressive symptoms.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M. & Ascencio, A. (2009). Prenatal Dysthymia versus Major Depression Effects on Early Mother-Infant Interactions: A Brief Report. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 129-131.

Maternal dysthymia and major depression effects on mother-infant interactions were assessed when the infants were 3-months-old. The dysthymia group mothers spent less time smiling, touching and imitating their infants and more time moving their infants’ limbs. The infants of the dysthy

Caesarean Section

Field, T., & Widmayer, S. (1980). Developmental follow up of infants delivered by Caesarean section and general anesthesia. Infant Behavior and Development, 3, 253-264.

Infants delivered by caesarean section and general anesthesia were compared with those delivered vaginally with local-regional or no anesthesia. Findings included the absence of neonatal behavior differences, and perhaps more interesting, the more optimal interaction and temperament ratings of the C-section group during follow up assessments. Results are discussed in the context of an emergency caesarean altering the mother’s perceptions of her infant.

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Field, T., Dempsey, J., Ting, G., Hallock, N., Dabiri, C., & Shuman, H.H. (1982). Respiratory distress syndrome: Perinatal prediction of one year developmental outcome. Seminars in Perinatology, 6, 288-293.

A number of perinatal variables were entered into multivariate regression analyses to determine which variables predicted the one-year Bayley Mental and Motor scores of infants surviving the respiratory distress syndrome. A greater number of the RDS infants received low motor scores as opposed to low mental scores, suggesting that intervention efforts with this group might focus on the development of early sensorimotor skills.

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Cocaine Exposed Infants

Eisen, L.,N., Field, T.,M., Bandstra, E.S., Roberts, J.P., Morrow, C.,Larson, S.K., & Steele, B. (1991). Perinatal cocaine effects on neonatal stress behavior and performance on the Brazelton scale. Pediatrics, 88, 477-480.

Newborns were assessed for the effects of maternal cocaine use on their performance on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale and on their stress behaviors during the Brazelton as tapped by the Neonatal Stress Scale. The cocaine-exposed newborns experienced more obstetric complications, had smaller head circumferences, showed more limited habituation abilities on the Brazelton Scale, and exhibited more stress behaviors than control newborns.

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Scafidi, F., Field, T., Wheeden, A., Schanberg, S., Kuhn, C., Symanski, R., Zimmerman, E., & Bandstra E.S. (1996). Cocaine-exposed preterm neonates show behavioral and hormonal differences. Pediatrics, 97, 851-855.

A comparison between cocaine-exposed and non-cocaine-exposed preterm neonates suggested that the cocaine-exposed neonates were born to mothers who had higher parity and more obstetric complications. In addition, mothers of cocaine-exposed preterm neonates visited, touched, held, and fed their infants less frequently than mothers of nonexposed infants. The cocaine-exposed infants had smaller head circumferences at birth, spent more time in the neonatal intensive care unit, and had a greater incidence of periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhages. They also had inferior Brazelton cluster scores, including lower state regulation and range-of-state scores, and greater depression. During sleep-wake behavior observations, they showed difficulty maintaining alert states and self-regulating their behavior, and they spent more time in indeterminate sleep and had decreased periods of quiet sleep and increased levels of agitated behavior, including tremulousness, mouthing, multiple limb movements, and clenched fists. Finally, higher urinary norepinephrine, dopamine, and cortisol levels and lower plasma insulin levels were noted in the cocaine-exposed preterm neonates.

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Failure to Thrive Infants

Goldstein, S., & Field, T. (1985). Affective behavior and weight changes among hospitalized failure to thrive infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 6, 187-194.

The affective behavior and weight change of nonorganic failure-to-thrive, organic failure-to –thrive, and control infants were compared across their hospitalization. Among the failure-to –thrive infants, positive responses to stimulation at the initial assessment were related to weight loss across the hospitalization, while positive responses to the same stimulation at the middle assessment were related to weight gain. An increase in positive affect across hospitalization occurred only for the infants who gained weight. Paradoxically, the losers may have experienced hospital stimulation as less adequate than maternal stimulation, while the gainers may have experienced hospital stimulation as more adequate than home stimulation.

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Feeding Instructions

Field, T. (1977). Maternal stimulation during infant feeding. Developmental Psychology, 13, 539-540.

Maternal stimulation during infant feeding was compared for groups of 4-month old bottle-fed and breast-fed normal and high-risk infants. There were no differences in the amounts of maternal stimulation of the breast and bottle-fed groups. The high-risk male infants received more stimulation during sucking periods but were also observably more disorganized in their feeding than other groups, suggesting that the mother’s sensitivity cannot be assessed independently of the infant’s responsivity.

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Heart rate Variability

Woodson, R., Field, T., & Greenberg, R. (1983). Estimating neonatal oxygen consumption from heart rate. Psychophysiology, 20, 558-561.

The relationship between heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption was investigated in a sample of low-risk, term neonates. Findings suggest that HR may provide a flexible, non-restrictive means of estimating neonatal oxygen consumption.

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Zeskind, P.S., & Field, T. (1982). Neonatal cry thresholds and heart rate variability. Infant Behavior and Development, 51-60.

This study compared infants who required a single stimulus to induce crying with infants who required multiple stimulus applications on spectral and durational measures of infant crying, and measures of heart rate variability. In addition to showing a shorter cry duration and a more frequent occurrence of high pitched cry sounds, multiple stimulus infants showed a greater heart rate variance and range marked by both higher peaks and lower depths of HR activity. The findings were used to support a model of infant crying which suggests that increased thresholds and higher pitched cry sounds characteristic of the infant at–risk may be associated with processes affecting neonatal autonomic stability.

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HIV Exposed Infants

Scafidi, F., & Field, T. (1997). Brief report: HIV exposed newborns show inferior orienting and abnormal reflexes on the Brazelton Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 105-112.

Infants of HIV-positive and HIV-negative mothers were assessed on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Infants exposed to HIV-positive mothers were disadvantaged from birth due to their mothers having obstetric complications and to the infants having orienting problems and abnormal reflexes on the Brazelton Newborn Scale. These problems may be early precursors of the later visual-spatial delays and hypertonicity noted in these infants.

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Low Income Infants

Hossain, Z., Field, T., Pickens, J., Malphurs, J.& del Valle, C. (1997). Fathers’ care giving in low-income African-American and Hispanic-American families. Early Development and Parenting, 6, 73-82.

The present study assessed fathers’ and mothers’ relative involvement in infant care giving tasks in low-income African American and Hispanic American families. Analysis showed that involvement in childcare differed as a function of the gender of the parent. Fathers spent one half the time mothers did in care giving. However, fathers’ and mothers’ participation in care giving did not vary as a function of ethnic group. African American parents reportedly received more family support than Hispanic American parents. Although relationships were noted between age, income, education, length of marriage, social support, and involvement in infant care giving, these sociodemographic variables did not predict parents’ participation in childcare. The results are discussed in relation to the preconceived notion that low-income, minority fathers are `uninvolved’.

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Postterm Infants

Field, T., Dabiri, C., Hallock, N., & Shuman, H. (1977). Developmental effects of prolonged pregnancy and the postmaturity syndrome. Journal of Pediatrics, 90, 836- 839.

The development of post term, post mature infants was compared to that of normal control infants during the first year of life. The post term, post mature infants had more prenatal complications and received lower Brazelton interaction and motor scores at birth. They scored lower on the Denver developmental scale and were rated “difficult” babies by their mothers. Their Bayley motor scores were equivalent to those of the control infants, but their mental scores were lower. Their mothers reported a higher incidence of illnesses and of feeding and sleep disturbances.

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Field, T., Hallock, N., Ting, G., Dempsey, J., Dabiri, C., & Shuman, H. H. (1978). A first year follow-up of high-risk infants: formulating a cumulative risk index. Child Development, 49, 119-131.

Comparisons between normal term, preterm RDS, and post term post mature infants suggested that the groups differed across the first year of development. Although the post mature infants were not designated medically at risk at birth, they had experienced prenatal complications, performed poorly on the Brazelton neonatal assessments, had ‘difficult’ temperaments, were inattentive during mother-infant interactions, and received depressed Bayley mental scores. The RDS infants who were considered medically at risk due to their postnatal complications also performed poorly on the Brazelton, were rated as having difficult temperaments, were inattentive during mother-infant interactions, but received markedly lower Bayley motor than mental scores.

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Field, T., Ting, G., & Shuman, H. H. (1979). The onset of rhythmic activities in normal and high risk infants. Developmental Psychobiology, 12, 97-100.

The onset of rhythmic activities was compared for 2 groups of high-risk infants (a preterm Respiratory Distress Syndrome and a post term post mature group) and a normal term group over their 1st year of life. Differences suggest that the onset dates for rhythmic activities are not affected by the perinatal complications of RDS or postmaturity, but are related to gestational age differences. A comparison of the 3 groups on Bayley 1st-year motor skills revealed group differences even after an adjustment for gestational age differences, suggesting that the development of motor skills, unlike the development of rhythmic activities, may have been affected by these perinatal complications.

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Preterm Infants

Field, T.M., Hallock, N.F., Dempsey, J.R., & Shuman, H.H. (1978). Mothers’ assessments of term and preterm infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Reliability and predictive validity. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 9, 75 85.

Assessments of term and preterm RDS infants were made by mothers on an adaptation of the Brazelton scale. The mothers’ assessments were not significantly different from those assessments made by trained clinicians, and both mothers and clinicians assigned less optimal ratings to preterm infants. These findings suggest that mothers’ assessments are reliable and have some predictive validity during early infancy.

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Field, T., Dempsey, J., & Shuman, H. H. (1979). Bayley behavioral ratings of normal and high risk infants: Their relationship to Bayley Mental Scores. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 4, 277-283.

The Bayley Infant Behavior Record [IBR] was given to normal and high-risk infants at 8, 12 and 24 months. Correlations between the Primary Cognition Composite score and concurrent Bayley Mental scores were reliable at each age, and the Primary Cognition Composite score, particularly at 12 months, was an efficient predictor of 2- year Bayley Mental performance. These results suggest the value of assessing test-taking behaviors in both normal and high-risk infant groups.

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Field, T., Greenberg, R., Woodson, R., Cohen, D., & Garcia, R.(1984). A descriptive study of facial expressions during Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessments. Infant Mental Health Journal, 5, 61-71.

The facial expressions of term and preterm neonates were recorded during the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment. Although the examiner’s face and voice were more effective than inanimate stimuli in eliciting positive expressions in term neonates, the reverse was true for preterm neonates. Thus facial expressions may provide additional information on the degree to which neonates experience stimulation as pleasant/unpleasant and on individual differences in responsiveness to physical and social stimulation.

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Morrow, C., Field, T., Scafidi, F., Roberts, J., Eisen, L., Hogan, A.E., & Bandstra, E.S. (1990). Transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates during neonatal behavioral assessments and heelsticks. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 11, 312-316.

This study evaluated the effects of neonatal behavioral assessments and heelsticks on transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates. Observed changes during the behavioral assessments occurred in a small number of infants, primarily during the few test procedures administered to the infants outside of their isolettes. Accordingly, it is suggested that time outside the isolette and associated temperature changes may be more critical variables than the assessments per se.

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Temperament

Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S.(1987). Reliability, stability, and relationships between infant and parent temperament. Infant Behavior and Development, 10, 117 122.

Reliability, stability, and relationships between infant and parent temperament were assessed using infant adaptations of 2 childhood temperament inventories. Both scales were moderately reliable, stability was moderate for the 4- to 18 –month periods, and significant correlations were noted between mother and infant temperament ratings.

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Field, T. (1989). Infancy risk factors and risk taking. Comments on Rauh’s paper. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 4, 175-176.

The Hellgard Rauh paper: Rauh is basically suggesting that a model of risk requires the incorporation of several concepts including stress and coping and in that context personality characteristic such as vulnerability/resilience. Vulnerability certainly impacts on the infant’s ability to cope with stress. Protective factors such as a nurturant environment are also part of the equation of predicting outcomes from early risk factors.

Field, T., Field, T., Sanders, C. & Nadel, J. (2001). Children with autism display more social behaviors after repeated imitation sessions. Autism, 5, 317-323.

The present study explored the effects of repeated sessions of imitation. Twenty children were recruited from a school for children with autism to attend three sessions during which an adult either imitated all of the children’s behaviors or simply played with the child. During the second session the children in the imitation group spent a greater proportion of time showing distal social behaviors toward the adult including: (1) looking; (2) vocalizing; (3) smiling; and (4) engaging in reciprocal play. During the third session, the children in the imitation group spent a greater proportion of time showing proximal social behaviors toward the adult including: (1) being close to the adult; (2) sitting next to the adult; and (3) touching the adult.

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Field, T., Nadel, J., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Russo, K., Vchulek, D. & Lendi, K. (2008). Children with Autism Are More Imitative With An Imitative Adult Than With Their Parents. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 1-6.

Children with autism (mean age= 6 years) were videotaped first interacting with a parent and then with an unfamiliar researcher who imitated the child’s behaviours. The researcher showed more imitative and playful behaviours than the parents. In turn, the children showed more imitative behavior when playing with the imitative researcher than with their parents.

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Nadel, J., Martini, M., Field, T., Escalona, A., & Lundy, B. (2008). Children with Autism Approach More Imitative and Playful Adults. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 461-465.

Children with autism were selected to be in high-approach and low-approach groups based on a median split of their proximity-seeking behavior with adults (looking at, approaching and touching adults) during videotaped interactions. The same videotapes of those two sets of interactions were then coded and analyzed for the adult partners’ behaviors. The adult interaction partner of high-approach children showed more looking at child, smiling at child, moving toward child, inviting child to play, imitating child in play and being playful.

Anger

Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. Vera, Y., Gil, K., Diego, M., Bendell, D., & Yando, R. (2005). Anxiety and anger effects on depressed mother-infant spontaneous and imitative interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 1-9.

Depressed mothers were assessed for anxiety and anger. Depressed mothers with high and low anxiety were compared and depressed mothers with high and low anger were compared on their spontaneous and imitative interactions with their 3-month-old infants. The high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time smiling, showing exaggerated faces, gameplaying and imitating, more time moving their infants’ limbs, but equivalent amounts of time vocalizing and touching. The infants of high versus low anxiety mothers spent less time smiling and more time in distress brow and crying, but spent equivalent amounts of time on other behaviors (vocalizing, motor activity, gaze aversion and imitation). The high anger versus low anger mothers differed in the same ways that the high anxiety mothers differed from the low anxiety mothers. However, the infants of high versus low anger mothers differed on all behaviors (less time spent smiling, vocalizing, and showing motor activity and imitation and more time spent showing distress brow, gaze aversion and crying). During the imitation versus the spontaneous play sessions the mothers in all groups spent less time smiling, vocalizing, touching and gameplaying and more time showing imitative behavior. The infants also showed increased time in imitative behavior but also increased time spent crying during the imitation sessions.

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Coding System

Guthertz, M., & Field, T. (1989). Lap computer or on line coding and data analysis for laboratory and field observations. Infant Behavior and Development, 12, 305- 319.

Describes two applications of the lap computer and microcomputer for coding and analyzing data collected in the laboratory and in the field. Two research studies using these observation systems are described and are followed by a description of the hardware and software developed for these and other applications. Unlike previous coding devices, the lap- or hand-held computer can store sequential, time-series data for indefinite periods of time, and it can be interfaced with a microcomputer.

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Cranial-Facial Anomaly Infants

Field, T. & Vega Lahr, N. (1984). Early interactions between infants with cranio-facial anomalies and their mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 7, 527- 530.

The mothers of cranio-facial anomaly infants did not differ in their looking-at-the-infant-behavior, despite their infants’ facial deformity, although the infants themselves looked at their mothers less frequently. Also, the cranio-facial anomaly infants engaged in less frequent smiling and vocalizing than the normal infants. The mothers of the cranio-facial anomaly infants also showed less frequent smiling, vocalizing, imitative behaviors, contingent responsivity, and gameplaying.

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Depressed Mothers

Field, T., Healy, B., & LeBlanc, W. (1989). Sharing and synchrony of behavior states and heart rate in non-depressed versus depressed mother infant interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 12, 357- 376.

Depressed mothers and their infants shared negative affective behaviors more often and positive behavior states less often than nondepressed dyads. Cross- spectral analyses of the mothers’ and infants’ behavior and heart rate time series suggested greater coherence of mother-infant behavior states in nondepressed versus depressed dyads, greater coherence of infant behavior/ mother heart rate for the nondepressed versus depressed dyads, and greater coherence across partner behavior (mother/infant behavior) than within partner behavior and physiology (mother behavior/heart rate or infant behavior/ heart rate).

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Diego, M., & Sanders, C. (2005). Infants of depressed mothers facing a mirror versus their mother. Infant Behavior & Development, 28, 48-53.

Infants showed more positive behavior (smiling) with their mothers versus the mirror but also showed more negative behavior (gaze aversion, distress brow, and crying) during the mother condition. These differences highlight the infants’ greater affective responses (both positive and negative) to their mother versus the mirror. Equivalent amounts of vocalizing to the mother and mirror suggested that the mirror does not elicit social behavior, with the infants perhaps enjoying watching themselves talk. Group differences suggested that the infants of depressed mothers showed less gaze aversion with their mothers, perhaps because their mothers were less interactive. When in front of the mirror, they vocalized more and gaze averted less than the infants of nondepressed mothers, suggesting that the mirror was particularly effective in eliciting vocalizations in infants of depressed mothers.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K., & Sanders, C. (2007). Responses to animate and inanimate faces by infants of depressed mothers. Early Child Development and Care, 177, 533-539.

Infants of depressed versus non-depressed mothers showed less laughing and more fussing when their mothers were spontaneously interacting, but showed more laughing and less fussing during the mother-imitation condition.

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Pelaez, M., Field et al. (2007). Disengaged and authoritarian parenting behavior of depressed mothers with their toddlers. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 145-148.

Non-depressed mothers were classified as permissive a greater percentage of time than the group of mothers with depressive symptoms. Toddlers of mothers with depressive symptoms followed their mothers’ instructions for a lesser percent of time, and displayed aggressive play behavior for a greater percentage of time than toddlers of non-depressed mothers.

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Father Interactions

Field, T. (1978). Interaction behaviors of primary vs. secondary caretaker fathers. Developmental Psychology, 14, 183- 184.

Fathers in general tended to engage in more gameplaying and less holding of their infants. Primary caretaker fathers and mothers engaged in more smiling, imitative grimaces and high-pitched imitative vocalizations than did secondary caretaker fathers.

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Field, T. (1981). Fathers’ interactions with their high- risk infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 2, 249- 256.

The high-risk infants were less attentive and less affectively responsive than normal infants, and their mothers were more active. Fathers of both high-risk and normal infants engaged in more gameplaying and laughed more frequently than mothers during interactions. Fathers engaged in similar amounts of activity, smiling, laughing, and playing games with normal and high-risk infants.

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Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Goldstein, S., & Scafidi, F. (1987). Interaction behavior of infants and their dual career parents. Infant Behavior and Development, 10, 371- 377.

The behaviors of dual-career parents were compared in face-to-face interactions with their 8-month-old infants who attended an all day infant nursery. Mothers, as compared to fathers, exhibited more frequent smiling, vocalizing, and touching with their infants. In turn, the infants spent a greater proportion of the interaction time smiling and being motorically active when they were interacting with their mothers versus their fathers.

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Gameplaying

Field, T. (1979). Games parents play with normal and high risk infants. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 10, 41- 48.

Approximately six different games were played for approximately one-third of the interaction time. The high-risk infant-parent dyads engaged in gameplaying less frequently than the normal infant-parent dyads.

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Gaze Aversion

Field, T. (1981). Gaze behavior of normal and high- risk infants during early interactions. Journal of the American Academy Child Psychiatry, 20, 308- 317.

The infants showed less gaze aversion with the moderately active partner (mother) than with the minimally active partners (sibling and peer) or the excessively active partners (the father). All infants showed less gaze aversion during the doll and mirror interactions. The preterm infants gaze averted more than the term infants in all interaction situations except the mirror and doll.

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Field, T. (1981). Infant gaze aversion and heart rate during face-to-face interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 4, 307- 315.

Infant gaze aversion was greater and tonic heart rate was elevated during the low and high activity interactions. Heart rate accelerations occurred prior to the onset of gaze accelerations and heart rate decelerations occurred during the gaze aversion periods.

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Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Goldstein, S., & Scafidi, F. (1987). Face- to- face interaction behavior across early infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 10, 111- 116.

At 8 versus 4 months, infants showed more smiling, vocalizing, and motor activity, and their mothers touched and moved their infants’ limbs more often.

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Highrisk Infants

Field, T. (1983). High risk infants “have less fun” during early interactions. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 3, 77- 87.

High risk infants are less attentive to their mothers and appear to have less fun during early interactions than term, normal infants. Their smiles and contented vocalizations were less frequent, and their frowns and cries were more frequent than those of term, normal infants.

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Interaction Coaching

Field, T. (1977). Effects of early separation, interactive deficits, and experimental manipulations on infant mother face- to- face interaction. Child Development, 48, 763- 771.

The effects of early separation on infant-mother interactions were investigated. The attention-getting manipulation resulted in more maternal activity and less infant gaze than in a spontaneous interaction, and the imitation manipulation in less maternal activity and more infant gaze.

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Field, T. (1982). Interaction coaching for high- risk infants and their parents. Prevention in Human Services, 1, 5- 24.

Manipulations which effectively diminished the activity levels of these extremely active mothers and enhanced their infants’ visual attention during interaction with their mothers included mother imitation of all infants’ behaviors, repetition of phrases, and silencing during infants’ pauses.

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Intrusive/Withdrawn

Diego, M., Field, T., Jones, N.A., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2006). Withdrawn and intrusive maternal interaction style and infant frontal EEG symmetry shifts in infants of depressed and non depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 220-29.

The effects of maternal interaction style (intrusive/withdrawn) on the development of brain electrical activity were studied in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers’ shortly after birth and again at 3–6 months of age. Infants of depressed mothers exhibited significantly greater relative right frontal EEG activation than infants of non-depressed mothers. Infants of depressed withdrawn mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG activation than infants of depressed intrusive mothers.

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Peer Interactions

Field, T. (1979). Infant behaviors directed toward peers and adults in the presence and absence of mother. Infant Behavior Development, 2, 47- 54.

Social behaviors of infants were observed over the course of a semester while the infants played in a university parents’ cooperative nursery. The infants were more “social” and less “negative” toward their peers when mother was out of the room, and they exhibited more social behaviors toward their peers by the end of the semester.

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Field, T. & Pawlby, S. (1980). Early face- to- face interactions of British and American working and middle class mother- infant dyads. Child Development, 51, 250- 253.

The dyads engaged in equivalent amounts of proximal interaction but varying amounts of distal interaction. Distal interaction behaviors occurred less frequently in working-class dyads. Furthermore, the British dyads engaged in more toy-related games and the American dyads exhibited more socially oriented interactions and games.

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Review

Field, T. (1978). The three Rs of infant adult interactions: Rhythms, repertoires, and responsivity. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 3, 131- 136.

Different studies on early infant-adult interactions, particularly face-to-face and feeding interactions are reviewed. Data suggest that interactions can be facilitated by the modulation of rhythms, modification of response repertoire, and mutual responsivity by both infant and parent.

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Field, T. (1987). Interaction and attachment in normal and atypical infants. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 1- 7.

This paper reviews what we know about the relations between early interactions, the “strange situation,” and social behavior in normal and atypical infants, including premature infants, abused or neglected infants, and the infants of depressed mothers.

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Still-Face Interactions

Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1986). Effects of maternal unavailability on mother- infant interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 473- 478.

Four-month-old infants were subjected to the mother’s still-face and to a brief separation from the mother. Although the infants became more negative and agitated during both conditions, the still-face was more stressful.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K., & Sanders, C. (2007). Still-face and separation effects on depressed mother-infant interactions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 28, 314-323.

Infants of depressed versus those of non-depressed mothers were less interactive during the spontaneous interactions, as were their mothers, and they showed less distress behaviors during the still-face condition.

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Teaching Interactions

DeCubas, M. M., & Field, T. (1984). Teaching interactions of Black and Cuban teenage mothers and their infants. Journal of Early Child Development and Care, 16, 41- 56.

Cuban mothers demonstrated the task to their infant with significantly more verbalization than the Black mothers. Adult mothers showed a more internal locus of control than teenage mothers. Infants of Black, teenage mothers vocalized significantly less often than infants of other groups.

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Temperament

Field, T., Adler, S., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1987). Temperament and play interaction behaviors across infancy. Infant Mental Health Journal, 8, 156- 165.

Easier temperament infants were generally noted to vocalize more and cry less frequently during their play interactions.

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Video Taping Effects

Field, T., & Ignatoff, E. (1981). Videotaping effects on the behaviors of low income mothers and their infants during floor play interactions. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2, 227- 235.

One group of mothers was aware they were being videotaped, while the other was not. When the mothers were aware of being videotaped, they were proximal to their infants, offered and demonstrated toys more frequently, emitted a greater number of words as well as declarative and imperative sentences, and their infants engaged in more constructive play.

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Working Mothers

Field, T., Stoller, S., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1986). Maternal unavailability effects on very young infants in homecare vs. daycare. Infant Mental Health Journal, 7, 274- 280.

Homecare vs. daycare infants displayed more motor activity and distress brow behavior, and their mothers showed more exaggerated facial expressions, vocalizing, and touching their infants than the mothers of daycare infants.

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Field, T., Vega Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1987). Working mother infant interactions across the second year of life. Infant Mental Health Journal, 8, 19- 27.

Changes noted in the infants’ play behavior included an increase in vocalization and constructive play and a decrease in affectionate play. These results, together with corresponding decreases in the mother’s constructive and affectionate play behavior, suggest growing autonomy of the infant’s play and encouragement and autonomy by the mothers.

Brazelton Demonstrations

Field, T., Dempsey, J., Hallock, N., & Shuman, H. H. (1978). The mother’s assessment of the behavior of her infant. Infant Behavior and Development, 1, 156-167.

There were no differences between mothers’ and testers’ assessments except that testers assigned more optimal interactive process scores. Normal term infants received more optimal scores from both mothers and testers. Mothers assigned more optimal ratings at one month than at birth.

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Widmayer, S., & Field, T. (1980). Effects of Brazelton demonstrations on early interactions of preterm infants and their teenage mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 3, 79-89.

Brazelton demonstrations and Mother’s Assessment of the Behavior of her Infant (MABI) were provided to lower class teenage mothers of preterm infants during the neonatal period. Both the Brazelton/MABI group and the MABI group showed more optimal Brazelton interactive process scores, feeding and face-to-face interaction ratings at one month than did preterm and term infant control groups.

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Widmayer, S., & Field, T. (1981). Effects of brazelton demonstrations for mothers on the development of preterm infants. Pediatrics, 67, 711-714.

Results of the first and fourth month assessments showed that the experimental groups preformed more optimally on the Brazelton scale interactive process items, showed superior ratings on the video-tape feeding and face-to-face play sequences, and had better fine motor-adaptive skills.

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Carrying position

Field, T., Malphurs, J., Carraway, K., & Pelaez-Nogueras, M. (1996). Carrying position influences infant behavior. Early Child Development and Care, 121, 49-54.

Results indicate that when the infants were carried facing-in in a soft infant carrier, they spent more time sleeping and were rarely actively awake and looking at the environment. In contrast, the infants were more active in the facing-out position including more time moving their arms, head-turning, kicking, and looking at their environment.

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Interactions

Field, T., Healy, B., Goldstein, S., & Guthertz, M. (1990). Behavior state matching and synchrony in mother infant interactions of nondepressed versus depressed dyads. Developmental Psychology, 26, 7-14.

The depressed mothers and their infants matched negative behavior states more often and positive behavior states less often than did the nondepressed dyads. The total percentage time spent in matching behavior states was less for the depressed than for the nondepressed dyads.

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Interaction coaching

Pickens, J.N. & Field, T. (1993). Attention-getting vs. imitation effects on depressed mother-infant interactions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 14, 171-181.

Data suggest that the attention-getting condition was the most effective “intervention” for eliciting positive behavior in the depressed mother-infant dyads. Mothers generally rated as showing more positive facial expressions and more game playing (particularly the depressed mothers) during the attention-getting versus the imitation sessions. The infants received more optimal physical activity and facial expression ratings during attention-getting, and the infants of depressed mothers, in particular, showed more positive facial expressivity and more joy expressions. In the imitation condition, mothers showed more imitative behavior, contingent responsivity, and silence during gaze aversion. Infants generally showed more disinterest and self-comfort behaviors, and the infants of depressed mothers, in particular, showed more anger expressions, fussiness, and squirming during the imitation condition.

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Nonnutritive sucking

Ignatoff, E., & Field, T. (1982). Effects of nonnutritive sucking during tube feedings on the behavior and clinical course of ICU preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 107-115.

Infants provided with nonnutritive sucking stimulation during tube feedings were ready for bottle feeding three days earlier following fewer tube feedings and greater daily weight gain than the control group. They were also discharged earlier with a lower average hospital cost.

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Field, T., Ignatoff, E., Stringer, S., Brennan, J., Greenberg, R., Widmayer, S., & Anderson, G. (1982). Nonnutritive sucking during tube feedings: Effects on preterm neonates in an Intensive Care Unit. Pediatrics, 70, 381-384.

The infants provided with pacifiers averages 27 fewer tube feedings, started bottle feeding three days earlier, averaged a greater weight gain per day, and were discharged eight days earlier for an average hospital cost savings of approximately $3,500.00.

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Field, T., & Goldson, E. (1984). Pacifying effects of nonnutritive sucking on term and preterm neonates during heelstick procedures. Pediatrics, 74, 1012-1015.

Term neonates and preterm neonates, in minimal care or intensive care participated in the study. The treated infants (preterm, minimal care neonates) who were given pacifiers spent less time during and following the heelstick procedure.

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Parent training

Field, T., Widmayer, S., Greenberg, R., & Stoller, S. (1982). Effects of parent training on teenage mothers and their infants. Pediatrics, 69, 703-707.

Growth and development during the first two years were superior for the infants whose mothers received training, particularly those who received paid parent training as teachers aide’s in the infant nursery. Repeat pregnancies were lower and return to work/school rates were higher for the infant nursery mothers.

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Review

Field, T. (1980). Supplemental stimulation of preterm neonates. Early Human Development, 4, 301 314.

The present work is a review of supplemental stimulations of preterm infants treated in intensive care nurseries which suggest benefits for stimulated infants. The types, degree, and duration of benefit, however, vary across studies.

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Field, T. (1981). Intervention for high risk infants and their parents. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 3, 69-78.

Different studies suggest a number of general implications for social policy on early interventions for high-risk infants. Any form of early intervention must be heavily researched to ensure there are no undesirable side effects. Also, long term assessments must be provided for the subjects, demonstrating long-term effects and cost effectiveness. Generalizability of findings on particular interventions with particular infants should also be evaluated because studies may not always relate to the same group of people. Lastly, the parent should be involved in the interventions as trainee and trainer, they can then become more knowledgeable and skillful.

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Field, T. (1986). Interventions for premature infants. Journal of Pediatrics, 109, 183-191.

Compensating influences of early interventions for premature infants include supplemental stimulation, nonnutritive sucking during tube feedings and heelsticks, tactile and/or kinesthetic stimulation, and parent training.

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Field, T. (1988). Stimulation of preterm infants. Pediatrics in Review, 10, 149-154.

Three of the most popular forms of stimulation for preterm infants in the NICU are described, as well as their effects. They are nonnutritive sucking, kangaroo care, and massage therapy. Results suggest that preterm neonates not only benefit from soothing, calming properties of these forms of stimulations, but they conserve energy, can be pacified during painful procedures, and can demonstrate growth gains following this stimulation.

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Field, T. (1990). Alleviating stress in newborn infants in the intensive care unit. Perinatology, 17,1-9.

Natural care-giving stimulation such as gentle stroking and self-comforting stimulation such as sucking appeared to attenuate distress behavior and physiology during stressful intensive care procedures. These interventions not only soothe the infant, but enable increased weight gain and shorter hospital stay.

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Field, T. (1992). Interventions in early infancy. Infant Mental Health Journal, 13, 329-336.

To facilitate attachment to and from their caregivers three interventions and their affects are described. They include; giving high-risk pregnant women video feedback during prenatal ultrasound, providing preterm neonates nonnutritive sucking opportunities to reduce stress during heelstick and gavage feedings, and providing preterm neonates and preterm cocaine-exposed neonates massage therapy.

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Field, T. (1994). Caregiving environments for infants. Children’s Environments, 11, 147-154.

• Two of the infants’ most vital caregiving needs are an interesting, organized physical environment and a responsive human environment. Studies suggest that an infant’s physical environment must pay special attention to the following attributes; adequate caregiver and infant ratio, infant group schedule, and environmental organization and stimulation. The human environment, on the other hand, requires the caregiver to be sensitive to the infant’s biological rhythms and social behaviors and to be contingently responsive.

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Rooming-in

Prodromidis, M., Field, T., Arendt, R., Singer, L., Yando, R., & Bendell, D. (1995). Mothers touching newborns: A comparison of rooming-in versus minimal contact. Birth, 22, 196-200.

Data revealed that the rooming-in mothers looked at, talked to, and touched their infants more, watched less television, and talked less on the telephone than mothers with minimal contact with their infants.

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Tactile/Kinesthetic stimulation

Field, T., Schanberg, S.M., Scafidi, F., Bauer, C.R., Vega-Lehr, N., Garcia, R., Nystrom, J. & Kuhn, C. M. (1986). Tactile/Kinesthetic stimulation effects on preterm neonates. Pediatrics, 77, 654-658.

Tactile/kinesthetic stimulation was given to 20 preterm neonates (mean gestational age, 31 weeks; mean birth weight, 1,280 g; mean time in neonatal intensive care unit, 20 days) during transitional (“grower”) nursery care, and their growth, sleep-wake behavior, and Brazelton scale performance was compared with a group of 20 control neonates. The tactile/kinesthetic stimulation consisted of body stroking and passive movements of the limbs for three, 15-minute periods per day for 10 days. The stimulated neonates averaged a 47% greater weight gain per day (mean 25 g v 17 g), were more active and alert during sleep/wake behavior observations, and showed more mature habituation, orientation, motor, and range of state behavior on the Brazelton scale than control infants. Finally, their hospital stay was 6 days shorter, yielding a cost savings of approximately $3,000 per infant. These data suggest that tactile/kinesthetic stimulation may be a cost effective way of facilitating growth and behavioral organization even in very small preterm neonates.

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Field, T. (1987). Alleviating stress in ICU neonates. Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 87, 646-650.

Forty preterm infants were assigned to a control or treatment group. The treatment group received tactile/kinesthetic stimulation for three 15-minute periods during three consecutive hours per day for 10 days. Data suggested that the stimulated infants had a 47% greater weight gain than the control group, were more awake and active a greater percentage of the observation time, received better scores on the Brazelton habituation, orientation, motor activity, and range of state behaviors, and the stimulated infants were hospitalized for 6 days less than the control infants, which saved the hospital approximately $3,000 per infant.

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Teenage mothers

Field, T., Widmayer, S., Stringer, S., & Ignatoff, E. (1980). Teenage, lower class, Black mothers and their preterm infants: An intervention and developmental follow up. Child Development, 51, 426-436.

Lower-class, black teenage mothers were provided a home-based, parent training intervention, and their development was then compared with that of nonintervention controls, of term infants of teenage mothers, and of term and preterm infants of adult mothers. The preterm infants of teenage mothers who received intervention showed more optimal growth, Denver scores, and face-to-face interactions.

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Field, T., Widmayer, S., Ignatoff, E., & Stringer, S. (1982). Developmental effects of an intervention for preterm infants of teenage mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 3, 11-18.

Compared to preterm infants without intervention and of teenage mothers, term infants of teenage mothers, and term and preterm infants of adult mothers, the intervention infants of teenage mothers showed more optimal growth, cognitive development, temperament and play behaviors during interactions with their mothers across their first year of development.

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Field, T., Widmayer, S., Adler, S., & Decubas, M. (1990). Teenage parenting in different cultures, family constellations and caregiving environments: Effects on infant development. Infant Mental Health Journal, 11, 158-174.

Teenage parenting was investigated in Cuban and American Black ethnic groups; single parent, nuclear, and extended families; and primary caregiving arrangements- mother versus other. Being a Cuban mother, living in a nuclear family, and being a secondary caregiver were each associated independently with stronger social support systems and more positive child-rearing attitudes and mother-infant play interactions.

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Ultrasound feedback

Field, T., Sandberg, D., Quetel, T. A., Garcia, R., & Rosario , M. (1985). Effects of ultrasound feedback on pregnancy anxiety, fetal activity and neonatal outcome. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 66, 525-528.

The feedback reduced pregnancy anxiety and fetal activity, particularly for the primiparous women. These women experienced fewer obstetrics complications and gave birth to neonates who were greater weight, more appropriate weight-for-length, and less active and irritable.

Attention Deficit

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., & Thimas, E., (2000). Attention deficit Hyperactivity disorder benefits from Tai Chi. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 5, 120-123.

Thirteen adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) participated in Tai Chi classes twice a week for 5 weeks. After 10 Tai Chi sessions the adolescents displayed less anxiety, improved conduct, less daydreaming behaviors, less inappropriate emotions, and less hyperactivity.

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Autism

Hartshorn, K., Olds, L., Field, T., Delage, J., Cullen, C. & Escalona, A. (2001). Creative movement therapy benefits children with autism. Early Child Development and Care, 166, 1-5.

Thirty-eight children with autism were given movement therapy in small groups led by a trained movement therapist. After two months of biweekly sessions, the movement therapy versus the control children spent less time wandering, more time showing on-task behavior, less time showing negative responses to being touched, and less time resisting the teacher.

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Senior Citizens

Hartshorn, K., Delage, J, Field, T. & Olds, L. (2001). Senior citizens benefit from movement therapy. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 5, 1-5.

Sixteen senior citizens participated in four, 50-min movement therapy sessions over a 2-week period and were compared to 16 senior citizens who belonged to a wait list control group who received the movement sessions only after the end of the study. The movement therapy participants improved in their functional motion on the Tinetti scale, and specifically on the gait scale, their leg strength increased, and their leg pain significantly decreased.

Aroma

Fernandez, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Sanders, C., Diego, M., & Roca, A. (2004). EEG during lavendar and rosemary exposure in infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 91-100.

Infants of depressed mothers exposed to rosemary or lavender oil showed a shift in EEG toward greater relative left frontal asymmetry. This shift was associated with an approaching pattern of behavior and response to positive stimuli.

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Cardiac Responses

Nelson, M., Clifton, R., Dowd, J., & Field, T. (1978). Cardiac responding to auditory stimuli in newborn infants: Why pacifiers should not be used when heart rate is the major dependent variable. Infant Behavior and Development, 1, 277-290.

The present study examined heart rate responses of 16 awake newborns to a 72 db auditory stimulus presented at four different times in relation to ongoing nonnutritive sucking activity: just before a sucking burst, early in a burst, late in a burst, and just after a burst. In addition, heart rate changes were examined during an intertrial sucking burst of selected duration. Intertrial results indicated that rapid, 10 bpm heart rate accelerations and decelerations occurred at the onset and offset of nonnutritive sucking, respectively. Heart rate changes in relation to tones were either acceleratory or deceleratory, depending on the nature of ongoing sucking activity. The results indicated that precise cardiac somatic coupling may occur in the newborn, and that future studies of neonatal heart rate responding should avoid the use of pacifiers to control state.

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Field, T. (1979). Differential behavioral and cardiac responses of 3 month old infants to a mirror and peer. Infant Behavior and Development, 2, 179-184.

Behavioral and cardiac responses were assessed for 3-month-old infants placed face-to-face with a mirror and peer. Infants looked longer at the mirror, but smiled, vocalized, reached toward and squirmed more in the presence of an infant peer. In addition, tonic heart rate was elevated during the peer situation. These effects may relate to the peer situation being more stimulating or arousing. Differential responding to the mirror and peer suggests some very early awareness of differences between a self-image and another infant.

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Field, T. (1979). Visual and cardiac responses to animate and inanimate faces by young term and preterm infants. Child Development, 50, 188-194.

Infants’ looking and looking-away behaviors, as well as cardiac responses to mothers’ spontaneous and imitative and to dolls’ animated and still faces, were recorded for 18 term and 18 preterm infants when they were 3 months old. Infants spent less time looking at their mothers’ than at the doll’s faces, and their heart-rate levels were elevated while looking at mothers’ faces. These effects were most pronounced for the preterm infants whose inferior scores on the animate visual item of the Brazelton neonatal scale suggested a continuity of visual inattentiveness to animate stimuli. Both groups also looked at the inanimate more than the animate doll’s face and evidenced lower heart-rate levels during that situation.

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Field, T., Dempsey, J., Hatch, J., Ting, G., & Clifton, R. (1979). Cardiac and behavioral responses to repeated tactile and auditory stimulation by preterm and term neonates. Developmental Psychology, 15, 406-416.

Auditory stimuli and a tactile stimulus were repeatedly presented to 18 term and 18 preterm infants. Both groups initially responded to all stimuli with increased limb movements and heart rate acceleration. However, only the term infants responded to stimuli repetition by decreasing both cardiac and behavioral responses. In addition, they differentially responded to the three stimuli and showed response recovery in both systems. Since a behavioral response decrement was observed without a cardiac response decrement in the preterm group a second experiment was conducted. Heart rate change during the sucking activity of Experiment 2 revealed an integration between autonomic and motor responsivity of preterm infants comparable to that of newborns.

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Children

Field, T., & Walden, T. (1982). Production and discrimination of facial expressions by preschool children. Child Development, 53, 1299-1311.

Production and discrimination of the 8 basic facial expressions were investigated among 34 3-5-year-old preschool children. Adults’ “guesses” of the children’s productions as well as the children’s guesses of their own expressions on videotape were more accurate for the happy than afraid or angry expressions and for those expressions elicited during the imitation conditions. Greater accuracy of guessing by the adult than the child suggests that the children’s productions were superior to their discriminations, although these skills appeared to be related. Children’s production skills were also related to sociometric ratings by their peers and expressivity ratings by their teachers. These were not related to the child’s age and only weakly related to the child’s expressivity during classroom free-play observations.

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Walden, T., & Field, T. (1982). Discrimination of facial expressions by preschool children. Child Development, 53, 1312-1319.

This study investigated preschool children’s ability to discriminate and categorize facial expressions. Children were shown drawings of persons with expressions of joy, sadness, surprise, and anger and asked to choose from an array of drawings the face that felt “the same” as the standard. In some cases the match had identical facial features and in others the match was a generalized version with no identical features. Both with and without prompts children made fewer errors matching happy expressions and matched generalized happy expressions as accurately as identical expressions. Surprised and angry faces were less accurately matched. Providing verbal labels for the faces facilitated matching, particularly for happy and generalized expressions, suggesting that labeling or explicitly providing a conceptual category may aid comparison and/or memory of the expressions. A levels-of-processing effect is suggested to be operating in young children’s discrimination and categorization of facial expressions.

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Depressed Mothers

Hart, S., Field, T., Letourneau, M., & DelValle, C. (1998). Jealousy protests in infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 137-148.

Twelve-month-old infants of (N=97) mothers reporting depressed and nondepressed symptoms were videotaped while their mothers and a stranger directed positive attention toward a book or a doll while they ignored the infant. During conditions of unresponsiveness in which the object of attention was a doll, infants of depressed versus nondepressed mothers demonstrated less protest behavior, less proximity to their mothers, less disturbed exploratory activity and greater proximity to a stranger.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Del Pino, N., & Diego, M. (2000). Less exploring by mouth occurs in newborns of depressed mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 21, 204-210.

Twenty-four newborns of depressed and nondepressed mothers were assessed for oral perception of a nubby and smooth texture. Both groups of newborns discriminated between these textures and showed a sucking preference for the smooth texture. However, the newborns of depressed mothers spent 50% less time orally exploring the stimuli, one-third less time exploring the more novel nubby texture, and 59% less time mouthing the smooth texture. Newborns of depressed mothers may have biological differences that affect their emotional arousal and emotional regulation (e.g., capacity for self-soothing).

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., & Diego, M. (2004). Differential sucking by neonates of depressed versus non-depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 465-476.

Forty-two neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers sucked on cold and warm nipples on alternating trials. Half the infants received the cold nipple on the first of the eight trials and the other half received the warm nipple first. Neonates of depressed mothers sucked twice as much as neonates of non-depressed mothers, suggesting arousal dysregulation, overactivity or greater hedonic behavior in the newborns of depressed mothers. Although the newborns did not show a preference for cold or warm nipples, a temperature order effect revealed that neonates who received the cold nipple on the first trial sucked significantly more on trials 2–8 than those who received the warm nipple on the first trial, suggesting that an initially cold nipple might elicit greater sucking.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y., Gil, K., Diego, M., & Sanders, C. (2005). Infants of depressed mothers facing a mirror versus their mother. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 48-53.

Behavioral responses were assessed in 3-6-month-old infants of depressed mothers placed face-to-face in front of a mirror versus in front of their mother. Infants showed more positive behavior (smiling) with their mothers versus the mirror but also showed more negative behavior (gaze aversion, distress brow and crying) during the mother condition. These differences highlight the infants’ greater affective responses (both positive and negative) to their mother versus the mirror. Equivalent amounts of vocalizing to the mother and mirror suggested that the mirror does elicit social behavior, with the infants perhaps enjoying watching themselves talk. Group differences suggested that the infants of depressed mothers showed less gaze aversion with their mothers, perhaps because their mothers were less interactive. When in front of the mirror, they vocalized more and gaze averted less than the infants of non-depressed mothers, suggesting that the mirror was particularly effective in eliciting vocalizations in infants of depressed mothers.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., & Field, T. (2006). Instrumental and vocal music effects in neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 518-525.

Neonates of non-depressed mothers showed greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to both types of music, suggesting a withdrawal response. Neonates of depressed mother on the other hand, showed greater relative left frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental without vocal segment, suggesting an approach response, and greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental with vocal segment, suggesting a withdrawal approach.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., & Ruddock, M. (2006). Greater arousal and lesser attention by neonates of depressed vs non-depressed mothers on the brazelton neonatal assessment scale. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 594-598.

The neonates of depressed mothers received lower scores on orienting to the live face/voice stimulus and on the alertness items, suggesting they were less attentive. They also scored less optimally on the cuddliness and hand-to-mouth activity items, suggesting they were more aroused.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., Vera, Y., & Pickens, J. (2006). Happy faces are habituated more slowly by infants of depressed mothers. Infant Behavior & Development., 29, 131-35.

Infants of depressed mothers took longer to habituate the video clips of facial expressions compared to infants of non-depressed mothers, and those assigned to habituate the sad video clips displayed a novelty response or dishabituated to the happy expressions.

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Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M. & Fernandez, M. (2007). Depressed mothers’ newborns show less discrimination of other newborns’ cry sounds. Infant Behavior and Development, 30, 431-435.

The newborns of non-depressed mothers responded to the cry sounds of other infants with reduced sucking and decreased heart rate. In contrast, the newborns of depressed mothers did not show a change in their sucking or heart rate to the cry of other infants. This lesser responsiveness to other infants’ cries may predict a lack of empathy.

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Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Diego, M., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., Gil, K., & Sanders, C. (2007). Responses to animate and inanimate faces by infants of depressed mothers. Early Child Development and Care, 177, 533-539.

Forty infants of depressed mothers and non-depressed mothers were seated in an infant seat and were exposed to four different degrees of animation, including a still-face Raggedy Ann doll, the same doll in an animated state talking and head-nodding, an imitative mother and a spontaneously interacting mother (the more animate mother condition). The infants spent more time looking at the doll, but they smiled and laughed more at the mother. The infants of depressed versus non-depressed mothers showed less laughing and more fussing when their mothers were spontaneously interacting, but showed more laughing and less fussing during the mother imitation condition. Paradoxically, the infants of non-depressed mothers were negatively affected by the imitation condition, showing less smiling and laughing and more fussing than they had during the spontaneous interactions.

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EEG

Pickens, J., Field, T., Fox, N. & Nawrocki, T. (2001). Frontal EEG Asymmetry in response to emotional vignettes in preschool age children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 105-112.

EEG recordings were conducted with preschool children during presentations of videotaped vignettes depicting a fictional young child experiencing happy, sad, angry, and fearful events. Significant EEG asymmetry in the frontal region (left frontal activation) occurred during all types of emotional vignettes, but not during baseline periods (a neutral star-field image presented before and after each vignette). These children displayed mostly neutral facial expressions during the vignettes, with some evidence of lip movements during the negative episodes (suggesting that the stories were eliciting some mild emotional responses or empathy). There was no evidence of more intense emotional responses that have been associated with right frontal cortical activation. These EEG patterns may reflect cortical mechanisms underlying mild emotional responses and affective displays in preschool children, as well as their developing ability to regulate their affective systems.

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Fernandez, M., Blass, E.M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Sanders, C., & Diego, M. (2003). Sucrose attenuates a negative EEG response to an aversive stimulus for newborns. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 24, 261-266.

Reports that sweet taste calms crying in newborns and is analgesic against the pain caused by a heel lance served as the basis for this study. In a randomized and controlled trial, 34 newborns were administered 2 mL of water or sucrose solution before the heelstroke. Infants who received water showed increased relative right frontal EEG activation from baseline to the post-heelstroke phase, a pattern that typifies negative affect. The EEG of infants in the sucrose group did not change. Heart rate increased rapidly in both groups during the heelstroke phase. However, after the heelstroke, the heart rate of infants who received sucrose returned to baseline, whereas the heart rate of infants who tasted water remained elevated. During the heelstroke, the infants in the water group cried and grimaced twice as long as the infants in the sucrose group. These findings add to the growing literature showing that sucrose attenuates newborns’ negative response to aversive or noxious stimuli.

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Expressions

Field, T., Woodson, R., Greenberg, R., & Cohen, D. (1982). Discrimination and imitation of facial expressions by neonates. Science, 218, 179-181.

Human neonates discriminated three facial expressions (happy, sad, and surprised) posed by a live model as evidenced by diminished visual fixation on each face over trials and renewed fixations to the presentation of a different face. The expressions posed by the model, unseen by the observer, were guessed at greater than chance accuracy simply by observing the face of the neonate, whose facial movements in the brow, eyes, and mouth regions provided evidence for imitation of the facial expressions.

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Field, T., Woodson, R., Cohen, D.,Greenberg, R., Garcia, R., & Collins, K. (1983). Discrimination and imitation of facial expressions by term and preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 6, 485-489.

48 term and preterm neonates participated in this study. The habituation/ dishabituation data of this study suggest that the neonate is capable of discriminating at least happy, sad, and surprised facial expressions. Habituation and dishabituation was more pronounced in term than preterm infants. However, both groups of infants appeared to imitate components of the expressions being modeled, and their expressions were accurately guessed more frequently than would be expected by chance.

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Field, T. (1989). Individual and maturational differences in infant expressivity. New Directions for Child Development, 44, 9-23.

Young infants can discriminate among different facial expressions. However, individual differences exist in infants’ expressivity and ability to produce and discriminate facial expressions. The greater concordance between monozygotic than dizygotic twins on looking times and expressivity suggest that individual differences in expressivity occur as early as birth, possibly due to genetic differences.The significant individual differences between high- and low-expressive infants on attentiveness, responsivity to social stimulation, and automonic reactivity suggest that neonates may differ on a broader dimension than simply their expressivity and highlight the complexity of individual differences in neonatal behavior. Expressivity, or some other more cornplex dimension such as extraversion, may be innate, as has been speculated by Jones (1960) and Eysenck (1967), suggesting that there may be continuity on this dimension.

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Walden, T., & Field, T. (1990). Preschool children’s social competence and production and discrimination of affective expressions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 65-76.

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to discriminate and produce facial expressions and social acceptance by peers of young preschool children. Results indicated that abilities to discriminate and produce expressions were unrelated when the contribution of age and IQ to the relation was removed. Furthermore, posed and spontaneous productions of expressions were not related. No gender differences were observed on any measures. Thus, results indicate that children’s discriminations ability and spontaneous expressivity predict social competence, as indexed by; liking by peers.

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Lundy, B., Field, T., Cigales, M., Cuadra, A.,& Pickens, J.,(1997). Vocal and facial expression matching in infants of mothers with depressive symptoms. Infant Mental Health Journal, 18, 265-273.

This study investigated vocal and facial expression matching in 24 10-month-old infants. Half of the mothers had reported depressive symptoms during the previous week. Infants of mothers who reported depressive symptoms displayed less accurate matching of the happy facial and vocal expressions and looked more to sad facial expressions compared to infants of mothers who had not reported depressive symptoms above the normal range. Infants’ performance on the expression matching task appears to be related to their primary caregivers’ reports of depressive symptoms during the previous week. However, other factors that may be related to the group differences also need to be considered. For example, maternal reports of depressive symptoms may be a marker for other underlying factors that may have affected their infants’ performance.

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Field, T., Pickens, J., Fox, N., Gonzalez, J. & Nawrocki (1998). Facial expressions and EEG responses to happy and sad faces/voices by 3-month-old infants of depressed mothers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16, 485-494.

Videotaped happy and sad face/voice stimuli were presented after a neutral starfield baseline stimulus to 24 3-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. The infants looked at and showed more positive expressions during the happy and sad face/voice stimuli versus the neutral starfield. The infants of non-depressed versus depressed mothers looked at the sad face/voice stimulus longer, perhaps because the sad face/voice stimulus was more novel for the infants of non-depressed mothers. A negative correlation between EEG and visual fixation time suggested that less left frontal activation (usually associated with withdrawal) was related to greater visual fixation time (usually associated with approach behaviour). This mixed approach/ withdrawal response was observed more frequently in infants of non-depressed mothers and could be interpreted as a vigilant or empathetic response in those infants.

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Face-voice synchrony

Pickens, J., Field, T., Nawrocki, T., Martinez, A., Soutullo, D. & Gonzalez, J. (1994). Full-term and preterm infants’ perception of face-voice synchrony. Infant Behavior and Development, 17, 447-455.

This study investigated auditory-visual matching of faces and voices by preterm versus full-term infants at 3, 5, and 7 months of age. A significantly higher rate of visual fixation to the sound-matching films was observed in the full-term 3- and 7-month groups, but not at 5 months. Longitudinal testing confirmed the U-shaped developmental curve for full-term infants’ task performance. In contrast to full terms, preterm infants did not display evidence of detecting face-voice synchrony. This suggests that an auditory-visual matching deficit may be associated with infant prematurity.

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Imitative Behaviors

Field, T., Guy, L.,& Umbel, V. (1985). Infants’ responses to mothers’ imitative behaviors. Infant Mental Health Journal, 6, 40-44.

This study investigated whether infants smile and vocalize more frequently subsequent to maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior during both spontaneous and imitative face-to-face interactions. Fourteen 3-month old infants and their mothers were videotaped in these two face-to-face interaction situations. The infants vocalized more frequently during the imitative situation and infant vocalizations plus simultaneous smiling, and vocalizations occurred more often following maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior. Although these data suggest that infant vocalizations and simultaneous smiles and vocalizations may reflect the infants’ recognition of maternal imitative behavior, they do not establish definitively that it is the imitation per se vs. the contingency aspect that is recognized by the infant.

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Field, T., Goldstein, S., Vega Lahr, N., & Porter, K. (1986). Changes in imitative behavior during early infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 415-421.

Changes in imitative behavior and attentiveness were observed in 40 infants when they were 2 to 6 months of age. The facial expressions happy, sad, and surprised were modeled in a trials-to-criterion procedure, and the infants’ looking time and mouth movements were recorded by an observer who was unaware of the face being modeled. In addition, the observer recorded her guess as to the expression being modeled by the corresponding expression on the infant’s face and rated the infant’s expressivity. The results suggested that looking time, correspondence between the mouth expression of the infant and the mouth expression modeled, accuracy of the observer’s guess, and expressivity ratings decreased from 2 to 3 and 4 to 6 months. Although matching of mouth movements with the modeled mouth movements and accuracy of guesses were greater than chance over the 2 to 6 month-period, the decreases in these measures suggest that imitative behavior declined across early infancy. The decrease in looking time suggests that imitative behavior and attentiveness may be related and highlights the limitation of this paradigm for assessing the development of imitation during early infancy.

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Newborn Infants

Field, T., Cohen, D., Garcia, R., & Greenberg, R. (1984). Mother stranger face discrimination by the newborn. Infant Behavior and Development, 7, 19-25.

Newborn infants discriminate their mother’s face from the face of a stranger shortly after birth. The neonates showed an initial preference for their mother’s face. The mother’s face (or face and voice) was then presented to the neonates for repeated trials until the infant reached an habituation criterion. In a subsequent discrimination test the infants looked significantly longer at the stranger’s face, suggesting that the mother’s face was discriminated after very limited experience. Although voice cues were not required for this discrimination, the possibility remains that other cues, such as the mother’s odor, may facilitate the discrimination of her face.

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Temperature

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., and Largie, S. (2002). Haptic habituation to temperature is slower in newborns of depressed mothers. Infancy,4, 47-63.

Infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers were habituated to a cold or warm temperature tube by hand. Infants of depressed mothers 1) required twice as long to habituate, 2) showed a sensitization effect, indexed as an increase in holding from the second to the third trial of habituation and 3) showed passive hand activity while holding the object in their hand.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., & Largie, S. (2003). Haptic habituation to temperature is slower in newborns of depressed mothers. Infancy, 4, 47-63.

Forty newborns of depressed and nondepressed mothers were habituated to a cold or warm temperature tube by hand. Both groups of infants habituated the temperature of the tube, as indicated by a decrease in holding, and dishabituated, as indexed by an increase in holding when the temperature of the tube changed. However, the newborns of depressed mothers (a) required twice as long to habituate; (b) showed a sensitization effect, as indexed by an increase in holding from the second to the third trial of habituation; and © passively handled the objects with their hand.

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Texture

Lundy, B., Field, T., Carraway, K., Hart, S., Malphurs, J.Rosenstein, M., Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Coletta, F., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (1998).Food texture preferences in infants. Early Child Development and Care, 146, 69-85.

In the present research, infants displayed more negative expressions, negative head movements and negative body movements when presented with more complex textures. In contrast, toddlers showed more positive head and body movements and more eagerness for complex textures. The data also suggest that experience with difficult-to-chew textures can facilitate a preference for a more complex texture.

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Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., del Pino, N., and Diego. M. (2000). Less Exploring by mouth occurs in newborns of depressed mothers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 21, 204-210.

Newborns of depressed mothers spent half as much time orally exploring a nubby and smooth texture orally, suggesting that they may have biological differences affecting their emotional arousal and regulation.

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Visual

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., & Largie, S. (2002). Depressed mothers’ newborns show inferior face discrimination. Infant Mental Health Journal, 23, 643-653.

Infants of depressed mothers took longer to habituate their mothers’ face/voice and afterwards displayed no visual preference for mother or stranger, compared to infants of non-depressed mothers who showed a novelty preference for stranger.

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Weight

Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., and Largie, S. (2002). Weight perception by newborns of depressed vs. non-depressed mothers. Infant Behavior and Development, 24, 305-316.

Newborns of depressed mothers showed passive manipulation of objects and did not detect a change in the object’s weight during test trials.

Aggression

Field, T. (1999). American adolescents touch each other less and are more aggressive toward their peers as compared with French adolescents. Adolescence, 34, 753-758.

Adolescents were observed at McDonalds’ restaurants in Paris and Miami to assess the amount of touching and aggression during their peer interactions. The American adolescents spent less time leaning against, stroking, kissing, and hugging their peers than did the French adolescents. Instead they showed more self-touching and more aggressive verbal and physical behavior.

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Field, T. (1999). Preschoolers in America are touched less and are more aggressive than preschoolers in France. Early Child Development and Care, 151, 11-17.

French and American preschool children were observed on playgrounds with their parents and peers. The American children played with their parents, talked with and touched their parents less and were more aggressive toward their parents. During peer interactions the American children also showed less touching their peers and more grabbing their peers’ toys, more aggression toward their peers and more fussing

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Depressed mothers

Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Field, T., Hossain, Z., & Pickens, J. (1996). Depressed mothers’ touching increases infants’ positive affect and attention in still-face interactions. Child Development, 67, 1780-1792.

The effects of depressed mothers’ touching on their infants’ behavior were investigated during the still-face situation. Infants of depressed mothers showed more positive affect (smiles and vocalizations) and gazed more at their mothers’ hands during the still-face-with-touch period than the infants of non-depressed mothers, who grimaced, cried, and gazed away from their mothers’ faces more often.

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Mother infant interactions

Field, T. (2002). Infants’ need for touch. Human Development, 157, 1-4.

A contingency-based technique was used to document the infants’ preferences for touch stimulation. In this procedure, infant eye contact was reinforced by the mothers’ face and voice with touch added in one condition and without touch in the other condition. Infants in the first four months of life who received touch along with the other stimuli showed more smiling and vocalizing and less crying.

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Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Gewirtz, J.L., Field, T., Cigales, M., Malphurs, J., Clasky, S. & Sanchez, A. (1996). Infant preference for touch stimulation in face-to-face interactions. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 17, 199-213.

Infant preference for social stimulation that included touch during a face-to-face situation with an adult was investigated. Under the no-touch treatment, the infant eye contact responses were followed by contingent adult smiling and cooing, but not by touching. During the touch condition, infants emitted more eye contact and more smiles and vocalizations, and they spent less time crying and protesting compared with the no-touch condition.

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Types of touching

Pelaez-Nogueras, M., Field, T., Gewirtz, J., Cigales, M., Gonzalez, A., Sanchez, A. & Richardson, S.C. (1997). The effects of systematic stroking versus tickling and poking on infant attention and affect. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 18, 169-178.

Effects of contingent stroking were compared to effects of contingent tickling and poking on infant eye contact (attention) and affect during face-to-face interactions with an adult female. Compared to the tickling and poking treatment, during the systematic stroking treatment infants spent a greater proportion of time making eye contact with the experimenter, smiled and vocalized more and frowned and cried less.

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Review

Field, T. (2002). Violence and touch deprivation in adolescents. Adolescence, 37, 735-749.

There has been a relatively high incidence of anger and aggression in high school samples, even those that were relatively advantaged, as well as high levels of depression (one standard deviation above the mean), suggesting significant disturbance in these youth. Adolescents with these profiles also had less optimal relationships with their families, used illicit drugs more frequently, had inferior academic performance, and had higher depression scores. In our cross-cultural comparisons, preschoolers and adolescents were less physically affectionate and more aggressive in the United States versus France. Further, the U.S. youth received less physical affection as preschoolers, and as adolescents they engaged in more self-stimulating behaviors, perhaps to compensate for receiving less physical affection from their parents and peers.

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Socioemotional & Physical Well-being

Field, T. (2010). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: A review. Developmental Review, 30, 367-383.

This review briefly summarizes recent empirical research on touch. The research includes the role of touch in early development, touch deprivation, touch aversion, emotions that can be conveyed by touch, the importance of touch for interpersonal relationships and how friendly touch affects compliance in different situations. MRI data are reviewed showing activation of the orbitofrontal cortex and the caudate cortex during affective touch. Physiological and biochemical effects of touch are also reviewed including decreased heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol and increased oxytocin

• Dias, C.C., Figueiredo, B., Rocha, M., & Field, T. (2018). Reference values and changes in infant sleep-wake behavior during the first 12 months of life: A systematic review. Journal of Sleep Research., 1-23. [Epub ahead of print].
• Field, T. (2018). Yoga for pain: A research review. Journal of Yoga, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, 2018,1-8. DOI:10.29011/YPTR-151.
• Field, T. (2018) Romantic breakup distress, betrayal and heartbreak: A review. International Journal of Behavioral Research & Psychology. 5,217-225.
• Field, T. (2018). Pain and massage therapy: A narrative review. Current Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. dOI: 10.29011/CRCKM-125/100025.
• Field, T. (2018). Internet addiction in adolescents: A review. Journal of Addictions and Therapies, 1, 1-11.
• Field, T. (2018). Cyberbullying: A narrative review. Journal of Addiction Therapy and Research. 2018,2,10-17.
• Field, T. (2018). Paternal prenatal, perinatal and postpartum depression: A narrative review. Journal of Anxiety and Depression. 2018, 1:102, 1-16.
• Field, T. (2018). Infant massage therapy research review. Clinical Research in Pediatrics. 2018;1(2):1-9.
• Field, T. (2018). Perinatal depression: A review. Pregnancy and Childcare.
• Field, T. (2018). Online dating in older adults: A review. OBM Geriatrics. 2, doi:10.21926/obm.geriatr.1803012
• Field, T. (2018). Peer support versus interpersonal group therapy.
• Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry. 9,416-418.
• Figueiredo, B., Canario, C., Tendais, I., Pinto, T.M., Kenny, D., & Field, T. (2018). Couples’ relationship affects mothers’ and fathers’ anxiety and depression trajectories over the transition to parenthood. Journal of Affective Disorders. 238:204-212.
• Mantis, I., Mercuri, M., Stack, D.M.& Field, T.M. (2018). Depressed and non-depressed mothers’ touching during social interactions with their infants. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.01.005
• Moszkowski, R.M., Stack, D.M., Girouard, N., Field, T.M., Hernandez-Reif, M. et al. (2018). Touching behaviors of infants of depressed mothers during normal and perturbed interactions. Infant Behavior and Development. 32, 183-194.

• Cleveland, L., Hill, C., Pulse, W. Dicioccio, H., Field, T. & White-Traut, R. (2017). Systematic review of skin-to-skin care for full-term, healthy newborns. Journal of Obstetric and Gynecological Nursing, 46, 857-868.
• Field, T. (2017). Prenatal depression risk factors, developmental effects and interventions: A Review. Journal of Pregnancy and Child Health, 4, 1-12.
• Field, T. (2017).Postpartum depression effects, risk factors and interventions: A Review. Clinical Depression, 3,1-13.
• Field, T. (2017). Prenatal anxiety effects: A review. Infant Behavior and Development, 49, 120-128
• Field, T. (2017). Newborn massage therapy. International Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatal Health, 2, 54-64.
• Field, T. (2017). Preterm newborn pain research review. Infant Behavior and Development. 49, 141-150.
• Field, T. (2017). Imitation enhances social behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder: A review Behavioral Development Bulletin, 22, 86-93.
• Field, T. (2017). Romantic breakup distress, betrayal and heartbreak: A review. International Journal of Behavioral Research and Psychology, 5, 217-225.
• Field, T. (2017). Touch. Oxford Dictionaries.
• Figueiredo, B., Dias, C.C., Pinto, T.M., & Field, T. (2017). Exclusive breastfeeding at three months and infant sleep-wake behaviors at two weeks, three and six months. Infant Behavior & Development. 49:62-69.
• Figueiredo, B., Pinto, C.C., Pacheco, A., & Field, T. (2017). Fetal heart rate variability mediates prenatal depression effects on neonatal neurobehavioral maturity. Biological Psychology. 123:294-301.
• Voulgarakis, H., Bendell-Estroff, D. & Field, T. (2017). Prevalence of obesity and autism spectrum disorder. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 22, 209-214.

• Field, T.(2016). Massage therapy research review. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.24:19-31.
• Field, T. (2016). Yoga research review. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 24:145-61.
• Field, T.(2016). Knee osteoarthritis pain can be reduced by massage therapy, yoga and tai chi. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.22:87-92.
• Field, T.(2016). Tai chi research review. Complementary Medicine and Alternative Healthcare, 1,1-16.
• Field, T.(2016). Romantic love. International Journal of Behavioral Research and Psychology, 4, 185-190.
• Field, T., Gonzalez, G., Diego,M., Mindell, J. (2016).Mothers massaging their newborns with lotion versus no lotion enhances mothers’ and newborns’sleep. Infant Behavior and Development. 45:31-37.
• Figueiredo, B., Castro-Dias, C., Dias, C.C.,Pinto, T.M., Field, T. (2016). Infant sleep-wake behaviors at two weeks, three and six months. Infant Behav Dev. 44:169-178.

• Field, T. (2015).Smell and taste dysfunction as early markers for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinsonism,5,1-9.
• Field, T. (In Press). Breakup distress, betrayal and heartbreak. Journal of Relationships.
• Diego, M., Jones, N., Field, T. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (In Review). Frontal EEG Asymmetry Gender Differences in Infants of Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers. Developmental Psychobiology.
• Figueiredo, B., Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Vera, Y. & Gil, K. (In Press). Relationship Questionnaire: Validity data from pregnant women and their partners. Journal of Family Psychology.

• Diego, M., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. (2014). Preterm infant weight gain is increased by massage therapy and exercise via different underlying mechanisms. Early Human development.
• Diego, M., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M. (2014). Preterm Infants Exhibit Attenuated Responses and Faster Recoveries to a Mildly Painful Procedure Following Massage. Infant Behavior and Development.
• Field,T., Diego, M.,Gonzalez, G. & Funk, C.G.(2014). Neck arthritis pain is reduced and range of motion is increased by massage therapy. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

• Field, T., Diego, M., Delgado, J., Garcia, D., & Funk, C.G., (2013). Rheumatoid Arthritis in Upper Limbs Benefits from Moderate Pressure Massage Therapy. Complementary Therapies In Clinical Practice, 19, 101-3.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Solien-Wolfe, L. (2013). Massage plus topical analgesic is more effective than massage alone for hand arthritis pain. Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 10, 1-4.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Delgado, J., & Medina, L. (2013). Peer Support and Interpersonal Psychotherapy Groups Experienced Decreased h4.Prenatal Depression, Anxiety, and Cortisol. Early Human Development, 9, 621-4.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Delgado, J., & Medina, L. (2013). Yoga and Social Support Reduce Prenatal Depression, Anxiety, and Cortisol. Journal of Bodywork and Complementary Therapies. 4, 397 – 403.
• Field, T., Diego M., Delgado J, Medina L. (2013). Tai chi/yoga reduces prenatal depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Complementary Therapies In Clinical Practice, 19, 6-10.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2013). Intrusive Thoughts: A Primary Variable in Breakup Distress. College Student Journal 47, 578-584.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2013). Negative Emotions and Behaviors are Markers for Breakup Distress. College Student Journal 47, 527-534.
• Field, T., Ezell, S., Faut, J., Grace, A., Allender, S., & Siddalingappa, V. (2013). Reciprocal Imitation Following Adult Imitation of Children with Autism. Infant and Child Development. 22, 642-648.
• Figueiredo, B., Canario C., & Field, T (2013). Breastfeeding is negatively affected by prenatal depression and reduces postpartum depression. Psychological Medicine, 1-10.
• Pelaez, M., Virues Ortega, J., Field T., Amir-Kiaei, Y, Schnerch, G. (2013). Social referencing in infants of mothers with symptoms of depression. Infant Behavior and development, 4, 548-556.

• Ezell, S., Field, T., Nadel, J., Newton, R., & Murrey, G. (2012). Imitation Effects on Joint Attention Behaviors of Children with Autism. Psychology 3(9), 681-685.
• Field, T. (2012). Exercise Research on Children and Adolescents. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 18, 54-59.
• Field, T. (2012). Prenatal Exercise Research. Infant Behavior and Development, 35, 397-40
• Field, T. (2012). Relationships as Regulators. Psychology, 3(6), 467-479.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Delgado, J., & Medina, L. (2012). Tai Chi/Yoga reduces prenatal depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Medina, L., Delgado, J., & Hernandez, A. (2012). Yoga and massage therapy reduce prenatal depression and prematurity. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 16, 204-209.
• Field, T., Diego. M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2012). Breakup Effects on University Students Perceived Academic Performance. College Student Journal 46(3), 615-619.
• Field, T., Diego. M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2012). Depression and Related Problems in University Students. College Student Journal 46, 193-202.
• Hernandez-Reif,M., Maluga, M. & Field, T. (2012). Maternal depression and infant birth measures relate to how neonates respond to music. Infant Behavior and Development.35, 655-61.
• Hurley, E.C., Field, T., & Bendell-Estoff, D. (2012). Rejection sensitivity and marital adjustment among military spouses during deployments. Psychology 3(6), 480-484.
• Mitchell, J., Field, T., Diego, M., Bendell, D., Newton, R., Pelaez, M. (2012). Yoga Reduces Prenatal Depression Symptoms. Psychology 3, 782-786.
• Richardson, A., Field, T., Newton, R., & Bendell, D. (2012). Locus of control and Prenatal depression. Infant Behavior and Development 35, 662-668

• Field, T. (2011). Prenatal Depression Effects on Early Development: A Review. Infant Behavior and Development, 34, 1-14.
• Field, T. (2011). Romantic Breakups, Heartbreak and Bereavement. Psychology, 2, 382-387
• Field, T. (2011). Yoga Clinical Research Review. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 17, 1-8.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Delgado, J., Garcia, D., & Funk, CG. (2011). Hand pain is reduced by massage therapy. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 17, 226-229
• Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2011).Potential Underlying Mechanisms For Greater Weight Gain in Massaged Preterm Infants. Infant Behavior and Development,34, 383-389.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2011). Breakup Distress in University Students: A Review. College Student Journal,45, 615-619.
• Pelaez, M., Field, T., Diego. M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2011). Insecurity, Control and Disinterest Behaviors are Related to Breakup Distress in University Students. College Student Journal, 45, 333-340.

• Diego, M., Jones N., & Field, T. (2010). EEG in 1-week, 1-month and 3-month-old infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Biological Psychology, 83, 7-14.
• Field, T. (2010). Prenatal Depression and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. International Journal of Neuroscience, 120, 163-167.
• Field, T. (2010). Postpartum depression effects on early interactions, parenting and safety practices: A review. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 1-6.
• Field, T. (2010). Pregnancy and Labor Massage Therapy. Expert Review of Obstetrics and Gynecology,5,177-181.
• Field, T. (2010). Tai Chi Research Review. Complementary Therapy and Clinical Practice, epub ahead of print.
• Field, T. (2010). Touch for Socioemotional and Physical Well-being: A Review. Developmental Review, 30, 367-383.
• Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2010). Moderate pressure is essential for massage therapy effects. International Journal of Neuroscience, 120, 381-385.
• Field, T., Diego, M. & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2010). Preterm Infant Massage Therapy Research: A Review. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 115-124.
• Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2010). Prenatal depression effects and interventions: A review. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 409-418.
• Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2010). Tai Chi/ Yoga Effects on Anxiety, Heartrate, EEG and Math Computations. Complementary Therapy and Clinical Practice, 16, 235-238.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Deeds, O., Ascencio., A., Schanberg, S. & Kuhn, C. (2010). Comorbid depression and anxiety effects on pregnancy and neonatal outcome. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 23-29.
• Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Figueiredo, B., Shauna, E., & Siblalingappa, V. (2010). Depressed Mothers and Infants are More Relaxed During Breastfeeding vs. Bottlefeeding Interactions: Brief report. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 241-244.
• Field, T., Diego. M., Pelaez, M., Deeds, O., & Delgado, J. (2010). Breakup Distress and the Loss of Intimacy in University Students. Psychology, 1, 173-177.
• Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., & Diego, M. (2010). Depressed Mothers’ Newborns are less Responsive to Animate and Inanimate Stimuli. Infant and Child Development, 20, 94–105.
• Figueiredo, B., Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Deeds, O., & Ascencio, A. (2010). Partner Relationships During Pregnancy in Anxious and Depressed Women and Men. Psicologia, Saúde & Doenças, 11, 243-250.