Maternal Affect Attunement: Refinement and Internal Validation of a Coding Scheme

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bartling, Karen | Kopp, Franziska | Lindenberger, Ulman

Note: [] Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Karen Bartling, Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany. E-mail: bartling@mpib-berlin.mpg.de

Abstract: The concept of maternal affect attunement has evoked considerable theoretical interest, but attempts at empirical validation have been scarce. The aim of this study was to refine the coding scheme for assessment of maternal affect attunement and to establish the internal validity of the measure. Forty dyads with seven-month-old infants and their mothers were recorded in two face-to-face play situations. Mother-child interactions were coded by four raters on the dimensions of Maintaining Attention and Warm Sensitivity, the latter comprising the subscales of Positive Affect, Social Responsiveness, and Warm Concern. Inter-rater agreements for all scales and subscales were high. Scale reliabilities and construct stabilities as estimated by test-retest correlations were satisfactory. We conclude that the Maternal Affect Attunement Scale (MAAS) reliably captures individual differences in Maintaining Attention and Warm Sensitivity.

Keywords: Maternal Affect Attunement Scale (MAAS), parent-child interaction, coding dyadic interaction, maintaining attention, warm sensitivity

DOI: 10.3233/DEV-2010-4101

Journal: International Journal of Developmental Science, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-17, 2010