Exploring maternal touch in the infant's first 18 months of Life: A study on an Italian sample.
Infant Behav Dev
; 71: 101836, 2023 May.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36990018
ABSTRACT
Affective touch is a crucial component of caregiving in early life and constitutes a key factor with a significant impact on infant later-life outcomes. The Parent-Infant Caregiving Touch Scale (PICTS) allows to quantify and qualify the caregiver's self-perception of touch in the first months of an infant's life. In the current study, we contributed to validation of the PICTS in the Italian language in order to explore whether early maternal touch would be associated with maternal emotional state, maternal history of affective touch experiences throughout the lifespan, and infants' sex and age. Data analyses were run on a sample of 377 Italian mothers (mean age = 33.29; SD = 4.79) participating in an online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied. A three-dimensional structure of PICTS (i.e., stroking, affective communication, and holding) after removing one item out resulted in the best model in our sample. Maternal emotional state did not affect PICTS factor scores while maternal comfort and amount of affective touch experienced during adulthood was significantly associated with the stroking, affective communication, and holding factors. Regarding infants' dimensions, infants' sex and age were not associated with PICTS factor scores. Findings suggest that the PICTS Italian version is a good measurement of caregiver's self-perception of touch in early infancy and that maternal history of touch is associated with a mother's current use of touch.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Tacto
/
Percepción del Tacto
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Infant Behav Dev
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia