Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:17:03.814Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mother-Twin Interaction During Early Childhood*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

M. Robin ,
D. Josse  and
C. Tourrette
M. Robin*
Affiliation:
INSERM Unit 187, Clamart, University of Poitiers, France
D. Josse
Affiliation:
INSERM Unit 187, Clamart, University of Poitiers, France
C. Tourrette
Affiliation:
Psychology Laboratory, University of Poitiers, France
*
Unité INSERM 187, 32 rue des Carnets, 92140 Clamart, France

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The components of a research program focussing on early mother-twin interaction is described. Preliminary data obtained from a questionnaire at two months post term, cross-sectional observations at the age of one year, a follow-up study involving home observation and parental interviews from birth to the age of 3, point to the specificity of this triadic situation. During the first months of life, the burden of material tasks and the increase in baby care leave little time for starting a relationship based on pleasure or play. The impossibility of responding simultaneously to the needs of two babies and the difficuty of forming relationships on an individual basis foster early concerns for egalitarianism. The degree of physical resemblance between the babies creates the problem of differentiating them. To tell twins apart, mothers rapidly tend to rely on behavioral characteristics to which they attribute a genetic basis. In contrast, differences in development between the babies that introduce the eventuality of the dominance of one of the twins are often denied. In this highly specific situation, mothers arrive at personal solutions of adjustment over the first 3 years, manifest in a certain number of psychological and educational attitudes. Analysis of these maternal attitudes may help to shed light on some of the features of later psychoemotional development in twins.

Keywords

TwinsMother-twin interactionPsychological attitudeUpbringing
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 151 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1988

Footnotes

*

This study was conducted at the Antoine Béclère maternity hospital (Clamart, France), Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology (head: Professor E. Papiernik), and at the Psychology Laboratory of the University of Poitiers, France.

References

REFERENCES

1.Allen, MG, Pollin, W, Hoffer, A (1971): Parental birth and infancy factors in infant twin development. Am J Psychiat 127:33–39.Google Scholar
2.Allen, MG, Greenspan, SI, Pollin, W (1976): The effect of parental perceptions on early development in twins. Psychiatry 30:65–71.Google Scholar
3.Clark, PM, Dickman, Z (1984): Features of interaction in infant twins. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:165–171.Google ScholarPubMed
4.Conway, D, Lytton, H, Pysh, F (1980): Twin-singleton language differences, Canad J Behav Sci 12:264–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Hay, DA, O'Brien, PJ (1984): The role of parental attitudes in the development of temperament in twins at home, school, and in test situations. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 33:191–204.Google Scholar
6.Goldberg, S, Perrotta, M, Minde, K (1986): Maternal behaviour and attachment in low-weight twins and singletons Child Dev 57:34–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Goshen-Gottstein, ER (1980): The mothering of twins, triplets, and quadruplets. Psychiatry 43:189–204.Google Scholar
8.Josse, D, Robin, M (1983): A propos du contenu du langage maternel. Psychiatr Enf 26:99–140.Google Scholar
9.Josse, D, Robin, M (1986): Some aspects of mother-child relationships following the birth of twins. Early Child Dev Care, 26:1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Josse, D, Robin, M (1987): Deux bébés à la fois: Une naissance bien singulière. In Pasini, (ed): L'Après Naissance en Copropriété. Genève: Médicine et Hygiène.Google Scholar
11.Koch, HL (1966): Twins and Twins Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
12.Lepage, F (1980): Les Jumeaux, Enquete. Paris: Robert Laffont.Google Scholar
13.Lytton, H, Conway, D, Sauvé, R (1977): The impact of twinship on parent-child interaction. J Person Soc Psych 35:97–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Lytton, H (1980): Parent-Child Interaction. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Minde, KK, Perrotta, M, Corter, C (1982): The effect of neonatal complications in same sexed premature twins as their mother's preference. J Am Acad Chil Psychiatry, 21:446–452.Google Scholar
16.Savic, S (1980): How Twins Learn to Talk. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
17.Zazzo, R (1986): Les Jumeaux, le Couple, la Personne. Paris: PUF-Quadrige (second edition).Google Scholar
18.Zazzo, R (1976): The twin condition and the couple effects on personality development. Acta Genet Med Gemellol 25:343–352.Google Scholar
19.Zazzo, R (1984): Le Paradoxe des Jumeaux. Paris: Stock-Laurenee Pernoud.Google Scholar