• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.123-137
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• 2005

The present study examined the effectiveness and communications functions of mothers' touch on the responses of their 6-month-old infants using the Still-Face (SF) situation. Participants were 67 infant-mother dyads from Seoul and Gyeonggi province. Positive and negative responses of infants were measured by SF interactions and by three different touch conditions. Touch types were measured by a coding scheme based on Suchung Kim and Keumjoo Kwak (2003; 2(04). Results showed that mothers' touch affected baby's responses by increasing positive responses and decreasing negative responses. The positive and negative responses of infants differed by the three different touch conditions, indicating that mothers use different touch types according to touch conditions; these variations in touch function as an important channel of communications.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.117-125
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• 2004

Purpose: The research was conducted to investigate the experience of maternal role attainment of mothers of premature infants admitted in NICU and to conceptualize the phenomena. Method: The grounded theory method was utilized for data collection and analysis. 8 mothers of premature infants were selected and in-depth interview was performed. Paradigm model was utilized for data analysis and presentation. Result: The central category was 'unstable maternal identity'. The properties of the core phenomena was 'ambivalent feeling to baby' 'negative emotion' 'commitment to baby'. The loss of control due to premature delivery was the causal condition. contextual condition was the 'perceived threats' due to severity of the premature infant and uncerainty of the baby's life. The mother's health status, economic status, and familial and social support was recognized as intervening conditions during the process of maternal role attainment. The strategic action/interactions were emotion-focused coping, reappraisal of the situation, problem-focused coping, and information seeking. The consequence was the maternal role attainment with competence and expectation. Conclusion: The process of maternal role attainment was affected by threats due to severity of the baby and intervening factors and interaction strategy. Further research is recommended to develop adequate intervention method during the process of maternal role attainment.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine mothers' ideal and actual parenting behaviors toward their infants in three parenting domains; social, didactic, and limit setting. A total of 264 mothers of young children under age three from Seoul, Korea completed Parental Style Questionnaires (PSQ). Mothers' self report on their ideal and actual parenting were explored as a function of child sex, age, and birth order. As expected, there were significant differences between mothers' ideal and actual behaviors in all three parenting domains: Mothers' ideal behaviors such as social interaction, didactic interaction and limit setting were higher than those of their actual behaviors. For mothers' ideal parenting, results revealed neither significant main effects nor interaction effects. However, the Parenting Domain x Birth-Order 2-way interaction and the Parenting Domain x Child Age 2-way interaction were significant for mothers' actual behaviors. Specifically, mothers reported more social and didactic behaviors with their first-born than later born children, but not for limit setting behavior. It was also found that higher limit setting behaviors were apparent for their 2- and 3-year-old than 1-year old children whereas lower social interactions were found for 3-year-old than for 1-year-old. In light of universality and uniqueness, mothers' parenting behavior toward young children has been discussed.