Emotional Expressions in Grandparent-Infant Grandchild Interaction in the Course of the First Year of Life

This longitudinal and naturalistic study aims to describe and compare grandparent and infant emotional expressions that precede, accompany and follow spontaneous imitation in the course of their dyadic interaction. Sixteen Greek, Cretan infants were video-recorded in the course of spontaneous dyadic interactions with grandfathers and grandmothers at home from the 2nd to the 10th month of their life. Microanalyses of grandmothers’, grandfathers’ and infant grandchildren’s emotional expressions within well-defined units of interaction provided the following evidence: (a) Grandparents increased pleasure-interest expression while single pleasure and interest decreased in the course of imitation. Grandparent neutral expression remained stable, at low levels, before, during and after imitation. Grandfathers were more interested than grandmothers and grandmothers expressed more pleasure-interest towards their infant grandchildren, compared to grandfathers; (b) Similar patterns of infant grandchildren’s emotional expressions in interactions with grandfathers and grandmothers provided evidence that infant interest predominated over the remaining expressions before imitation, it decreased in the course of it and it increased after it. Infant pleasure remained stable before and in the course of imitation and decreased slightly after it. Infant pleasure-interest expression increased and neutral expression decreased in the course of imitation. Infants were more neutral in interactions with their grandfathers, compared to grandmothers, particularly in the course of the first age level (2 to 3.5 months); (c) Infant age correlated with certain infants’ and grandparents’ emotional expressions. This evidence reinforces the view that grandparents are communicative partners to their infant grandchildren. peerReviewed publishedVersion

本项纵向自然情境研究（longitudinal and naturalistic study）旨在描述并对比祖孙二元互动（dyadic interaction）过程中，自发模仿（spontaneous imitation）发生前、发生时及发生后，祖辈与婴儿的情绪表达模式。研究对象为16名希腊克里特岛婴儿，在其出生后第2个月至第10个月期间，于家中与祖父、祖母进行自发二元互动时被全程录像。通过对祖母、祖父以及孙辈婴儿在明确界定的互动单元中的情绪表达开展微观分析（microanalyses），得到以下结论：
(a) 祖辈的愉悦-兴趣表达（pleasure-interest expression）在模仿过程中呈上升趋势，而单一愉悦表达（single pleasure）与单一兴趣表达（single interest）则有所下降；祖辈的中性表达（neutral expression）在模仿前、中、后均维持在较低水平且无显著波动。祖父相较于祖母表现出更高的兴趣水平，而祖母对孙辈婴儿的愉悦-兴趣表达则多于祖父。
(b) 孙辈婴儿在与祖父、祖母互动时展现出相似的情绪表达模式：模仿前，婴儿的兴趣表达占所有情绪表达的主导地位；模仿过程中兴趣表达下降，模仿后则有所回升。婴儿的单一愉悦表达在模仿前及模仿过程中维持稳定，仅在模仿后出现小幅下降。模仿过程中，婴儿的愉悦-兴趣表达有所上升，中性表达则出现下降。相较于与祖母互动，婴儿在与祖父互动时表现出更多的中性情绪，这一差异在首个年龄阶段（2至3.5月龄）尤为显著。
(c) 婴儿年龄与部分婴儿及祖辈的情绪表达存在相关性。
上述研究结果进一步支持了祖辈是孙辈婴儿的沟通伙伴这一学术观点。本研究为经同行评审（peer-reviewed）的正式发表版本（published version）。