Mothers' evaluation of their caregiving for premature and full-term infants through the first year: contributing factors.

We explored change in mothers' evaluations of their caregiving through the first postterm year for full-term infants and for prematurely born, very low birth-weight infants with a history of lung disease, and we examined the contribution to this evaluation of infant, family, and mother conditions. Fifty-four mothers of premature infants and 49 mothers of full-term infants evaluated their caregiving relationship, performance, and satisfaction at 1, 4, 8, and 12 months infant postterm age. In addition, at the same intervals-1, 4, 8, and 12 months-mothers rated their symptoms of depression, infant responsiveness, and satisfaction with help from husband or partner. Positive and negative feeding behaviors of mother and of infant were rated from videotapes. Regression analysis, which included all rated variables, infant birth maturity/lung health status, and number of children in the mother's care, showed that the 1-month assessment differed significantly from the assessments at 4, 8, and 12 months. All conditions, except for infant birth maturity/lung health status and mother's positive feeding behavior, were significantly associated with caregiving evaluation. Findings support inclusion of infant, family, and mother conditions in a caregiving evaluation model. Infant responsiveness may be particularly salient to a mother's caregiving evaluation. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.