What makes a Mother's care special? 2,355 families help scientists find out
NCT ID NCT00361829
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Sep 17, 2026 · Updated 11 times
Summary
This study looked at how a mother's age, job status, and whether she had other children affect her interactions with her baby. Researchers watched 2,355 mothers and their infants when the babies were 5 months old, then checked the children's development at 20 and 48 months. The goal was to understand how early caregiving relates to a child's thinking and social skills.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Participants
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2,355 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Feb 1988
- Lead sponsor
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A government research agency
The lead sponsor is the US National Institutes of Health.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
Who is studied
Mother-infant interaction will be observed when the infants are 5 months old. When the children are 20 months old, measures of toddler function (e.g., ability to play and language development) and maternal behavior (e.g., encouragement of attention to the environment and I.Q.) will be obtained. When the children are 48 months old, researchers will measure preschooler psychosocial functioning (e.g., I.Q., cognitive and social competencies) and maternal behavior (e.g., "scaffolding").
- Ages
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5 months to 23 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
* INCLUSION CRITERIA: All subjects are normal volunteers. At initial recruitment, all mothers will be married women living in intact families with healthy, full-term, first-born infants. Most will be living in intact families. Prior to inclusion in the sample, basic demographic information will be obtained for all study participants including substitute caregivers but excluding school teachers. Variables include age, race, cultural background, primary language, marital status, SES (as assessed by the Hollingshead Four-Factor Index of Social Status, 1975), and educational level. In addition, for caregivers, information about their experience caring for children and about the peer environment, including the number of children routinely present, their sexes, and their ages, will be obtained. To the extent that the adolescent sample diverges from sample criteria with respect to marital status and SES, appropriate controls will be used. Subjects in the Argentine-American and Japanese-American project will be selected to represent families high vs low on appropriate measures of acculturation. The healthy second born infants of 80 mothers already enrolled in the protocol will also be recruited into the sample at the time of their birth. These infants will be selected to comprise four equal groups based on the gender composition of the sibling dyad: male/male, male/female, female/female, and female/male.
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-Participants Homes
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
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University of Bamenda, Cameroon-Participants Homes
Bamenda, Cameroon
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University of Saskatchewan-Participants Homes
Saskatchewan, Canada
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