Joint responses to crying

How mothers and their children comfort crying babies

Authors

  • Florian Dreyer University of Freiburg
  • Elke Schumann University of Freiburg
  • Heike Behrens University of Basel
  • Anna Buchheim University of Innsbruck
  • Jörg Fegert Ulm University Medical Center
  • Harald Gündel Ulm University Medical Center
  • Alexander Karabatsiakis University of Innsbruck
  • Franziska Köhler-Dauner Ulm University Medical Center
  • Carl Eduard Scheidt Medical Center – University of Freiburg
  • Christiane Waller Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg
  • Ute Ziegenhain Ulm University Medical Center
  • Stefan Pfänder University of Freiburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.26544

Keywords:

multimodal analysis, coordination, mother-child interaction, crying, touch

Abstract

One of the fascinating challenges in adult-child interaction is found in the fine-grained coordination of joint activities in the real time of play-interactions. In this contribution we take a closer look at caregiving activities that are jointly carried out by mothers and their five-year-old children. At this age, changing diapers, feeding, and comforting a crying baby (doll) is a challenging activity. The focus of our empirical study is on responses to crying. The investigation is innovative in so far as in prior research it was always the reaction by the mother (or the father or, not so often, by the sibling) that was under scrutiny. Here, we analyse sequentially how children comfort a lifelike doll together with their mother.

Author Biographies

  • Florian Dreyer, University of Freiburg

    Dr. Florian Dreyer is a research associate at the Romance Studies Department of Freiburg University/Germany, and research coordinator of the IPU Berlin outpatient clinic. His research focuses on conversation analysis and multimodal analysis in psychotherapy.

  • Elke Schumann, University of Freiburg

    Dr. Elke Schumann is a research associate at the Romance Studies Department of Freiburg University/Germany. Her research focuses on conversation analysis and multimodal interaction research, and their applications in clinical care.

  • Heike Behrens, University of Basel

    Prof. Dr. Heike Behrens is professor of Cognitive Linguistics and Acquisition research at the University of Basel/Switzerland. She works on the first language acquisition of typically developing children with a focus on grammatical and communicative development.

  • Anna Buchheim, University of Innsbruck

    Univ. Prof. Dr. Dipl.-Psych. Anna Buchheim is a psychologist and clinical psychologist, and a psychoanalyst. Her research focus is on clinical attachment, neuroscience, psychotherapy, prevention, attachment-based interventions, and child maltreatment.

  • Jörg Fegert, Ulm University Medical Center

    Prof. Dr. Jörg M. Fegert M.D. is founder and Medical Director of the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Ulm University Medical Center. He is Past President and Congress President (Ulm 2017) of the German Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy (DGKJP) as well as President Elect (2023-2027) and Board Member of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP), where he is head of the Policy Division. From 2017 until 2022 he was Chairman of the Academic Advisory Board on Family Affairs of the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

  • Harald Gündel, Ulm University Medical Center

    Prof. Dr. med. Harald Gündel: MD (University of Münster (GER) (with rotations at University of Vienna, Austria & Cornell University, New York, USA). Between 2006-2010 he was medical director at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Medical School, Hanover. Since 2010, full Professor (W3), Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Clinic, Ulm/Germany. Research interests: occupational mental health; somatoform disorders. Member of the DKPM (German Collegium for Psychosomatic Medicine), American Psychosomatic Society; and member of the DGPM (German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine). Awards received (selected): German Board Certification as psychiatrist, as neurologist and in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy. Special qualification: pain therapy, psychoanalysis.

  • Alexander Karabatsiakis, University of Innsbruck

    Dr. Alexander Karabatsiakis (AK) is an Assistant Professor in the fields of Clinical Psychology and Biological Psychology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. AK studied biology and completed his PhD in the field of Systems Neurosciences studying behavioral, neurophysiological and immunological alterations in affective disorders. Since 2011 he has been focusing on the psychoneuroimmunological consequences of adverse childhood experiences and their impact on the transition from mental health to disease. His current interest addresses the interplay of mental distress, inflammatory processes and mitochondrial bioenergetics in healthy and pathological aging.

  • Franziska Köhler-Dauner, Ulm University Medical Center

    Dr. Franziska Köhler-Dauner is a childhood educator and has been a research associate at the Section of Education, Youth Welfare, Attachment Research and Developmental Psychopathologist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy University Hospital of Ulm since 2013. Her work focuses on clinical attachment research and prevention in the context of child abuse and neglect.

  • Carl Eduard Scheidt, Medical Center – University of Freiburg

    Prof. Dr. Carl Eduard Scheidt, MD, MA is professor of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University of Freiburg, Medical Center. He is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (IPA/DPV) and head of the unit of psychoanalytic psychosomatics. His areas of research include clinical attachment research, the mental and linguistic representation of trauma and bereavement and psychotherapeutic process research with a focus on non-verbal interaction and synchrony.

  • Christiane Waller, Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg

    Prof. Dr. Christiane Waller studied human medicine at the Hannover Medical School, Germany and der Faculty of Medicine, Grenoble, France. A specialist in internal medicine and cardiology as well as psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, and head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg/Salzburg, her research focuses on clinical and experimental stress and trauma, as well as psychotherapy research with a focus on integrated care.

  • Ute Ziegenhain, Ulm University Medical Center

    Prof. Dr. Ute Ziegenhain is an educationalist and developmental psychologist; her research focus is on clinical attachment and attachment-based interventions, and child maltreatment.

  • Stefan Pfänder, University of Freiburg

    Prof. Dr. Stefan Pfänder is professor of Romance and General Linguistics at the University of Freiburg/Germany. His areas of research include language contact, interactional linguistics and conversation analysis with a focus on bodily and verbal interaction over the life span.

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2024-09-16

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How to Cite

Dreyer, F., Schumann, E., Behrens, H., Buchheim, A., Fegert, J., Gündel, H., Karabatsiakis, A., Köhler-Dauner, F., Scheidt, C. E., Waller, C., Ziegenhain, U., & Pfänder, S. (2024). Joint responses to crying: How mothers and their children comfort crying babies. Research on Children and Social Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.26544