Play songs and lullabies : features of emotional communication and developing mother-infant attachment

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to increase understanding of how singing play songs and lullabies facilitate emotional communication and contribute to mother-infant attachment. The study employed a mixed methods design to examine subjective, behavioural and musical facets of live singing interaction between mothers and their 5-9 month old infants. Twenty-three typical mothers participated in the study, twelve in a singing condition and eleven in a non-singing control condition. Mothers in the singing condition were videoed singing songs with their infant in a dedicated recording room and then interviewed about their experience of singing interactions. Mothers in the non-singing condition were videoed interacting without singing that is, speaking to their infant and playing with toys. These mothers were also interviewed about their experience of non-singing play interactions. Three analyses were conducted. Firstly, individual and group themes were derived from the interview transcripts and compared to Condon and Corkindale's (1998) four maternal constructs of attachment, including: (1) pleasure in proximity, (2) tolerance/acceptance, (3) need gratification and protection, and (4) knowledge acquisition. The group themes for the experience of singing were also compared to group themes of the experience of non-singing play interactions. Secondly, video footage of mother-infant interaction was used to rate the quality on interaction according to Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008b). Also, the scales ratings for singing interactions were compared to the ratings for non-singing play interaction. Lastly, excerpts of singing interaction from a subset of singing mothers were transcribed from the video footage and the music analysed to explore how mothers facilitate optimal and less-optimal song-based emotional communication. Interview findings revealed that the mothers' experience of singing and non-singing interaction facilitated various positive emotional and mental states related to three of the four maternal constructs of attachment. However, singing and non-singing groups' experience was related to different sets of constructs. The experience of singing was related to pleasure in proximity, need-gratification and tolerance/acceptance whereas the experience of non-singing interaction was related to pleasure in proximity, need-gratification and knowledge acquisition. This indicates that the experience of singing and non-singing interactions provided unique contributions to mother-infant attachment. On the Emotional Availability Scales, both singing and non-interactions were rated similarly, except for the scale of Non-Intrusiveness where mothers in the singing group were rated slightly lower than the non-singing group. These findings illustrate that the simple act of singing does not automatically equate to optimal interaction. The third analysis of the musical features revealed that underlying the singing interactions were particular musical principles that facilitate optimal and less-optimal dimensions of emotional availability. These principles were both inherent to the musical composition and behaviourally implemented by the mother. Importantly, it was the mothers' responsive manipulation of musical elements that primarily facilitated emotional availability. In other words, it was the way in which mothers sang in response to the context that facilitated optimal or less-optimal singing interaction. This study contributes to knowledge by conceptualising and explicating the inner processes involved with facilitating emotional communication and how this impacts on maternal attachment constructs. The findings enhance understanding and further support and clarify the use of singing as a potential therapeutic tool for attachment intervention in the first year of life.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English