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theses

Psychoanalytic infant theory conceptualizes and explains infant behavior in abstract terms. A behavioral and objectified means of looking at clinical infant material and linking it to psychoanalytic infant theory can provide a bridge between the abstract ideas and tangible and objectified infant and mother behaviors. The present study adapted the first two phases of Margaret Mahler’s theory of infant development, the normal autistic and normal symbiotic phases, into operationalized statements. These statements were compiled into a 21-item measure that was scored based on the presence of these behaviors in infant observations recorded by psychoanalysts who were part of the Anni Bergman Parent Infant Training Program. Independent judges were trained to score, on a continuum, the presence of the operationalized statements in the observation narratives. There were two stages of measure construction and development, of the development of the manual of the measure, and of judge training and scoring. Analyses were computed in three phases and inter-rater reliability statistics using interclass correlations assessed reliability between judges. The third and final phase of results indicated that there was an increase in single measure reliability of items in the measure when compared to results of phase one; ten out of the twenty-one items had sufficient reliability for one judge to represent the other judges on scoring future observation narratives. Descriptive results of the actual scores of judges based on the weeks of infant development and the item being assessed were examined qualitatively. Interpretation of the reliability results for both quantitative and qualitative analyses, in addition to the implications for Mahler’s theory, are discussed for each item in the measure.

ETD_5176

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Sarita Gober

doi:10.7282/T33N21G1

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.