| Crying Pattern of Infants by Crying Pattern Questionnaire |
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Keun Lee |
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Deaprtment of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea |
| 설문지로 조사한 영아기 울음의 양상 |
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이근 |
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이화여자대학교 의과대학 동대문부속병원 소아과 |
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| Abstract |
Purpose
: Studies done in Western societies have described characteristics of infant crying
behavior. These include:crying peak in the second month, diurnal rhythm(typified by clustering
during evening hours) and crying that is robust to differences in caretaking styles. This survey
was undertaken to compare the crying patterns of Korean babies with those of their Western
counterparts.
Methods
: From June 1995 to March 1996, well babies, ranging from 16 days to 6 1/2 months of
age, were selected at the pediatric clinic of Ewha Womans University Hospital. The Crying Pattern
Questionnaire(CPQ) of St. James-Roberts was modified and then translated in Korean. Full-time
mothers of the infants were asked to fill out the CPQ.
Results
: Average crying durations of the 436 infants ranged from 34.3 to 54.5 minutes a day.
However, no correlation could be found between average crying duration and age. Evening
clustering of crying was found only in the 4-month-old group. Infants that were 3, 4, 5 months
old had similar evening crying durations. No infant in the survey cried more than 3 hours a day.
The most common response by mothers to the crying was 'feeding'. Even though 60% of the
mothers said they felt 'anger' when their babies cried, more than half responded that they 'never'
left their crying babies alone. The longer the crying duration, the more mothers felt anger and the
more they sought outside help. It was found that crying durations tended to be shorter in an
extended family environment where more family members(e.g. grandparents) are present, than in a
nuclear family setting.
Conclusion
: Crying patterns of Korean infants are quite different from what has been described
in the Western literature. This difference could be ascribed to mothers’ attitudes, especially in
terms of the type of response they might have toward their babies crying. Further study using
infants from a wide range of cultural backgrounds is needed. |
| Key Words:
Crying pattern, Crying pattern questionnaire |
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