Socio-emotional stress regulation in infants with visual impairment: Exploring the role of maternal vocal and tactile behavior

Background: Early visual impairment (VI) may influence infants' socioemotional development and impact the quality of the parent-infant interaction. Understanding how caregiving contributes to shaping infants' socioemotional stress regulation in the presence of sensory visual impairments is essential for informing early interventions to support parent-child dyads. Methods: Infants with VI (n = 24) and sighted counterparts (n = 21) participated with their mothers in a video-recorded 6-min Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) procedure. Infants' positive and negative emotionality as well as maternal vocal and tactile stimulations were micro-analytically coded. Results: Infants with VI exhibited typical FFSF stress response when confronted with maternal still-face; nonetheless, their ability to engage positively during playful social interactions was lower compared to sighted counterparts. Maternal vocal and tactile behaviors were differently associated with infants' emotionality in the two groups, although they did not show significant group differences. Conclusions: This study highlights the unique challenges faced by infants with VI in developing socioemotional stress regulation and the implications for maternal interactive behaviors. These results may inform early interventions focused in enhancing non-visual communication strategies.