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This correction highlights the omission of an author and summarizes findings on maternal responsiveness and infant distress across cultures.

April 25, 2026Open Access

Correction to “Maternal responsiveness to infant distress: A cross-cultural investigation in Uganda and the United Kingdom” by Vreden et al. (2025).

Key Points

This correction highlights the omission of an author and summarizes findings on maternal responsiveness and infant distress across cultures.
Utilized naturalistic video observations of 82 mother-infant dyads from Uganda and the UK.
Examined spontaneous maternal responses to infant distress at 3 and 6 months.
Analyzed cultural variation in maternal strategies and infant recovery.
Maternal responses were faster in the UK, while infant recovery was quicker in Uganda.
Culturally specific maternal strategies were found to be effective in reducing infant distress.
Changes in maternal response strategies were noted by age and differed between the cultural sites.

Abstract

Reports an error in "Maternal responsiveness to infant distress: A cross-cultural investigation in Uganda and the United Kingdom" by Carlo Vreden, Santa Atim, Joanna C. Buryn-Weitzel, Giammarco Di Gregorio, Ed Donnellan, Maggie Hoffman, Eve Holden, Michael Jurua, Charlotte V. Knapper, Sophie Marshall, Josephine Paricia, Florence Tusiime, Claudia Wilke, Katie E. Slocombe and Zanna Clay (Developmental Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Sep 04, 2025, np; see record 2026-56898-001). In the article, author Eve Holden was incorrectly omitted from the byline. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2026-56898-001). Maternal responses are a key factor in shaping early emotional development. However, research on how mothers respond to infant emotional signals outside of Western industrialized contexts remains limited. This study provides a longitudinal, naturalistic approach to mapping cultural variation in maternal responsiveness and its effect on infant emotional outcomes. To do so, we used naturalistic video observations to assess spontaneous maternal responses to infant distress and their link with infant recovery from distress in a cross-cultural sample. Data were collected on 82 mother-infant dyads (46 female) at 3 and 6 months old, from two distinct cultural settings: Uganda and the United Kingdom. Although maternal responses were faster in the United Kingdom, infant recovery was quicker in Uganda, suggesting that culturally specific maternal strategies of responding may be more effective than simply promptness of responses in reducing distress. Further, we found changes in maternal response strategies by age and that some of these differed by site. Our findings show both cross-cultural continuity and variability in maternal responses to infant distress and broaden our understanding of how early infant-caregiver interactions shape early socioemotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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A Thu, study studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69ec5b3d88ba6daa22daccb4 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002196

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