Everyday maternal sensitivity to distress is dynamic and systematically varies across contexts

We examine caregiver sensitivity to infant distress across the day in home environments. Families with infants (N = 38, Mage = 4.5 months, SD = 2.3 months, 58% White non-Hispanic, 53% girls) shared full-day infant-worn audio recordings (M = 22.98 hr, SD = 4.06 hr). For each episode of distress, we annotated caregiver sensitivity and episode context. Infants experienced wide variability in sensitivity to distress across the day (77% of variance within-person). Media use predicted lower sensitivity between mothers (β = −0.46), and emotionally intense interactions predicted lower sensitivity both within (β = −0.11) and between mothers (β = −0.23). Overall, at home, responses to infant distress were heterogeneous, and everyday contexts predicted the quality of caregiving infants received.