The importance of interactions for child development is not only postulated by learning and developmental theories (e.g. Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2000), but also internationally substantiated by results of various studies (e.g. Melhuish et al., 2008). In early childhood sensitive mother-child interactions are presumed to be especially beneficial to different domains of child development. Not only associations of sensitivity with socio-emotional development are well evidenced (Bigelow et al., 2010), sensitive interactions also seem to foster language and cognitive development (e.g. Nozadi et al., 2013).

Sensitivity is defined as a behaviour that reacts and refers to a child’s needs and interests in an appropriate manner (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1974) and therefore includes at least three major components: (1) the mothers perception of a child’s signal, (2) the correct interpretation, and (3) a reaction to the child’s signal which is prompt and appropriate for the child’s needs and developmental status. While early definitions of sensitivity only focussed on reactions to children’s attachment needs, recent concepts (Kindler & Grossmann, 2004) not only focus on soothing behaviour but also on support of exploration.

But, like every interaction behaviour, sensitivity is closely related to characteristics of the mother, the child, and the context it takes places in (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2000). When investigating variables affecting sensitivity, all three dimensions should be considered.

Studies have focused on single aspects of these different dimensions: Concerning context and mother, possible distal stressors or resources influencing the maternal ability to perceive and react to child signals have been studied, such as low household income or the lack of a supporting partner (Gudmundson, 2012), or psychological strain and educational background (Hänggi et al., 2013). Concerning the child, conditions that influence the child’s ability to send clear signals and provide feedback on maternal behaviour should be studied. This active role of the child as a creator of his/her own learning environment has been postulated by different theories. But up to now, studies have mainly focused on general characteristics of the child, like his/her general temperament (Therriault, Tarabulsy, Lemelin, & Provost, 2011) and not on situation specific characteristics with a direct effect on the interaction situation itself by eliciting or preventing sensitive interactions.

Therefore, our study focuses not only on central indicators of all three dimensions simultaneously but also on situation specific child characteristics. We analyse household composition, income, psychological strain, educational background, and temperament as possible preconditions of sensitivity and additionally broach the issue of the active role of the child by not only including the general temperament of the child, but also his/her interaction behaviour.

Thus, our research explores the question (1) to what extent sensitive behaviour is visible in interactions with 7-month old infants and (2) how general context, maternal and child variables as well as situation specific child characteristics are associated with sensitivity.

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