INFANT FEEDING METHOD AND ADOLESCENT PERSONALITY
RICHARD E. DAVIS M.D.1, and
RENE A. RUIZ PH.D.2
1 Assistant Medical Director, Department of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatric Receiving Center, and Instructor in Psychiatry, University of Missouri Medical School, Kansas City, Mo.
2 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kans.
1. The relationship or possible lack of relationship between infant feeding method and certain adolescent characteristics is discussed. Previous emphasis on a sucking-feeding experience as a possible vital factor in early and subsequent personality development is noted.
2. In order to study possible correlations between adolescent physical characteristics, academic achievement and some personality factors, four groups of 20 boys and girls are studied, each group representing one of the four possible feeding methods (breast, bottle, cup and a mixture of these).
3. Results, or rather lack of a meaningful pattern of results, are interpreted as suggesting that infant feeding method is relatively independent of subsequent developmental characteristics, and also, that failure to experience a sucking-feeding type of experience during infancy does not obviously impair later psychological functioning.
4. The single inconsistent but statistically significant finding, that breast-fed girls in this population scored more "pathological" scale elevations on the MMPI than did cup-fed girls, is presented but not interpreted.
