The Impact of Maternal Characteristics and Contextual Variables on Infant–Mother Attachment

Abstract

This prospective study examined the effects of maternal characteristics, social support, and risk factors on infant-mother attachment in a heterogeneous sample. Two hundred and six women between the ages of 18 and 40 were interviewed during their last trimester of pregnancy and 1 year postpartum. Structural equation modeling revealed that maternal attachment experiences were significantly related to prenatal representations of the infant and of the self as a mother, which were significantly related to infant-mother attachment assessed by the Strange Situation. Maternal risk factors were significantly related to prenatal representations, and social support from other women predicted infant-mother attachment. The overall model indicated a good fit. Thus, both individual and contextual factors were important in explaining infant attachment security.

The child as held in the mind of the mother: The influence of prenatal maternal representations on parenting behaviors

“…Please see Huth-Bocks (Huth Bocks, Levendosky, Bogat, & Von Eye, 2004), for a more complete description of the recruitment procedures.…”

Management of Children With Cleft Lip and Palate: A Review Describing the Application of Multidisciplinary Team Working in This Condition Based Upon the Experiences of a Regional Cleft Lip and Palate Centre in the United Kingdom

“…Factors that can present as a risk to this early relationship are maternal depression 26 , lack of parental social support 27 , bereavement 28 and infant temperament 29 . Although there has been an assumption that parents find it harder to bond with a baby with a facial disfigurement 30,31 , there is growing evidence that babies born with a cleft are not at particular risk of developing an insecure attachment 32,33 .…”

Medical Technology and Related Interventions on Maternal-Fetal Attachment: A Literature Review

“…The results showed that mothers in the intervention group, who exercised more frequently and talked to the fetus every day in Gestational Weeks 34 and 36, had a higher level of maternal-fetal attachment. According to earlier studies, increasing the frequency of talking to the fetus every day is another approach to increasing fetal attachment [36][37][38]. However, one study observed no difference in the level of maternal-fetal attachment for women with and without intervention regardless of the frequency of talking to the fetus in Gestational Week 30, because the gestational age was a strong predictor of maternal-fetal attachment [39].…”