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Klauser N, Müller M, Zietlow AL, Nonnenmacher N, Woll C, Becker-Stoll F, Rec C. Maternal postpartum anxiety and the development of infant attachment: The effect of body sensations on infant attachment. J Affect Disord 2023; 331:259-268. [PMID: 36958486 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.03.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 03/04/2023] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Knowledge about the influences of maternal postpartum anxiety disorders (PAD) on infant development is limited. Aim of this present study is to evaluate the influence of PAD on infant attachment. METHODS In a longitudinal study, self-reported anxiety symptoms of N = 70 mothers (N = 28 with PAD diagnosed according to the DSM-IV, N = 42 controls) were examined in the postpartum period and one year later. Infants' attachment was observed in the Strange Situation Test (SST) at the age of 12-24 months. RESULTS Results indicate a strong relationship between PAD and infant attachment: infants of mothers with PAD were significantly more likely to be classified as insecure or disorganized than infants of control mothers. Logistic regression analysis led to a significant model with 76.8 % correct classification of infant attachment dependent on the maternal fear of anxiety associated body sensations (OR = 4.848) in the postpartum period. Including maternal sensitivity and interaction behavior, only maternal intrusiveness was additionally associated with infant attachment (ρ = 0.273, p < .05; OR = 45.021, p = .153). LIMITATIONS Participants were highly educated. Different anxiety disorders included led to a heterogenous sample. Generalization is diminished. Maternal sensitivity was measured on a global scale, and body tension was self-reported. CONCLUSIONS PAD plays a crucial role in the development of infant attachment. Interaction-focused interventions, helping mothers to decrease intrusiveness, and body-focused interventions, helping mothers to deal with their fear of anxiety symptoms, might be promising pathways to buffer the influence of PAD on infant attachment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathania Klauser
- Ludwig-Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany.
| | - Mitho Müller
- Ludwig-Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna-Lena Zietlow
- Technical University Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Nora Nonnenmacher
- Heidelberg University Hospital, General Psychiatry, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christian Woll
- Ludwig-Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany
| | - Fabienne Becker-Stoll
- Ludwig-Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany; Staatsinstitut für Frühpädagogik Bayern, Munich, Germany
| | - Corinna Rec
- Ludwig-Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Munich, Germany
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Masopustová Z, Tancoš M, Fikrlová J, Lacinová L, Hanáčková V. Infant attachment in the Czech Republic: Categorical and dimensional findings from a post-communist country. Infant Behav Dev 2023; 71:101835. [PMID: 36947962 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023]
Abstract
Infant attachment remains virtually unexplored in former Eastern Bloc countries. The dimensional approach to infant attachment, which could ease common obstacles in cross-cultural attachment research, necessitates more empirical support. This study explores infant attachment in the Czech Republic, a post-communist country with a unique family policy, using both the categorical and the dimensional models. It also compares the Czech infant attachment distribution to infant attachment distributions in other countries and compares infant attachment distributions in European countries to the Baltimore study sample. In the Strange Situation Procedure, forty-nine (74 %) out of sixty-six mother-infant dyads (35 boys, M = 13.8, SD = 0.9) received the B classification. Despite the generous family policy and cultural emphasis on close mother-infant relationships, the Czech distribution of insecure categories did not differ from the Baltimore study sample. Out of other post-communist countries, only the infant attachment distribution in former East Germany differed from the Czech and the Baltimore study samples due to a lower proportion of type B and a higher proportion of type A infants. There were also more type A infants in the Italian sample. Interactive behavior scales accurately predicted attachment categories in 91 % of cases. Contact-maintenance and proximity-seeking scales substantially improve the assessment of insecure resistant behavior. Our findings support the universality and normativity of attachment and the utility of the dimensional approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuzana Masopustová
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Tancoš
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Fikrlová
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Lenka Lacinová
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Veronika Hanáčková
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
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Fuertes M, Antunes S, Martelo I, Dionisio F. The impact of low birthweight in infant patterns of regulatory behavior, mother-infant quality of interaction, and attachment. Early Hum Dev 2022; 172:105633. [PMID: 35908407 DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2022.105633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
It remains unclear whether infants born preterm are more likely to develop an insecure attachment with their mothers. In this study, instead of using gestational age criteria, we observe attachment in infants born with very low birthweight. Although the collinearity between gestational age and birthweight is high, infants born with very low birthweight for their gestational age tend to stay more days in NICU and to have more comorbidities than other infants with the same gestational age. Thus, we wonder about the impact of low gestational birth (per se) in infants' regulatory behavior, the quality of mother-infant interactions, and attachment security. The participants are 71 infants' weight lower than 1599 g of gestational weight (varying between 23 and 34 weeks of gestational) and their mothers. Dyads were observed in free play and during Face to Face Still-Face paradigm with infants at 3 months of corrected age. At 12 months of corrected age, mother-infant attachment was observed during Strange Situation. Results indicate that infants with low/very low gestational birthweight have high levels of insecure attachment (70 %) and non-positive patterns of regulatory behavior (64 %). Maternal and infant interactive behavior is highly associated with infant attachment. In turn, maternal interactive behavior is associated with gestational age, birthweight, and number of days in NICU.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Fuertes
- Centro de Psicologia of Porto University & ESELX_IPL, Portugal.
| | - Sandra Antunes
- Faculdade de Psicologia of University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - Inês Martelo
- Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (ESELX_IPL), Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - Francisco Dionisio
- cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Noonan CB, Pilkington PD. Intimate partner violence and child attachment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Abuse Negl 2020; 109:104765. [PMID: 33039816 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2020] [Revised: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is associated with increased risk of impairment to a child's emotional, behavioural, and psychological functioning. Further, the presence of IPV is negatively associated with a child's attachment to their primary caregivers, which is an additional risk factor for social, emotional, and psychological impairment. OBJECTIVE The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to synthesise the evidence on the association between IPV and the attachment of infants, children, and adolescents to their primary caregiver/s. METHOD A systematic review was completed, in accordance with the PRISMA statement, on IPV and the parent-child attachment of infants, children, and adolescents (18 years and younger). Meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the magnitude of these associations. RESULTS A total of 15 studies were included. IPV was significantly associated with less secure child attachment. The pooled effect sizes (Pearson's r) for both longitudinal studies (n = 5) and cross-sectional and retrospective studies combined (n = 10) were small (r = -.22, 95 % CI [-.32, -.12], p < .001; r = -.10, 95 % CI [-.203, -.001], p = .048). Subgroup analyses identified that the effect size was larger when IPV and attachment were measured during infancy compared to childhood, and when attachment was measured via observational methods compared to self-report. CONCLUSION While the current literature base is limited, findings can inform further research alongside clinical assessment and intervention. It can also help guide attachment- and family-based intervention for families impacted by IPV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Bridget Noonan
- School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Locked Bag 4115 Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia
| | - Pamela Doreen Pilkington
- School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Locked Bag 4115 Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia.
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Cortes Hidalgo AP, Muetzel R, Luijk MPCM, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, El Marroun H, Vernooij MW, van IJzendoorn MH, White T, Tiemeier H. Observed infant-parent attachment and brain morphology in middle childhood- A population-based study. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2019; 40:100724. [PMID: 31726318 PMCID: PMC6974894 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 10/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Poor quality of the early infant-parent bond predicts later child problems. Infant-parent attachment has been suggested to influence brain development, but this association has hardly been examined. In adults, larger amygdala volumes have been described in relation to early attachment disorganization; neuroimaging studies of attachment in children, however, are lacking. We examined the association between infant-parent attachment and brain morphology in 551 children from a population-based cohort in the Netherlands. Infant-parent attachment was observed with the Strange-Situation Procedure at age 14 months and different brain measures were collected with magnetic resonance imaging at mean age 10 years. Children with disorganized infant attachment had larger hippocampal volumes than those with organized attachment patterns. This finding was robust to the adjustment for confounders and consistent across hemispheres. The association was not explained by cognitive or emotional and behavioral problems. Disorganized attachment did not predict any other difference in brain morphology. Moreover, children with insecure organized infant attachment patterns did not differ from those who were securely attached in any brain outcome. Causality cannot be inferred, but our findings in this large population-based study provide novel evidence for a long-term association between the quality of infant-parent attachment and specific brain differences in childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea P Cortes Hidalgo
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Ryan Muetzel
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Maartje P C M Luijk
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO-Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Hanan El Marroun
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO-Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Paediatrics, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Meike W Vernooij
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and nuclear medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO-Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Primary Care Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB2 0SP Cambridge, UK
| | - Tonya White
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and nuclear medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center, PO-Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, MA 02115 Boston, USA.
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Fuertes M, Ribeiro C, Gonçalves JL, Rodrigues C, Beeghly M, Lopes-Dos-Santos P, Lamônica DAC. Maternal perinatal representations and their associations with mother-infant interaction and attachment: A longitudinal comparison of Portuguese and Brazilian dyads. Int J Psychol 2019; 55:224-233. [PMID: 30847895 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2018] [Accepted: 01/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Prior research in Western countries (mostly the US, Canada and northern Europe) indicates that mothers' representations are associated with mother-infant interaction quality and their child's attachment security later in the first year. Fewer studies, however, have evaluated whether these associations hold for mother-infant dyads in other countries, such as Brazil and Portugal. Although these countries share a similar language and culture, they differ on societal dimensions that may affect parenting attitudes and mother-infant relationships, such as economic stress, social organisation, social policy, and the availability of services for young families. In this longitudinal study, we followed two independent samples of Brazilian and Portuguese mother-infant dyads from the perinatal period to 12 months post-partum. We assessed mothers' perinatal representations using semi-structured interviews in the first 48 hours after the infant's birth, and evaluated the associations of these representations with mother interaction quality at 9 months and infant attachment at 12 months. Results were similar in each country, corroborating prior research in single Western countries: Mothers with more positive perinatal representations were more sensitive to their infants during free play at 9 months and were more likely to have infants classified as securely attached at 12 months.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Fuertes
- Centro de Psicologia da Universidade do Porto & ESELX_IPL, Porto, Portugal
| | - Camila Ribeiro
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru da, Universidade de São Paulo (FOB-USP), Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Joana L Gonçalves
- Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | | | | | | | - Dionísia A C Lamônica
- Departamento de Fonoaudiologia da Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru da, Universidade de São Paulo (FOB-USP), Sao Paulo, Brazil
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Bigelow AE, Beebe B, Power M, Stafford AL, Ewing J, Egleson A, Kaminer T. Longitudinal relations among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal mind-mindedness, and infant attachment behavior. Infant Behav Dev 2018; 51:33-44. [PMID: 29567547 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Revised: 02/16/2018] [Accepted: 02/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The relations among maternal depression risk, maternal mind-mindedness, and infants' attachment behavior were longitudinally examined in a community sample of mother-infant dyads. Maternal self-reported depression risk was measured at the infant ages of 6 weeks, 4 months, and 12 months. Maternal mind-mindedness, assessed from mothers' comments about infants' mental states (e.g., infants' thoughts, desires, or emotions), was measured during mother-infant interactions when infants were 4 months. Infants' attachment behavior was assessed at one year. Mothers' depression risk decreased over the infants' first year, with the sharpest decline between 6 weeks and 4 months. Mothers at risk for depression when infants were 6 weeks showed less appropriate mind-mindedness at 4 months. Mind-mindedness was not related to maternal depression risk at the infant age of 4 months or 12 months. Infants' degree of disorganized attachment behavior at one year was positively associated with maternal depression risk at 6 weeks and negatively associated with maternal appropriate mind-mindedness at 4 months. Mothers who are at risk for depression in their infants' early lives may be hampered in their capacity to respond appropriately to their infants' mental states. Infants with mothers who have difficulty responding appropriately to their mental states, as suggested by low appropriate mind-mindedness, may feel less known and recognized by their mothers, a key theme in the origins of disorganized attachment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann E Bigelow
- Department of Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada.
| | - Beatrice Beebe
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
| | - Michelle Power
- Department of Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada
| | - Anna-Lee Stafford
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
| | - Julie Ewing
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
| | - Anna Egleson
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
| | - Tammy Kaminer
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, USA
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