Mind-mindedness in adult and adolescent mothers: Relations to maternal sensitivity and infant attachment

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 529-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Demers ◽  
Annie Bernier ◽  
George M. Tarabulsy ◽  
Marc A. Provost
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Mothers ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment

This article examines the quality of maternal mind-mindedness among adult and adolescent mothers, using an assessment of the appropriateness and emotional valence of maternal mind-related comments while interacting with their infants. Twenty-nine adult mothers and 69 adolescent mothers participated in two assessments with their 18-month-old infants. Results showed that adult mothers used more mind-related comments when interacting with their child, especially comments referring to infant mental states. Adult mothers also used more appropriate and positive mind-related comments. Home observations and strange situation assessments revealed that two dimensions of mind-mindedness were associated with maternal sensitivity and three with infant attachment in adult mothers, whereas only one dimension was associated with maternal sensitivity in adolescent mothers.

Major depression as a predictor of the intergenerational transmission of attachment security: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110607
Author(s):  
Megan Galbally ◽  
Stuart J Watson ◽  
Anne Tharner ◽  
Maartje Luijk ◽  
Gaynor Blankley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Major Depression ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Parent Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation Procedure

Objective: Understanding the relationship between attachment and mental health has an important role in informing management of perinatal mental disorders and for infant mental health. It has been suggested that experiences of attachment are transmitted from one generation to the next. Maternal sensitivity has been proposed as a mediator, although findings have not been as strong as hypothesised. A meta-analysis suggested that this intergenerational transmission of attachment may vary across populations with lower concordance between parent and infant attachment classifications in clinical compared to community samples. However, no previous study has examined major depression and adult attachment in pregnancy as predictors of infant–parent attachment classification at 12 months postpartum. Methods: Data were obtained on 52 first-time mothers recruited in early pregnancy, which included 22 women who met diagnostic criteria for current major depression using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Adult Attachment Interview was also administered before 20 weeks of pregnancy. A history of early trauma was measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and maternal sensitivity was measured at 6 months postpartum using the observational measure of the Emotional Availability Scales. Infant–parent attachment was measured using the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 months. Results: Overall, we found no significant association between the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure classifications. However, a combination of maternal non-autonomous attachment on the Adult Attachment Interview and major depression was a significant predictor of insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. We did not find that maternal sensitivity mediated parental and infant attachment security in this sample. Conclusion: While previous meta-analyses identified lower concordance in clinical samples, our findings suggest women with major depression and non-autonomous attachment have a greater concordance with insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. These findings can guide future research and suggest a focus on depression in pregnancy may be important for subsequent infant attachment.

School competence in young adolescence: Links to early attachment relationships beyond concurrent self-perceived competence and representations of relationships

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 397-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora Aviezer ◽  
Gary Resnick ◽  
Abraham Sagi ◽  
Motti Gini
Keyword(s):  
Separation Anxiety ◽  
School Functioning ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Emotional Maturity ◽  
Early Attachment ◽  
School Competence ◽  
Representations Of Relationships ◽  
Attachment To Mother

Predictive associations of infant attachment to mothers and fathers with later school functioning, beyond the contribution of contemporaneous representations of relationships and circumstances of caregiving, were examined in 66 young adolescents who were raised in infancy in Israeli kibbutzim with collective sleeping. The Strange Situation Procedure was used to evaluate early attachment to mother and father, the Separation Anxiety Test was used to assess contemporaneous representation of relationships, and teachers’ reports evaluated school functioning. Circumstances of caregiving included parental reports of quality of marital relations and a change from collective sleeping to home sleeping for children. Results showed that infant attachment to mother, but not to father, contributed significant additional variance to the prediction of children’s scholastic skills and emotional maturity beyond the contribution of concurrent representations of relationships and changes in circumstances of caregiving. The results support the secure base construct as an organising concept of longitudinal investigations of attachment.

A Note on the Convergence Analysis of a Diffuse-domain Approach

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Franz ◽  
Hans-Görg Roos ◽  
Roland Gärtner ◽  
Axel Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Differential Equation ◽  
Convergence Analysis ◽  
Plane Problem ◽  
Half Plane ◽  
Numerical Experiments ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Elliptic Differential Equation ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Approximation Quality

Abstract We analyse the error behaviour of a diffuse-domain approximation of an elliptic differential equation. In one dimension and for a half-plane problem in two dimensions an approximation quality of order one in the interface parameter is shown. Some supporting numerical experiments are also presented.

Effects of Infant Attachment to Mother and Father on Quality of Adaptation in Preschool: From Dyadic to Individual Organisation of Self

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Suess ◽  
K. E. Grossmann ◽  
L. Alan Sroufe
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Problem Behaviours ◽  
Mother Attachment ◽  
Attachment To Mother

A total of 39 children, classified in Ainsworth's Strange Situation at 12 and 18 months of age with their mothers and fathers, were observed in play groups and given a cartoon-based social perception test at 5 years of age. Children with anxious attachment histories (primarily avoidant in this sample) differed from those with secure histories on a number of single variables, and behavioural profiles based on combinations of variables showed strong significant differences in quality of play, conflict resolution, and problem behaviours. Measures of play competence, conflict resolution, and behaviour problems were significantly related to infant-mother attachment for girls, but not for boys. Overall competence, however, was significantly related to attachment to the mother for both boys and girls. Children with anxious attachment histories also showed misperceptions of cartoon stimuli, more often perceiving negative intentions than children with secure histories. Between-group differences were notably stronger using classifications with mothers than classifications with fathers. However, effects based on combined attachment information with both mother and father were more powerful for some variables.

Sexual abuse as a factor in child maltreatment by adolescent mothers of preschool aged children

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Spieker ◽  
Lillian Bensley ◽  
Robert J. McMahon ◽  
Hellen Fung ◽  
Eric Ossiander
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Adolescent Mothers ◽  
Sexually Abused ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Protective Service ◽  
Teaching Interaction ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Prospective Study

AbstractWe examined the role of a history of sexual abuse as a predictor of child maltreatment by adolescent mothers in a prospective study of 104 mother-child dyads. Mothers were interviewed about any experienced abuse, and the mother-child dyads were observed in a teaching interaction and in the Strange Situation when the children were 1 year old. Three and a half years later, the mothers were interviewed about their Child Protective Service (CPS) contacts since the birth of their children. The percentage of mothers reporting CPS contacts for their own children was 15.4%, 38.5%, and 83.3%, respectively, for those mothers with no history of sexual abuse, a history of a single incident or brief duration of sexual abuse, and those mothers with a history of chronic sexual abuse (median 24 months duration; test of increasing trend significant atp< .000009). Mothers who reported having been chronically sexually abused as children were significantly more likely to have CPS contacts for their own children, after controlling for history of physical abuse, quality of early teaching interactions, and infant attachment security (both of which also predicted CPS contacts), race, IQ, welfare status at 1 year postpartum, and history of foster care.

scholarly journals The Democratic Quality of Institutional Regimes: A Conceptual Framework

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Kaiser ◽  
Matthias Lehnert ◽  
Bernhard Miller ◽  
Ulrich Sieberer
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensions ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
Majoritarian Democracy ◽  
Democratic Quality ◽  
Input Characteristic ◽  
Actual Policy ◽  
Institutional Regimes

Lijphart's spectrum of democracies – recently expanded by Jack Nagel to a sub-majoritarian sphere of pluralitarian systems which use disproportional electoral systems in order to manufacture majority governments from minorities in the electorate – is based on only one dimension: inclusion of preferences. Political scientists in the Lijphartian tradition wrongly assume that inclusion of preferences, which is an input characteristic, automatically leads to responsiveness, which refers to actual policy decisions and hence is an output characteristic. We therefore add ‘responsibility’ as a second input characteristic and employ it alongside the inclusiveness of institutional regimes. We argue that in representative democracies there exists a trade-off between inclusiveness and responsibility. This trade-off helps us to measure the democratic quality of institutional regimes. The now expanded spectrum of democracies based on these two dimensions shows that majoritarian democracy proper – in which governments represent a majority of individual preferences but not more than necessary – is the best possible combination of the two democratic values.

Paternal alcohol use and the mother-infant relationship

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rina Das Eiden ◽  
Kenneth E. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Marital Satisfaction ◽  
Maternal Depression ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Heavy Drinking ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Child Relationship ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the association between paternal alcohol use and the mother-infant relationship. A related goal was to investigate the role of maternal depression and marital satisfaction in moderating this relationship. Subjects were 55 mother-infant dyads (12–24-month-old infants) who were observed in the Strange Situation paradigm to assess infant attachment and in structured play interactions. There were 23 families with heavy drinking fathers and 32 with light drinking fathers. As predicted, infants of heavy drinking fathers were more likely to be insecurely attached compared to infants of light drinking fathers. Contrary to expectations, neither maternal depression nor marital interaction mediated the relationship between paternal alcohol use and mother-infant interactions. However, maternal depression did interact with paternal alcohol use to predict infant attachment security and maternal sensitivity. There was also an interactive effect of marital satisfaction and paternal alcohol use on maternal sensitivity. The results suggest that paternal alcohol use may influence family functioning and the mother-child relationship as early as infancy and suggest one possible pathway toward maladjustment among infants of heavy drinking fathers. However, in addition to investigating the impact of paternal alcohol use on the father-infant relationship, the influence of various familial factors associated with paternal alcohol use need to be more closely examined from a longitudinal perspective.

scholarly journals Out of the lockdown: democratic trust in the management of epidemic crises

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Frega
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Democratic Quality

This paper presents a preliminary inquiry into the democratic role of trust in the management of epidemic crises, by shedding some light on one dimension political theory has systematically neglected, which is trust of elites in citizens. The paper proceeds as follows. After an introduction, the first section distinguishes two dimensions of political trust. I then proceed to explain why elites’ trust in citizens is as important as citizens’ trust in elites for the democratic quality of a regime. The following section discusses in further details the democratic implications of elites’ trust in citizens. The fourth and last section introduces the idea of democratic experiments as opportunities to reinforce elites’ trust in citizens.

scholarly journals Attachment Representations and Maternal Sensitivity in Low Socioeconomic Status Mothers

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Bárrig-Jó ◽  
Magaly Nóblega ◽  
Juan Nuñez Del Prado ◽  
Gabriela Conde ◽  
Olga A. Carbonell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Attachment Representations ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
Attachment Figure ◽  
Injury Event ◽  
Specific Association ◽  
The Relationship

<p><em>According to attachment theory, mental representations are defined as dynamic cognitive guides that organize both perceptual and behavioral aspects of the self, attachment figure, and relationships with others. Based on this assumption, several studies had reported a relationship between attachment representations and the quality of care provided by mothers to their infants. This study explored on the relationship between maternal attachment representations, assessed by a narrative script task, and the quality of maternal care observed at home. Participants were 32 mothers between 19 and 44 years of age (M</em><em> </em><em>=</em><em> </em><em>29.6, SD</em><em> </em><em>=</em><em> </em><em>6.28) and their children between 8 and 10 months (M</em><em> </em><em>=</em><em> </em><em>8.91, SD</em><em> </em><em>=</em><em> </em><em>0.96). The results did not show a significant relationship between global scores of participants’ observed care (i.e.</em><em>,</em><em> maternal sensitivity) and their attachment representations. However, a specific association was found between two dimensions of sensitivity (acceptance and active/animated interactions) and the narrative script that refers to a child</em><strong>’</strong><em>s physical injury event. Additionally, mothers who reported early separation experiences with their children showed a significant association between sensitivity and attachment representations on mother-child scripts. Moreover, these mothers showed lower scores on global sensitivity and on specific behavioral care dimensions, such as sensitive response and acceptance to child’s signals, than those of mothers that did not report separations early in their children’ lives.</em><em><em></em></em></p>

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