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Attachment Classifications Among 18-Month-Old Children of Adolescent Mothers
Lynne Andreozzi, PhD;
Patricia Flanagan, MD;
Ronald Seifer, PhD;
Susan Brunner;
Barry Lester, PhD
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156:20-26.
Objectives To determine (1) patterns of secure vs insecure attachment relationships
in infants of adolescent and nonadolescent mothers and (2) if these patterns
are mediated by parenting characteristics, including depression, self-esteem,
parenting stress, child abuse potential, psychological distress, rating of
infant temperament, and the caregiving environment.
Participants Fifty-one adolescent mothers and their 18-month-old infants were compared
with 76 nonadolescent mothers and their 18-month-old infants.
Main Outcome Measures Infant attachment classifications were assessed via the Ainsworth Strange
Situation. Maternal and infant characteristics were obtained through self-report
measures.
Results There were no differences in attachment classification between infants
of adolescent mothers and nonadolescent mothers. Secure attachment classification
was found in 67% of the infants of adolescent mothers and 62% of the infants
of nonadolescent mothers. There were significant differences in the self-reported
maternal characteristics. Adolescent mothers reported lower self-esteem (P<.05), more parenting stress (P<.05),
more child abuse potential (P<.05), and provided
a lower quality of home environment (P<.05) than
nonadolescent mothers. Adolescent mothers also rated their infants as having
a higher activity level (P<.05) than infants born
to nonadolescent mothers. In multivariate analysis, none of these variables
or social classes were found to affect attachment classification.
Conclusions Infants of adolescent and nonadolescent mothers show similar patterns
of attachment. Adolescent and nonadolescent mothers show substantial differences
in parenting characteristics and in how they rate their infants' temperaments.
However, these differences do not seem to impair the infant-mother attachment
relationship.
From the Infant Development Center, Women and Infants' Hospital (Drs
Andreozzi and Lester and Ms Brunner); Departments of Pediatrics (Drs Flanagan,
Seifer, and Lester) and Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Drs Seifer and Lester),
Brown Medical School, Rhode Island Hospital; and Bradley Hospital (Drs Seifer
and Lester), Providence, RI.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Measurement of Maternal-Infant Interaction
Horowitz et al.
J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc 2005;11:164-172.
ABSTRACT
Attachment Between Adolescent Mothers and Their Infants: The More We Look, the More Truth We Find
JWatch Pediatrics 2002;2002:6-6.
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