No description available.

No

Mothers who are experiencing psychopathology are often unable to provide sensitivity to their infants, which is critical for the development of a secure attachment. The objective of the current study was to provide a statistical, quantitative consensus on the relationship between maternal psychopathology and infant attachment, by performing a number of meta-analyses. Prevalence rates of non-secure attachment in infants of mothers with overall and specific psychopathologies were calculated. Infants of mothers with psychopathology were also found to be at increased risk for developing a non-secure attachment, displayed significantly greater levels of attachment non-security, and there was a significant relationship between symptomology and non-security. Moderator analyses were also run to determine if any variables moderated this relationship. The results of this study indicate that it may be beneficial for clinicians to identify mother-infant dyads who may benefit from early interventions that focus on improving maternal mental health and enhancing infant attachment. / October 2016

Perception of infant crying has been linked to the brain regions that are activated with stress and conflict monitoring, such as the anterior cingulate and amygdala. Whether the stress of cry perception affects cognitive processes is heretofore unknown. This research combines an experimental paradigm of an unsoothable infant cry task (Donovan, Leavitt, & Taylor, 2005) with a series of Rejection Stroop tasks (Dandeneau & Baldwin, 2004) with the expectation that perception of infant distress would deplete neural resources underlying the regulation of attention. Two studies were conducted on non-parent young adults and two studies were conducted on mothers of infants. Results indicated that the cry task causes negative affect and cognitive interference in non-parent young adults to a greater extent than does a musical stimulus, and that mothers of infants experience negative affect and cognitive interference comparable to the non-parent young adults.

Perception of infant crying has been linked to the brain regions that are activated with stress and conflict monitoring, such as the anterior cingulate and amygdala. Whether the stress of cry perception affects cognitive processes is heretofore unknown. This research combines an experimental paradigm of an unsoothable infant cry task (Donovan, Leavitt, & Taylor, 2005) with a series of Rejection Stroop tasks (Dandeneau & Baldwin, 2004) with the expectation that perception of infant distress would deplete neural resources underlying the regulation of attention. Two studies were conducted on non-parent young adults and two studies were conducted on mothers of infants. Results indicated that the cry task causes negative affect and cognitive interference in non-parent young adults to a greater extent than does a musical stimulus, and that mothers of infants experience negative affect and cognitive interference comparable to the non-parent young adults.

This study investigated the mother-infant relationships of Formosan macaques (Macaca cyclopis) at the Mt. Longevity during the first 24 weeks of infants¡¦ age. The field observation took place from January to November 2002 and from April to December 2003. The total observation time recorded was 450 hours. The death rate of infant males (23.7%) was higher than that of infant females (2.8%). The death rate of infants born at the later period (41.7%) was higher than those of infant born at the earlier and the peak periods (7.7%, 8.2%). The death rate of infants from primiparous females (30.8%, 4/13) was slightly higher than that of infants from multiparous females (9.8%, 6/61, p>0.05). During the observation period, I followed 43 mother-infant dyads, but 5 infants died or disappeared, and only 38 pairs left. Mother¡Vinfant relationships in Formosan macaques were influenced by infant age and sex, matriline size and the number of immature sister of the infant. The percentages of time that mother-infant contact, sucking, mother carrying ,cradle infant, and the percentages of number that contact made by mother and mother restrain infant broken contact were decrease as infants grow older. On the other hand, the percentage of time that mother-infant distance > 1 meter and mother grooming increased as infants older. But mother reject infant contact was not affected by infant¡¦s age. Adult females spent more time carrying female than male infants when infants were one week old. Developments in jumping and eating were seen earlier in male than female infants. The percentages of time in ventro-ventral contact in mother-infant dyads decreased as the number of infants¡¦ immature sisters increased within infants¡¦ first month of age. When a mother wounded, she spent less time in contacts with her infant; however, when the infant wounded, mother¡Vinfant dyads spent more time in contacts. The data provide a better fit to the Reciprocity hypothesis because the percentage of the female (87.3%, 234/268) to take care of infants was higher than male (12.7%). The percentage of the adult female (allomother) to take care of female infants (59.0%, 79/134 ) is higher than taking care of male infants (41.0%, p<0.005 ). The percentage of the adult female that takes care of non-blood related infants (81.6%, 71/87) is considerably higher than the percentage of taking care of blood-related infants (18.4%, p<0.0001). The percentage of adult female that grabs infants roughly (87.4%, 83/95) is higher than juvenile female (7.4%, 7/95 ).

This study examined mother-infant attachment relationships as identified by a social work team working with a highly vulnerable cohort. Infants in the ultra-high risk population are most at risk of poor attachment styles. Mothers often have a history of childhood abuse and adversity, criminality, substance abuse, and poor mental health. When combined with socio-environmental aspects within families a high incidence of poor attachment is likely. This study investigated Social Workers’ identification of attachment issues using qualitative methodology in the form of document analysis of Social Worker case notes and semi-structured interviews with Social Workers. Results indicate that the accuracy and frequency of identifying attachment varied and that often the focus was on individual behaviours rather than the dynamic attachment processes of the mother-infant dyad. Disturbance in the attachment relationship was most clearly and accurately identified in cases that involved a major disruption to the mother-infant relationship. Attachment styles were identified as secure in almost every non-crisis case, particularly in the infant’s early years. Possible early manifestations of insecure attachment styles were not viewed through the lens of attachment theory, but rather in the context of behavioural and parenting problems. The potency of the Social Worker-mother relationship emerged as a factor that may in and of itself be crucial in helping mothers attach to their infants.

No description available.

No / Abridged version of article Milne E, Johnson SE, Waters GM et al (2018) The mother-infant bond: a systematic review of research that includes mothers’ subjective experience of the relationship. Community Practitioner. Accepted for publication.

No description available.