Analysis of infant-mother attachment and the related influencing factors

Xiuhong LI; Jin JING; Desheng YANG; Xiaomei CAI; Xuebin CHEN; Xiaomei SU

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Attachment reflects the early social experience of infant, which plays an important role in later child development. Although most of the attachment develops between infant and mother, some may occur between infant and care giver or others who have close relationship with it.

OBJECTIVE:

To analyze the infant-mother attachment patterns and the factors related to infant attachment.

DESIGN:

It was a sampling investigation.

SETTING:

Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University.

PARTICIPANTS:

Totally 75 infants and their mother were selected randomly for this study in the Department of Child Health in Guangdong Maternal and Child Health Hospital from August to October 2002.

METHODS:

Strange situation test (SST) was performed by 6 researchers who were trained systematically. They watched the videos collectively and classified the patterns of infant attschment based on their performance. The internal consistency coefficient was 0.90. For those inconsistent assessments, the video should be reviewed and discussed to get an accordant conclusion. In addition, a self-designed maternal questionnaire was used to investigate the general condition of the infant and the familial information.MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES:

①Distribution of infant attachment patterns. ②Analysis of the risk factors related to infant attachment.

RESULTS:

All the 75 infants and their mother entered the statistical analysis. ①Distribution of the infant attachment patterns In 75 infants, secure attachment was 65% and insecure attachment was 35%, among which,insecure-indifferent type was 18%, insecure-importunate type was 13%,and insecure-disorganized type was 4%. ②Analysis of the risk factors related to infant attachment Those infants with a younger age, a poor approachability (the response to strangers, new environment and objects), a closer relationship with caregiver and a more inconsistent education from the family members, are prone to develop insecure attachment.

CONCLUSION:

Secure attachment is dominant in infants. The security of attachment is related to the maturity and personality traits of the infants,the relationship between infant and caregiver and the educational approach for them. Key words Object attachment; Infant; Factor analysis, statistics