Factors Promoting Secure Attachment Relationships between Employed Mothers and Their Sons

Abstract

BENN, RITA K. Factors Promoting Secure Attachment Relationships between Employed Mothers and Their Sons. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 1224-1231. Factors associated with outcomes in attachment relationships between 30 well-educated, full-time working mothers and their 18-monthold firstborn sons were investigated. Maternal functioning-reflected in ratings of maternal integration, acceptance, and sensitivity-was assessed via in-depth interviews. Substitute child-care characteristics (i.e., form of child care, changes in child care, son's age at the time of maternal return to work) were also examined. Attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure. Degree of maternal integration was found to be significantly associated with levels of maternal acceptance and sensitivity and to significantly differentiate securely from insecurely attached mother-son pairs. In addition, mothers of securely attached sons returned to work significantly earlier during the infant's first year of life than did mothers of insecurely attached boys. Factors that were unrelated to mother-son attachment (e.g., SES and form of child care) were associated with ratings of maternal integration. Results suggest that maternal employment effects on mother-son attachment are mediated primarily by a woman's affective state, which becomes manifested in her style of caregiving and child-care decisions.