First time mothers’ attachment styles and their experience and management of emotional distress in themselves and their infant

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between mothers’ self‐reports of early attachment experiences and adult attachment styles and how these may relate to the management of negative emotional states in mother‐infant relationships and to overall levels of maternal and infant distress. 140 first time mothers took part in the study. Hazen and Shaver's #op1987#cp Parental Style Descriptions were adopted to assess mother's early attachment experiences and Collins and Read's #op1990#cp adult attachment scale was used to evaluate current attachment profiles. The mothers were also asked to report on experiences with their infants which involved negative emotional states, in either of them, and how they managed these situations. Mothers’ perceptions of their early parenting experiences were found to relate to certain aspects of adult attachment but did not differentiate their experience or management of their own or their infant's negative emotions. Particular dimensions of their adult attachment profile did relat...