Abstract
Background: The quality of parental caregiving behavior with their child plays a key role in optimal mother–infant interaction and in supporting child adaptive development. Sensitive caregiving behavior, in turn, requires the ability to identify and understand emotions. Maternal alexithymia, with difficulties in identifying and describing feelings or emotions, as well as a concrete way of thinking, could potentially complicate the quality of caregiving. In this study, we aim to explore the possible association between maternal alexithymic traits and the quality of maternal caregiving behavior.Methods: The study sample consisted of 158 mother–infant dyads within the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study population with an available report of maternal alexithymic traits at 6 months postpartum and observational data on maternal caregiving behavior at 8 months postpartum. Alexithymia was measured using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) including three alexithymia dimensions—Difficulty Identifying Feelings, Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT). Maternal caregiving behavior was assessed using the Emotional Availability Scale and in this study, all four parent dimensions (Sensitivity, Structuring, Non-intrusiveness and Non-hostility) were included. Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms at 6 months postpartum were controlled for as potential confounders. In addition, background factors of mother's age and gestational weeks at the time of child birth, maternal educational level, monthly income and parity, as well as relationship status and the gender of the baby were assessed.Results: Maternal TAS-20 total score correlated negatively with Sensitivity (r = −0.169, p = 0.034) and with non-intrusiveness (r = −0.182, p = 0.022). In addition, maternal DDF correlated negatively with Sensitivity (r = −0.168, p = 0.035) and EOT with Non-hostility (r = −0.159, p = 0.047). Furthermore, in regression analyses with controlling for the associated background factors, maternal total score of alexithymic traits (p = 0.034, η2p = 0.029) and higher DDF (p = 0.044, η2p = 0.026) remained significantly associated with lower Sensitivity and higher EOT remained significantly associated with lower Non-hostility (p = 0.030, η2p = 0.030).Conclusions: In this explorative study we found preliminary evidence for the hypothesis that higher maternal alexithymic traits associate with lower maternal sensitivity and more hostile maternal caregiving behavior. Further studies are needed to explore these hypotheses and to investigate their possible implications for child development.
Highlights
Well-functioning mother–infant interaction is reportedly beneficial for e.g., child socioemotional development, and optimal parent–infant interaction has been an interest of many scholars for decades (e.g., Emde, 1980; Bowlby, 1988; Biringen, 2008)
It is most commonly assessed by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, which measures alexithymia with three dimensions: Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF), Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF) and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) (Bagby et al, 1994a,b)
The study population of the current study consists of those 158 mother–infant dyads of whom the mother had filled in the 6month questionnaire including the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and background factors including potential confounders, and who had participated in the mother–infant interaction observational assessment at the FinnBrain Child Development and Parental Functioning Study visit at 8 months postpartum
Summary
Well-functioning mother–infant interaction is reportedly beneficial for e.g., child socioemotional development, and optimal parent–infant interaction has been an interest of many scholars for decades (e.g., Emde, 1980; Bowlby, 1988; Biringen, 2008). Sensitive caregiving behavior requires the ability to identify and understand emotions and one potential factor that could complicate the quality of this primary caregiving is maternal alexithymia. Maternal postpartum depressive symptoms were measured at 6 months postpartum using the Finnish version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; Cox et al, 1987; Tamminen, 1990). It is a widely used and a sensitive self-report measure for postnatal depressive symptoms. It consists of 10 items, each rated on a scale of 0–3 with a range of total score from 0 to 30 points. Relationship status Married or in a registered relationship Not married Divorced or separated
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