Relationship‐based intervention with at‐risk mothers: Factors affecting variations in outcome

Abstract

A previous group comparison had shown that in families experiencing the UCLA Family Development Project intervention as opposed to a group that did not, mothers became more responsive to the needs of their infants, and the infants were more secure in their attachment to their mothers. The present study asks whether variations in these outcomes following participation in a relationally based intervention are anticipated by maternal involvement in the intervention, partner support, personality dimensions, and mother–infant interactions that were assessed early in the intervention process. The sample consists of 46 mothers at risk for inadequate parenting who also were poor and generally lacked support. It was found that variations at 12 months of age in the child's secure response to separation, his or her expectation of being cared for (felt security), and the mother's responsiveness to need are anticipated by variations in the mother's 6- to 12-month involvement in the home-visiting intervention, the quality of her partner's support as measured at six months, and her own trust, ability to form stable relationships, and lack of self doubt. Parents who, at one month, were responsive to the needs of their more soothable babies were more likely to have secure children at 12 months, but these associations were not as robust as those summarized above. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.