Mother-infant interaction and attachment in physically abusing families

Abstract

A direct observational approach was adopted to investigate differences in behaviours and interaction between mother-infant pairs from abusing two parent families and their nonabusing controls. The ‘control’ mother-infant pairs were matched for age and sex of infants, ages and occupation of parents, number of siblings, ethnic group and family accommodation. A strange situation procedural style was employed consisting of 4 episodes; in which mother and infant are filmed alone (3 mins), mother and infant are joined by stranger (30 secs), stranger and infant are left alone together (3 mins) and mother and infant are reunited (2 mins). Analysis of videotapes from 23 matched pairs demonstrated that abused infants showed less visual exploratory behaviour and higher levels of distress. In addition abused infants initiated fewer interactions with the stranger than non-abused infants and responded to her less often. The findings suggest that abused infants are more likely to have an insecure attachment with their mothers, which enhances stranger anxiety and inhibits exploratory behaviour. The detection of early signs indicating a malfunction in the caretaker-infant relationship and its importance for the prevention of child abuse is discussed.