The concordance between mother-infant attachment at 18 months and maternal attachment 10 years later among married and single mothers

Abstract

This study examined the concordance between infant-mother attachment at 18 months, assessed in the Strange Situation, and maternal representations of attachment, assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview over 10 years later. The sample of 20 mother-infant dyads was selected for heterogeneity, and included 15 infants who were classified secure and 5 who were classified insecure at 18 months. Twelve of the mothers were married at the time of the infant's birth and 8 were single. The concordance between mother-infant attachment was found to be low. For the three ‘organised’ categories (avoidant/dismissing, secure/secure, and resistant/preoccupied), the observed match was 35% for the two-way secure-insecure split, and 30% for the three categories. Mother-infant concordance was significantly higher for the married-mother (50%) than the single-mother group (12.5%). The distribution of attachment classifications for the infants showed a somewhat above-average proportion of secure classifications (75%). The distribution of secure classifications was different for married and single mothers (67% vs. 25% for the three-category system). The proportion of preoccupied classifications (63%) among the single mothers was unusually high, resembling that found in clinical samples. The results are discussed in terms of the possible ‘contextual constraints’ that operated in the transmission of mother-infant attachment in this sample, including marital status at the time of the infant's birth, multiple caretaker environments, high maternal grandmother involvement, and previous experience of infant caretaking.