PATERNAL ALCOHOL-USE AND THE MOTHER-INFANT RELATIONSHIP

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between pater nal alcohol use and the mother-infant relationship. A related goal was to investigate the role of maternal depression and marital satisfacti on in moderating this relationship. Subjects were 55 mother-infant dya ds (12-24-month-old infants) who were observed in the Strange Situatio n paradigm to assess infant attachment and in structured play interact ions. There were 23 families with heavy drinking fathers and 32 with l ight drinking fathers. As predicted, infants of heavy drinking fathers were more likely to be insecurely attached compared to infants of lig ht drinking fathers. Contrary to expectations, neither maternal depres sion nor marital interaction mediated the relationship between paterna l alcohol use and mother-infant interactions. However, maternal depres sion did interact with paternal alcohol use to predict infant attachme nt security and maternal sensitivity. There was also an interactive ef fect of marital satisfaction and paternal alcohol use on maternal sens itivity. The results suggest that paternal alcohol use may influence f amily functioning and the mother-child relationship as early as infanc y and suggest one possible pathway toward maladjustment among infants of heavy drinking fathers. However, in addition to investigating the i mpact of paternal alcohol use on the father-infant relationship, the i nfluence of various familial factors associated with paternal alcohol use need to be more closely examined from a longitudinal perspective.