The interaction of maternal and infant vulnerabilities on developing attachment relationships

The present study sought to document an example of how maternal and infant vulnerabilities interact in contributing to the quality of early attachment relationships. Maternal depressive symptoms, neonatal health characteristi cs, and infant-mother attachment were assessed for 42 preterm, low birth we ight infants and 42 full-term infants at 12 months postterm. Results indica ted that preterm birth moderated the relation between maternal depressive s ymptoms and quality of infant-mother attachment, even controlling for level of neonatal health complications. Preterm infants with more symptomatic mo thers were most likely to be classified as insecurely attached to their mot hers, whereas no direct relation between subclinical depressive symptoms an d attachment was found for full-term infants.