Conference Agenda

Introduction. Although attachment research acknowledges that individuals can hold distinct attachment representations across relationships, one representation that is often overlooked is a mother’s attachment toward her child. When addressed, mother-to-child attachment is typically operationalized in terms of bonding or caregiving sensitivity. No study, to our knowledge, has examined maternal attachment representations toward their child (e.g., worries about her child not loving her), leaving this important area of research largely unexplored. The present 10-year longitudinal study addresses this gap by examining mother-to-child attachment representations in relation to mothers’ attachment representations toward their own mother and partner, attachment-related behavior toward their infant, parenting behaviors during toddlerhood, and their child’s attachment at age 10.

Methods. A sample of 214 mothers was followed from pregnancy until the child was 10 years old, with assessments at five time points. Maternal attachment representations toward their own mother and their partner were assessed prenatally, whereas representations toward the child were measured at 6 months and 1.5 years postpartum, using different versions of the ECR-R adapted for each attachment figure. Mothers also reported on their attachment-related behaviors during the first week of childcare, a critical period of separation, as well as on their parenting practices during toddlerhood (i.e., psychological control and responsiveness). Children reported on their own attachment representations at age 10.

Results. Analyses indicated that mothers’ attachment representations toward their own mother and partner are translated into attachment representations toward their child. Interestingly, these mother-to-child representations predicted maternal attachment behaviors during separation, parenting practices, and children’s anxious attachment over and above the influence of other maternal attachment representations. The results indicate that mother-to-child attachment representations should no longer be overlooked in attachment research. Furthermore, this perspective on maternal attachment may be informative for future research on the development of prevention and intervention strategies within family contexts.

There is robust evidence that children raised by sensitive and responsive caregivers are more likely to develop secure attachment. This sense of being cared for and able to rely on caregivers is foundational to socioemotional development. However, relatively little research has examined how secure attachment manifests in middle childhood, or which features of the family environment may facilitate the intergenerational transmission of attachment during this developmental period. The current study examined whether family routines and household chaos moderated the association between parents’ benevolent childhood experiences (BCE) and children’s secure base, and whether children’s emotion regulation mediated this association.

Data were drawn from a community-based, at-risk sample of 268 parent-child dyads (93% mothers, 52.1% male; Mage = 7.66 years), with 59% of families living below the federal poverty line. Children reported on their secure base and future-oriented perceptions of identity and academic ability. Parents reported on benevolent childhood experiences (BCE), household chaos, family routines, and children’s emotion regulation.

Children’s secure base was positively associated with a more optimistic future orientation and with parents’ benevolent childhood experiences. The association between parents’ BCE and children’s secure base was mediated by children’s emotion regulation. Family routines and household chaos moderated this association: in highly chaotic households, the link between parents’ BCE and children’s secure base was no longer significant. Moreover, when parents’ BCE were low to moderate, regular family meals were positively associated with children’s secure base, suggesting a compensatory effect, such that consistent routines help foster children’s security in the context of less positive parental childhood experiences.

These findings suggest that parents’ positive relational histories may serve as psychological resources in the context of adversity, fostering children’s secure base and emotion regulation. When such histories are limited, structured family routines may provide alternative pathways to children’s sense of security and positive future orientation.

Numerous studies on attachment have focused on how childhood experiences can shape caregiving and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying child maltreatment. This study aims to examine the attachment patterns of maltreating mothers, distinguishing their attachment to each parent and to their partner. Since intimate partner violence is associated with both attachment and maltreatment, we tested a mediation model starting from the mothers’ attachment to their own parents, leading to the maltreatment (abuse or neglect) they perpetrate against their children, through the experience of intimate partner violence and then attachment to the partner. Socio-demographic risk, maternal history of maltreatment, as well as child age and gender were controlled for.

To this end, 29 mothers under child protection services for abuse or neglect, and 50 mothers from a community sample, completed the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Attachment Multiple Model Interview (AMMI), and reported exposure to intimate partner violence. The data confirmed the validity of the sequential mediation model for neglect, explaining 48% of the variance. In contrast, no significant link was found for abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional).

These results show that more insecure and disorganized attachment of the mother to her own parents is associated with a higher likelihood of being exposed to intimate partner violence, which in turn is linked to more insecure and disorganized attachment to the partner, and ultimately, to child neglect. Supporting insecure-disorganized women in building romantic relationships based on secure relational patterns may serve for prevention or intervention against child neglect.