Maternal separation anxiety in infancy: Precursors and outcomes

Anat Scher; Ruth Hershkovitz; Judith Harel

doi:10.1023/A:1025031931770

Maternal separation anxiety in infancy: Precursors and outcomes

Anat Scher, Ruth Hershkovitz, Judith Harel

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The relationships among aspects of mothers' childhood memories, her maternal anxiety - when separated from her infant and the child's attachment pattern were studied with 58 low risk dyads participating in a longitudinal investigation. It was found that mother's perceived relationships with her own mother significantly predicted her offsprings attachment to her. While maternal separation anxiety was equally characteristic of secure and insecure mothers at early infancy, by the end of the first year preoccupied mothers reported higher levels of maternal anxiety and separation concerns compared to the secure mothers. Although not designed as a clinical study, the present results highlight important psychological constructs and measurements which may be relevant for assessment and intervention.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	103-111
Number of pages	9
Journal	Child Psychiatry and Human Development
Volume	29
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025031931770
State	Published - 1998

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Received September 5, 1997; For Revision November 3, 1997; Accepted April 28, 1998. The research reported in this paper was supported in part by a grant from the Israel Foundation Trustees. A version of the report was presented at the 1st MoscowInterna-tional Multidisciplinary Conference on Infant Mental Health, May 1995. The authors wish to thank Avi Sagi who kindly provided the facilities for conducting the Strange Situation, Nina Koren-Karie and Tirza Joels for classifying the child's attachment, Ofra Mayseles and Lee Gaber for their advice, Sandra Zuckerman for data management. Special thanks are also due to the families whose interest and cooperation made this study possible. Address correspondence to Dr. Anat Scher, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel 31905; e-mail: [email protected].

Keywords

Infants' Attachment
Maternal Separation Anxiety
Secure/Preoccupied Mothers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

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10.1023/A:1025031931770

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title = "Maternal separation anxiety in infancy: Precursors and outcomes",

abstract = "The relationships among aspects of mothers' childhood memories, her maternal anxiety - when separated from her infant and the child's attachment pattern were studied with 58 low risk dyads participating in a longitudinal investigation. It was found that mother's perceived relationships with her own mother significantly predicted her offsprings attachment to her. While maternal separation anxiety was equally characteristic of secure and insecure mothers at early infancy, by the end of the first year preoccupied mothers reported higher levels of maternal anxiety and separation concerns compared to the secure mothers. Although not designed as a clinical study, the present results highlight important psychological constructs and measurements which may be relevant for assessment and intervention.",

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Maternal separation anxiety in infancy: Precursors and outcomes

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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