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Attachment representations among substance-abusing women in transition to motherhood: implications for prenatal emotions and mother-infant interaction.
Attach Hum Dev. 2016 08; 18(4):391-417.AH

Abstract

We studied how attachment representations contribute to central components of transition to motherhood, prenatal emotion processing (EP) and emotional availability (EA) of mother-infant interaction, and whether there are group specific differences. Participants were 51 treatment-enrolled substance-abusing (SA) mothers and their infants and 50 non-using comparison dyads with obstetric risk. Mother's attachment representations (AAI) and EP were assessed prenatally and EA when infants were four months. Results showed that autonomous attachment only had a buffering effect on prenatal EP among comparisons. All SA mothers showed more dysfunctional EP than comparisons and, contrary to comparisons, autonomous SA mothers reported more negative cognitive appraisals and less meta-evaluation of emotions than dismissing SA mothers. Preoccupied SA mothers showed high negative cognitive appraisals, suggesting under-regulation of emotions. Attachment representations were not associated with EA in either group; rather, SA status contributed to global risk in the relationship. Surprisingly, autonomous SA mothers showed a tendency towards intrusiveness. We propose that obstetric risk among comparisons and adverse relational experiences among almost all SA mothers might override the protective role of mother's autonomous representations for dyadic interaction. We conclude that prenatal emotional turbulence and high interaction risk of all SA mothers calls for holistic treatment for the dyad.

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Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Isosävi S
a School of Social Sciences and Humanities , University of Tampere , Tampere , Finland.
Flykt M
a School of Social Sciences and Humanities , University of Tampere , Tampere , Finland. b City of Espoo , Finland.
Belt R
c Tampere City Child Welfare , Tampere , Finland.
Posa T
d Terveystalo Hospital & Health Care , Lahti , Finland.
Kuittinen S
a School of Social Sciences and Humanities , University of Tampere , Tampere , Finland.
Puura K
e Department of Child Psychiatry , University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital , Tampere , Finland.
Punamäki RL
a School of Social Sciences and Humanities , University of Tampere , Tampere , Finland.

MeSH

AdultAge FactorsCognitionEmotionsFemaleFinlandHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaternal BehaviorMother-Child RelationsMothersObject AttachmentPregnancyPregnant WomenSocioeconomic FactorsSubstance-Related DisordersYoung Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

26978721

Citation

Isosävi, Sanna, et al. "Attachment Representations Among Substance-abusing Women in Transition to Motherhood: Implications for Prenatal Emotions and Mother-infant Interaction." Attachment & Human Development, vol. 18, no. 4, 2016, pp. 391-417.
Isosävi S, Flykt M, Belt R, et al. Attachment representations among substance-abusing women in transition to motherhood: implications for prenatal emotions and mother-infant interaction. Attach Hum Dev. 2016;18(4):391-417.
Isosävi, S., Flykt, M., Belt, R., Posa, T., Kuittinen, S., Puura, K., & Punamäki, R. L. (2016). Attachment representations among substance-abusing women in transition to motherhood: implications for prenatal emotions and mother-infant interaction. Attachment & Human Development, 18(4), 391-417. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2016.1151904
Isosävi S, et al. Attachment Representations Among Substance-abusing Women in Transition to Motherhood: Implications for Prenatal Emotions and Mother-infant Interaction. Attach Hum Dev. 2016;18(4):391-417. PubMed PMID: 26978721.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Attachment representations among substance-abusing women in transition to motherhood: implications for prenatal emotions and mother-infant interaction. AU - Isosävi,Sanna, AU - Flykt,Marjo, AU - Belt,Ritva, AU - Posa,Tiina, AU - Kuittinen,Saija, AU - Puura,Kaija, AU - Punamäki,Raija-Leena, Y1 - 2016/03/15/ PY - 2016/3/16/entrez PY - 2016/3/16/pubmed PY - 2017/11/2/medline KW - Adult attachment KW - emotion processing KW - emotional availability KW - prenatal KW - substance abuse KW - transition to motherhood SP - 391 EP - 417 JF - Attachment & human development JO - Attach Hum Dev VL - 18 IS - 4 N2 - We studied how attachment representations contribute to central components of transition to motherhood, prenatal emotion processing (EP) and emotional availability (EA) of mother-infant interaction, and whether there are group specific differences. Participants were 51 treatment-enrolled substance-abusing (SA) mothers and their infants and 50 non-using comparison dyads with obstetric risk. Mother's attachment representations (AAI) and EP were assessed prenatally and EA when infants were four months. Results showed that autonomous attachment only had a buffering effect on prenatal EP among comparisons. All SA mothers showed more dysfunctional EP than comparisons and, contrary to comparisons, autonomous SA mothers reported more negative cognitive appraisals and less meta-evaluation of emotions than dismissing SA mothers. Preoccupied SA mothers showed high negative cognitive appraisals, suggesting under-regulation of emotions. Attachment representations were not associated with EA in either group; rather, SA status contributed to global risk in the relationship. Surprisingly, autonomous SA mothers showed a tendency towards intrusiveness. We propose that obstetric risk among comparisons and adverse relational experiences among almost all SA mothers might override the protective role of mother's autonomous representations for dyadic interaction. We conclude that prenatal emotional turbulence and high interaction risk of all SA mothers calls for holistic treatment for the dyad. SN - 1469-2988 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26978721/Attachment_representations_among_substance_abusing_women_in_transition_to_motherhood:_implications_for_prenatal_emotions_and_mother_infant_interaction_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -