Anxiety as a potential factor affecting maternal attachment.
Many factors may influence the initial mother-infant interactions. This exploratory study investigated the impact of one factor, anxiety, on maternal attachment in 30 married primigravidas. Observations of mother-infant interactions and scores from the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale were used. Results indicated that highly anxious mothers had low attachment scores. Mothers with high attachment scores had low anxiety ratings. In addition, affectionate  behaviors were found to decrease as caretaking behaviors increased.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011581:Psychological Tests