ABSTRACT

Background

Mother-infant bonding is the early emotional connection between mother and infant. It is affected by some aspects of maternal mental health, infant temperament, and the quality of a couple’s relationship.

Objective

This research aimed to determine the associations of the mother’s postnatal depression and anxiety symptoms, infant temperament, and the quality of the couple’s relationship with mother-infant bonding.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 241 Croatian mothers of infants aged between one month and one year (M_age = 6.34 months). The psychological instruments used in this study were: Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Infant Characteristic Questionnaire, and Perceived Quality of Marital Relationship Scale .

Results

Hierarchical regression analyses showed that previous maternal depression longer than two weeks, postnatal depression and anxiety symptoms, and difficult and unpredictable infant temperament were associated with self-report of poorer mother-infant bonding. Of the examined variables, the quality of the couple’s relationship was in the lowest association with mother-infant bonding.

Conclusion

Given the importance of, in particular, the maternal depression and infant temperament for poor mother-infant bonding, early intervention and the reduction of risks factors may be necessary to prevent the development of such difficulties.

中文翻译：

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母亲心理健康、婴儿气质和夫妻关系质量对母婴关系的影响。

摘要

背景

母婴关系是母婴之间早期的情感联系。它受产妇心理健康、婴儿气质以及夫妻关系质量等方面的影响。

客观的

本研究旨在确定母亲的产后抑郁和焦虑症状、婴儿气质以及夫妻关系与母婴关系质量之间的关联。

方法

这项横断面研究是在 241 名克罗地亚母亲的样本中进行的，这些母亲的婴儿年龄介于 1 个月和 1 岁之间（M_年龄 = 6.34 个月）。本研究使用的心理工具有：产后情感问卷、爱丁堡产后抑郁量表、抑郁焦虑压力量表、婴儿特征问卷和婚姻关系感知质量量表。

结果

分层回归分析显示，既往母亲抑郁时间超过两周、产后抑郁和焦虑症状以及难以预测的婴儿气质与自我报告母婴关系较差有关。在检查的变量中，夫妻关系的质量与母婴关系的关联度最低。

结论

考虑到尤其是母亲抑郁和婴儿气质对母婴关系不佳的重要性，可能需要早期干预和减少危险因素以防止此类困难的发展。