Maternity leave policies are linked to early childhood education and care policies, and in many countries, the length of leave policies determines the need for early care programs. The length of maternity leave varies greatly among mothers in the U.S. because of the absence of a universal policy for paid leave. This study examined associations among length of maternity leave, mother–child interactions, and attachment among American working mothers and their infants. This study consisted of secondary data analysis, and the participants were drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 3850). Controlling for SES, the findings of path analysis suggest that the length of maternity leave was directly linked to the quality of mother–child interactions and indirectly linked to attachment security. These results have implications for the development of family policies that support the needs of infants and mothers during the first months of life.

中文翻译：

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产假时间在支持美国母亲及其婴儿之间的母子互动和依恋安全方面的作用

产假政策与幼儿教育和护理政策相关，在许多国家，休假政策的长短决定了对早期护理计划的需求。由于缺乏针对带薪休假的普遍政策，美国母亲之间的产假长短差异很大。这项研究检查了产假时间长短，母子互动以及美国在职母亲及其婴儿之间依恋的关系。这项研究包括二次数据分析，参与者来自全国代表性的儿童早期纵向研究-出生队列（n≈3850）。控制SES，路径分析的结果表明，产假的时间长短与母子互动的质量直接相关，而与依恋安全性间接相关。