Poverty and teenage pregnancy are common in low-and-middle-income countries and can impede the development of healthy parent-child relationships. This study aimed to test whether a home-visiting intervention could improve early attachment relationships between adolescent mothers and their infants living in poverty in Brazil. Analyses were conducted on secondary outcomes from a randomized controlled trial (NCT0280718) testing the efficacy of a home-visiting program, Primeiros Laços, on adolescent mothers’ health and parenting skills and their infants’ development. Pregnant youth were randomized to intervention (n = 40) or care-as-usual (CAU, n = 40) from the first trimester of pregnancy until infants were aged 24 months. Mother-infant attachment was coded during a mother-infant interaction when the infants were aged 12 months. Electrophysiological correlates of social processing (mean amplitude of the Nc component) were measured while infants viewed facial images of the mother and a stranger at age 6 months. Infants in the intervention group were more securely attached and more involved with their mothers than those receiving CAU at 12 months. Smaller Nc amplitudes to the mother's face at 6 months were associated with better social behavior at 12 months. Our findings indicate that the Primeiros Laços Program is effective in enhancing the development of mother-infant attachment.

中文翻译：

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促进母婴关系和潜在的神经相关性：巴西青少年母亲家访计划的随机对照试验结果

贫困和少女怀孕在中低收入国家很常见，可能会阻碍健康的亲子关系的发展。本研究旨在测试家访干预是否可以改善巴西青少年母亲与其生活在贫困中的婴儿之间的早期依恋关系。对一项随机对照试验 (NCT0280718) 的次要结果进行了分析，该试验测试了家访计划Primeiros Laços对青春期母亲的健康和养育技能以及婴儿发育的功效。孕妇被随机分配到干预组 ( n  = 40) 或照常护理组 (CAU, n = 40) 从怀孕的头三个月到婴儿 24 个月大。当婴儿 12 个月大时，母婴依恋是在母婴互动期间编码的。当婴儿在 6 个月大时查看母亲和陌生人的面部图像时，测量了社会处理的电生理相关性（Nc 分量的平均幅度）。干预组的婴儿在 12 个月时比接受 CAU 的婴儿更安全地依恋和更多地与母亲相处。6 个月时母亲面部的 Nc 幅度较小与 12 个月时更好的社会行为有关。我们的研究结果表明Primeiros Laços 计划可有效促进母婴依恋的发展。