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Effects of early maternal depression on patterns of infant–mother attachment: a meta-analytic investigation
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We analysed results from seven American and British studies that compared groups of mothers with and without clinically diagnosed depression, and assessed the attachment category of their infants (under 3 years) using the Strange Situation. The samples were predominantly middle‐income and free of risk factors other than maternal depression. Meta‐analysis using loglinear modelling and standardised residuals showed that the effect of depression on the distribution of infants' attachment was statistically heterogeneous. However, after removing one outlier study, the effect of depression was homogeneous across the remaining six studies. Infants of depressed mothers showed significantly reduced likelihood of secure (B) attachment and marginally raised likelihood of avoidant (A) and disorganised (D) attachment. The first two effects varied considerably in magnitude between studies, whereas the increase in disorganised attachment, from 17% to 28% on average, was consistent.
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“Research suggests that maternal depression decreases the likelihood of secure attachment and increases the risk for avoidant and disorganized attachment (Martins & Gaffan, 2000;Teti et al. 1995).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Martins & Gaffan, 2000
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Metadata
- Authors
- Martins, C., & Gaffan, E. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Reading (GB)
- ORCID
- Martins, Carla
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-09
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 737-746
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W1987110394
- Cited by
- 638
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 69 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 4.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- maternal depression, infant attachment, attachment security, attachment avoidance, disorganized attachment, Strange Situation, effect size heterogeneity
- MeSH terms
- Depression, Female, Humans, Infant, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, Object Attachment
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