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The parental bonds of adolescent girls and next-generation maternal–infant bonding: findings from the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which adolescent bonding problems with parents predict next-generation maternal–infant bonding problems at 2 and 12 months postpartum. Data were from a two-generation prospective cohort study of 1026 offspring (3 perinatal waves) born to participants of a two-decade (10-wave) study of 1943 adolescents. Dyads in this analysis were 395 mothers (29–36 years) of 606 offspring (305 female). At 16 years, we assessed adolescents’ perceptions of their mother’s and father’s care and control, separately and in combination. Subsequently, when participants were adult mothers of infants 2 and 12 months postpartum, we assessed impaired maternal–infant bonding, infant-directed rejection-anger, and caregiving anxiety. Adolescent–parent bonding problems were strongly predictive of women’s subsequent bonding problems with infants. In particular, impaired postpartum maternal bonding was predicted by adolescent reports of low paternal care (12 months: OR=3.1, 95% CI 1.1–8.6) and high maternal control (12 months: OR=3.7, 95% CI 1.4–9.7). In combination, high maternal control and low paternal control also predicted impaired postpartum bonding (2 months: OR=5.0, 95% CI 1.3–20; 12 months: OR=12, 2.6–56), caregiving anxiety (2 months: OR=4, 95% CI 1.5–11; 12 months: OR=8.8, 95% CI 1.8–43), and rejection/anger (12 months: OR=4.1, 95% CI 1.0–16). Further combinations of care and overprotection that significantly predicted postpartum bonding problems are presented. Our results indicate that adolescent girls who experience high maternal control and low paternal care are at higher risk for subsequent maternal-infant bonding problems. The strength of associations suggests that interventions should begin well before pregnancy.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to the project team involved in data collection and management, and to the participants who contributed their time to the study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (APP1008273, APP1063091, APP437015, APP1019887 to G. P.); Australian Rotary Health; Colonial Foundation; Perpetual Trustees; Financial Markets Foundation for Children (Australia); Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation; Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Australian Postgraduate Association to E.S.; and the Australian Research Council (DP1311459 to C. O.). Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Program.

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Correspondence to Jacqui A. Macdonald.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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George C. Patton and Craig A. Olsson are joint senior authors.

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Macdonald, J.A., Youssef, G.J., Phillips, L. et al. The parental bonds of adolescent girls and next-generation maternal–infant bonding: findings from the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study. Arch Womens Ment Health 21, 171–180 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0778-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0778-x

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