Study of mother-infant attachment patterns and influence factors in Shanghai.

Background: In contrast to the considerable volume of international research on infant attachment development, significantly less research has been conducted in China.

Aim: The present study was designed to identify the patterns of mother-infant attachment in Shanghai and to explore the influence factors.

Study Design And Subjects: The subjects included 160 healthy infant-mother dyads. Infant attachment and temperament were assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure and Carey's temperament questionnaire, respectively; the mother's personality, maternal sensitivity and marital satisfaction were assessed with Eysenck's personality questionnaire, Maternal Behavior Q-sort Manual Version 3.1 and Olson's marital questionnaire, respectively. A self-formulated questionnaire of family environment factors was completed by the infant's mother.

Results: Of the 160 infants, 68.2% were rated as securely attached (B) and 31.8% as insecurely attached. Of those infants rated as insecurely attached, 7.5% were characterized as avoidant (A), 21.8% as resistant (C) and 2.5% as disorganized (D). Maternal sensitivity and marital satisfaction as well as the approachability dimension of infant temperament, were significantly different between securely attached infants and insecurely attached infants. From a temperament perspective, resistant infants showed higher-level intensity of reaction than avoidant infants. Moreover, multiple caregivers in the family and infant's sleeping with other caregivers at night were more likely to be associated with insecure mother-infant attachment.

Conclusion: There exist certain cultural characteristics in mother-infant attachment patterns in Shanghai. The influence factors are related with the high involvement of non-mother caregivers as well as maternal sensitivity, marital satisfaction and infant's temperament characteristics.