Maternal attachment representation, the risk of increased depressive symptoms and the influence on children's mental health during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic.

The social distancing measures and the related closure of education institutions have confronted young families, in particular, with various challenges. Additional risk factors such as an insecure or even unresolved maternal attachment representation may affect mental health of mothers and their children in times of increased stress such as during the ongoing pandemic. We aimed to analyze the interplay between maternal attachment representation and mother's and children's mental health before and during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic.

Reduced caregiving quality measured during the strange situation procedure increases child's autonomic nervous system stress response.

Background: Dysfunctional maternal behavior has been shown to lead to disturbances in infant's regulatory capacities and alterations in vagal reactivity. We aim to investigate the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response of the child during the strange situation procedure (SSP) in relation to the quality of maternal behavior.

Methods: Twelve month after birth, 163 mother-child-dyads were investigated during the SSP.