Working Mothers and Their Infants: the Relationship Between Maternal Identity Integration, Childcare and Infant Attachment.

Abstract

Factors associated with differential outcomes in infant-mother attachment in highly educated, Caucasian, middle-class, dual worker families were investigated. Specifically, the effect on the nature of infant-mother attachment of the following five factors was examined: (1) the emotional adjustment of mothers reflected in global ratings of maternal identity integration; (2) the amount of father participation in childcare; (3) the continuity in substitute caretaking arrangements; (4) infant temperament; and (5) infant age at the time of maternal return to work. Additional correlates of infant-mother attachment, maternal identity integration and infant temperament were also studied. Forty-one mothers with firstborn children between the ages of 17-21 months were interviewed for four hours regarding their experience of work and mothering. A rating of their level of integration in maternal identity was assigned by clinically trained psychologists using a scale designed to reflect a woman's emotional adjustment in mothering. Judgments of the integration level involved consideration of several components of maternal behavior and personality and were highly reliable. Ratings of maternal identity integration were made from the interviews without knowledge of infant measures of attachment and temperament or of the amount of father participation. Measures of father participation, infant temperament and substitute childcare were derived from separate questionnaires completed by mothers. Infants were judged securely or insecurely attached on the basis of their behavior in the Strange Situation by raters blind to all other measures. Mothers judged highly integrated in their maternal identity were found to be highly accepting (r = .92) and sensitive to their children (r = .89) and to have infants who were securely attached (r = .71). Neither the amount of father participation, continuity in substitute caretaking, infant age at the time of maternal return to work or nature of infant temperament were found to be related to differential classifications in infant-mother attachment. The pattern of results suggests that the effect of full-time maternal employment on the security of infant-mother attachment seems to be mediated by a woman's maternal identity integration - primarily manifested by her acceptance and sensitivity to her child.