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Objective. To evaluate the relationship between mothers and their developmentally normal infants in terms of maternal alexithymia, depression and anxiety, and marital satisfaction. Methods. Fifty children between 18 and 48 months of age, and their mothers, were referred consecutively to the Infant Mental Health Unit of Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The sociodemographic features of the families and the depressive symptoms, anxiety, marital satisfaction and alexithymia levels of the mothers were assessed. The relationships between children in normal developmental stages and their mothers were evaluated and rated using a structured clinical procedure. Results. There was a negative correlation between the mothers' alexithymia scores and the quality of the mother-infant relationship ( p < 0.05). Mothers with high alexithymia showed higher depression and lower relationship qualities than mothers with low alexithymia, according to the correlation analysis. When depression and anxiety were controlled, high alexithymia levels were predictive of a low, impaired mother-infant relationship. Conclusion. Since alexithymia is a trait-like variable which has a negative correlation with impairment in a mother-infant relationship, it must be investigated in the assessment of mothers' interactions with their babies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research conducted to investigate the factors that affect maternal attachment among 70 mothers whose infants were born with congenital anomalies in Turkey. Researchers used a questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data and the Maternal Attachment Inventory to collect information about the emotional attachment of mothers to infants with anomalies. They found that maternal attachment is lower in mothers with infants who have congenital anomalies that cannot be cured.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between maternal and paternal attachment style and severity of emotional and behavioral problem severity in toddlers and to explore the effect of toddlers' gender, presence of autism, and parental depression on this relation. Methods: All patients (n=103) (male=75; female=28) younger than 43 months old (range: 14-43, mean: 30.93±8.26 months) were included from a clinical sample. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR, Beck Depression Inventory, and Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) were used for assessing mothers and fathers; the Child Behavior Checklist/ 2-3 (CBCL) and Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) were applied to evaluate associated psychopathology in toddlers. Results: Both maternal and paternal AAS-avoidance scores were found to be significantly correlated with ABC-hyperactivity and ABC-irritability scores of the toddler (p<.001). A multiple regression model significantly predicted ABC hyperactivity scores, F(4.47)=5.74, p<.001, with two variables (higher paternal BDI score, and maternal insecure attachment style) significantly contributing to the prediction. Conclusion: The overall results of this study indicate that maternal (but not paternal) insecure attachment style is significantly associated with the severity of toddlers' emotional and behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity, and irritability. Especially when combined with paternal depression, this association becomes stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine whether the intensity of the labor pain has an effect on the development of the mother-infant interaction in Turkish mothers. Methodology: The research was carried out as a descriptive study in a university hospital with an obstetric and gynecology clinic in Erzurum, Turkey. Data were collected between October-December 2006. In this time interval, it was observed and 225 mothers were interviewed having an infant and meeting the research criteria in this obstetric and gynecology clinic. Results: The average scores of mother-infant interaction were statistically significant according to mothers' ages; p-value 0.005 (p<0.05), education level; p-value 0.000 (p<0.001) and labor duration p-value is 0.017 (p<0.05). Labor type didn't effect the mother-infant interaction; p-value 0.539 (p>0.05). The difference between starting period for breast-feeding and interaction scores was statistically significant; p-value 0.000 (p<0.001). Labor pain intensity didn't affect significantly mother-infant interaction; p-value 0.437 (p>0.05), However, when labour pain intensity increased, interaction scores decreased. Conclusion: According to these results, it seems to be important that during antenatal examinations, training programmes about mother-infant interaction for mothers who are older, multigravid, and have lower education level should be implemented. It is also suggested that painless labour technics should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]