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This study is important because it explores the association between maternal depression and their children's quality of attachment. Finding out exactly what affect maternal depression has on children's attachment styles can help make mothers aware and help improve their quality of emotional availability. Another reason this study is important is to help mother's realize the impact depression has on their children. This study would help the women suffering from depression and their children, hopefully bringing about a helpful treatment to avoid emotional unavailability. .
Background.
Pederson, Gleason, Moran, and Bento (1998) conducted a study of women from a registry of mothers who during their postpartum hospital stay had expressed interest in participating in child development studies. It was a longitudinal study in which the experimenters performed the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Strange Situation Procedure, and then the Adult Attachment Interview on 60 mother-infant dyads. The observations were designed to simulate a busy household in which the mother's attention is divided between her infant's signals and other tasks. Second, maternal sensitivity is assessed using the Maternal Behavior Q set, a set of 90 items descriptive of maternal interactive behaviors that are ranked to reflect the observed interactions of a particular dyad. Among other advantages, the Q-set procedures orient the observers to attachment-.
Maternal Depression 5.
relevant maternal behaviors. Third, the observers take extensive notes that are used as the basis for a debriefing interview following the visit. The debriefing interview is designed to highlight the infant's signals for proximity, affective communication, and comfort and the mother's responses to these signals. .
A strong association was found between AAI and Strange Situation classifications, and autonomous mothers were more sensitive at home than were non-autonomous mothers.