Literacy news
Early motherly affection leads to more stress resistant adults
29 Jul 2010
The BBC reports on a recently published study, which shows that high levels of motherly affection are likely to facilitate secure attachment and bonding. The study found that those babies and children with affectionate mothers were far better at dealing with anxiety and stress when adults.
The study was conducted over 34 years and started with a psychologist rating interactions between mothers and their eight-month-old children. The psychologist would give the mother an “affection score” based on her responsiveness to her child. The children were then contacted 30 years later, surveyed and asked how affectionate their mothers were towards them, with a choice of response between “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree”.
The results showed that children with affectionate mothers were far better at dealing with anxiety than those with unaffectionate or emotionally cold mothers. The researchers said: “It is striking that a brief observation of level of maternal warmth in infancy is associated with distress in adult offspring 30 years later.”
Affection and responsiveness were highlighted as key ways in which mothers react to their children and “sync” with them. This sort of communication is integral to babies as they are not born knowing how to regulate their emotions; they learn how to do this through being upset and then soothed.
Read the report on the BBC website.
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