Association of mother-child attachment with maternal mental health in early years

Abstract

A mentally distressed mother fails or sometimes takes more time to establish a strong mother-child attachment. The purpose of this quantitative research was to explore the relationship between maternal mental health and mother-child attachment of the urban mothers in the early years. Mothers who had children of 0-2 years of age completed three self-reported questionnaires such as SES Questionnaire, GHQ, MAI using a digital platform. Findings show that 49.41% mothers are found distressed and COVID-19 pandemic is the underline cause of this highest percentage. Some other factors including lack of time for self-care, domestic violence, low income, mother’s physical illness, lack of mothers financial freedom are associated with maternal mental distress It is also revealed a negative relationship between maternal distress GHQ) and mother-child attachment (MAI), but not statistically significant (p=0.094). This finding emphasizes the importance of understanding maternal mental health state difficulties to ensure a holistic development for their children.