Mom's Affection Helps Coping Skills

(July 28, 2010) - Mothers who shower their infants with affection equip them to cope well with life stressors as adults, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Despite growing interest in the role of early life experiences in adult health, most studies have relied on recall; few have tracked participants from childhood to adult life, say the authors. They base their findings on 482 people who have been studied since they were babies.

A psychologist objectively rated the quality of their interactions with their mothers at the age of 8 months during routine developmental assessment. (Read about "Child Development")

At the end of each session, the psychologist completed an assessment of how well the mother had coped with her child's developmental tests and how she had responded to the child's performance.

The amount of affection and attention she gave to her child was also categorized, with descriptors ranging from "negative" to "extravagant."

At the 8 month assessment, one in 10 interactions (46) were characterized by a low level of maternal affection towards the infant. Most (85 percent; 409) were characterized by normal levels of affection.

The remaining 6 percent (27) were characterized by very high levels of maternal affection.

Mental health (Read about "Mental Health") was subsequently assessed in adulthood at the average age of 34, using a validated symptom checklist, which captures both specific elements - such as anxiety and hostility - and general levels of distress.

When the specific elements of the checklist were analyzed, those whose mothers had been observed to be the most affectionate at the 8 month assessment had the lowest levels of anxiety (Read about "Anxiety"), hostility, and general distress.

There was more than a 7 point difference in anxiety scores between those whose mothers had displayed low/normal levels of affection and those whose mothers had displayed high levels.

And there was more than a 3 point discrepancy in hostility scores and a 5 point difference in overall general distress scores.