Sosyo-ekonomik risk grubu annelerinin ruh sağlığı, duyarlılığı ve 1-3 yaş arası çocuklarda gözlemlenen bağlanma güvenliğinin ilişkisi

A secure relationship between a caregiver and a child is one of the important predictors of positive developmental outcomes in childhood. Previous studies demonstrated that low socio-economic level, maternal mental health symptoms, and maternal insensitivity were associated with the formation of insecure relationship (Teti, Gelfand, Messinger, & Isabella, 1995; Radke-Yarrow, 1991; Lyons-Ruth, Connell, Grunebaum, & Botein, 1990). Further, these studies depicted that poor maternal mental health when combined with low SES (Casady, Diener, Isabella, & Wright, 2001) can hinder maternal sensitivity and child's secure attachment (Campell et al., 2004; Gedaly & Leerkes, 2016). However, so far, the relationship between maternal mental health, and maternal sensitivity and attachment security in early childhood has not be shown in a high-risk group such as low-SES. Therefore, this study aims to investigate maternal mental health symptomatology and sensitivity association with toddlers' attachment security in a low-SES Turkish sample and whether the relationship between maternal mental health symptomatology and attachment security of toddlers mediated by the maternal sensitivity. The one-hundred and forty-eight mothers (Mage=30.44 years, SD=4.7) and their toddlers between the age of 12 to 38 months old (Mage=23.18 months, SD=6.7) recruited for the study. In 2 to 3-hours home-visits, mothers' relationships with their toddlers were video-recorded and then they filled out a pack of questionnaires including a demographic form, Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The mother-child dyads were coded independently by trained coders for Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (MBQS) and toddlers' attachment security coded with Attachment Q-Sort (AQS). The correlation analysis showed that maternal mental health negatively, while maternal sensitivity was positively associated with toddlers' attachment security and this relationship is remained significant in hierarchical regression analysis even after controlling for socioeconomic status. The results showed that maternal sensitivity did not significantly mediate the link between maternal mental health symptomatology and toddlers' attachment security. The present study showed the impact of socioeconomic and maternal factors on toddlers' attachment security in a disadvantaged group, which would facilitate for developing preventive interventions that specifically address maternal mental health directly for such high-risk groups.