Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol 41(4), Oct 2024, 183-190; doi:10.1037/pap0000511
This longitudinal study examined associations between object relations in pregnant women and their toddlers’ attachment security and behavior problems. The participant group comprised 84 pregnant women and their young children, who learned about the study through fliers distributed around various public locations as well as community agencies that service the low-income population. Participants completed self-report measures and were observed while interacting with their child; data were collected from the third trimester of pregnancy to 2 years postpartum. Results indicated that mothers’ healthier object relations were associated with more secure attachment and fewer behavior problems in toddlers. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale—Global Rating Method Emotional Investment in Relationships explained variance in toddler attachment security, above and beyond the influence of the mother’s education and family income. The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale—Global Rating Method Affective Quality of Representations explained variance in toddler problematic behaviors. Implications of this study suggest that a pregnant mother’s object relations during her third trimester, especially her emotional investment in relationships and affective quality of representations, may have cross-generation effects on her young child’s functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)