Ms Clare Bell

BPsych (Honours)

PhD Candidate, School of Psychology

Contact details for Ms Clare Bell clare.bell@griffith.edu.au

Research topic title

The Effects of Maternal Anxiety on the Mother-Infant Attachment Relationship During the First 12 Months.

Description

This thesis will focus on the effects of maternal anxiety on the mother-infant attachment relationship during the first 12 months. Drawing on the cognitive behaviour conceptualisation of anxiety, the cognitive and behavioural processes that underlie maternal anxiety and their impact on the mother-infant attachment relationship will be examined in a population of first time mothers in a longitudinal study. Comparisons will be made between anxious and non-anxious mother-infant pairs to determine whether maternal anxiety poses a deleterious effect on the critical attachment style within the mother-infant relationship. Primarily, a contribution will be made to the existing literature by showing that maternal anxiety is having a significant impact very early in the child’s development, potentially placing the child at risk for future psychosocial difficulties. A secondary contribution will be that mothers in general will benefit at the prevention level from training and/or intervention during their pregnancy providing them with strategies that could offset anxiety affecting their attachment behaviours. Additionally those women identified as being anxious, will benefit from interventions focused specifically on their anxiety.

Supervisor

Dr Allison Waters