Original Article Quality of Mother-Infant Interactions in Maternal Emotional Disturbance: A Pilot Study

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the quality of mother-infant interactions in emotionally disturbed (ED) mothers. Method: 20 mothers with or without ED and their infants (12-24 months) participated in the study, which involved the mothers interacting with their infants with a toy in a structured play situation. These interactions were video-recorded and a coding scheme was developed to code the quality of maternal, infant, and interaction behaviours. Results: Significant differences were obtained on all the behaviour scales between both the groups. Mothers with ED and their infants displayed more negative or neutral interaction as compared to control mothers and their infants. The interactions of the mother-infant dyads were also less positive in mothers with ED than in control mothers. Conclusions: The study suggest that the presence of ED in mothers is associated with overall less optimal mother-infant interactions than is evident in demographically similar mothers without ED. This study helped confirm previous findings but also demonstrated impact of maternal emotional disturbance on mother-infant interactions not detailed in literature