Associations between maternal technology use, perceptions of infant temperament, and indicators of mother-to-infant attachment quality. 2021

Shawnee Alvarez Gutierrez, and Alison K Ventura
California Polytechnic State University, Department of Kinesiology and Public Health, College of Science and Mathematics, One Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, United States of America.

Previous research suggests parents' use of technological devices, such as TV and mobile devices, within family contexts may decrease the quality of parent-child interactions. During early infancy, mothers report engaging with technological devices during infant feeding and care interactions, however, few studies have explored potential associations between maternal technology use and the quality of mother-to-infant attachment. To examine associations between maternal technology use during mother-infant interactions and indicators of mother-to-infant attachment during early infancy. Cross-sectional survey. Mothers (n = 332) of infants aged 2 to 6 months were recruited via MTurk, a crowdsourcing platform, to participate in an online survey. Participants responded to a series of validated questionnaires that assessed maternal technology use during mother-infant interactions (Maternal Distraction Questionnaire), infant temperament (Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form), and indicators of mother-to-infant attachment, including quality of attachment, absence of hostility toward motherhood, and pleasure in mother-infant interactions (Maternal Postnatal Attachment Questionnaire). Greater technology use during mother-infant interactions was significantly associated with greater infant negative affectivity (β = 0.26, p < .0001). Greater technology use was also significantly associated with lower mother-to-infant attachment quality (β = -0.21, p = .0001), and greater hostility toward motherhood (β = -0.39, p < .0001). Associations between technology use and indicators of mother-to-infant attachment were not mediated by infant negative affectivity. Maternal technology use was associated with greater perceptions of infant negative affectivity and poorer mother-to-infant attachment quality; further research is needed to understand mechanisms underlying these associations.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D009034 Mother-Child Relations Interaction between a mother and child. Mother-Child Interaction,Mother-Child Relationship,Mother-Infant Interaction,Mother-Infant Relations,Interaction, Mother-Child,Interaction, Mother-Infant,Interactions, Mother-Child,Interactions, Mother-Infant,Mother Child Interaction,Mother Child Relations,Mother Child Relationship,Mother Infant Interaction,Mother Infant Relations,Mother-Child Interactions,Mother-Child Relation,Mother-Child Relationships,Mother-Infant Interactions,Mother-Infant Relation,Relation, Mother-Child,Relation, Mother-Infant,Relations, Mother-Child,Relations, Mother-Infant,Relationship, Mother-Child,Relationships, Mother-Child
D009035 Mothers Female parents, human or animal. Mothers' Clubs,Club, Mothers',Clubs, Mothers',Mother,Mother Clubs,Mother's Clubs,Mothers Clubs,Mothers' Club
D009769 Object Attachment Emotional attachment to someone or something in the environment. Bonding (Psychology),Bonds, Emotional,Emotional Bonds,Object Relations,Symbiotic Relations (Psychology),Bonding, Psychological,Object Relationship,Psychological Bonding,Attachment, Object,Attachments, Object,Bond, Emotional,Bondings (Psychology),Emotional Bond,Object Attachments,Object Relation,Object Relationships,Relation, Object,Relation, Symbiotic (Psychology),Relations, Object,Relations, Symbiotic (Psychology),Relationship, Object,Relationships, Object,Symbiotic Relation (Psychology)
D003430 Cross-Sectional Studies Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time. Disease Frequency Surveys,Prevalence Studies,Analysis, Cross-Sectional,Cross Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Survey,Surveys, Disease Frequency,Analyses, Cross Sectional,Analyses, Cross-Sectional,Analysis, Cross Sectional,Cross Sectional Analyses,Cross Sectional Studies,Cross Sectional Survey,Cross-Sectional Analyses,Cross-Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Study,Cross-Sectional Surveys,Disease Frequency Survey,Prevalence Study,Studies, Cross-Sectional,Studies, Prevalence,Study, Cross-Sectional,Study, Prevalence,Survey, Cross-Sectional,Survey, Disease Frequency,Surveys, Cross-Sectional
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013672 Technology The application of scientific knowledge to practical purposes in any field. It includes methods, techniques, and instrumentation. Industrial Arts,Arts, Industrial
D013694 Temperament Predisposition to react to one's environment in a certain way; usually refers to mood changes. Temperaments

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