Roles of living arrangements and grandmother social support in adolescent mothering and infant attachment.

TLDR

The study examined how adolescents’ mothers’ support and living arrangements influence parenting and infant attachment in 197 mother‑infant pairs. Researchers measured teaching interactions, HOME environment scores, and infant attachment security to assess these relationships. Results showed that adolescents living without mothers or partners had better teaching interactions but poorer home environments; mother support increased infant attachment security only when adolescents lived with partners, whereas low support coupled with living alone was associated with more secure infants, and demographic factors did not explain these patterns.

Abstract

We examined the roles of social support from adolescents' mothers and living arrangements in 197 adolescent mother-infant pairs. Major observational measures were teaching interactions, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scores, and infant attachment security. Adolescents living with neither mothers nor partners had better teaching interactions but lower HOME scores compared with those living with mothers. High mother support was associated with more secure infant attachment only for those adolescents living with partners. When mother support was low, adolescents living alone had more secure infants than adolescents living with partners. Although parenting scores were related to differences in demographics and personal resources (intelligence and social skills), these did not appear to be responsible for the major findings