The parental bonds of adolescent girls and next-generation maternal–infant bonding: findings from the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which adolescent bonding problems with parents predict next-generation maternal–infant bonding problems at 2 and 12 months postpartum. Data were from a two-generation prospective cohort study of 1026 offspring (3 perinatal waves) born to participants of a two-decade (10-wave) study of 1943 adolescents. Dyads in this analysis were 395 mothers (29–36 years) of 606 offspring (305 female). At 16 years, we assessed adolescents’ perceptions of their mother’s and father’s care and control, separately and in combination. Subsequently, when participants were adult mothers of infants 2 and 12 months postpartum, we assessed impaired maternal–infant..