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Attachment expectations moderate links between social support and maternal adjustment from 6 to 18 months postpartum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2024

Yufei Gu Open the ORCID record for Yufei Gu [Opens in a new window] ,
Theodore E.A. Waters ,
Victoria Zhu ,
Brittany Jamieson ,
Danielle Lim ,
Gabrielle Schmitt Open the ORCID record for Gabrielle Schmitt [Opens in a new window]  and
Leslie Atkinson
Yufei Gu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA
Theodore E.A. Waters*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA
Victoria Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Brittany Jamieson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
Danielle Lim
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Gabrielle Schmitt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Leslie Atkinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada
*
Corresponding authors: Theodore E. A. Waters; Email: theo.waters@nyu.edu; Leslie Atkinson; Email: leslie.atkinson@torontomu.ca
Corresponding authors: Theodore E. A. Waters; Email: theo.waters@nyu.edu; Leslie Atkinson; Email: leslie.atkinson@torontomu.ca
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Abstract

Significant links exist between one’s perception of available social support and mental health outcomes, including during the transition to motherhood. Yet, attachment theory posits that individuals do not benefit equally from social support. As such, we examined the influence of attachment representations (i.e., secure base script knowledge) as they potentially moderate links between social support and psychological distress in a 1-year longitudinal study of an ethnically diverse (56% White) sample of infant-mother dyads. We hypothesized that higher social support would predict lower maternal psychological distress and this relation would be strongest in those with higher secure base script knowledge. Results indicated that maternal perceptions of social support were significantly negatively correlated with psychological distress. Analyses revealed that secure base script scores significantly moderated these associations. Interestingly, for those high in script knowledge, low social support predicted greater psychological distress. For those low in script knowledge, social support was unrelated to psychological distress. This pattern suggested that those who expect care (i.e., high secure base script knowledge) but receive minimal support (i.e., low perceived social support) find motherhood uniquely dysregulating. Practitioners may do well to examine individuals’ attachment expectations in relation to their current social support.

Keywords

Attachmentsecure base script knowledgematernal adjustmentsocial support
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , First View , pp. 1 - 13
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© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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