MOTHER-CHILD ATTACHMENT IN THE FIRST YEAR: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18173/2354-1067.2026-0019Keywords:
mother-child attachment, first-year children, a retrospective studyAbstract
Establishing mother-child attachment in the first year of life plays a crucial role in a child’s development. Using a retrospective research method, the article surveyed the opinions of 234 mothers with preschool-age children to examine the level and expression of mother-child attachment in the first year. The survey was conducted from April to June 2025. The results showed that: More than 90% of the surveyed mother-child pairs showed had a high level of attachment in the first year from both the mother and the child. Nearly 10% of mother-child pairs had low levels of attachment, often in cases where the mother or child had physical and/or mental health problems. These results provide a basis for future research to explore the impact of mother-child attachment on child development in later stages. However, further studies using a combination of methods and larger samples are needed to describe the mother-child attachment relationship in more detail in the first year.
References
[1] Spitz RA, (1945). Hospitalism: An Inquiry into the Genesis of Psychiatric Conditions in Early Childhood. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1(1), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00797308.1945.11823126
[2] Winnicott DW, (2021). The Child, the Family, and the Outside World. Penguin Classic Publishing House.
[3] Bowlby J, (1969). Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. Attachment and Loss. New York: Basic Books.
[4] Tichelman E, Westerneng M, Witteveen AB, van Baar AL, van der Horst HE, de Jonge A, Berger MY, Schellevis FG, Burger H & Peters LL, (2019). Correlates of prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality: A systematic review. PLoS ONE, 14(9), Article e0222998. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222998
[5] Dudek J, Colasante T, Zuffianò A & Haley DW, (2020). Changes in cortical sensitivity to infant facial cues from pregnancy to motherhood predict mother–infant bonding. Child development, 91(1), e198-e217. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13182
[6] Stoodley C, McKellar L, Fereday J, Ziaian T, Steen M & Gwilt I, (2025). Exploring mothers' perspectives on the early mother-infant relationship to inform midwifery practice: A qualitative study. Midwifery, 140, 104200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2024.104200
[7] NK Viện, (2011), Tâm lí lâm sàng trẻ em Việt Nam. NXB Y học.
[8] NV Thành (2006), Quan hệ mẹ con - bài học đầu tiên của cuộc sống. NXB Giáo dục, Hà Nội.
[9] VT Chín, (2002), Mẹ và con: Bước đầu tìm hiểu tâm lí sản phụ và quan hệ mẹ con sớm. NXB Văn hoá thông tin, Hà Nội.
[10] NA Tuyết, NTN Mai, (2009), Giáo trình Sự phát triển tâm lí trẻ em lứa tuổi mầm non. NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam, Hà Nội.
