Interactions between mothers and infants: Impact of maternal anxiety

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of anxiety in the postnatal year on maternal contribution to mother–infant interaction. Participants were 32 mothers with high anxiety and 32 mothers with low anxiety, when their infants were aged 10–14 months. Mother–infant interaction was videotaped during a standardized play situation and coded blind to group status. High trait anxiety mothers showed less sensitive responsivity (p < .05) and reduced emotional tone (p < .05) during interaction. When participants scoring high in depressive symptomatology were removed for a subgroup analysis, the same pattern of results was obtained, suggesting that the observed differences in mother–infant interaction were due to group differences in anxiety.