Mother-Child Bond and Mental Health Problems in Preschool Children in Southern Brazil

Abstract

Background: Child development occurs from the interaction of a set of factors. The initial experiences are predictors of the acquisition of a range of skills such as child’s behavior and affective and social capacities. In this context, mental health problems like behavioral or emotional difficulties may arise early. There is a consensus that the weak mother-child bond has a negative influence on the emotional and behavioral development of the child, but is a significant lack of studies evaluating this hypothesis.
Aim: To verify the association between the quality of the mother-child bond and mental health problems of preschooler’s children born from adolescent pregnancies in a city in southern Brazil.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort study that followed adolescent pregnant women who received prenatal care through the Brazilian public health system of a city in Southern Brazil and their children at 4 and 5 years and 11 months. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to identify children’s mental health problems and the protocol for assessment of mother-child bonding to evaluate the mother-child bond.
Results: Children of mothers with weak bonding presented an odds of 4.3 (95% CI: 1.9; 9.9) more emotional problems and an odds of 2.1 (95% CI: 1.1; 4.0) more conduct problems when compared to children of mothers with strong bonding.
Conclusion: With early identification, interventions focusing on the adequate development of the mother-child bond in the gestational and postpartum period may be performed, seeking to prevent adverse outcomes for the child.