Allison Hepworth, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, presented a scientific poster titled, Maternal adult attachment style and infant weight status among Latino home-based Early Head Start participants, at the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition Obesity Research Center Symposia held October 30th at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
This research is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families award ACF 90-YR-0059 to co-authors Lisa Berlin, PhD (University of Maryland School of Social Work) and Brenda Jones Harden, PhD (University of Maryland, College Park). Other co-authors included Marie Runfola, MS (University of Maryland School of Social Work) and Tiffany Martoccio, PhD (University of Maryland, College Park). The preliminary, cross-sectional results presented in this poster suggested that infants whose mothers self-reported a secure adult attachment style had lower weight-for-length z-scores on average compared to infants whose mothers self-reported an avoidant or anxious adult attachment style. Future research by members of this research team will explore the association between adult attachment style and infant weight status more in-depth, including parenting behaviors that may mediate the association.