Hepworth, Berlin, Jones Harden Published in Attachment and Human Development

Allison Hepworth, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Lisa Berlin, PhD, Professor, and Brenda Jones Harden, PhD, Alison Richman Professor for Children and Families, have a new paper published in Attachment and Human Development. Tiffany Martoccio, PhD, is also a co-author. Using data from 55 low-income, Latino families, the research team investigated the association between mothers’ self-reported attachment style (i.e., comfort in close interpersonal relationships) and infants’ weight-for-length (WFL; an early indicator of childhood obesity risk). Results showed that infants of mothers who classified themselves as secure had lower WFL z-scores than infants of insecure mothers (avoidant or anxious). The authors discuss the implications of these findings for future research on how mothers' attachment style may influence early life risk factors for obesity. For more information, see https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616734.2020.1729214.