With Mother's Day right around the corner, a new study confirms that a strong mother-child bond in the early years is key to a child's emotional development, and children, especially boys, who lack this bond have more behavior problems later in childhood.

 

The research study, led by Dr. Pasco Fearon from the University of Reading, analyzed 69 studies involving nearly 6,000 children 12 and younger. The studies under review incorporated a range of methods for assessing children's behavior problems, including parent and teacher questionnaires and direct observations.

 

Fearon's team sought to clarify the extent to which early mother-child bonding affects children's later behavior problems, such as aggression or hostility. The quality of the parent-child relationship is known to be important to children's development, but past research on the link between attachment and development has been inconsistent.

 

The researchers pulled together evidence from past research to get a clearer picture and answer scientific questions about attachment. According to attachment theory, children with secure attachments expect and receive support and comfort from their caregivers. Children with insecure attachments receive discouragement and rejection, which make them vulnerable to developing behavioral problems.

 

"The central question we posed was whether attachment insecurity was associated with behavior problems across all the studies conducted to date," Fearon said "The results showed quite clearly that the answer to this question is a firm ‘yes.'

 

"More specifically, our analysis showed that children with insecure attachments to their mothers, particularly boys, had significantly more behavioral problems, even when the behavioral problems were measured years later," he added.