The interaction between mothers and their children provides the foundation for the child's healthy development and helps the child build effective self-regulation mechanisms. Studies have already shown that, in particular, the well-being and health of the mother during pregnancy can have a direct impact on the mother-child interaction. However, the extent to which the mother's well-being and health shortly after birth and during the early months of the child's life relate to the quality of interaction and bonding, as well as the developing self-regulation mechanisms in children, remains largely unexplored.

This study aims to investigate the complex interplay between maternal well-being, mother-child interaction and bonding, and the early socio-emotional development of children. To this end, mother-child interactions will be observed and analyzed during a free-play phase and during the Still-Face Paradigm as described by Tronick et al. (1978). Factors influencing the well-being of mother and child, such as stress, will be assessed both physiologically (here: saliva and hair cortisol) and subjectively through questionnaires. Additionally, other important factors affecting the health of mother and child will be examined: perceived bonding with the child, maternal depression, maternal sense of self-efficacy, maternal and child personality and character traits, critical life events, and breastfeeding behavior.

For the study, we are looking for mothers and children who have reached the 4th month of life at the time of the survey (for premature infants, this refers to corrected age). We are explicitly seeking both full-term (i.e., birth after the 37th week of pregnancy) and preterm children (i.e., birth between the 26th and 37th week of pregnancy, with a minimum birth weight of 800g). Mothers should be at least 18 years old and must give their written consent to participate in the study, which requires sufficient German language skills. If the children have severe illnesses and/or congenital developmental disorders, participation is unfortunately not possible.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact us via email () or by phone (+49(0) 211/81 14566), and we will provide you with more information about our study.