[Attachment in very low birthweight infants (< 1500 g) and their mothers].

A long hospital stay, along with the worries about the survival and the possible disabilities the child might suffer from, mark the start into life of very low birth weight premature infants (VLBW). The goal of this trial was to study the stability of the attachment representations of very low birthweight infants (birthweight < 1500 g) and the accordance of the attachment representations of the children and their primary care givers. In continuation of the Kölner Frühgeborenen Studie, we measured the attachment patterns of 40 VLBW children at the age of seven and their mothers. For the children we used the Geschichtenergänzungsverfahrens zur Bindung (GEV-B) and for the mothers the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) to determine the attachment representation. The attachment representations first corresponded to a normal distribution pattern and shifted over time to a more insecure attachment. We could not determine a significant link between the attachment patterns of the child and their mother.