Intergenerational transmission of parental bonding among women.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the transmission of parental bonding style from mothers to daughters.

METHOD

Sixty mothers and their 69 daughters were independently assessed over the course of a 10-year follow-up. The Parental Bonding instrument was administered to both mothers and daughters to assess their own childhood parenting. Depression was assessed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime version. Temperament was assessed through self-report on the Dimensions of Temperament Survey. A series of logistic regressions were run to predict daughter report of maternal affectionless control, taking into account maternal and daughter depression status, temperament, and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS

The intergenerational transmission of parental bonding among women was shown to be independent of maternal depression, daughter depression, maternal temperament, daughter temperament, and socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSION

Given the previously established association between parental bonding style and depression in offspring, the sturdiness of the intergenerational transmission of parental bonding among women suggests the routine clinical assessment of maternal bonding style.