Attachment Representations of Children Born Prematurely in the Loire Infant Follow-up Team Cohort

Whether they are born at term or prematurely, from birth, children seek contact with caregivers and establish privileged relationships with them. These attachment relationships are gradually established and, from the end of the first year, interindividual differences can be observed according to temperament, quality of interactions with adults and responses to children's needs for proximity and comfort.

Prematurity is a situation that can disrupt parent-child interactions. The physiological characteristics of the premature infant attenuate and distort his/her stress signals. Visual interactions are shorter, alertness is more labile and reactivity is less clear than that of babies born at term. In such situations of stress and trauma, maternal sensitivity and responsiveness can be affected. In addition, changes in the quality of mother-child interactions have been reported, with more controlling maternal behavior. This maternal trend has been associated with behavioral disorders in children, such as eating disorders or lack of interest in social communication. More frequent disruptions of maternal caregiving associated with relational withdrawal in the child have also been shown in the case of prematurity.

We hypothesize that the experience of establishing relationships with parents in a context of extreme prematurity can alter the development of secure attachment representations in the child and that maternal representations and their possible interactions with prematurity factors prevent or contribute to the development of insecure or disorganized attachment in the child. We also hypothesize that disorganized attachment representations are associated with somatic, environmental, affective, and neurodevelopmental complications (motor, cognitive and behavioral).