417 INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Vol. 23(4), 417– 431 (2002)  2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/imhj.10022 A R T I C L E THE IMPORTANCE OF MATERNAL STATE OF MIND REGARDING ATTACHMENT AND INFANT AGE AT PLACEMENT TO FOSTER MOTHERS’ REPRESENTATIONS OF THEIR FOSTER INFANTS BRADY C. BATES AND MARY DOZIER University of Delaware ABSTRACT: Previous research has found that foster mother state of mind with respect to attachment and infant age at placement into foster care influence the developing foster mother– foster child relationship (Dozier, Albus, Stovall, & Bates, 2000; Stovall & Dozier, 2000). This study extends prior research by assessing factors related to foster mothers’ representations of their foster infants. Participants were 48 foster mother– foster infant dyads in two mid-Atlantic cities. We expected that foster mothers’ states of mind and infant age at placement would be associated with foster mothers’ acceptance of infants, com- mitment to infants, and belief in their influence on infants’ development. Consistent with hypotheses, foster mothers’ states of mind interacted with infant age at placement in predicting foster mothers’ acceptance of their babies, and the extent to which foster mothers believed they could influence their infants’ development. Specifically, autonomous foster mothers of babies placed before 12 months of age were more accepting and more likely to believe they could influence their infants’ development compared to autonomous foster mothers of babies placed after 12 months of age, a pattern not seen for nonauton- omous foster mothers. These results converge with other findings suggesting that timing of placement in foster care, and foster mothers’ states of mind, are important to the developing foster mother– child relationship. RESUMEN: Previas investigaciones han determinado que el estado mental de las madres de crianza con respecto a la unio ´n afectiva, y la edad del infante cuando e ´ste es colocado bajo el cuidado de la madre de crianza, influyen el desarrollo de la relacio ´n entre la madre de crianza y el infante bajo su cuidado (Dozier, Albus, Stovall, y Bates, 2000; Stovall y Dozier, 2000). Este estudio expande la investigacio ´n previa por medio de la evaluacio ´n de factores relacionados con las representaciones que las madres de crianza tienen de sus infantes. En e ´l participaron 48 dı ´adas de madres de crianza y sus infantes en dos ciudades del interior del paı ´s cercanas a la costa atla ´ntica. Se esperaba que el estado mental de las madres Preparation of this article was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH52135 to the second author. The authors acknowledge the help of Wanda Spotts, Kathlyn C. Stovall, and Kathleen E. Albus to the project. They would also like to express their appreciation to Yvonne Gilchrist and Gerry Robinson of Baltimore City Department of Social Services; and to John Bates and Trine Bech of the Delaware Division of Youth and Families; and to the case workers, foster families, birth families, and children at both agencies. Direct correspondence to: Mary Dozier, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, 220 Wolf Hall, Newark, DE 19716-2577; e-mail: mdo- zier@udel.edu.