Infant Behavior & Development 37 (2014) 44–56 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Infant Behavior and Development Motherhood in adolescent mothers: Maternal attachment, mother–infant styles of interaction and emotion regulation at three months Cristina Riva Crugnola a,* , Elena Ierardi a , Simona Gazzotti a , Alessandro Albizzati b a Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy b Infant Neuropsychiatry Unit, San Paolo Hospital of Milan and State University of Milano, Milan, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 18 September 2013 Received in revised form 24 December 2013 Accepted 24 December 2013 Available online 22 January 2014 Keywords: Adolescent mother Maternal attachment Mother–infant styles of interaction Mother–infant emotion regulation a b s t r a c t Early motherhood is considered a risk factor for an adequate relationship between mother and infant and for the subsequent development of the infant. The principal aim of the study is to analyze micro-analytically the effect of motherhood in adolescence on the qual- ity of mother–infant interaction and emotion regulation at three months, considering at the same time the effect of maternal attachment on these variables. Participants were 30 adolescent mother–infant dyads compared to 30 adult mother–infant dyads. At infant 3 months, mother–infant interaction was video-recorded and coded with a modified ver- sion of the Infant Caregiver Engagement Phases and the Adult Attachment Interview was administered to the mother. Analysis showed that adolescent mothers (vs. adult moth- ers) spent more time in negative engagement and their infants spent less time in positive engagement and more time in negative engagement. Adolescent mothers are also less involved in play with their infants than adult mothers. Adolescent mother–infant dyads (vs. adult mother–infant dyads) showed a greater duration of negative matches and spent less time in positive matches. Insecure adolescent mother–infant dyads (vs. insecure adult mother–infant dyads) demonstrated less involvement in play with objects and spent less time in positive matches. To sum up adolescent mother–infant dyads adopt styles of emo- tion regulation and interaction with objects which are less adequate than those of dyads with adult mothers. Insecure maternal attachment in dyads with adolescent mothers (vs. adult mother infant dyads) is more influential as risk factor. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Motherhood in adolescence and early adulthood is seen as a significant risk factor both for the development of the infant and for the subsequent developmental trajectories of the mother. The infants of adolescent mothers have a greater probability of having insecure and disorganized attachment to their mothers in childhood (Broussard, 1995; Flaherty & Sadler, 2011; Frodi, Grolnick, Bridges, & Berko, 1990; Moran, Forbes, Evans, Tarabulsy, & Madigan, 2008; IJzendoorn, Schuengel, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999; Ward & Carlson, 1995), less stability in attachment from early to middle childhood (1–5 years) (Lounds, Borkowski, Thomas, Maxwell, & Weed, 2005), a greater probability of suffering abuse (Bolton, 1990) and of having * Corresponding author at: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milano, Italy. Tel.: +39 3355735378. E-mail address: cristina.riva-crugnola@unimib.it (C. Riva Crugnola). 0163-6383/$ – see front matter © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.12.011