Occupational Commitment and the Quality of Maternal Infant Interaction

A positive and statistically significant relationship was found between a woman's degree of occupational commitment measured at 34 weeks gestation and the quality of interaction with her infant measured soon after delivery in a sample of 50 married, white, college-educated women and their healthy term infants. This finding did not occur at 6-weeks postpartum, however. Specific characteristics which influenced the quality of the interaction between mother and infant included mothers' of the subjects work histories, infant gender, attendance at prenatal classes, intention of returning to work, and method of infant feeding. With respect to occupational commitment, influencing characteristics included income and subjects' mothers' work histories. The findings are discussed within the perspective of current literature.