Maternal representation of the self as parent: connections with maternal sensitivity and maternal structuring.

Maternal representations of the self as parent were assessed via the Parent Attachment and Peer Relationship Interviews (Bretherton, Biringen, Ridgeway, Maslin-Cole, & Sherman, 1989; Biringen & Bretherton, 1988) when children were 39 months of age. Maternal sensitivity and maternal structuring during mother-child interactions were assessed at 18, 24 and 39 months. The central question of this study was whether maternal representations were related to aspects of observed maternal sensitivity and maternal structuring. We found that maternal sensitivity at 18 months predicted later maternal representations of the self as parent. But beginning at 24 months and continuing to 39 months maternal structuring proved to be a more important predictor of maternal representations of the self, in particular maternal self-esteem, even after controlling for maternal sensitivity.