A Study on Mother\'s Attachment to her Infant: Development and Validation of the Korean Maternal Attachment Inventory
AUTHOR : 황현주, 정옥분
INFORMATION : page. 57~78 / 2006 Vol.13 No.3
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Korean mother\'s Attachment Inventory (KMAI). The subjects of this study were 417 mothers resided in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area. The KMAI items were identified from the review of literature and interview of Korean mothers. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson\'s correlations, and explanatory factor analyses. The results indicated that (a) the KMAI developed appropriately measures the modern Korean mother attachment to her infant, (b) the factor that best represented the KMAI was positive emotions, and (c) Two factors that constitute the KMAI, self-sacrificing generosity(warm care)and expectations, did not appear in research or scales of the western society. The investigation is significant in that though it derived from the research on the attachment of the child towards his/her main caregiver, the current study focused on that of the mother towards her child, which had been neglected thus far. It is true that attachment is the parent-child relationship as a pan cultural and universal emotional unity formed on top of a biological basis however, biological universality and cultural individuality exist together within the factors that constitute attachment. Put differently, attachment is a biological trait inherent in all of mankind, but the specific expressions of such attachment show some differences among different cultures, due to the cultural differences related to child rearing practices.