Maternal attachment and the communication of emotion through song

We explored the relationship between vocal expressiveness in song and maternal attachment representation. Mothers (N = 36), classified as Autonomous, Dismissing, or Preoccupied, sang a play song of their choice in their 6-month-old infants’ presence and absence. Raters (N = 50) who were naı̈ve to maternal attachment classifications listened to excerpts of each song rendition and rated mothers’ emotional involvement. Mothers, regardless of their attachment classification, sang more expressively in their infants’ presence than otherwise. Unique patterns of vocal expressiveness were associated with different maternal attachment classifications, but only under conditions of infant distress. Unlike Autonomous and Preoccupied mothers, who sang less playfully to distressed than to nondistressed infants, the playfulness of Dismissing mothers’ performances was unrelated to infant affect. These findings support the hypothesis that maternal attachment influences the nature of emotive vocal communication, but only under conditions of infant distress. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.