Can a mother's affection prevent anxiety in adulthood?

2017-06-10 15:42:42 来源: 子路教育网

母爱能阻止成年期的焦虑吗？

子路教育 译

Babies whose mothers are attentive and caring tend to grow into happy, well-adjusted children. But the psychological benefits of having a doting mother may extend well beyond childhood, a new study suggests.

婴儿在母亲的关爱下成长，往往更容易长成为一个快乐，并且有着良好适应能力的小孩。但是一项新的研究表明，宝宝们在婴儿期得到母亲的溺爱，这种心理满足感会一直延续甚至超越童年时期。

According to the study, which followed nearly 500 infants into their 30s, babies who receive above-average levels of affection and attention from their mothers are less likely than other babies to grow up to be emotionally distressed, anxious, or hostile adults.

这项研究是在对将近500名婴儿跟踪了30多年后得出的成果。它指出获得超过平均水平母爱的宝宝比其他宝宝成长为一个情绪化的成年人的几率要低，如痛苦、焦虑或仇恨等。

What's more, the link between the emotional health of adults and their mothers' affection was evident even though the mothers and babies were observed for a single day, when the babies were just 8 months old.

而且，一个成人的情绪健康这与他母亲的影响之间的联系也是显而易见的，即使是将仅有8个月大的婴儿和他的母亲分开单独观察一天，这种影响也十分明显。

"Even a simple assessment of the quality of the mother-infant interaction at such an early age captures something very important in terms of the future psychological health of that infant," says Joanna Maselko, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical School, in Durham, North Carolina.

这项研究的主要负责人，北卡罗莱纳州达拉谟的杜克大学医学院精神病学和行为科学的副教授乔安娜.梅赛可博士指出，“实际上，一个简单的关于早期母婴相互作用的质量评估就能看出某些在婴儿心理健康方面很重要的东西。”

The findings, which appear in the "Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,"make a strong case for policies that would help foster positive interactions between infants and parents, such as paid parental leave, Maselko says.

《流行病学与社区健康》杂志刊登了此次调查的结果，并将其作为一些政策的一个支撑案例。梅赛可说，这些政策旨在促进婴儿和父母间的养育的正相互作用，比如带薪的育婴假。

The study also suggests that health insurance should cover services -- such as infant-massage classes -- that have been shown to strengthen the child-caregiver relationship, says Robin Gurwitch, Ph.D., a professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

这项研究还指出健康保险应该覆盖各项服务，比如婴儿按摩班，为强化婴儿与护理者之间的关系，辛辛那提儿童医院发育行为儿科的罗宾.格尔维奇教授如是说。

"Early experience can be a mediating factor on what happens to us as adults, and we need to look at things that we can do to improve parent-child bonding that can then perhaps serve as a protective factor later," Gurwitch says.

“对于发生在我们成年人身上的事情，早期的经历可能会成为其中一个中介因素，我们需要关注我们能做的事情来增进父母与婴儿的关系，它日后可能会起到一个保护性的作用，”格尔维奇说道。

The study included 482 babies born in Providence in the early 1960s. Along with their mothers, the babies were part of a larger, nationwide study on pregnancy and infancy.

这项调查所涵盖的482名婴儿，他们都出生于20世纪60年代早期的普罗维斯登。这些婴儿和他们的母亲一同成为了这次大型的国家范围内的怀孕和婴儿期的研究主体。

When the babies were eight months old, psychologists observed the mothers' interactions with them as the babies took a series of development tests. The psychologists rated the mother's affection and attention level on a five-point scale ranging from "negative" to "extravagant." The vast majority of the interactions (85 percent) were considered "warm," or normal.

当婴儿8个月大时，心理学家通过对婴儿进行的一系列的发育测试来观察他们与母亲的相互作用。心理学家将母亲的爱喝关心分为从“否定”到“过度”五个等级。其中绝大部分（85%）的相互作用被认为是“温暖”或者“普通”。

Roughly 30 years later, the babies-turned-adults were interviewed about their levels of emotional distress. The adults whose mothers had displayed "extravagant" or "caressing" affection (the two top ratings) were much less likely than their less-doted-on peers to be anxious. They were also less likely to report hostility, distressing social interactions, and psychosomatic symptoms.

大约30年过去了，这些受试人员就他们情绪化痛苦的等级受到采访。母亲影响表现为“过度”和“宠爱”（两种最高等级）的这群受试者，在与没有受到如此关爱的受试者相比时，焦虑的几率要小得多。他们表现仇恨，破坏干预社会活动和患身心失调症的可能性也很小。

The findings add to a large body of psychological research on mother-child attachment that suggests that healthy bonds between young children and parents are crucial to a child's emotional development.

这项主体十分广泛的关于母亲和孩子心理学研究调查结果恰好说明了年幼的孩子与父母之间的健康关系对孩子情绪的发育至关重要。

Maselko and her colleagues suspect that their findings may be explained in part by the hormone oxytocin, which acts as a brain chemical. Also known as the "bonding hormone" or "cuddle hormone," oxytocin is released during breastfeeding and other moments of closeness.

梅赛可和他的同事们猜想他们的研究成果可以部分地用荷尔蒙催产素来解释，它就担当着脑部化学因素这一角色。它也被称作“粘合荷尔蒙”或者“爱的荷尔蒙”。催产素在母乳喂养和一些其他亲密时刻被释放出来。

"Oxytocin adds [to] the perception of trust and support, and hence is very helpful in building social bonds," Maselko explains. "It's plausible that close parent-child bonds help support the neural development of the areas of the brain that make and use oxytocin, setting up the child for more effective social interactions and mental health in the future."

“催产素增加了信任与支持的知觉，因此它对于这种社会联系的建立是十分有用的，”梅赛可解释说，“亲密的母子关系帮助支持大脑区域的神经发育似乎很合理，因为大脑神经产生并消耗催生素，为孩子将来更加有效地社会活动和精神健康打下了基础。

For now that's just a theory, however. As the authors note, other factors -- including genetics, a mother's stress levels, or even factors that have nothing to do with the mother -- could explain the findings.

然而，目前这些都只是一个推测。正如这些专家提到的，其他因素，如遗传学，一个母亲的应力水平或者其他与母亲无关的因素等等，也能解释这项调查结果。

A smaller proportion of mothers with lower socioeconomic status exhibited "extravagant" or "caressing" affection than did better-off mothers, for instance. Although the researchers controlled for socioeconomic status and other characteristics, it's possible that social and financial difficulties during childhood could play a role in adult emotional distress.

例如，社会经济地位相对较低的母亲，她们情感表现为“过度”和“宠爱”的比例要比那些家庭境况较好的母亲要小。尽管调查者对社会经济地位和其他因素进行了控制，但童年时期的社会和财政困难对于成年人情绪痛苦的影响很有可能起到一定副作用的。

Charles Bauer, M.D., a professor of pediatrics, ob-gyn, and psychology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, says that conclusions about the role of maternal affection on a person's future mental health based on a single day of observation at eight months old are bound to be inexact.

医学博士查尔斯.鲍尔，是迈阿密米勒医学院小儿科教授、妇产科医师以及心理学家。她说这些关于母爱对于个人将来的精神健康影响的结论一定不准确，因为它只是建立在对8个月大的婴儿的一天的观察基础上。

"There are so many intervening variables between eight months and 34 years," Bauer says. "A whole cadre of factors might lead to a more stable environment, a more stable mental health picture, a more stable individual."

“在8个月和34年之间有太多的中介变数”鲍尔说，“一个完整的因子结构才能构建一个更为稳固的环境，才能得出一个稳定的心理健康构想，才能塑造一个更沉稳的个体。”