The Past is Present: Responses to Infant Crying Among Mothers High in Attachment Anxiety

SYNOPSIS This commentary explores potential mechanisms underlying the links between mothers’ attachment anxiety and levels of salivary alpha amylase in response to infant crying across levels of spouse support. The commentary argues that the current design cannot disentangle different explanations for the effects – whether they reflect general stress reactivity patterns or patterns occurring specifically in response to infant distress – and offers suggestions for ways in which to explore putative explanations in future studies. Understanding mechanisms is essential to identify risk factors for insensitive parenting.