Problematic parent-infant relationships in two-parent families: prevalence and risk factors in a Brazilian neighborhood

introduction: although the quality of parent-child relationships is known to be associated with the offspring's mental health, little is known about the prevalence of problematic relationships in this scenario. this cross-sectional study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of different types of early parent-infant relationships in a brazilian population group. methods: during 1 year, all families (n = 230) from an urban community of porto alegre, southern brazil, with 4-month-old infants born in public hospitals were identified, and 148 were fully investigated by two family therapists. this study describes data on the 116 infants with two-parent families. demographic, obstetric, and relational variables were collected through questionnaires and scales (parent-infant relationship global assessment scale, global assessment of relational functioning, and self-report questionnaire). prevalence ratios were calculated, and poisson regression with robust variance was performed to adjust for covariates. results: almost 10% of mothers and 12% of fathers showed at least a significantly perturbed relationship with their 4-month-old infants. inadequate mother-infant bonding coincided with evidence of paternal mental disorder, poor maternal social network, and discontinuation of breastfeeding at 4 months. a problematic father-infant relationship was associated with a dysfunctional couple relationship and with low infant birth weight. conclusions: there is a high prevalence of early parent-child relationship problems, suggesting a need for health system interventions. parent-infant relational problems are prevalent very early in life and more associated with other relational problems than with socioeconomic burden.