Impact of maternal directiveness and overprotectiveness on the personality development of a sample of individuals with acquired blindness

The literature has frequently shown how mothers of children with blindness tend to be highly directive and overprotective with their children. The present study investigated whether this maternal interactive style can have negative consequences on the psychological development of persons with acquired blindness, or whether it can be considered functional and appropriate to these individual’s needs during childhood. We pursued this aim by adopting attachment theory as a conceptual reference and administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to a sample of participants with early onset blindness. Results suggested that, as long as mothers are loving and are sensitive to their children’s needs, their greater physical intervention and control of child exploration can play an important role in helping their severely sight-impaired children develop secure and well-balanced personalities.