Maternal psychological absence and toddlers' social-emotional development: interpretations from the perspective of boundary ambiguity theory.

The current study tests a novel latent construct reflecting psychological absence and examines its relations with maternal depression, mother-toddler interactions, and toddlers' social-emotional outcomes in a low-income sample (N = 2,632). Structural equation modeling confirmed a psychological absence construct and revealed that psychological absence, measured at the child's 36-month birthday-related assessment, is a significant predictor of children's social-emotional development at 36 months, mediated by mother-child interaction. Results are interpreted within a boundary ambiguity framework.