The present study sought to document an example of how maternal and infant vulnerabilitiesinteract in contributing to the quality of early attachment relationships. Maternal depressivesymptoms, neonatal health characteristics, and infant–mother attachment were assessed for42 preterm, low birth weight infants and 42 full-term infants at 12 months postterm. Resultsindicated that preterm birth moderated the relation between maternal depressive symptoms andquality of infant–mother attachment, even controlling for level of neonatal healthcomplications. Preterm infants with more symptomatic mothers were most likely to be classifiedas insecurely attached to their mothers, whereas no direct relation between subclinical depressivesymptoms and attachment was found for full-term infants.