Parent, infant, and social-contextual antecedents of father-son attachment security.

To examine antecedents of infant–father attachment security, 126 fathers and their sons were seen in the Strange Situation. Questionnaire measurements obtained 3 mo earlier of constructs implicated by J. Belsky's (1984) model of the determinants of parenting were examined as correlates of attachment classifications (i.e., father personality, infant temperament, marital quality, social support, work–family relations). Fathers of secure infants were more extroverted and agreeable than fathers of insecure infants, tended to have more positive marriages, and experienced more positive emotional spillover between work and family. Infants classified as insecure–avoidant received more positive temperament ratings than insecure–resistant sons. Overall, the more infant, parent, and social-contextual assets the family had, the greater the probability of a secure attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instability of infant–parent attachment security.

Data from 2 separate projects were examined to address the stability of infant–parent attachment security. Both included infant–mother attachment classifications at 12 and 18 mo of age (n?=?125, n?=?90), and 1 included infant–father classifications at 13 and 20 mo (n?=?120). Significant stability was not discerned in attachment security, either at the level of ABC or secure–insecure classifications. Rates of stability ranged from 46–55%. Results are discussed in terms of the select nature of the samples studied (all sons in 1, some depressed mothers in the other), the fact that past estimates of stability are based on small samples, the potential influence that coding for disorganized behavior may have on how Strange Situations are classified, and the changing ecology of infancy over the past 10–15 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants at social risk: Relations among infant maltreatment, maternal behavior, and infant attachment behavior.

Fifty-six 12-mo-old infants, including 10 maltreated infants, 18 nonmaltreated high-risk infants, and 28 matched low-income controls, were videotaped in naturalistic settings at home with their mothers for 40 min and were observed 2 weeks later in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Maltreating mothers were rated higher than nonmaltreating mothers on covertly hostile and interfering behaviors toward their infants at home. Maltreated infants were more avoidant of their mothers in the Strange Situation than nonmaltreated infants. Correlations between maternal behaviors at home and infant behaviors in the Strange Situation revealed that mothers whose infants displayed resistant behavior on reunion were rated at home as less verbally communicative and mothers whose infants displayed avoidant behavior on reunion were rated at home as more covertly hostile. Infants showing mixed avoidance and resistance were more likely to have extremely uncommunicative mothers than were infants who showed avoidance alone. Use of the behavioral rating scales for avoidance and resistance produced clearer findings than use of the final attachment classifications. Reasons for the discrepancies between analyses of classifications and analyses of behavior ratings were identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress as predictors of infant-mother attachment security.

In considering Bowlby's (1969/1982) conceptualization of attachment as a "biobehavioral safety-regulating system," Goldberg, Grusec, & Jenkins (1999) proposed that maternal sensitivity to infant distress may be particularly relevant to the formation of a secure attachment relationship. Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care provided a unique opportunity to address this question as maternal sensitivity to nondistress and distress were each coded for 357 mother-infant dyads at 6 months and 230 dyads at 15 months from videotaped observations of mother-infant play sessions. Attachment security was assessed in the Strange Situation at 15 months. Logistic regression analyses indicated that greater sensitivity to distress (but not greater sensitivity to nondistress) at 6 months was associated with increased odds of being classified as secure. The 15-month sensitivity measures were nonsignificant predictors of security. The results support the notion that the protective function of the child-mother attachment relationship may be especially salient during early infancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early intervention in adoptive families: supporting maternal sensitive responsiveness, infant-mother attachment, and infant competence

Results from adoption studies suggest that adoptive families may experience special impediments with respect to the developmental progress and outcome of their children. Based on attachment theory, two early intervention programs were designed to support families in the Netherlands with an internationally adopted child. The intervention aimed at promoting maternal sensitive responsiveness, secure infant-mother attachment relationships, and infant exploratory competence. Ninety families with an interracially adopted infant (71 from Sri Lanka and 19 from Korea) were assigned to either a control group or one of two intervention groups. All of the children, 44 boys and 46 girls, were placed for adoption under the age of 5 months (M = 8 weeks). The first intervention group (N = 30) received a personal book, which focused on sensitive parenting. The second intervention group (N = 30) was provided with the same book as well as with three video-feedback sessions at their home. The control group (N = 30) did not receive intervention. In the control group sensitive responsiveness and security of attachment were comparable to outcomes from normative samples. The least intensive program, the personal book, did not bring about change in mothers or infants. In contrast, intervention effects were established upon maternal sensitive responsiveness, infant competence, and infant-mother attachment in the group that received both the book and video feedback.     

Q-sort assessment of attachment security during the preschool years: Links from home to school.

This study investigated relations among preschoolers' secure-base behavior with mother at home, stressful family conditions, and qualities of developing relationships with peers and teachers in preschool. Preschool-age children (N?=?94; 51 boys and 43 girls) and their mothers were observed during multiple home visits, and their security of attachment was assessed with the Attachment Q-Set. Children in families with lower levels of stress had more secure attachment relationships with mothers. Both boys and girls who were less securely attached to their mothers expressed significantly more anger-aggression in preschool. For boys, higher levels of family stress were also significantly related to anger-aggression and to social competence in preschool. In addition. boys who were more securely attached to their mothers were more securely attached to their preschool teachers and were more popular with peers in preschool. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' emotional availability and infant emotional competence: Predictors of parent-infant attachment and emerging self-regulation.

One-year-old infants (N=62) and their mothers and fathers were observed in free play and teaching sessions in order to examine parents' emotional availability and the infant's emotional competence. Mothers were more emotionally available than fathers, and infants exhibited more effortful attention with mothers than with fathers. Similar relations between parental emotional availability and infant emotional competence were found for mother-infant and father-infant dyads. Change in parental emotional availability covaried with change in infant emotional competence. Individual differences in parental emotional availability and Infant emotional competence were more consistent across contexts than across parents. Infant effortful attention at 12 months was a mediator between maternal emotional availability at 12 months and toddler situational compliance at 16 months. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' fantasy representations and infant security of attachment: A Rorschach study of first pregnancy.

Studied the relationship between pregnant women's fantasy representations on the Rorschach test and later attachment status of their 1-yr-olds. The Manual for Assessing Primary Process Manifestations in Rorschach Responses (R. R. Holt, 1968) was used to score Rorschach protocols gathered from 25 women during their 1st pregnancies. Later, the 1-yr-olds and their mothers were videotaped in the Strange Situation to assess infant attachment behaviors. Findings support the hypothesis that primary process integration during pregnancy is significantly and positively related to infant security of attachment. Results also suggest a relation between empathic maternal behaviors and dimensions of mothers' unconscious mental representations measurable prior to the infant's birth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From exploration to play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior.

40 infants, divided into 10 evenly spaced age groups between the ages of 7.5 and 21 mo, were observed playing with 2 sets of toys in their own homes for up to 30 min. Narrative records of Ss' behavior were coded in terms of a 12-step sequence of play development. Analysis of individual performance indicated that this level-of-play scale satisfied the requirements of a valid Guttman scale. Analyses of means revealed that frequency of mouthing and simple manipulation decreased linearly across the age period studied, whereas several types of pretense play increased linearly. Behavior that involved relating 2 or more materials and approximation of pretense behavior displayed curvilinear functions, which suggests that they are transitional forms of activity that link early exploration with more developmentally advanced pretense play. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A behavior-genetic study of parenting quality, infant attachment security, and their covariation in a nationally representative sample.

A number of relatively small-sample, genetically sensitive studies of infant attachment security have been published in the past several years that challenge the view that all psychological phenotypes are heritable and that environmental influences on child development--to the extent that they can be detected--serve to make siblings dissimilar. Using the twin subsample (N = 485 same-sex pairs) of the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort, the authors provide evidence that parenting quality and infant attachment security observed at 24 months, as well as their covariation, are a product of shared and nonshared environmental (but not genetic) variation among children. In contrast, genetic differences between infants played a prominent role in explaining observations of temperamental dependency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother's insightfulness regarding their infants' internal experience: Relations with maternal sensitivity and infant attachment.

This study examined the associations among mothers' insightfulness into their infants' internal experience, mothers' sensitivity to their infants' signals, and infants' security of attachment to their mothers. The insightfulness of 129 mothers of 12-month-old infants was assessed by showing mothers 3 videotaped segments of observations of their infants and themselves and interviewing them regarding their infants' and their own thoughts and feelings. Interviews were classified into 1 insightful and 3 noninsightful categories. Mothers' sensitivity was assessed during play sessions at home and at the laboratory, and infant-mother attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation. Mothers classified as positively insightful were rated as more sensitive and were more likely to have securely attached children than were mothers not classified as positively insightful. Insightfulness also accounted for variance in attachment beyond the variance explained by maternal sensitivity. These findings add an important dimension to research on caregiving, suggesting that mothers' seeking of explanations for the motives underlying their infants' behavior is related to both maternal sensitivity and infant attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of social fantasy play to social competence in preschoolers.

Examined the relation of social fantasy play to several indices of social competence in 91 preschoolers, aged 35–69 mo, enrolled in daycare centers. Naturalistic observations of the frequency and complexity of social fantasy play during free-play periods were collected. Competence measures included teacher ratings of social competence, popularity, social role-taking skills, and observations of social behavior. Multiple regression procedures were used to analyze the prediction of social competence from the fantasy measures, independent of age, sex, IQ, and frequency of social activity. Results indicate that the amount and complexity of fantasy play significantly predicted 4 of the competence measures: teacher rating of peer social skill, popularity, affective role taking, and a behavioral summary score reflecting positive social activity. Fantasy play was also more positive, sustained, and group oriented than was nonfantasy play. Implications of these findings on the role of fantasy play and peer–peer activity in social-skill acquisition are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal IQ and home environment as determinants of early childhood intellectual competence: A developmental analysis.

Children at risk for sociocultural mental retardation were studied longitudinally from birth to 4 yrs of age. Maternal IQs were assessed before the children's births, and children's IQs and home environments were assessed at regular intervals during the 1st 4 yrs of life. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to separate the contributions of maternal IQ and home environment to child IQ at 24, 36, and 48 mo. When the effect of maternal IQ was controlled, home environment's association with child IQ was significant only at 48 mo. When the effect of home environment was controlled, maternal IQ's association with child IQ was significant only at 24 mo. Taken together, the 2 predictors explained 11, 17, and 29% of the variance in child IQ at the 3 respective times. The overall pattern suggested a monotonic increase in the predictability of child IQ within the context of a shift in the relative importance of maternal IQ and home environment as predictors. The integration of the study of behavioral genetics with the study of the process of intellectual development requires an ontogenetic perspective. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressed mood in Chinese children: Relations with school performance and family environment.

A sample of primary school children in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, participated in this 2-year longitudinal project. Information on the family environment, children's social functioning, academic achievement, and depression was collected from multiple sources. The mean depression scores in the Chinese children was found to be similar to those found for children in the West. Depression was positively associated with aggressive-disruptive behavior and negatively associated with social competence. School social and academic difficulties were concurrently and positively correlated with depression. Moreover, social adjustment problems at age 8 were associated with depression at age 10. Academic difficulties were predictive of later depression only for children from families in which the mother was rejecting and parents had a conflictual relationship. Finally, decline in social and academic performance was related to depressed affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of attachment and early symbolic play.

This research investigated (a) the relationship between the quality of attachment and symbolic play development and (b) differences in the ways mothers of secure and anxious children involved themselves in play. Fifteen mother–child dyads (7 secure, 8 anxious) were filmed at regular intervals in free play from 20–28 months. Results indicated that secure children had longer episodes of symbolic play overall and that at 26 and 28 months they spent more time in the highest level of symbolic play than their anxious peers. When symbolic play variables were contrasted across maternal involvement conditions, secure children were found to have longer episodes and higher level play when mothers were actively engaged in play with them. Thus, mother's involvement appeared to serve a facilitating function for secure, but not anxious, children. When engaged in conversation with an experimenter, mothers of secure children were more involved in their children's play and appeared to favor play in which they actively interacted with the child; in contrast, mothers of anxious children favored passive participation in their children's play. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-person variation in security of attachment: A self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being.

Attachment research has traditionally focused on individual differences in global patterns of attachment to important others. The current research instead focuses primarily on within-person variability in attachments across relational partners. It was predicted that within-person variability would be substantial, even among primary attachment figures of mother, father, romantic partner, and best friend. The prediction was supported in three studies. Furthermore, in line with self-determination theory, multilevel modeling and regression analyses showed that, at the relationship level, individuals' experience of fulfillment of the basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness positively predicted overall attachment security, model of self, and model of other. Relations of both attachment and need satisfaction to well-being were also explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal attachment representations, maternal sensitivity, and the infant–mother attachment relationship.

The role of maternal sensitivity as a mediator accounting for the robust association between maternal attachment representations and the quality of the infant-mother attachment relationship was examined. Sixty mother-infant dyads were observed at home and in the Strange Situation at 13 months, and mothers participated in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) within the next 6 months. A strong association was found between AAI and Strange Situation classifications. and autonomous mothers were more sensitive at home than were nonautonomous mothers. Mothers in secure relationships were more sensitive at home than mothers in nonsecure relationships. Likewise, infants in secure relationships were more secure as assessed by the Waters' Attachment Q sort than infants in nonsecure relationships. A test of the mediational model revealed that maternal sensitivity accounted for 17% of the relation between AAI and Strange Situation classifications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early home environment and changes in mental test performance in children from 6 to 36 months.

Administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 6 mo and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale at 3 yrs to 77 normal children. When each S was 6 mo old, the family was observed and interviewed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), a measure of the quality of stimulation in the early environment. A difference of 21 or more points between a S's 6-mo Bayley Mental Development Index score and 3-yr Stanford-Binet score was used to determine whether the S had increased, remained stable, or decreased in mental test performance. Multiple discriminant analyses were done using the 6 subscales of the HOME inventory to differentiate among increasers, nonchangers, and decreasers. Increases in test performance were related to 2 subscales, Maternal Involvement with Child and Provision of Appropriate Play Materials. Decreases were related to inadequate Organization of Physical and Temporal Environment. Results indicate that home environment may contribute to instability of performance on infant tests. Results are in agreement with the findings of R. B. McCall et al (see record 1975-04922-001) regarding gains for 21/2-17 yr olds, except that the parents' method of discipline may not be quite so important for infants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of attachment in differentially reared infant monkeys (Macaca radiata): Response to separation and a novel environment.

Observed infants from 2 environments, either low foraging demand or variable foraging demand for their mothers, to assess the developmental consequences of rearing environments for 12 infant bonnet macaques under 2 test conditions after the completion of the differential rearing treatment. One of the test conditions involved introduction of the rearing cohorts to a novel room; this was done in 2 series of 4 1-hr sessions: a series before and a series after completion of the 2nd test condition. The 2nd test condition involved a 20.5-hr removal of each mother from the rearing cohort; this was repeated once a week for 3 wks. Results of the novel room tests effectively differentiated rearing treatments in this study and suggested group differences in attachment security. In contrast, the maternal separations failed to differentiate treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client attachment to therapist: Relations to transference and client recollections of parental caregiving.

This study examined the relations between client attachment to the therapist and therapist perceptions of transference, as well as between client attachment and recollections of parental caregiving. Participants were 51 client-therapist pairs in ongoing therapy. After a therapy session, clients completed a measure of their attachment to their therapists and a measure of their perceptions of parental caregiving during childhood. Therapists rated levels of positive and negative, and amount of, client transference. Both secure and preoccupied-merger attachment were positively related to both negative transference and amount of transference. Level of avoidant-fearful attachment was not correlated with any type of transference. Insecure attachment to the therapist was associated with more negative recollections of parental caregiving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)