Maternal Self-Efficacy and Experimentally Manipulated Infant Difficulty Effects on Maternal Sensory Sensitivity: A Signal Detection Analysis.

The impact of differences in maternal self-efficacy and infant difficulty on mothers' sensitivity to small changes in the fundamental frequency of an audiotaped infant's cry was explored in 2 experiments. The experiments share in common experimental manipulations of infant difficulty, a laboratory derived measure of maternal efficacy (low, moderate, and high illusory control), and the use of signal detection methodology to measure maternal sensory sensitivity. In Experiment 1 (N = 72), easy and difficult infant temperament was manipulated by varying the amount of crying (i.e., frequency of cry termination) in a simulated child-care task. In Experiment 2 (N = 51), easy and difficult infant temperament was manipulated via exposure to the solvable or unsolvable pretreatment of a learned helplessness task to mirror mothers' ability to soothe a crying infant. In both experiments, only mothers with high illusory control showed reduced sensory sensitivity under the difficult infant condition compared with the easy infant condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Another Look Inside the Gap: Ecological Contributions to the Transmission of Attachment in a Sample of Adolescent Mother-Infant Dyads.

Ecological contributions to attachment transmission were studied in a sample of 64 adolescent mother-infant dyads. Maternal sensitivity was assessed when infants were 6 and 10 months old, and infant security was assessed at 15 and 18 months. Maternal attachment state of mind was measured with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) after the 1st assessment. Ecological variables considered were maternal education and depression, paternal support, and infant maternal grandmother support. Results indicated that when the contribution of ecological variables was statistically controlled for, sensitivity was a significant mediator and state of mind no longer contributed to infant security. Sensitivity also mediated an association between maternal education and infant attachment, suggesting that attachment transmission is embedded in a more global process of infant attachment development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations Between Children's Attachments to Their Mothers and to Security Blankets.

Are attachments to security objects and mothers related? Do children securely and insecurely attached to mothers use security blankets differently? Following the Strange Situation procedure (M. D. S. Ainsworth, M. C. Blehar, E. Waters, & S. Wall, 1978), 67 toddlers were left alone in a novel playroom with a stranger and their blanket. Although being blanket attached was unrelated to their security of attachment to mothers, avoidantly and securely attached children adjusted differently depending on their blanket attachments. Blanket-attached children also classified as avoidantly attached to mothers remained longer than did blanket-nonattached maternally avoidant, blanket-attached maternally secure, and blanket- blanketnonattached maternally secure children. Blanket-attached, maternally avoidant children may nonattached have relied on blankets as support to allay distress during separation. Availability of security blankets produces different adaptations to maternal separations among avoidantly and securely attached children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment State of Mind, Learning Dispositions, and Academic Performance During the College Transition.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation among attachment state of mind, students' learning dispositions, and academic performance during the college transition. Sixty-two students were involved in a short-term longitudinal study and were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview. Students' learning dispositions were assessed at the end of high school (Time 1) and halfway through their 1st semester in college (Time 2). Academic records were collected at Time 1 as well as at the end of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd college semesters. Autonomous students showed better learning dispositions throughout the transition and were less likely than dismissing and preoccupied students to experience a decrease in these dispositions between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, dismissing students obtained the lowest average of grades in college, and this association was mediated by changes in quality of attention during the transition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment Disorganization: The Reunion of Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis.

The author investigates the psychoanalytic implications of recent attachment research on the disorganized attachment category in infants and the unresolved for trauma and loss adult attachment classification with which it has been associated. The author first reviews empirical findings on attachment disorganization and then explores the ways in which they are consistent with and illuminated by psychoanalytic concepts. The focus is on linkages between disorganized attachment and Freud's theory of strain trauma and traumatic anxiety, Klein's theory of projective identification and the interplay between paranoidschizoid and depressive anxieties in development, and Blatt's theory of psychological development as resulting from the interplay of anaclitic and introjective developmental lines. In so doing, this article contributes to the reunion between attachment theory and psychoanalysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Less is more: Meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood.

Is early preventive intervention effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security, and if so, what type of intervention is most successful? Seventy studies were traced, producing 88 intervention effects on sensitivity (n=7,636) and/or attachment (n=1,503). Randomized interventions appeared rather effective in changing insensitive parenting (d=0.33) and infant attachment insecurity (d=0.20). The most effective interventions used a moderate number of sessions and a clear-cut behavioral focus in families with, as well as without, multiple problems. Interventions that were more effective in enhancing parental sensitivity were also more effective in enhancing attachment security, which supports the notion of a causal role of sensitivity in shaping attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment, Self-Esteem, Worldviews, and Terror Management: Evidence for a Tripartite Security System.

On the basis of prior work integrating attachment theory and terror management theory, the authors propose a model of a tripartite security system consisting of dynamically interrelated attachment, self-esteem, and worldview processes. Four studies are presented that, combined with existing evidence, support the prediction derived from the model that threats to one component of the security system result in compensatory defensive activation of other components. Further, the authors predicted and found that individual differences in attachment style moderate the defenses. In Studies 1 and 2, attachment threats motivated worldview defense among anxiously attached participants and motivated self-enhancement (especially among avoidant participants), effects similar to those caused by mortality salience. In Studies 3 and 4, a worldview threat and a self-esteem threat caused attachment-related proximity seeking among fearful participants and avoidance of proximity among dismissing participants. The authors' model provides an overarching framework within which to study attachment, self-esteem, and worldviews. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and infant-mother attachment security at 12 months postpartum.

This study assessed the association between aspects of mother's employment and security of infant-mother attachment, in combination with proximal (maternal sensitivity) and distal (demographic, maternal, child, child-care) factors. Participants were 145 Australian mothers and their firstborn children. Attachment security was assessed with the Strange Situation at 12 months. Results showed that mothers' prenatal attitudes to work and timing of the return to work made significant, independent contributions to attachment outcomes over and above the effects of proximal and distal predictors. Mothers who expressed more commitment to work and less anxiety about using nonfamily child care, and who returned to work earlier, were more likely to have secure infants. These findings are considered in relation to contemporary expectations about mothers' participation in paid work and other predictors of secure attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother-Child Discourse in Two Contexts: Links With Child Temperament, Attachment Security, and Socioemotional Competence.

The goal of this study was to examine whether attachment security and child temperament predicted differences in the elaboration and emotional content of mother-child discourse in 2 contexts and whether those differences were related to a child's socioemotional development. Fifty-one preschool children and their mothers were videotaped reading a storybook and discussing the child's previous behavior. These conversations were coded for maternal elaboration and emotional content. Mothers also completed reports of child temperament, attachment security, and social behavior. Children completed measures of emotional understanding, behavioral internalization, and representations of relationships. The findings suggested that both aspects of mother-child discourse were related to attachment, temperament, and socioemotional competence, although the findings varied depending on the context of the discourse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Importance of Shared Environment in Infant-Father Attachment: A Behavioral Genetic Study of the Attachment Q-Sort.

In this first behavior genetic study on infant-father attachment, we estimated genetic and environmental influences on infant-father attachment behaviors and on temperamental dependency, both assessed with the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS; B. E.Vaughn & E. Waters, 1990; E. Waters, 1995). Mothers of mono- and dizygotic twins (N = 56 pairs) sorted the AQS with a focus on the infant's behaviors in the presence of the father. Genetic modeling showed that attachment was largely explained by shared environmental (59%) and unique environmental (41%) factors. For dependency, genetic factors explained 66% of the variance, and unique environmental factors including measurement error explained 34%. Attachment to father appears to be, to a significant degree, a function of the environment that twins share. (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)     

Concordance in Attachment States of Mind and Styles With Respect to Fathers and Mothers.

It is believed that by adulthood, independent attachments to the mother and the father coalesce into a single state of mind with respect to attachment. If true, states of mind with respect to mothers and fathers should be concordant. Fifty-six young adults were administered two versions of the Adult Attachment Interview, each of which asked about their relationship with one parent. State of mind with respect to the father was significantly related to state of mind with respect to the mother, as were attachment styles regarding the two parents. Perceptions of attachment styles were not very related to corresponding states of mind but were related to inferred loving from a parent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood: The case of adopted children and their biologically unrelated parents.

In a longitudinal study, internationally adopted children (N=146) placed before 6 months of age were followed from infancy to age 7. Results showed that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament was associated with higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Higher quality of child-mother relationships, in terms of attachment security and maternal sensitivity, uniquely predicted better social and cognitive development. The combination of attachment disorganization and difficult temperament predicted less optimal ego-control and lower levels of cognitive development. It is concluded that even in adopted children, who are not biologically related to their adoptive parents, early mother-infant interactions and attachment relationships predict later socioemotional and cognitive development, beyond infant temperament and gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Forms of Intersubjectivity in Infant Research and Adult Attachment.

Reviews the book, Forms of Intersubjectivity in Infant Research and Adult Attachment by Beatrice Beebe, Steven Knoblauch, Judith Rustin, and Dorienne Sorter (2005). In this book, the authors use their 10 years of collaborative work to produce an in-depth and well-constructed discussion of verbal and nonverbal forms of intersubjectivity as observed in the treatment setting and as evidenced by data generated from more mainstream child development studies. They move beyond the lack of integration between these related though often dramatically disconnected disciplines and build on infant researchers' understanding of "prereflective" caregiver-child interactions to offer a new theory of intersubjectivity that enhances our understanding of the clinical interaction with adult patients. This book is not for those therapists who are interested in learning well-specified, new interventions to use in their psychotherapy practice. It is also not suggested for those clinicians who do not have some background in psychoanalytic theory and practice. It is, however, recommended for those clinicians who work psychodynamically and are interested in developing their awareness of the nonverbal aspects of treatment and the co-construction of the therapeutic encounter. This book would also be useful to those in the field of psychotherapy research as it poses new questions about the nature of the therapeutic process and suggests the importance of examining the role that implicit, nonverbal interactions play in psychotherapy. Beebe, Knoblauch, Rustin, and Sorter's book is well constructed, persuasively argued, and highly recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment categories as reflections of multiple dimensions: Comment on Fraley and Spieker (2003).

Ainsworth's system of classifying patterns of attachment behavior has served the field well and will not be easily displaced--not because of a commitment by attachment researchers to the taxonomic status of these categories but rather because of difficulties lying in the way of a dimensional approach. Foremost among these is the large number of dimensions used in making classifications and the need to develop reliable scales to tap them. Other problems include the need to capture how behavior changes across age and across the episodes of the Strange Situation. Others will debate R. C. Fraley and S. J. Spieker's (2003) arguments concerning taxonomic status. However, whether taxa or not, Ainsworth's categories at the least have represented well the multidimensional space underlying attachment behavior in conditions of mild stress. Only when an alternative approach is demonstrated to predict (with equal power, in practice) the vast range of outcomes associated with Ainsworth's categories will it be a candidate for substitution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When "New" Meets "Old": Configurations of Adult Attachment Representations and Their Implications for Marital Functioning.

Two studies addressed the implications of concordance versus discrepancy of attachment representations in individuals at 2 stages in their marital relationships. Engaged (n = 157) and dating (n = 101) couples participated in a multimethod 6-year longitudinal study of adult attachment. Individuals completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the Current Relationship Interview (CRI), and various questionnaires and were observed in interactions with partners. On the basis of AAI and CRI classifications, participants were placed in one of four groups: SecureAAI/SecureCRI, SecureAAI/lnsecureCRI, InsecureAAI/SecureCRI, or InsecureAAI/InsecureCRI. Each of the configurations showed a particular pattern of behavior, feelings about relationships and the self, and likelihood of relationship breakup. The findings of the studies address important points about the protective effects of attachment security and have interesting implications for the extension of attachment theory into adulthood. (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)     

Inside the Mind Reader's Tool Kit: Projection and Stereotyping in Mental State Inference.

Mental state inferences--judgments about what others think, want, and feel--are central to social life. Models of "mind reading" have considered main effects, including social projection and stereotyping, but have not specified the conditions that govern when these tools will be used. This article develops such a model, claiming that when perceivers assume an initial general sense of similarity to a target, they engage in greater projection and less stereotyping. Three studies featuring manipulations of similarity support this claim. Moreover, reaction time results shed light on the mechanisms underlying these effects. The proposed model gives a new view of the mind reader's tool kit and, more generally, raises questions about moderators of stereotyping and projection in social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)