Attachment Behavior of Day-Care Children: Naturalistic and Laboratory Observations

Abstract

Relationships between day care and attachment were assessed with alternative procedures: (1) hypothesized normal patterns of attachment were tested naturalistically in day-care centers; (2) day-care and home-reared children were compared in a laboratory setting. Naturalistic observations were conducted on 20 middle-class day-care children, 17--38 months of age. 14 of the day-care children were compared with 14 matched home-reared children in a strange-situation procedure. Naturalistic data confirmed hypothesized patterns of attachment behavior. Preference for mother over familiar caregivers was demonstrated both in a comparison constructed to bias results against mother and in a less stringent test. Expected heightening of attachment behaviors following all-day separations, and predicted age trends also were found. In the strange situation, there were very few rearing group differences in children's behavior to mother; the day-care group, however, interacted less with the stranger. Complementary findings from naturalistic and laboratory situations indicate that day care is compatible with normal patterns of attachment behavior.