Stability of Infant-Mother Attachment and Its Relationship to Changing Life Circumstances in an Unselected Middle-Class Sample

Abstract

THOMPSON, Ross A.; LAMB, MICHAEL E.; and ESTES, DAVID. Stability of Infant-Mother Attachment and Its Relationship to Changing Life Circumstances in an Unselected Middle-Class Sample. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 144-148. 43 infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation procedure when the infants were 12.5 and 19.5 months old. Following each assessment, mothers completed a questionnaire concerning changes in family and caregiving circumstances over the assessment period. Although the proportions of securely attached and insecurely attached infants were similar at both ages and conformed to previous findings, temporal stability was only 53% for overall classifications and 26% for subgroups. Changes in family circumstances which seemed likely to influence the ongoing quality of infant-mother interaction (such as maternal employment or regular nonmaternal care) were associated with changes in attachment status. However, these influences were associated with bidirectional changes in attachment status. Family and caregiving circumstances were less strongly associated with attachment security or insecurity at either assessment. These results indicate that the security of attachment reflects the current status of infant-mother interaction, and that this is affected by changing family and caregiving circumstances.