Quality Of Infant-mother Attachment Research Articles

Parenting self-efficacy moderates linkage between partner relationship dissatisfaction and avoidant infant-mother attachment: A Dutch study.

The early infant-mother attachment relationship is part of a network of close relationships in which the relationship between parents is especially relevant. Evidence for linkages between maternal satisfaction with the partner relationship and infant-mother attachment is equivocal. The current study tested whether associations between partner relationship dissatisfaction and infant-mother attachment quality might be conditional on mothers' parenting self-efficacy. The bivariate effect of partner relationship dissatisfaction on infant-mother attachment as well as moderation of this effect by parenting self-efficacy was tested in a sample of 260 infant-mother dyads 1 year after birth. There was no direct effect of partner dissatisfaction on attachment. Unexpectedly, for high parenting self-efficacy, greater partner dissatisfaction increased the odds of an avoidant infant attachment (compared with a disorganized) whereas, for low parenting self-efficacy, greater partner dissatisfaction decreased the odds of an avoidant infant attachment (compared with secure and disorganized). Findings underline the importance of parenting cognitions for understanding contextual factors of infant-mother attachment quality. (PsycINFO Database Record

Infant-Mother Attachment Can Be Improved through Group Intervention: A Preliminary Evaluation in Spain in a Non-Randomized Controlled Trial

The quality of infant-mother attachment has been linked to competence in different domains of child development. Research indicates that early intervention can enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment, though its efficacy in a group format has yet to be evaluated. The current study is aimed at examining the usefulness of a group intervention in enhancing infant-mother attachment. An intervention aimed at addressing aspects such as maternal responsivity, sensitivity and childrearing behaviour was developed by the researchers and experienced psychologists. The intervention spanned a period of 14 months starting from the third quarter of pregnancy. The intervention was evaluated among 24 mothers from the Basque region of Spain. The sample consisted of children of both genders in a similar proportion: 45.8% were boys and 54.2% were girls. The children in this sample were full-term born and did not present symptoms of any serious pre- or postnatal complications. The intervention had a statistically non-significant medium effect. Infants whose mothers had received the intervention showed higher rates of secure attachment compared to children from the control group, as assessed by the Strange Situation observation procedure. A potentially significant confounding variable, maternal attachment, was balanced across the intervention and comparison groups. We can tentatively point out that a group intervention may enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment. Nevertheless, because the study design was not randomized, the results of this study remain preliminary and need replication in a full randomized controlled trial designed study.

Severe maternal psychopathology and infant-mother attachment.

Eighty-two mother-infant dyads, comprising women with psychiatric disorder and individually matched controls, were followed up over the children's 1st year of life. The mothers with mental illness consisted of two subgroups: first, 25 severely mentally ill mothers who had been admitted to a psychiatric unit with their infants; and second, 16 mothers from a community sample meeting research diagnostic criteria for unipolar, nonpsychotic depression. With the exception of six dyads in the in-patient group, observations were made of the mother-infant interaction and the quality of the infant-mother attachment relationship at 12 months. The nature and course of the mothers' illness was also documented. Although few residual symptoms of maternal mental illness were detected at 1 year postpartum, interactional disturbances were evident among the case group dyads. A strong association was revealed between infant-mother attachment quality and maternal diagnosis; a manic episode of illness in the postpartum period was related to security in the attachment relationship, and psychotic or nonpsychotic depression was related to insecurity. Concurrent patterns of mother-infant interaction provided support for this finding.

Infant attachment: Contributions of infant temperament and maternal characteristics

This study examined the joint contributions of maternal characteristics and infant characteristics to quality of attachment. When infants were 8 months, one hundred and two mothers and their infants completed a videotaped interaction and infants completed a laboratory assessment of temperament. Mothers completed personality and infant temperament questionnaires. At 12 months, infant mother attachment quality was measured in the Strange Situation. In a discriminant function analysis using both child and maternal characteristics, seventy-eight percentage of infants were correctly classified as secure, resistant, or avoidant. Insecurely attached infants were higher on activity and distress to novelty and had mothers who were lower on Constraint than securely attached infants. Infants classified as avoidant were lower on positive affect and higher on fearfulness and had mothers lower on positive affectivity than infants classified as resistant. The results of this study point to the importance of examining both parent and child characteristics in the prediction of attachment.

Origins of Attachment: The Role of Context, Duration, Frequency of Observation, and Infant Age in Measuring Maternal Behavior

A total of 32 Caucasian women and their first-born infants (16 male, 16 female) were observed in multiple naturalistic and single free-play interactions at 1-, 4- and 9-months infant age: setting and coding procedures were held constant. Infant-mother attachment quality was assessed at 1 year. Analyses examined similarities among and differences between data derived from the two interactional contexts, and the relative utility of each in explaining individual differences in attachment quality. Data from individual naturalistic observations were not as reliable as data consolidated across naturalistic observations. Additionally, maternal sensitivity, as measured by repeated naturalistic observations, was far superior to sensitivity measured in the free-play context in accounting for individual differences in attachment quality-securely attached infants experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity than did insecurely attached infants. Conversely, it was difficult to distinguish between naturalistic and free-play measures of maternal rejection in terms of their ability to account for individual differences in attachment-at 1 month, insecure-resistant infants experienced the highest levels of maternal rejection.

Quality of infant-mother attachment as related to maternal emotional availability and infant reactivity

Quality of infant-mother attachment as related to maternal emotional availability and infant reactivity

Origins of maternal role satisfaction and its influences upon maternal interactive behavior and infant-mother attachment

This longitudinal study sought to examine the origins of maternal role satisfaction, and the influence of mothers' perceptions of their various roles upon subsequent interactions with their infants and the quality of infants' 1-year attachment to mother. Interviews and questionnaires provided assessments of first-time mothers' ( N = 32) prenatal marital satisfaction and social support as well as 4-month perceptions of their various life roles (self, wife, homemaker, employee); observations were employed to assess mothers' 9-month interactive behaviors and the quality of infant-mother attachment at 1 year. Path analysis revealed that mothers reporting high levels of satisfaction with their marriages and high levels of family support during the prenatal period were most likely to report a higher degree of role satisfaction at 4 months. High levels of role satisfaction were in turn predictive of optimal (i.e., sensitive) interactions with infants at 9 months, and these sensitive interactions contributed to development of secure infant-mother attachments by 1 year. These findings demonstrate the importance of mothers' social contexts in shaping their perceptions of themselves and the importance of these perceptions in guiding mothers' interactions and relationships with their infants.

Early nonmaternal care and infant attachment: In search of process

The current empirical controversy concerning the effects of early nonmaternal care on the quality of infant-mother attachment is, in part, the product of fundamental theoretical differences among researchers.

Social Development in Infant Twins: Peer and Mother-Child Relationships

VANDELL, DEBORAH LOWE; OWEN, MARGARET TRESCH; WILSON, KATHY SHORES; and HENDERSON, V. KAY. Social Development in Infant Twins: Peer and Mother-Child Relationships. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1988, 59, 168-177. Infant twins were observed between 6 and 24 months as they interacted with one another and with an unfamiliar peer. The quality of infant-mother attachment was assessed at 12 months. During the first year, significant correlations between the twins' interactions with the co-twin and unfamiliar peer were obtained, suggesting some generalization across these two types of partners. During the second year, correlations over time were apparent, indicating stable patterns over time within both own twin and unfamiliar peer interactions. Developmental changes in twin interaction were also found. By 24 months, the twins were much more likely to interact with one another as opposed to an unfamiliar peer. The twins' interactions were also related to the security of their attachments to mother. As early as 6 months, dyads who were later assessed as securely attached were more interactive than were dyads that included twins who were later determined to be insecurely attached. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for questions related to early peer relationships and attachment.

Effects of Maternal Absence Due to Employment on the Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment in a Low-Risk Sample

Recent reports have suggested that day-care experience initiated prior to 12 months of age is associated with increased proportions of infants whose attachment to mother is classified as "insecure-avoidant." However, reviewers have questioned the generality of these findings, noting that samples in which associations between early day-care experience and avoidant attachment patterns have been reported come from high-risk populations, and/or that the infants' day-care settings may not have been of high quality. In the present study, effects of maternal absences on infant-mother attachment quality were assessed in a low-risk, middle-class sample (N = 110). In all instances, substitute care had been initiated at least 4 months prior to the infant's first birthday and was provided in the infant's home by a person unrelated to the baby. Infants were assessed using the Ainsworth Strange Situation when they were 12-13 months of age. Analyses indicated that a significantly greater proportion of infants whose mothers worked outside the home (N = 54) were assigned to the category "insecure-avoidant" as compared to infants whose mothers remained in the home (N = 56) throughout the first year of life. Analyses of demographic and psychological data available for the sample indicated that this relation is dependent upon maternal parity (primi- vs. multiparous mother). The association between attachment quality and work status was significant only for firstborn children of full-time working mothers. The results are interpreted as evidence that the repeated daily separations experienced by infants whose mothers are working full-time constitute a "risk" factor for the development of "insecure-avoidant" infant-mother attachments.

Infant-Mother Attachment at Twelve Months and Style of Interaction with a Stranger at the Age of Three Years

LOTKENHAUS, PAUL; GROSSMANN, KLAUS E.; and GROSSMANN, KARIN. Infant-Mother Attachment at Twelve Months and Style of Interaction with a Stranger at the Age of Three Years. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 1538-1542. This study explores the relation between the quality of infant-mother attachment at 12 months and the child's style of interaction with an unfamiliar visitor at age 3 years. Quality of infant-mother attachment was assessed in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. At age 3 years, the children were visited in their homes and a competitive game interaction between child and visitor was videotaped. Children classified as securely attached at 12 months interacted faster and more smoothly with the visitor than children who had been avoidantly attached. Microanalyses of the competitive game also revealed different styles of interaction. Failure feedback led to increased effort in the secure-attachment group and to decreased effort in the insecure-attachment group. After failing, securely attached children tended to display sadness more openly than insecurely attached children.

The Pennsylvania Infant and Family Development Project, III: The Origins of Individual Differences in Infant-Mother Attachment: Maternal and Infant Contributions

In order to test 4 specific hypotheses regarding the interactional histories associated with variation in quality of infant-mother attachment, data gathered during naturalistic home observations at 1, 3, and 9 months on 60 babies seen in the Ainsworth and Wittig strange situation were examined. Planned comparisons revealed, as predicted, that securely attached infants had experienced intermediate levels of reciprocal interaction and maternal stimulation, considered to be reflective of sensitive care, and that resistant babies had experienced less responsive care than securely attached infants. No support was provided for the hypothesis that avoidant babies had experienced less physical contact with mothers than securely attached infants. Insecurely attached infants were observed to cry significantly more than securely attached infants at 3 and 9 months. A cross-lag panel analysis, designed to assess longitudinal processes of influence, revealed that fussiness was caused by mothering and did not serve to influence mothering. These results are discussed in terms of mothers' relatively greater influence in determining individual differences in attachment, with overstimulation leading to avoidance, understimulation leading to resistance, and intermediate levels of stimulation leading to security.

The Pennsylvania Infant and Family Development Project, III: The Origins of Individual Differences in Infant-Mother Attachment: Maternal and Infant Contributions

In order to test 4 specific hypotheses regarding the interactional histories associated with variation in quality of infant-mother attachment, data gathered during naturalistic home observations at 1, 3, and 9 months on 60 babies seen in the Ainsworth and Wittig strange situation were examined. Planned comparisons revealed, as predicted, that securely attached infants had experienced intermediate levels of reciprocal interaction and maternal stimulation, considered to be reflective of sensitive care, and that resistant babies had experienced less responsive care than securely attached infants. No support was provided for the hypothesis that avoidant babies had experienced less physical contact with mothers than securely attached infants. Insecurely attached infants were observed to cry significantly more than securely attached infants at 3 and 9 months. A cross-lag panel analysis, designed to assess longitudinal processes of influence, revealed that fussiness was caused by mothering and did not serve to influence mothering. These results are discussed in terms of mothers' relatively greater influence in determining individual differences in attachment, with overstimulation leading to avoidance, understimulation leading to resistance, and intermediate levels of stimulation leading to security.

Convergent Validity of Two Measures of Attachment'

The convergent and divergent validity of two methods for measuring the quality of infant-mother attachment, the Differential Social Reaction Procedure (DSRP) and the Strange Situation, were assessed using a sample of 21 infants between 15 and 18 months of age. The two procedures were administered on two separate days and scored by separate raters so as to minimize shared method variance. In addition, the infants were observed in a Free Play situation in the same session as the DSRP. Behaviors in the Free Play and the DSRP were scored by the same rater. Despite this shared method variance there was only minimal correlation, as expected, between them. On the other hand, there were significant correlations between the DSRP and the Strange Situation.

The Relationship between Out-of-Home Care and the Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment in an Economically Disadvantaged Population

The Relationship between Out-of-Home Care and the Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment in an Economically Disadvantaged Population

The Relationship between Out-of-Home Care and the Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment in an Economically Disadvantaged Population

The effects of routine daily separations occasioned by out-of-home care on the formation and maintenance of infant-mother attachment relationships were examined in a population of economically disadvantaged mothers. 3 groups were constituted on the basis of the time in the infant's life when out-of-home care began: (1) before 12 months; (2) between 12 and 18 months; (3) home-care controls. The infant-mother pairs were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation at both 12 and 18 months, and were classified as secure, anxious-avoidant, or anxious-resistant. Because previous research has implicated the psychological accessibility of the mother to the infant in the development of anxious-avoidant attachments during the first year of life, the hypothesis that physical inaccessibility due to out-of-home care would also be associated with anxious-avoidant attachments was tested. The data support this hypothesis. At 12 months 47% of the infants whose mothers had returned to work/school were classified in the anxious-avoidant group, while the other 2 groups did not differ significantly in the proportions of infants assigned to the 3 attachment classifications. At 18 months, differences among the 3 work status groups also showed a large portion of anxious-avoidant infants (41%) in this early working group. However, infants whose out-of-home care began after 12 months did not show an increase in the proportion of anxious attachments. Additional analyses of variables related to mother's return to work indicated that single mothers were more likely to return to work/school, that mothers who worked reported higher levels of life stress than mothers who stayed home with the infants, and that, by 18 months, both anxious-avoidant and anxious-resistant attachments were also associated with non-intact families.

The Relationship between Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment and Infant Competence in Initial Encounters with Peers

18-month-old infants and their mothers were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation (SS) in order that security of attachment might be assessed. Infant dyads were created for observation in unstructured peer interaction according to their SS classification (security of attachment). Focus was on the subgroups within the securely attached (B) category. Results indicated a relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant peer competence. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more frequent and more sophisticated interaction with peers than did the B3 and B4 infants, who intensely sought proximity and contact with their mothers in the peer session just as in the SS. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more distal interaction with their mothers and were more sociable with the peers' mothers and with the stranger in the SS. Implications of individual differences in quality of attachment for the development of social competence and social relationships are discussed.

The Relationship between Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment and Infant Competence in Initial Encounters with Peers

The Relationship between Quality of Infant-Mother Attachment and Infant Competence in Initial Encounters with Peers

The Reliability and Stability of Individual Differences in Infant-Mother Attachment

50 infants were seen twice in the Ainsworth and Wittig Strange Situation to assess individual differences in the quality of infant-mother attachment at 12 and at 18 months of age. Evidence for the stability of individual differences was clearly a function of the level of analysis. The reliability of discrete-behavior variables was typically very low, and there was little evidence of temporal stability. There was clear evidence for stable individual differences in the analysis of behavior category data. This was especially true of behavior toward the mother during reunion after brief separations. Classification data based largely on reunion behavior and crying were even more stable across the 6-month interval. Each infant was assigned to 1 of 3 categories (secure/normative, avoidant, or ambivalent) on the basis of the patterning of attachment behavior at 12 months. 48 of the 50 infants were independently reassigned to the same category on the basis of the same behaviors at 18 months. In contrast to time sampling of phenotypically similar discrete behaviors, assessments which take into account the behavioral context of behavior yield more reliable assessments of individual differences in the quality of infant-adult relationships. Reprinted from: CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 483-494.