This study tested whether children's more anxious and avoidant attachment is linked to decreased support-seeking behavior toward their mother during stress in middle childhood, and whether children's decreased support-seeking behavior enhances the impact of experiencing life events on the increase of depressive symptoms 18 months later.…

This study examined whether 17-year-old adolescents (n = 189) and their parents reconstructed their memory for an adolescent-parent laboratory conflict over a 6-week period as a function of adolescent attachment organization. It also compared participants' perceptions of conflict over time to observational ratings of the conflict to further…

The goal of this study was to examine the links among attachment, child temperament, and the quality and frequency of mother-toddler conflict. Sixty-four mothers and children took part in a series of laboratory tasks when the child was 30 months of age and an audio-recorded home observation when the child was 36 months of age. All episodes of…

Reports further analysis of longitudinal records of mother-infant interaction at home during the infant's first year of life. Analysis was designed to clarify the role of maternal affectionate behavior in defining maternal patterns and in discriminating anxious/avoidant mothers from secure mothers and from anxious/resistant mothers. (Author/DB)

Observers used two Q-sorts to describe mothers' and infants' behavior at home. Mothers of more difficult children were less sensitive than other mothers. There was a strong relation between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment. Mothers of more secure infants noticed and enjoyed their babies more than mothers of less secure infants. (BC)

Fourteen fathers were observed with their children in unstructured and semistructured situations at home. Mothers and children were also observed, with and without fathers. Observations were made when the children were 15, 20, and 30 months old and assessments of the children's intellectual competence were also made at these ages. (Author/JMB)

Results indicate that (1) social support is the best predictor of secure attachment and is most important for mothers with irritable babies, (2) maternal unresponsiveness is associated with resistance during reunion episodes and appears to be a mechanism through which anxious attachment develops, and (3) social support may mitigate the effects of…

Examines the effect of an unfamiliar peer in a situation requiring a subject's separation from mother in order to play with attractive toys. Observation of 20 children 18 months old and 20 children 30 months old revealed that peer presence facilitated initial separation for both ages, but that age differences in subsequent behaviors existed. (CB)

Investigated through direct observation in the home whether mothers socialize differently boys and girls growing up as opposite-sexed twins, triplets, and quadruplets as a function of their different genders. Children and mothers were rated on behaviors about which contradictory evidence had been reported in the literature. (Author/DB)

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. (Author/MP)

Infants' home-based Q-sort scores of security, dependency, and sociability were compared to laboratory Strange Situation classifications of secure, anxious-resistant, and anxious-avoidant. Secure classification was associated with Q-sort security and sociability, but not dependency. (BC)