Investigated (1) the relationship between the quality of attachment and the development of symbolic play, and (2) differences in the ways mothers of secure and anxious children involved themselves in play. Frequency, duration, and complexity of children's play, along with differences in maternal involvement, were assessed across bimonthly free…

Investigates the relationship between the infant's attachment to the mother and the mother's perception of support from the father. Mothers who receive positive support from fathers tend to have infants with secure attachment. (AS)

Data showed that the majority of low-birth-weight twins and singletons had secure attachments, indicating that the propensity to form a secure attachment is a very robust phenomenon. Twinship did not affect infants' attachment classification. Contrary to the prediction that mothers in the insecure group would consistently obtain lowest ratings,…

Findings suggest that infant temperament affects the manner in which security or insecurity is expressed, but does not determine whether an infant develops a secure or insecure attachment to parent. (PCB)

No differences were found in mother-infant attachment between nonadopted and intraracial adopted subjects or between intraracial and interracial adopted subjects. Suggests that the higher incidence of psychological problems found among adoptees in middle childhood and adolescence cannot be explained in terms of insecure attachment relationships…

Results suggest that various aspects of Strange Situation behavior are related to both maternal and infant temperament, and that maternal temperament is a predictor of attachment security, particularly for Type A mother-avoidant infants. (Author/RH)

Tested the hypothesis that development of secure attachments is predictable from synchronous, and insecure attachments from asynchronous interactions across the first year. Findings from 30 dyads (10 secure, 10 avoidant, 10 resistant) supported the hypothesis at one and three months, with synchronous interaction observed at significantly,…

Results from this study of 110 low-risk, middle-class infants showed that a significantly greater proportion of infants whose mothers worked full-time outside the home were assigned to the category "insecure-avoidant" than infants whose mothers remained in the home throughout their children's first year of life. (PCB)

Provides overview of attachment theory as parented by John Bowlby in "Attachment and Loss". Uses two major concepts from this work to interpret refinements and elaborations of attachment theory attibuted to Mary Ainsworth. Considers how recent insights into development of socioemotional understanding and development of event…

Investigates the possible relationships among the variables of infant's temperament, mother's mode of interaction, and the quality of the subsequent mother-infant attachment. (Author/NH)

Multiple discriminant function analysis was conducted with data from Strange Situations. Results enable researchers to obtain attachment classifications directly from scores on interactive behavior and crying during reunion episodes. (PCB)

Examines child's representation of self in connection with child-mother attachment in a sample of 52 white, middle-class children aged six years. Results indicate that significant, albeit modest, connections between attachment and the self were established; further, specific patterns of self-perceptions were related to particular patterns of…

Compares maltreated and nonmaltreated infants and their caregivers with regard to security and quality of the attachment relationship over time. The finding that a greater proportion of maltreated infants in each of three age groups was insecurely attached is in accordance with the predictions based on Ainsworth's and Bowlby's attachment theory.…

Consistency in characteristics of maternal behavior with different siblings was investigated among 65 economically disadvantaged families, each having two children. Quality of infant/mother attachment was assessed when firstborn children were 12 and 18 months old, respectively, and when secondborn children were 12 months old. When children were 24…

A separation-reunion paradigm and Ainsworth classification procedures were used to assess security of attachment of Kenyan Gusii infants to mothers and caretakers. Correlates of attachment security were specific to mothers and caretakers, suggesting that the association between security of attachment and infant functioning in American studies…