Mothers’ empathic understanding of their preschoolers’ internal experience: Relations with early attachment

2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Oppenheim ◽  
Nina Koren-Karie ◽  
Abraham Sagi
Keyword(s):  
Strange Situation ◽  
Early Attachment ◽  
Empathic Understanding ◽  
Early Infant ◽  
Mother Attachment ◽  
Composite Scores ◽  
Internal Experience

This study examined the links between mothers’ empathic understanding of their preschoolers’ internal experience and early infant-mother attachment. The empathic understanding of 118 mothers of 4.5-year-olds was assessed by showing them three videotaped segments of observations of their children and themselves and interviewing them regarding their children’s and their own thoughts and feelings. Interviews were rated and then classi” ed into one empathic and three nonempathic categories, and mothers’ misperceptions of the observations were coded as well. Infant-mother attachment classifications obtained using the Strange Situation when infants were 12 months old were also available. Results showed associations between mothers’ empathic understanding classifications and children’s attachment classifications as well as differences between mothers of secure and insecure children on one of the two interview composite scores. Also, mothers of insecurely attached children had more misperceptions than those of securely attached children. The contributions of this study to the work on mothers’ representations of their children are discussed.

Negotiation styles in mother—child narrative co-construction in middle childhood: Associations with early attachment

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motti Gini ◽  
David Oppenheim ◽  
Abraham Sagi-Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Secure Base ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Early Attachment ◽  
Mother Attachment ◽  
Ainsworth's Strange Situation

This study examined associations between infant—mother attachment, assessed using Ainsworth's Strange Situation at 12-months, and mother—child narrative co-construction in 110 Israeli mothers and their 71/2 year-old children to examine aspects of Bowlby's (1973) notion of Goal-Corrected Partnerships. Narrative co-constructions were classified into a mutual-balanced style or one of two non-mutual/unbalanced styles of affective negotiation. Dyads with children classified as secure were more likely to be classified as mutual-balanced than dyads with children classified as insecure (ambivalent or disorganized). The latter were likely to be classified into one of the two Non-mutual/Unbalanced classifications (i.e., Disengaged or Overwhelming). Contributions of this study to broadening our understanding of secure-base in the post-infancy years, and for increasing our knowledge about goal-corrected partnerships, are discussed.

Intervention in Transmission of Insecure Attachment: A Case Study

1997 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Femmie Juffer ◽  
Marinus H. van Ijzendoorn ◽  
Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Parental Sensitivity ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Mother Attachment ◽  
Home Based Intervention

Several attachment-based intervention studies have been performed, with varying success. An important question is whether short-term interventions can be successful in promoting parental sensitivity and security of infant-parent attachment as well as in changing parental representations of attachment. We investigated this issue in an exploratory way in a case study. A short-term home-based intervention with written material and video feedback, which was effective regarding parental sensitivity and infant security in a former study, was provided a parent who revealed an insecure attachment representation in the Adult Attachment Interview. The intervention sessions were expanded with discussions about past and present experiences of attachment. After four intervention sessions the mother's behavior towards her child was rated as more sensitive than before the intervention. Also, the infant-mother attachment, as observed in the Strange Situation, appeared to be more secure. Nevertheless, in a second Adult Attachment Interview administered after the intervention, the mother showed again an insecure representation of attachment. Possible implications of these results are discussed.

scholarly journals Infant–mother attachment security, contextual risk, and early development: A moderational analysis

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAY BELSKY ◽  
R. M. PASCO FEARON
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Cumulative Risk ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Socioemotional Development ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Contextual Risk ◽  
Early Attachment ◽  
Early Child Care ◽  
Mother Attachment

In light of evidence that the effects of attachment security on subsequent development may be contingent on the social context in which the child continues to develop, we examined the effect of attachment security at age 15 months, cumulative contextual risk from 1 to 36 months, and the interaction of attachment and cumulative risk to predict socioemotional and cognitive linguistic functioning at age 3 years, using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Results indicated that early attachment predicts both socioemotional development and language skills, but not cognitive functioning as indexed by a measure of school readiness, and that the effect of attachment on socioemotional development and expressive language varied as a function of social-contextual risk. Insecure–avoidant infants proved most vulnerable to contextual risk, not children classified as secure or insecure more generally, although in one instance security did prove protective with respect to the adverse effects of cumulative contextual risk. Findings are discussed in terms of risk and resilience and in light of the probabilistic nature of the relation between early attachment and later development.

Measurement of Young Children's Close Friendship: A Comparison of Two Independent Assessment Systems and their Associations with Attachment Security

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise M. Youngblade ◽  
Kathryn A. Park ◽  
Jay Belsky
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Friendship Quality ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
Dyadic Relationships ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Close Friendship ◽  
Father Relationship ◽  
Mother Attachment ◽  
Q Sort

The purpose of this study was to compare two independent dyadic assessments of children's close friendship and to examine the attachment correlates of both measures. A total of 73 5-year-olds, who had participated in a longitudinal study of child and family development with their parents and their close friend were observed in a 30 minute laboratory freeplay setting. Each friendship pair was: (1) rated every 30 seconds on eight dimensions of close relationships (e.g. connectedness, negativity, synchrony) using the Dyadic Coding System (DCS: Youngblade & Belsky, 1992); (2) sorted on seven similar dimensions of relationships (e.g. positive social orientation, harmony, cohesiveness) using the Dyadic Relationships Q-sort (DRQ: Park & Waters, 1989). Antecedent attachment data were collected at 12 (with mother) and 13 (with father) months in the Strange Situation; at this time each parent also completed the Attachment Q-sort (Waters & Deane, 1985). Each parent completed the Attachment Q-sort again at 36-37 months. The results revealed that both friendship measures captured similar variation in friendship quality. Analyses of the links between child-parent attachment and friendship suggested congruence between Q-sort attachment security and friendship quality measured with the DRQ, but only for the child-father relationship. Analyses using Strange Situation assessments of infant-father attachment revealed counterintuitive associations with friendship quality, as measured by both the DRQ and DCS. There were no statistically significant relations between child-mother attachment security and friendship quality. In general, the findings point to a number of complexities regarding the measurement and interpretation of links between social relationships.

Infants' vocal engagement oriented towards mother versus stranger at 3 months and avoidant attachment behavior at 12 months

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95
Author(s):  
Susanne Völker
Keyword(s):  
Eye Contact ◽  
Time Difference ◽  
Vocal Behavior ◽  
Attachment Behavior ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Avoidant Attachment ◽  
Early Infant ◽  
Ainsworth's Strange Situation

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that mother avoidance in infants at the age of 12 months can be predicted by the infants' differential vocal engagement to mother versus a female stranger at the age of 3 months. Differential engagement in favor of the mother was supposed to relate to low future avoidance. The vocal behavior of 26 infants was assessed during face-to-face interactions with their mothers and with a strange woman at the age of 3 months. Differential vocal engagement was measured in terms of the time difference the infants spent vocalizing during eye contact with mother and stranger. At the age of 12 months avoidance of the mother was assessed during the reunion episodes of Ainsworth's Strange Situation. The result confirmed the assumption. Differential engagement in 3-month-olds is discussed as an indicator of the early infant–mother relationship.

Infant Coping and Maternal Interactive Behavior Predict Attachment in a Portuguese Sample of Healthy Preterm Infants

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Fuertes ◽  
Pedro Lopes-dos-Santos ◽  
Marjorie Beeghly ◽  
Ed Tronick
Keyword(s):  
Preterm Infants ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
First Year ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Maternal Characteristics ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Interactive Behavior ◽  
Mother Attachment

In this longitudinal study of a Portuguese sample of healthy preterm infants, the aim was to identify specific, independent predictors of infant-mother attachment status from a set of variables including maternal education, maternal representations’ of infant temperament, infant regulatory behavior (coping), and mothers’ interactive behavior in free play. The sample consisted of 48 medically low-risk preterm infants and their mothers who varied in education. When infants were 1 and 3 months (corrected age), mothers described their infants’ temperament using a Portuguese temperament scale (Escala de Temperamento do Bebé). At 3 months (corrected age), infants’ capacity to regulate stress (coping) was evaluated during Tronick’s Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF). At 9 months (corrected age), mothers’ interactive behaviors were evaluated during free play using the Crittenden’s Child-Adult Relationship Experimental Index (CARE-Index). At 12 months (corrected age), infants’ attachment security was assessed during Ainsworth’s strange situation. Sixteen (33.3%) infants were classified as securely attached, 17 (35.4%) as insecure-avoidant, and 15 (31.3%) as insecure-resistant. In bivariate analyses, multiple factors were significantly associated with attachment status. However, in hierarchical regression analyses, only infant coping and maternal responsiveness were significant predictors of attachment status. These findings suggest that both infant characteristics identifiable early in the first year, such as coping, and maternal characteristics such as sensitivity influence the process of attachment formation.

Infant negative emotionality and attachment: Implications for preschool intelligence

2004 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Karrass ◽  
Julia M. Braungart-Rieker
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Negative Emotionality ◽  
First Year ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Hierarchical Multiple Regression ◽  
Attachment Relationship ◽  
Mother Attachment

This longitudinal study examined the extent to which dimensions of infant negative temperament in the first year predicted IQ at age 3, and whether these associations depended on the quality of the infant–mother attachment relationship. In a sample of 63 infant–mother dyads, mothers completed Rothbart’s (1981) IBQ when infants were 4 and 12 months, mothers and infants participated in Ainsworth and Wittig’s (1969) Strange Situation at 12 months, and children completed the Stanford-Binet (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986) when they were 36 months of age. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that 4- or 12-month distress to limitations was not predictive of later IQ, but infants with greater distress to novelty at 4 months had higher IQs at 36 months. Furthermore, greater distress to novelty at 12 months predicted higher IQs but only for infants whose attachment was insecure. Differential implications of temperamental fear versus anger for social influences on cognitive development are discussed.

Sex Differences in Infant-Mother Attachment

2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue W. Williams ◽  
Elizabeth M. Blunk
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Early Care And Education ◽  
Early Care ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
Security Of Attachment ◽  
Mother Attachment

A sex difference in security of infant attachment was found in a sample of 52 infant-mother dyads. The infants were enrolled in early care and education programs within a predominantly small-town geographic area in the southwest. Security of attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure. Male infants (76%) were significantly more likely to be securely attached than female infants (39%). No other variables related to the infants' early care and education experience or mothers' age, race, marital status, and education were significantly associated with infants' attachment status.

Quality of Toddler-Mother Attachment in Children with Down Syndrome: Limits to Interpretation of Strange Situation Behavior

1994 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Vaughn ◽  
Susan Goldberg ◽  
Leslie Atkinson ◽  
Sharon Marcovitch ◽  
Daune MacGregor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Children With Down Syndrome ◽  
Mother Attachment

School competence in young adolescence: Links to early attachment relationships beyond concurrent self-perceived competence and representations of relationships

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 397-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora Aviezer ◽  
Gary Resnick ◽  
Abraham Sagi ◽  
Motti Gini
Keyword(s):  
Separation Anxiety ◽  
School Functioning ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Emotional Maturity ◽  
Early Attachment ◽  
School Competence ◽  
Representations Of Relationships ◽  
Attachment To Mother

Predictive associations of infant attachment to mothers and fathers with later school functioning, beyond the contribution of contemporaneous representations of relationships and circumstances of caregiving, were examined in 66 young adolescents who were raised in infancy in Israeli kibbutzim with collective sleeping. The Strange Situation Procedure was used to evaluate early attachment to mother and father, the Separation Anxiety Test was used to assess contemporaneous representation of relationships, and teachers’ reports evaluated school functioning. Circumstances of caregiving included parental reports of quality of marital relations and a change from collective sleeping to home sleeping for children. Results showed that infant attachment to mother, but not to father, contributed significant additional variance to the prediction of children’s scholastic skills and emotional maturity beyond the contribution of concurrent representations of relationships and changes in circumstances of caregiving. The results support the secure base construct as an organising concept of longitudinal investigations of attachment.

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