Infant attachment in a sample adolescent mothers.
Thirty-eight, healthy, full-term, first-born infants of adolescent mothers were assessed in a standardized laboratory setting using a modified Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure for assessing attachment. The security rate within this sample was 23.7% which differed considerably from that reported in most white middle class samples of approximately 55-65%. Within this sample, 31.6% were classified as insecure/disorganized which contrasts with 12% in middle class white samples reported by Main & Weston. A racial difference was evident. Fewer black infants were securely attached than were white. This paper presents the findings according to race, sex and age and discusses the implications.
Broussard
E R
ER
Department of Health Services Administration, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*