Maternal social and physical contact: links to early infant attachment behaviors.
The relationship between maternal physical and social contact styles and infant attachment behavior under stress and nonstress conditions was studied at 2 different age points during the 1st year of life. The infants (29 girls and 15 boys) and their mothers were observed in their homes at 4 and 7 months of age. Maternal physical and social contact behaviors during an unstructured observation were rated on the Clarke-Stewart Rating Scales. Infant attachment behaviors in semistructured interactions with their mothers and with a stranger were rated on the Attachment Indicators Rating Scale. Scores on all attachment behaviors were subjected to a principal-axes factor analysis with varimax rotation, and one-way analyses of variance were conducted to assess effects of maternal social and physical contact at 4 and 7 months. A significant link was found between maternal physical contact at 4 months and the infant's attachment behavior under conditions of stress and play at both 4 and 7 months. Maternal social contact at 4 months was linked to attachment behavior in play situations, but not in stress situations. By the age of 7 months, the infants' attachment behavior under both stress and play conditions was linked to concurrent social and physical maternal contact. Maternal physical and social contacts at 4 and 7 months were linked to concurrent infant proximal attachment behavior, but such contacts at 4 months were not predictive of later infant proximal behaviors. These findings suggest that the relationship between the intensity and style of maternal contact and infant attachment behavior varies with age.
Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
S
S
Lowinger
L
L
Dimitrovsky
H
H
Strauss
C
C
Mogilner
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010553:Personality Development; D012016:Reference Values; D012919:Social Behavior