Intrusive caregiving and quality of attachment in prenatally drug-exposed toddlers and their primary caregivers.
The relation between caregiver intrusiveness and the quality of attachment was tested among 51 prenatally drug-exposed toddlers and their primary caregivers. Biological mothers and kinship/foster caregivers neither differed as to caregiver intrusiveness nor as to their toddlers' attachment security and attachment organization. Insecure and disorganized/disoriented attachments were found to be more prevalent in this sample than in normal samples. In keeping with recent findings in non-drug-abusing samples (Isabella & Belsky, 1991; Lyons-Ruth, Repacholi, McLeod, & Silva, 1991), more caregivers of toddlers with avoidant or disorganized/disoriented attachments were found to be intrusive than caregivers of toddlers with secure or resistant attachments.
Swanson
K
K
Department of Pediatrics, UCLA, 330 Medical Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. KristaSwanson@aol.com
Beckwith
L
L
Howard
J
J
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*