Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress as predictors of infant-mother attachment security.
In considering Bowlby's (1969/1982) conceptualization of attachment as a "biobehavioral safety-regulating system," Goldberg, Grusec, & Jenkins (1999) proposed that maternal sensitivity to infant distress may be particularly relevant to the formation of a secure attachment relationship. Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care provided a unique opportunity to address this question as maternal sensitivity to nondistress and distress were each coded for 357 mother-infant dyads at 6 months and 230 dyads at 15 months from videotaped observations of mother-infant play sessions. Attachment security was assessed in the Strange Situation at 15 months. Logistic regression analyses indicated that greater sensitivity to distress (but not greater sensitivity to nondistress) at 6 months was associated with increased odds of being classified as secure. The 15-month sensitivity measures were nonsignificant predictors of security. The results support the notion that the protective function of the child-mother attachment relationship may be especially salient during early infancy.
McElwain
Nancy L
NL
Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 904 W. Indiana Street, Urbana, IL 98195, USA. mcelwn@uiuc.edu
Booth-Laforce
Cathryn
C
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament; D014743:Videotape Recording