title: The development of negative reactivity in irritable newborns as a function of attachment.
abstract: This longitudinal study builds on existing research exploring the developmental course of infants' negative reactivity to frustration in a sample of 84 irritable infants. We investigated whether infants' negative reactivity to frustration differed during the first year as a function of infant attachment classification. Various elements of the designs of previous studies investigating negative reactivity and attachment preclude the strong conclusion that negative reactivity develops differently as a function of attachment. Thus, we utilized the same observational assessment of infant negative reactivity, conducted without parental involvement, at 5 and 12 months. One proposition, based in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982; Cassidy, 1994), is that relative to secure infants, insecure-avoidant infants come to minimize their negative emotional reactions, whereas insecure-ambivalent infants come to maximize their negative emotional reactions. As expected, we found that at 5 months, attachment groups did not differ in reactivity, but at 12 months, insecure-avoidant infants were the least reactive, followed by secure infants, and insecure-ambivalent infants were the most reactive. Results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing the development of emotion regulation and their implications for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. jernigan@umd.edu
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: Brandi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stupica
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dykas
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramos-Marcuse
authors.forename: Jude
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cassidy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007508:Irritable Mood / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010553:Personality Development; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult