Attachment & Human Development最新文献

Research on infant carrying/babywearing is limited but suggests that frequent close physical contact increases maternal sensitivity and responsiveness. It is unknown whether infant carrying promotes parental reflective functioning (PRF). In this prospective investigation, adolescent mothers (N=75; M_age=19.45; 57.4% non-white) in a multi-wave infant carrying intervention trial were followed from early postpartum to preschool to assess long-term impacts of infant carrying on the development of PRF. Participation in the infant carrying intervention (β=0.33, p=0.03) and maternal representation of infant carrying as supporting infant wellbeing (β=0.36, p<0.01) predicted higher PRF when children were 3.5 years old. There was a significant indirect effect from maternal representation of infant carrying as a bonding tool to enhanced PRF during the preschool period via maternal attunement at seven months (β=0.26, p=0.04). Participating in an infant carrying intervention and child-focused representations of infant carrying may support mentalizing among adolescent mothers via distinct direct and indirect pathways.

A basic tenet of Attachment Theory describes a species-wide tendency to search out an attachment figure in times of distress. Expectations of support, or lack thereof, may provide a template for socioemotional functioning. This study investigated potential concurrent predictors (i.e. time spent with one's mother and parenting style) and socioemotional correlates of children's verbally expressed preferences for their mothers (i.e. maternal preference) during hypothetical attachment- and affiliation-related situations in 185 Southeast Asian children aged 3-6 years (95 boys). Though children in the current study were cared for by several caregivers, results here suggest they nevertheless prefer their mothers. Maternal time spent did not significantly predict preferences. However, authoritative parenting style scores did. Maternal preferences predicted higher child prosocial, but not problematic behavior. Implications for future work discerning the role of mothers in children's lives are discussed.

This study examined how strategies parents use to maintain a dismissing state of mind while discussing their childhood relationship with their parents relate to the quality of their relationship with their partners and children. During the third trimester, 125 couples were administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess adults' states of mind with respect to relationships with their parents during childhood. Marital quality was assessed via observations of couple interactions during discussion tasks and coded for emotional attunement. At 24 months, researchers assessed caregiver sensitivity by observing mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions. Fathers' idealization of their own father forecasted lower caregiving sensitivity with their 24-month-old children, and this relationship was mediated by emotional attunement in the marriage. This finding did not hold for mothers. For both mothers and fathers, higher marital emotional attunement related to more sensitive caregiving. These findings are discussed in the context of gender socialization. Interventions to disrupt the transmission of negative family interactions are also discussed.

I describe the development, with Ruth Goldwyn, Charlie Stanley and others, of the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST); particularly highlighting the pivotal role that Mary Main played in its evolution, and its approach to attachment Disorganization. MCAST is a doll play vignette-completion technique characterizing attachment representations in young school-aged children (4.5-8.5 years). It uses a specific dyadic focus and adapts both Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) methods within its coding procedure, thus allowing a full detailed attachment classification including Disorganisation. I detail how Mary's prior work, insight and continuing support, along with Erik Hesse, in applying these coding systems to play narratives, was crucial to the successful development of the instrument. With selected research data, I then review some of the developmental and clinical issues that MCAST has subsequently addressed, reflected in a 2018 meta-analytic review of 25 studies investigating MCAST Disorganisation.

We explored the relationship between cultural values, recollected early caregiving experiences and young adult attachment preference. Young adults in Egypt (N = 209) and the United States (N = 554) ranked their current attachment preference, rated their collectivist and individualist beliefs, and recalled the relative contributions of their early caregivers. Egyptian students scored higher than US students on collectivism and recalled more involvement from non-parental caregivers. Most participants reported a preference hierarchy (82% Egypt & 84% US). Surprisingly, individualism was negatively associated with maternal attachment ratings and with having a clear principal attachment relationship, whereas higher collectivism predicted higher maternal attachment. Findings suggest that attachment hierarchies are normative across varying cultural and child-rearing contexts.

Frightening maternal behavior is linked to infant disorganization, which predicts child behavioral problems. We examined continuity in frightening maternal behavior across the first 2 years by developing a new measure of anomalous/frightening (AN/FR) behavior that incorporates changes in parent-child interactions as children acquire symbolic representation. Maternal AN/FR behavior in toddlerhood also was examined in relation to later internalizing and externalizing symptoms. First-time mothers (N = 125) completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) prenatally, and mother-child dyads were observed interacting at 8 months, in Strange Situations at 12-15 months, and playing at 24 months. Teachers rated children's behavior problems at 7 years. Mothers classified as Unresolved on the AAI displayed more Frightening (FR) behavior at 8 months. Mothers' FR behavior predicted both attachment disorganization at 12-15 months and maternal AN/FR behavior at 24 months, which then predicted children's internalizing symptoms at age 7. Infant disorganization was indirectly related to internalizing symptoms, mediated by maternal AN/FR behavior.

Brett Kahr has referred to the death of Mary Main as the loss of "the queen of attachment research." However, how well is Main's work actually known? In this portrait and tribute, I argue that Main's transformative contributions have become a taken-for-granted part of the basic environment of attachment research, but that readers have faced obstacles in understanding and responding to their strengths and limitations. Drawing from interviews with Main, in this paper I describe some of her early life experiences and mental and physical health challenges, which she felt had influenced what was possible for her in her research. I then highlight less well-known aspects of her ideas regarding the role of attention within attachment strategies, the nature of disorganised attachment, the implications of alarming caregiving behaviours, and what is ultimately measured by the Adult Attachment Interview. My goal throughout is to help reader see both how much Main's rich and exciting works still have to teach, and identify their many loose threads still to follow.

Among Mary Main's many vital contributions to the field of attachment is the idea that human infants develop adaptive conditional strategies in the service of maintaining proximity to a secure base in light of a particular caregiving history. In this tribute paper, we describe Main's original theorizing, which delineated three types of conditional strategies: a primary secure base strategy and two secondary strategies of minimizing or maximizing the naturally occurring output of the attachment behavioral system, using a variety of cognitive, affective, and behavioral means. We review the large body of evidence for minimizing and maximizing strategies in infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Across a range of studies - including age groups and methodologies extending well beyond Main's original work with infants - there is remarkable convergence of findings that support Main's ideas. We conclude with several promising directions in implementing Main's groundbreaking ideas to enrich future research and clinical applications.

Our memories reflect professional meetings and our private relationship with Mary Main for over more than 50 years, working, travelling jointly, and celebrating together. Klaus met Mary Main at Mary Ainsworth's lab in 1973 in Baltimore. Mary Main's and our own longitudinal studies both started at the same time in which attachment research became a focus of several research groups. Still unpublished research results were eagerly shared. Mary supported our wider view of attachment by emphasizing the importance of exploratory play, enthusiasm, expression, and quality of communication. She also explored infants' unexpected avoidance of their mothers. Some infant's resisted traditional classification and were described as disorganized/ disoriented by her. Later in Regensburg, Mary trained our research group in assessing memories of attachment experiences of young adults. When Klaus retired in 2003, Mary gave a warm review of a long time of mutual devotion in the service of attachment development.