Recent longitudinal data suggest that retrospectively defined earned-secures are not more likely than continuous-secures to have been anxiously attached to their mothers in infancy and indeed experience high-quality maternal parenting in childhood. Such findings leave unanswered the question of why earned-secures report negative childhood…

This 23-year longitudinal study examined the attachment history of earned-secure young adults who coherently describe negative childhood experiences. Findings indicated that retrospective earned-secures were not more likely than continuous-secures to have been anxiously attached in infancy, and were observed in childhood and adolescence to have…

This study examined early observed parenting and child-care experiences in relation to functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis over the long term. Consistent with the attenuation hypothesis, individuals (n = 863) who experienced: (a) higher levels of maternal insensitivity and (b) more time in child-care centers in the first…

The present study examined the hypotheses that more secure representations of attachments to parents are associated with less adolescent substance use over time and that this link is mediated through relationship quality and monitoring. A sample of 200 adolescents (M = 14-16 years), their mothers, and close friends were assessed over 2 years.…

In a middle-class sample of mothers of 2-year-olds, adult attachment classifications measured in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) were related to maternal self-reported emotional well-being and observed parenting behavior, and the potential mediating and moderating roles of maternal emotion were tested. Mothers classified as dismissing on the…

A sample of 147 mother-infant dyads was recruited from a peri-urban settlement outside Cape Town and seen at 2- and 18-months postpartum. At 18 months, 61.9% of the infants were rated as securely attached (B); 4.1% as avoidant (A); 8.2% as resistant (C); and 25.8% disorganized (D). Postpartum depression at 2 months, and indices of poor parenting…

Critically reviews research since 1972 on maternal deprivation. Topics discussed include: the development of social relationships and the process of bonding; critical periods of development; links between childhood experiences and parenting behavior; influences on parenting; and possible reasons why so many children do not succumb to deprivation…

In the current study (a) maternal insightfulness into the experience of the child and (b) resolution with respect to the child's diagnosis and their associations with children's security of attachment were examined in a sample of 45 preschoolers (mean age = 49 months) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It was hypothesized that mothers who were…

Explored the antecedents of the ambivalent attachment pattern in Israeli infants. Found that mothers of ambivalent infants showed lower education level, higher separation anxiety, and higher parenting stress than mothers of secure infants. Infants' perceived difficult temperament did not discriminate between the two groups. Longer maternal work…

To test hypotheses concerning interactional histories associated with variation in quality of infant-mother attachment, data were gathered during naturalistic home observations of 60 infants 1, 3, and 9 months of age. Responses were elicited on the Ainsworth and Wittig strange situations. Results concerned mothers' relatively greater influence in…