This paper examines the changes in infant homes for children under the age of three in West Germany after the Second World War by combining two research perspectives. First, it will show that the increase in institutional care in the decade after 1945 was not simply dictated by a growing number of orphans. Instead, it primarily resulted from the…

In this commentary, Spangler evaluates the Steele, Perez, Segal, and Steele report that arguede that reflective functioning in adolescence could not be predicted by quality of early infant attachment, but was associated with maternal (but not paternal) attachment representation, assessed before the adolescents' birth. Assuming that parental…

Early interventions aim at promoting a good mother-child relationship as basis for a good socio-emotional development, especially in high-risk populations, and at correcting already unfavorable patterns of interaction and are common today. Insecure attachment, both of the child and of the mother, has been identified as a risk factor for early…

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in emotion expression and emotion regulation in emotion-eliciting situations in early adolescence from a bio-psycho-social perspective, specifically investigating the influence of early mother-infant attachment and attachment disorganization on behavioural and adrenocortical responses. The…

We investigated romantic relationships in a sample of 380 adolescents who formed 190 heterosexual couples (mean age: females 17 years; males 18 years): 173 intra-ethnic (German) couples and 17 inter-ethnic couples. Factor analyses revealed two types of love experiences: (a) experiences of attraction and a passionate focus on the partner…

This study investigates whether attachment quality at ages 1, 6 and 16 is related to autonomy and relatedness behavior in adolescence. In a follow-up of the Regensburg Longitudinal Study, forty-three 16-year-old adolescents and their mothers were assessed in a revealed differences task and a planning a vacation task. Attachment was assessed during…

This study assessed 43 gifted adolescent females in the United States and Germany over a 4-year period. Initially the girls were assessed during their 7th or 8th grade and again for this current study during their 11th or 12th grade. Factors that were examined included the daughters' attachment to and psychological separation from their mothers,…

Viewed from the perspective of attachment theory, coping with the separation and divorce of parents requires that children reorganize their mental model of attachment. Secure attachment models may be disrupted, while insecure attachment models may be strengthened. According to findings from research on divorce, this process of family…

Children classified as securely attached at 12 months interacted faster and more smoothly with the stranger than did avoidantly-attached peers. Microanalyses revealed different styles of interaction. Failure feedback increased efforts of securely-attached and decreased efforts of insecurely-attached children. After failure, securely-attached…

Forty-nine German 12-month-old infants and their mothers were videotaped in Ainsworth's Strange Situation; a measure of quality of attachment relationships. Forty-six of these infants were videotaped again at 18-months with their fathers. Results are compared to American samples and discussed in terms of parental attempts to cope with the demands…

Examined the concordance between mother-infant attachment behavior and patterns of mother-child reunion responses when the children were age six. Found that concordance between four types of attachment status was 82%. Also found a correlation between children's observed social competence at age five and their reunion patterns at age six. (MDM)

Children who had been classified at 12 and 18 months of age according to their attachment to mother and father were observed in play groups and given a social perception test at 5 years. Findings suggest that infant-mother attachment is a more powerful predictor of social competence in preschool than is father attachment or combined mother and…