An ethological or behavioral approach views childhood emotional outbursts as conflict between avoidance and attachment behavior on the part of the child. The classification of the level of motivation may produce a more useful diagnosis than standard psychiatric categories of behavior. This approach can also be applied to children diagnosed as…

Focuses on three issues raised by findings presented in preceding articles: (1) How do we continue the study and conceptualization of secure-base behavior? (2) How do we take into account the multiple-relationship context of attachment? and (3) How do we expand our conceptualization of attachment to include variations in individual adaptations and…

Attachment theory is based on Bowlby's work on the connections between maternal loss or deprivation and personality development and on Ainsworth's interest in security theory. Their separate and joint work is reviewed, along with that of other theorists and researchers whose work influenced them or was influenced by them. (LB)

Asserts that sociocultural assumptions underlying items in the Parental Investment in the Child Questionnaire (PIC) are outdated and gender biased. Reviews the underlying logic of attachment theory and the PIC portrait of appropriate childrearing. Parental investment is shown to be maternal investment. The model provides debatable and unrealistic…

Developmental theories can be augmented by incorporating knowledge about atypical ontogenesis. Examination of individuals with high-risk conditions and psychopathological disorders can shed light on system organization, disorganization, and reorganization. Child maltreatment is examined to illustrate benefits from studying individuals subjected to…

Examines empirical successes of theory of attachment as a secure base relationship, including nature of infant-caregiver and adult-adult relationships. Maintains that researchers need to continually examine the logic and coherence of attachment theory and redress errors of emphasis and analysis. Suggests that the theory be updated in light of…

Disputes claims concerning the association between strange-situation behavior around 12-20 months of age and subsequent child performance. Maintains studies have precluded causal inferences about the direction and nature of effects, finding associations only when the quality of care received was stable, thus, precluding inferences about the…

Discusses the potential role of temperament dimensions for the development of mother-infant attachment relations as measured by the Strange Situation Assessment. (HOD)

Delineates a foster care research agenda that includes improvement of data available for foster care research; permanency planning; multiple services used by foster children; epidemiology of foster care; bonding of children with foster parents; outcomes of foster care; mental health service provision to foster children; relationship of service…

Considers contributions of Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz to developmental psychology. Freud's contributions include his observations about play, perspectives on developmental processes, and ideas about unconscious mental activity. Spitz's contributions include his assessments of infants, perspectives on developmental processes, and his concept of…

Promoting caring in children is a powerful venue to prevent violence in our society. This article reviews the roots of violence, explores the various contexts of violence, and then describes how caring can be used to prevent violence. In particular, the role that families and schools can play in helping children develop caring is discussed.

This paper focuses on difficulties and possibilities of theory and research on emotional attachment in humans and problems associated with exclusive reliance on the Strange Situation procedure in cross cultural research. After specifying emotional consequences of qualitatively different attachment histories and appropriate ways of assessing their…

Bronfenbrenner's ecological model--consisting of the microsystem (setting in which the child experiences reality), the mesosystem (relationships between settings), the exosystem (situations impacting the child's development), and the larger, encompassing macrosystem--serves as the basis for a theory of sibling and stepsibling bonding. Although…

In his article "The 'Effects' of Infant Day Care Reconsidered," Jay Belsky (see PS 017 108) concludes that maternal employment puts infants at risk for developing emotional insecurity and social maladjustment. After a review of Belsky's and other research, a different conclusion is offered in this paper. It is agreed that infants whose…

Theories furthering understanding of the effects of child rearing practices on psychiatric disturbance are briefly reviewed. Particular attention is given to family dynamics, the double-bind hypothesis, and the development of schizophrenia and related border line syndromes that lead to psychotic phenomena. The issue of child rearing practices is…