Seventy 15-month-old infants were studied at home before starting child care, during adaptation (mothers present) and separation (first 9 days without mothers) phases, and 5 months later. Security of infantmother attachment was assessed before and 3 months after child care began. In the separation phase, salivary cortisol rose over the first 60…

The authors explored 294 college students' reactions to a professor's request for a meeting as a function of the clarity of the request and students' attachment style. Students were randomly assigned to read 1 of 2 notes written by a professor--" Please see me" or "I would like to help you understand this material. Please see me." Data collected…

Developmental psychology and psychopathology has in the past been more concerned with the quality of self-representation than with the development of the subjective agency which underpins our experience of feeling, thought and action, a key function of mentalisation. This review begins by contrasting a Cartesian view of pre-wired introspective…

Over the last century, investigation of pretend companions has developed as an emerging field. Although pretend companions are a commonplace childhood phenomenon and perhaps an epitome of children's imagination, that topic received little attention before the end of the 19th century. Only since the last decade has attention to it truly begun to…

The study examined children's self-reported socio-emotional characteristics (loneliness and sense of coherence) and perception of their homeroom teacher as a secure base among 3rd-graders with reading difficulties prior to formal diagnostic assessment, thus controlling for the possible impact of diagnosis. In line with resilience theory, this…

Drawing on attachment theory and constructivist conceptualizations of bereavement, the authors assessed the relation between continuing bonds coping and meaning reconstruction following the death of a loved one and complicated grief symptomatology. Five hundred six young adults in the first two years of bereavement from a variety of losses…

Changes in attachment organization and reflective function (RF) were assessed as putative mechanisms of change in 1 of 3 year-long psychotherapy treatments for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Ninety patients reliably diagnosed with BPD were randomized to transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), dialectical behavior…

The Parental Attachment Scale was developed through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and validation of a final 23-item scale. Comparison with existing parental attachment measures and a subliminally primed lexical decision task was also conducted. Results across the 3 studies suggested satisfactory internal consistency…

The relevance of attachment theory and research for practice has become increasingly clear. The authors describe a series of studies with 3 aims: (a) to validate measures of attachment for use by clinicians with adolescents and adults (b) to examine the relation between attachment and personality pathology, and (c) to ascertain whether factor…

The general belief that Asian American adolescents are successful has led researchers to ignore variations in Asian adolescents' academic success. Using samples of Chinese and Filipino adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined whether differences between these two groups in acculturation,…

Genesis Alternative School is a regional, public alternative school setting for middle and high school students from four participating school divisions. It serves 1 rural county school division and 3 small city school divisions. Students are placed at Genesis for disciplinary reasons. Genesis is unique among alternative schools in Virginia…

Three attachment style scales were developed. The factor structure of the attachment style construct was supported through exploratory factor analysis of attachment style scores from 1,181 and 545 recent college graduates. Additional evidence for score validity is presented, based on a measure of the Big Five personality traits. (SLD)

Undergraduate students (N = 150) participated in a study developing a 10-item scale (the Noctcaelador Inventory; NI) to measure noctcaelador: adoration and attachment to the night-sky. The NI demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, normality, and preliminary validity. The scale significantly correlated with self-reported…

This prospective study examined the effects of maternal characteristics, social support, and risk factors on infant-mother attachment in a heterogeneous sample. Two hundred and six women between the ages of 18 and 40 were interviewed during their last trimester of pregnancy and 1 year postpartum. Structural equation modeling revealed that maternal…

A recent article in the "Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education" (Leigh, Brice, & Meadow-Orlans, 2004) explored attachment between deaf mothers and their 18-month-old children and reported relationship patterns similar to those for hearing dyads. The study reported here explores a marker of early mother-child relationships: cradling…