This study tested whether maternal sensitivity and child security are related during early childhood and whether such an association is found in different cultural and social contexts. Mother-child dyads (N = 237) from four different countries (Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States) were observed in naturalistic settings when children were…

A notable omission in studies of developmental links to early nutritional deficiencies is infant attachment. In those few studies investigating associations between infant nutrition and attachment, nutrition was defined solely by physical growth, and infants had moderate-severe growth retardation. In this study, we utilized multiple markers of…

The quality of child-mother attachment relationships is context sensitive. Conflict and aggression in the marital relationship as well as aggressive discipline practices may diminish a child's confidence in her or his mother as a secure base. We investigated whether physical aggression against the mother, exposure of the child to it, and use of…

The construction of developmentally appropriate and valid assessments is central to the study of attachment relationships beyond infancy. A common procedure has been that of validating new measures for older children against strange situation classifications obtained in infancy. Although reasonable, a key criterion against which to validate new…

The secure-base phenomenon is central to the Bowlby/Ainsworth theory of attachment and is also central to the assessment of attachment across the lifespan. The present study tested whether mothers' knowledge about the secure-base phenomenon, as assessed using a recently designed wordlist prompt measure for eliciting attachment-relevant stories,…

Two studies examined the relationship between maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in home and hospital contexts. Results are discussed in terms of links between methodology and effect sizes, the generality of links between maternal care and child security, need for research on caregiving in ordinary and emergency situations, and…

According to attachment theory, the quality of care plays a key role in the organization of infants' secure base behavior across contexts and cultures. Yet information about attachment relationships in a variety of cultures is scarce, and questions remain as to whether Ainsworth's conceptualization of early care quality (sensitivity; M. D. S.…

Used Adult Attachment Interview to examine relationship between mothers' level of security and children's attachment behavior. Found that except for children of preoccupied mothers, children of mothers classified as secure scored higher on the (Attachment Q-Set) AQS-derived security dimension than children whose mothers were classified as insecure…

Examined maternal care and infant attachment security in a sample from the United States (Colorado) and one from Colombia. Found that maternal sensitivity and infant security were significantly associated in both samples. Identified six common and two noncommon domains (one per sample) of caregiving; associations between domains of maternal…

Investigated the universality of children's use of their mothers as a secure base. Found that, on average, children in all seven of the countries and contexts studied were characterized as using their mothers as a secure base, but that they differed across cultures in the degree to which their behavior conformed to the definition of a securely…