Analyzes the relationships between family day-care providers and the children in their care, based on questionnaire responses of the providers. Discusses ambiguities of distinguishing between feelings toward their own children and those children for whom they provide paid care. Explores effects of the context of care-giving and relations with…

This study examined young children's sensitivity and positive responsiveness to their mothers' needs, using data on 90 preschoolers and their depressed and nondepressed mothers. The highest frequencies of caring behavior were from children with severely depressed mothers, problems in affect regulation, and secure attachment. Girls were found to be…

Summarizes this special issue on how children develop emotional and social strengths, as well as difficulties. Highlights three areas of focus among the seven articles: (1) the relation of emotional competence to social competence; (2) the socialization of emotional competence; and (3) attachment as the foundation. (SD)

Argues that beyond explanations predicated on psychological ideas of separation and attachment, "nervios," a depression-like disorder among children in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, reflects the limits of children's abilities to accept terms of family life increasingly defined through transnational migration and new consumption…

Maternal separation anxiety influences maternal behavior, attitudes about employment, and employment decisions made by mothers. This study examined the relationship between maternal separation anxiety and the number of hours a child was in substitute care. The sample consisted of 44 mothers and their children who ranged in age from 12 to 41 months…

This paper discusses a series of three studies investigating the influence of infants' characteristics and signaling behavior on parents. Videotapes of either smiling/cooing/gurgling or crying infants were used to elicit parents' physiological and affective responses. Measured physiological responses included skin conductance, heart rate, and…

This study explored the role of perinatal vulnerability (PV) in mothers and infants in relationship to the development of interaffectivity and attachment, and the relationship between interaffectivity and attachment. Participating were a low-risk sample of 74 middle-class mother/first-born infant dyads who had participated as volunteers in a…

Describes ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized attachment patterns. Proposes that avoidant individuals deactivate their attachment needs, have high sense of self efficacy, and prefer objects to people; ambivalent persons hyperactivate attachment needs, have low self-efficacy, and orient more to people; and disorganized/controlling individuals…

Examined relationship of security of attachment to development of fear, anger, and joy over child's first 3 years. Found that attachment groups differed in trajectories of emotional development, with differences apparent at 14 months. Resistant children were most fearful and least joyful. Over the second and third years, secure children became…

Most of the research literature on attachment and adolescent transitions has addressed youth in family settings. This article explores these issues with a sample of 25 pregnant and parenting teens living in a transitional shelter. Using case records and interview data as well as results of standardized measures of depression, self-esteem, child…

A study examined the subjective experience of love (the feelings associated with love and the meanings attributed to these feelings) and the manners in which love is communicated. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 76 respondents (ages ranged from 21 to 54, with 52% over 30 years old). In the first part of the interview, respondents were…

Parents of handicapped children can provide valuable assistance to child caregivers and should be encouraged to become involved in the observation and education of their handicapped child. However, obstacles to optimal parent-caregiver cooperation may exist. Parents and caregivers may have different views of the infant and differ in knowledge of…

Four studies involving 40 pigtail monkeys are described in which relatively short separation experiences in infancy were associated with evidence of persistent changes in social behavioral function (less sociability, fewer close friends) and immunological function (suppression of lymphocyte proliferation) up to 6 years later. (Author/JDD)

This paper discusses infant attachment, which it defines as a long-lasting emotional bond revealed when a child under stress seeks out and tries to stay close to a specific figure. The paper addresses: (1) What is attachment? Who are the pioneers in attachment theory?; (2) How do we notice attachment in action?; (3) Is attachment the only…

Examined the relationship between childhood loneliness and insecure-ambivalent attachment in infancy. As predicted, the most loneliness in early childhood was reported by children classified insecure-ambivalent in infancy. Possible explanations center on the contribution of attachment to peer relationships, internal working models, and child…