Six infants were filmed at 15 and 30 weeks of age while alone and in the presence of an adult (mother or stranger) who interacted with the infant or remained passive. Signal detection analysis of ratings made by judges showed that infant behavior at both ages varied in accord with whether or not an adult was present. (Author/DB)

Advocates renewed efforts toward assessing attachment on a single continuum of emotional security. Contends that theory is essential to guide attachment assessment and that the constructs of secure base and emotional security provide the needed conceptual foundation. Addresses challenges to the scoring of attachment on a security continuum.…

Assessed infants' attachment behaviors toward nonparental adults, including grandparents, other relatives, and family friends. Found that the extent of infants' attachment behavior to nonparental adults was related to infant-mother attachment behavior and to the nonparental adult's responsiveness in teaching and position in the mother's social…

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was administered to 96 expecting mothers. In a one-year followup, mothers were seen with their child in the Strange Situation procedure. Maternal representations of attachment from the AAI predicted infant-mother attachment patterns in the Strange Situation. (BC)

The relation between maternal alcohol consumption and infant attachment behavior at one year of age was investigated in this study. Alcohol consumption was estimated by self-report questionnaires filled out by mothers who were over 30 years of age. The questionnaire elicited information about the amount of alcohol mothers consumed prior to,…

This study compared the social behaviors of daycare-attending and home-reared children in a novel social setting with both an unfamiliar peer and adult. Subjects were 24 children 26 months of age, each accompanied by a familiar caretaker. Twelve children (5 girls and 7 boys) were a randomly drawn sample of the general population recruited from…

This study was designed to compare the inter-/intra-correlational and the behavioral commonalities approaches to the assessment of attachment behaviors of infants to their mothers. At 7 months, 147 infants were observed (and videotaped) sequentially during a free play period with their mothers present, a separation from their mothers and then a…

Highlights usefulness of the categorical approach to measuring infant attachment by reviewing some major advances in the field that have been fostered by that approach. Advances include identification of the disorganized attachment group, development of the concept of conditional behavior strategies, creation of systems for coding attachment…

Ainsworth's system of classifying attachment patterns will not be easily displaced primarily because of difficulties involved in a dimensional approach. Problems include the number of dimensions involved, need to develop reliable scales, and need to describe how behavior changes across age and in the Strange Situation. Only when an alternative…

A cross-national comparison of infant behavior in the Strange Situation was designed to determine whether preseparation episodes made any difference in attachment classifications and whether infant behavior before separation from mother was the same in different countries. Infants in different countries made similar primary appraisals of the…

This study explored questions concerning the specificity of facial expression of emotions in infants. A sample of 27 infants (nine each at ages 10, 11, and 12 months) were tested in six experimental and six control conditions. Two of the experimental conditions were designed to elicit fear, two happiness, and two surprise. Videotapes of the…

This study examines the degree to which young children are influenced by the familiarity of an adult participant in their pretend play with toys which vary in resemblance to highly prototypical objects (e.g., cup-like cups or doll-like dolls). A group of 29 children, mean age 21 months, was divided into two experimental groups balanced by sex; 15…

Filmed 30 infants monthly between one and seven months of age where mothers or unfamiliar women responded to their cries by picking up or talking to the infants. Results suggest that infants develop conditioned associations among distress-relief patterns by one month, and cognitive expectations by four or five months. (Author/BB)

Examines the strange-situation procedure among Japanese mother-infant pairs and analyzes their behavior by comparing them with the data reported in the book by M.S. Ainsworth and others. (HOD)