This work evaluated the cross-sectional and longitudinal (i.e., over four months) impact of attachment to mother, father, and peers on three psychopathic traits (i.e., grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and impulsive-irresponsible) using a community adolescent sample, and if that impact was differentiated by gender. Though there is…

This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs), provided during pregnancy, and their first-born children's AAIs, provided at age 16 years. The AAIs from the adolescents were scored for reflective functioning (RF), and this was found to be significantly linked to whether their…

In this commentary, Spangler evaluates the Steele, Perez, Segal, and Steele report that arguede that reflective functioning in adolescence could not be predicted by quality of early infant attachment, but was associated with maternal (but not paternal) attachment representation, assessed before the adolescents' birth. Assuming that parental…

In this commentary, Soares and Baptista state that the Steele, Perez, Segal, and Steele (2016) article contributed with an informative study that adolescents' reflective functioning (RF) is predicted by maternal attachment representation, which was assessed even before the youth were born by using the Adult Attachment Interview. The authors assert…

This longitudinal study (n?=?106) examined associations between temperament, attachment, and styles of compliance and noncompliance. Infant negative temperamental reactivity was reported by mothers at 3, 5 and 7?months. Infant attachment was assessed (Strange Situation) at 12 (mothers) and 14?months (fathers). Toddlers' styles of…

The broad aim of this study on father-child attachment was to verify whether the Risky Situation (RS) procedure is a more valid means than the Strange Situation (SS) procedure of predicting children's socio-emotional development, and to evaluate the moderator effect of day-to-day involvement on attachment and activation. Participants were 53…

Most studies examining attachment in children with autism spectrum disorder used a strange situation paradigm and have found few significant group differences between children with autism spectrum disorder and comparisons. However, these studies predominantly used formal attachment categorizations (e.g. secure vs insecure), a method that may…

Guided by a dyadic view of children's peer behavior, this study assessed actor and partner effects of attachment security and temperament on young children's behavior with an unfamiliar peer. At 33 months of age, child-mother attachment security was assessed via a modified Strange Situation procedure, and parents reported on child temperament…

Background: Implications of early attachment have been extensively studied, but little is known about its long-term indirect sequelae, where early security organization moderates future parent-child relationships, serving as a catalyst for adaptive and maladaptive processes. Two longitudinal multi-trait multi-method studies examined whether early…

This longitudinal study of 125 families investigated whether negative child outcomes related to fathers' frightening (FR) behaviours with infants would be mitigated if fathers were also sensitive. Results indicated that children whose fathers were frightening and insensitive with them during infancy showed the highest emotional under-regulation at…

Using data from a sample of 1,149 adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who have both a resident stepfather and a nonresident biological father, this study examines the prevalence, antecedents, and consequences of adolescents' closeness to their stepfathers and nonresident fathers. Findings demonstrate that…

Attempts to clarify the developmental precursors of different types of infant/father relationships by examining early quality of father/infant interaction as well as subsequent security of infant/father attachment. In addition, potential stability of father/infant interaction and within-age relationships between quality of interaction and…

Guided by a life course perspective, attachment theory, and gender theory, this study aims to examine the impact of death of a father, a mother, or both parents, as well as continuously living with one or both parents dead (in contrast to having two parents alive) on multiple dimensions of psychological well-being (depressive symptoms, happiness,…

Classifications of the quality of infant-mother and infant-father attachments were made for 59 children at 12 and 20 months of age using the Ainsworth strange situation paradigm. Stability of attachments from 12 to 20 months was examined in four groups defined by maternal employment status. (Author/RH)

Examined the stability of infant-parent attachment security in samples of 90 infant-mother and 120 infant-father dyads who completed the Ainsworth and Wittig Strange Situation procedure at 6- to 7-month intervals. Significant stability was not discerned in attachment security, with rates of stability ranging from 46% to 55%. (MDM)