Tested the ability of symbolic interdependence to predict breakups among 130 premarital couples in a longitudinal study. Results confirmed that couples with higher levels of symbolic interdependence were less likely to break up, and experienced greater distress if the relationship ended. Commitment, satisfaction, and geographical vicinity were…

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)

Infants whose mothers were supportive of their autonomy displayed greater task-oriented persistence and competence during play than did infants of more controlling mothers; securely attached and avoidant infants tended to exhibit greater persistence at tasks than anxious-ambivalent babies, and ambivalent babies were the most negative in affect.…

Forty-three infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation when infants were 12.5 and 19.5 months old. Following each assessment, mothers completed a questionnaire concerning changes in family and care-giving circumstances. Results indicate that security of attachment reflects the current status of infant-mother interaction and that…

Children's security of attachment to their mothers at age 18 months and their effective autonomous functioning at two years were related to the dimensions of ego-control and ego-resiliency at age four to five years. (JMB)

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)

Examined associations between attachment quality and children's friendships at 4 and 5 years of age as a follow-up of the sample used in an earlier study by Park and Waters (1989) of secure-secure and secure-insecure friend pairs. Found that the pattern of relations between friendship and attachment changed over time, but attachment pairing…

Examined the effects of maternal employment and separation anxiety on maternal interactive behavior and infant attachment in 73 mother-infant pairs. Employed mothers who reported high levels of separation anxiety were more likely than low-anxiety mothers to exhibit intrusive behaviors. Although employment was not directly related to attachment,…

Prospective longitudinal study examined continuity in infants' experience to attachment representations at 18 years. Found that adults with dismissing representations had received less sensitive maternal care than adults with secure or preoccupied representations. Adverse life events through age 12, especially parental divorce, reduced likelihood…

Examined the predictive value of infant attachment security at 1 year for career development attitudes and educational aspirations at 18 years. Analyses of archived longitudinal study assessments and interviews at adolescence showed that secure orientations related to better career development outcomes. (JPB)

The aim of the present study is to examine the reciprocal relationship between parental attachment and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problem behaviour. In this longitudinal study, 288 adolescents (mean age 13.5 years) reported on their attachment relationships with their parents and on problem behaviour three times, with…

The objective of this study was to examine the links between coping and attachment. In a longitudinal study of 112 participants, coping behavior was assessed at five points in time during adolescence (starting at the age of 14 years) and early adulthood. In addition, at the age of 21 years, state of mind regarding current and earlier attachment…

Examining relationships in the data from assessments conducted when Japanese infants were 7.5, 12, 23, and 27 months of age, this study provides evidence of an interaction between early attachment and temperamental dispositions. Specifically examined were 7.5-month-olds' stranger and separation distress and general fearfulness; 12-month-olds'…

This longitudinal study of 10 infants in a day care nursery traces the development of recognition and attachment to a primary caregiver from approximately 3 1/2 months of age (shortly after enrollment in the program) through the end of the first year. Monthly assessments of about 10 minutes each, on two successive days, were made of the infant's…

Examined the attachment status of infants in the home and laboratory by observing infant temperament and maternal parenting sensitivity, as well as parent reports of infant temperament. Subjects were 49 families and their infants. Results highlighted the need to consider other factors besides maternal sensitivity to explain the variability in the…