Describes research with 12- to 18-month-old infants (N=108) determining whether the quality of an infant's attachment to his/her primary caregiver could predict the nature of his/her emerging personality. (CS)

Gazing behavior of 10 twin infants (five male and five female) and their mothers were recorded weekly during the babies' fourth month of life. Videotape equipment was used in the home; data were gathered as naturalistically as possible. (Author/MS)

This article examines the view of infants as passive recipients of social stimulation. It is argued that progress in the understanding of sociopersonality development will be achieved only when the competence of infants and the multidimensionality of the infant social world are acknowledged. (MS)

This study applied Meehl's taxometric techniques for distinguishing latent types from late continua to Strange Situation data on 1,139 fifteen-month-olds from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Results indicated that variation in attachment patterns was largely continuous, not categorical. Implications of dimensional models for individual…

Examined the feelings of mothers when temporarily leaving their infants--who were perceived to cry excessively--to other caretakers. Found through interviews that the mothers were anxious when separated from the infant, had an intensive perception of the infant's crying, and had difficulty sharing responsibility for the infant. (EV)

Parent interviews with low-income, urban mothers in Korea, India, Sweden, France, and the United States provided a profile of behaviors that mothers used in response to various child behaviors. Although mothers exhibited some behaviors typical of their cultural groups, there were more similarities than differences in responses across cultures.…

Examines the course of emotion expression development during the first 2 years of 58 full-term and preterm children through videotapes of mother/infant pairs. Mothers' contingency behavior appeared to have an effect on emotional development, as did birth status and gender. Prematurity was associated with differential socioemotional development.…

Assessed maternal sensitivity and infants' attachment behavior to test validity of a system of classifying attachment relationships at home. Subjects were 47 mothers of preterm and 42 mothers of full-term infants. Results reaffirm Ainsworth's conceptualization of distinct attachment relationships. (HTH)

Evaluated the effect of pacifiers and sucrose stimulation on the heart rate, coordination, and behaviors of normal infants and infants born to methadone-maintained mothers. Found that pacifiers stimulated immediate changes in all behaviors, which returned to baseline levels when pacifiers were removed. Sucrose stimulation precipitated gradual…

Examined associations among parents' characteristics, prenatal expectations for and postpartum perceptions of infant temperament, and observers' ratings of temperament. Found that parents shared expectations for infant's emotional expressivity but differed in expectation for predictability and adaptability. Parent's postpartum ratings of…

The histories and behaviors of 5 infants with deafness or hearing deficits and other disabilities were compared with 10 at-risk infants with hearing deficits, 8 infants with hearing deficits not at risk for other disabilities, and 20 normal infants. Mothers' stress levels and infants' behaviors were assessed for the three groups. (SW)

Compared infants who had evidenced similar levels of crying as neonates but differed at five months of age. For initially high-crying infants, mothers' personality and marital quality, and infant variables discriminated stable from changing infants. Mother sensitivity and infant responsiveness at five months were related to continuity of infants'…

This study of five month olds compared global maternal opinion with reports on direct observation by mothers and observers. A common set of behaviors thought to index temperament was evaluated. Observers recorded infant behaviors on two home visits. Mother-observer agreement for assessments based on home visits was significant. (SH)

Proposes to identify the mechanisms underlying the links between maternal attention directing strategies and infants' focused attention. Observes onset and offset of maternal behaviors toward objects and infants' attention in a sample of 50 dyads during the first year of life. Discusses research methods, results, and implications for further…

Examined validity of the California Attachment Procedure (CAP), which does not involve mother-child separations. Overall, toddlers were more likely to be classified as secure in the CAP than in the Strange Situation (SS) test. The CAP yielded higher rates of security, particularly for children in day care, and security in the CAP correlated more…