This study compared three ways of analyzing individual mother-infant attachment behaviors in order to test the hypothesis that success in the search for stable individual differences in attachment behavior is in part a function of the level at which behavior individuality is assessed. Fifty infants were videotaped in the Ainsworth and Wittig…

A self-esteem maintenance model was tested using 52 friendship pairs. Undergraduates (N=52) participated in a word identification task described as an indirect measure of important skills (high relevance) or as a game of password (low relevance). Participants presented clues to both a friend and a stranger. As predicted by the model, subjects gave…

This study compares interactions between infants and parents to interactions between infants and strangers. Infants from 2 weeks to 6 months of age were taped in face-to-face interactions with unfamiliar male and female adults. Tapes of parent-infant interactions were available from a prior study. Specific infant and adult behaviors were coded and…

This study measured infant responses to mother and stranger as a function of mother and stranger distance. A group of 10-month-old infants were pretested for level of object permanence and person permanence, and 18 males and 18 females were chosen as study participants. The infants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (1)…

Investigates the effects of a self-protection curriculum taught to ten junior high special education students to increase their ability to identify strangers, recognize unsafe situations, use refusal skills, and understand acceptable and unacceptable touch. Results indicated a significant improvement in self-protection skills. Skills were…

Examined extent to which infant-mother attachment could be predicted by mother interactional variables and infant proneness to distress. Meta-analysis indicated that sensitive, responsive maternal interaction predicted the security of attachment in Ainsworth and Wittig's "strange situation." Proneness to distress, a temperamental variable,…

Aim of this study was to obtain direct observations of attachment and exploration behaviors exhibited in a strange situation by children with Down's syndrome and a control group of normal children. (JH)

Results indicate that (1) social support is the best predictor of secure attachment and is most important for mothers with irritable babies, (2) maternal unresponsiveness is associated with resistance during reunion episodes and appears to be a mechanism through which anxious attachment develops, and (3) social support may mitigate the effects of…

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…

Study of 18 girls taking their senior year at Australian Catholic boys' day school of 700 students. The theoretical framework was derived from Schutz's theory of the stranger. Responses to a questionnaire concerning gender issues and differentiation in education demonstrated that the girls had a high level of awareness of gender differentiation.…

Videotaped infants with extensive day-care experience, and their mothers during "Strange" situation procedures. Compared behavior with profiles published in Ainsworth et al. (1978) for differences. Found three distinct groups of infants: securely-attached (largest group), insecurely attached (smallest group), and infants not disturbed by…

The anti-German sentiment during World War I reached a point where "people speaking German on the street were attacked and rebuked." Iowa Governor William L. Harding legitimized such expressions of prejudice and war-time fanaticism when he issued "The Babel Proclamation" on May 23, 1918. Antagonism toward Germans and their…

Many educators are committed to multicultural education and are constantly seeking an inclusive curriculum voicing the diversity of the many cultural groups in the United States. The influential work of James Banks (1981, 1997, 2001) has encouraged a generation of educators to design a multicultural curriculum. Yet while this task remains an…

Describes characteristics of the attachment behavior of 10 infants blind from birth. Behaviors studied were smiling, discriminating tactile behaviors, stranger avoidance and distress, and separation and reunion behaviors. (BRT)

This study compares the face-to-face interaction of infants with fathers to their interaction with mothers and with strangers. Five infants were videotaped in individual interaction with their mothers, fathers, and unfamiliar adults at weekly intervals from the second week until the infants were 6 months old. Infants were seated in a laboratory…