Links between children's attachment security with mothers and fathers, assessed in Strange Situation with each parent at 15 months ("N" = 101), and their future behavior problems were examined. Mothers and fathers rated children's behavior problems, and children reported their own behavior problems at age 8 ("N" = 86). Teachers…

Familiarity of the setting, the mother's presence, sex of the stranger, and the distance separating the infant and the stranger were varied to examine the expression of stranger fear in 32 infants from 6 to 11 months of age. (Author/JMB)

Sixteen children at each of ages two, three, and four years were observed being approached by and interacting with a friendly stranger during their mothers' presence and absence. While analyses of discrete behaviors yielded results consistent with those of earlier studies, analyses based on a behavioral systems approach identified age and…

Two- and three-year-old children differed in their recognition of their own and their mother's features. One year olds, and securely and insecurely attached infants, did not differ. At all ages, securely attached infants exhibited greater complexity than did insecurely attached infants in tasks relating to themselves and their mothers. (BC)

To assess the validity of attachment scores derived from the Ainsworth "strange situation", 56 1-year-olds and 79 2-year-olds accompaned by either the mother, the father, or a brief acquaintance were studied. Proximity to the adult, duration of play, crying, activity, and the incidence of looks and distance bids were measured. (Author/CS)

Assessed parent-child interaction in 2-parent families with 12- and 18-month-old infants through questionnaires, interviews, family observations, and the Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure. Found no effect of family stress and marital adjustment on infants' attachment classification. Parents of 12 month olds reported greater marital adjustment…

Developed and validated Parents of Adolescents Separation Anxiety Scale with parents of sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders, and college freshmen and seniors. Factor analyses supported two subscales: Anxiety about Adolescent Distancing (AAD) and Comfort with Secure Base Role (CSBR); both showed distinctive change patterns with child age.…

Three samples of 24- to 54-month-old children with Down's syndrome were assessed using the Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure (ASSP) of attachment security and scored according to traditional protocols. Found that developmentally younger subjects were more difficult to classify using the standard scoring rules and that the ASSP may be measuring…

Examines the effect of an unfamiliar peer in a situation requiring a subject's separation from mother in order to play with attractive toys. Observation of 20 children 18 months old and 20 children 30 months old revealed that peer presence facilitated initial separation for both ages, but that age differences in subsequent behaviors existed. (CB)

Relationships between day care and attachment were assessed with alternative procedures: (1) hypothesized normal patterns of attachment were tested naturalistically in day-care centers; (2) day-care and home-reared children were compared in a laboratory setting. (Author/MP)

Examined first-born preschoolers' adjustment to siblinghood, as indexed by security of attachment, in 194 2-parent families. Security of firstborn attachment decreased significantly after a secondborn's birth, but the decrease was smaller among firstborn under 24 months than among 2- to 5-year-olds. Mothers' marital harmony, affective involvement,…

This study examined young children's sensitivity and positive responsiveness to their mothers' needs, using data on 90 preschoolers and their depressed and nondepressed mothers. The highest frequencies of caring behavior were from children with severely depressed mothers, problems in affect regulation, and secure attachment. Girls were found to be…

Investigated homesickness in boys ages 8 through 16. Results indicated that homesickness was prevalent and varied in intensity, was experienced as a combination of depression and anxiety, was presented most often as internalizing behavior, and was more typical for younger boys. The most-homesick became increasingly so during the separation,…

Developed measures of preoccupied and avoidant coping to determine whether the measures concurrently relate to adjustment problems. Subjects were 229 children from third through seventh grades. Results indicated that preoccupied and avoidant coping with the mother can contribute to maladjustment in other arenas. Children's adjustment with peers…

Investigates the influence of infant-mother attachment patterns on the development of peer interaction between the toddler and preschool periods. Notes that, in an initial encounter with an unfamiliar peer, attachment patterns appear to be related more to the child's attractiveness as an interactive partner than to the child's own active interest…