A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment-based, teacher-child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3-4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual…

This study examined whether 17-year-old adolescents (n = 189) and their parents reconstructed their memory for an adolescent-parent laboratory conflict over a 6-week period as a function of adolescent attachment organization. It also compared participants' perceptions of conflict over time to observational ratings of the conflict to further…

In a longitudinal study of attachment, children (N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either person's claim but children generally accepted the mother's claims over those of the stranger. In a 3rd task, the perceptual cues…

Relations among maternal depression, child attachment, and children's representations of parents and self were examined. Participants included toddlers and their mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (n=63) or no history of mental disorder (n=68). Attachment was assessed at 20 and 36 months and representations of parents and self…

This study examined the effect of a mother-baby intervention on the quality of mother-child interaction, infant-mother attachment security, and infant socioemotional functioning in a group of depressed mothers with infants aged 1-12 months. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group (n = 35) receiving the intervention (8-10 home…

Data showed that the majority of low-birth-weight twins and singletons had secure attachments, indicating that the propensity to form a secure attachment is a very robust phenomenon. Twinship did not affect infants' attachment classification. Contrary to the prediction that mothers in the insecure group would consistently obtain lowest ratings,…

Examined attachment classification of children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and isolated cleft palate (ICP) and comparison group at 12 months of age; found no significant differences. Findings suggest that infants with clefts, despite special needs and caregiving requirements, seem not to have elevated risk for insecure attachments at the end…

Examined concordance between foster mothers' attachment state of mind and infants' attachment quality. Found that two-way correspondence between maternal state of mind and infant attachment quality was similar to that of biological mother-infant dyads. Age at placement was not related to attachment quality. Concordance between maternal state of…

No differences were found in mother-infant attachment between nonadopted and intraracial adopted subjects or between intraracial and interracial adopted subjects. Suggests that the higher incidence of psychological problems found among adoptees in middle childhood and adolescence cannot be explained in terms of insecure attachment relationships…

A total of 41 hearing-impaired toddlers, 41 toddlers who could hear, and their mothers, all of whom could hear, were observed in Ainsworth's Strange Situation and during free play. Results suggest that development of a secure attachment and a good mother-toddler relationship does not depend on normal language development during the toddler years.…

A total of 122 infants, born and reared on Israeli kibbutzim, were observed in a cross-sectional study of infant attachment behaviors. Their reactions to either mother or metapelet (caretaker) separation and reunion were recorded over a 13-sequence experimental paradigm. (JMB)

Studied behavior of infants with insecure-avoidant attachments who were reunited with their mothers after having been placed in a strange situation away from the mothers. Infants with extensive nonparental care experience displayed more stressful behavior in reunion episodes than did infants with less nonparental care experience. (GLR)

Temperament and attachment, as defined by Bowlby and his followers, are fundamentally different constructs, and research guided by the attachment perspective cannot meaningfully be assimilated to the temperament construct. Qualitative aspects of relationships simply cannot be reduced to individual behavioral dimensions. (RH)

That a mother's affective illness may interfere with her ability to relate to her child in ways that promote a secure attachment is documented in these data. Depression decreased the likelihood of secure attachment between mother and child. Children of unipolar and bipolar depressed mothers had different patterns of attachment. (RH)

Attachment outcomes of 31 maltreatment cases (involving extreme neglect or abuse), selected from a total poverty sample of 267 high-risk mothers and their children, were compared to those of a subsample of 33 cases with a history of excellent care. Attachment was assessed when infants were 12 and 18 months old. (Author/MP)