Argues that none of the conventional methods for assessing attachment meet all criteria. Describes development of a 100-item sort for assessing secure attachment in toddlers, closely tied to Bowlby's control systems model of attachment. Evaluates the Q-sort in terms of criteria for valid thoery-based assessments that have applicability beyond this…

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)

Describes the core constructs of attachment theory, namely, the attachment system and secure-base behavior. Discusses contextual factors thought to be crucial in development of individual differences in attachment, especially maternal sensitivity, and considers child characteristics, especially temperament, that may contribute to the attachment…

Used Current Relationship Interview (CRI) to examine correspondence between adults' models of their current love relationships and generalized attachment models accessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Found that early experience influences later relationships, but little support for the idea that a working model formed by caregiver-child…

Used adaptation of Attachment Q-Set (AQS) with 24 infant-mother monkey dyads to clarify the secure-base concept. Found that infants of high-ranking monkeys scored higher than those of low-ranking ones, suggesting the origins of the secure-base phenomenon, as well as the importance of exploring infant secure-base behaviors in families of different…