This study explored variation in affective and behavioral components of infants' jealousy protests during an eliciting condition in which mother and an experimenter directed differential attention exclusively toward a rival. Variation was examined in relation to child temperamental emotionality, maternal interaction style, and attachment security.…

People's response to stress depends to a large extent on their sense of perceived control over the situations they encounter. This longitudinal study of 136 children (70 girls) examined associations between attachment patterns and maternal sensitivity at 12 months of age, and perceived primary and secondary control at 11 years of age. Compared…

Nighttime sleep awakenings and infant and family characteristics were measured longitudinally in more than 1,200 infants when the infants were 6, 15, 24, and 36 months old. By 6 months of age, the majority of children slept through the night, awakening their mothers only about once or twice per week. However, not all children followed this…

Background: Empirical studies demonstrate that maternal sensitivity is associated with attachment security in infancy, while maternal frightening/frightened behavior is related to attachment disorganization. However, attachment disorganization is also predicted by individual dispositions in infancy. Indeed, recent studies indicate a link between…

Thirty-eight infants at age one were seen with their mothers in a strange situation test. On the basis of reunion behavior in this situation, each infant was rated for security of attachment to the mother. Maternal behaviors were observed in a mother-child free-play setting when the infants were 21 months old. (JMB)

Investigates the possible relationships among the variables of infant's temperament, mother's mode of interaction, and the quality of the subsequent mother-infant attachment. (Author/NH)

The findings of differential maternal treatment of siblings in current research are often confounded by the fact that at the time of assessment the two siblings were of different ages. This prospective study examined concordance of siblings' attachment quality to their shared mother. Participating were 106 families and their 12 to 15 month olds.…

Thirty-eight mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their attachment to their infant, stress level, and infant's temperament. Mothers were also observed interacting with their infant at six weeks and again at nine months. Found that stressed mothers felt less attached to their infant at six months than nonstressed mothers, and mothers of…

Examining relationships in the data from assessments conducted when Japanese infants were 7.5, 12, 23, and 27 months of age, this study provides evidence of an interaction between early attachment and temperamental dispositions. Specifically examined were 7.5-month-olds' stranger and separation distress and general fearfulness; 12-month-olds'…

Examined the attachment status of infants in the home and laboratory by observing infant temperament and maternal parenting sensitivity, as well as parent reports of infant temperament. Subjects were 49 families and their infants. Results highlighted the need to consider other factors besides maternal sensitivity to explain the variability in the…

Examined mother-child relationship and child fearfulness at 8-10 months and 13-15 months in relation to child attachment at 13-15 months. Found that the mother-child relationship, and 13-15 months only, predicted child security versus insecurity but not the type of insecurity. Child fearfulness was unrelated to security versus insecurity, but…

This longitudinal study examined the development, antecedents, and concomitants of empathic concern in the second year of life among 125 first-born girls. Findings indicated that empathic concern for mother's simulated distress increased from 16 to 22 months, whereas empathy for a stranger's simulated distress decreased. Fearful temperament and…

Assessed infant temperament at 2 days and 5 months of age, attachment to mother at 14 months, and behavioral inhibition at 24 months. Distress at pacifier withdrawal at two days was related to insecure attachment. Reactivity to frustration and novelty at five months was related to high vagal tone. Attachment classification was related to inhibited…

Examined cardiac activity during the first 13 months of life. Indexes of cardiac activity changed in an orderly way with development. There were intercorrelations among the cardiac measures. Analyses indicated that measures of heart-rate variability were significantly higher in insecure children than in secure children. (BC)

Infants who changed in levels of emotionality between three and nine months were compared with infants who remained stable. Maternal personality, marital factors, and mother-infant interaction accounted for the change in highly emotional infants. Father factors accounted for changes by infants who were initially low in negativity. (BC)