The study examined the classification scheme of the Ainsworth Strange Situation measure of attachment security with 44 insecurely attached 13-month olds from a high-social-risk sample. Results supported the existence of an additional category of infants whose attachment behavior was "avoidant/ambivalent" and whose families were…

Used maternal-infant bonding as theoretical framework to examine grief and elective abortion in 80 women who terminated their pregnancies either by vacuum aspiration, dilitation and evacuation, or intrauterine induction. Found grief associated with elective abortion to be symptomatically similar to grief experienced following involuntary…

Discusses the deep attachment the widowed elderly often maintain for the deceased spouse, based on naturalistic observations and interviews with six widow(er)s. Five themes of the marital tie continue throughout widowhood, including caring, family feeling, commitment, and reciprocal identity support. (JAC)

Attachment behavior, toy preference, style of play, and activity level were recorded in 17 sets of opposite sex twins observed in a playrrom setting with their mothers. (ST)

Responses of 80 10-month-old infants to brief maternal separation were observed in home and laboratory settings and in two conditions of maternal accessibility: mothers' exit door closed or open. Results show the importance of situational determinants in the investigation of infant attachment behavior. (Author/RH)

Reviews evidence for assertions related to the monotropism hypothesis and examines causal factors that might constrain the number of satisfactory caretaker relationships provided for young children. Two models of constraint derived from the earlier work of Bowlby and others are rejected; two models based on more recent theory are considered worth…

Results showed no evidence that intercorrelations of patterns of attachment behavior were influenced by methodological considerations such as length of observation, setting of observation, or the number of behaviors monitored. Further, there was no evidence of sex differences in the pattern of correlations. (JMB)

Several advantages and disadvantages of a life-span concept are reviewed. The particular life-span concept of attachment is examined with respect to theory and methodology. (MS)

This study attempted to identify characteristics that distinguish approach as an attachment behavior from approach serving other behavioral systems. Locomotor approaches of 16 male and 10 female white middle-class infants to an attachment figure (mother) and to a nonattachment figure (visitor-observer) were examined under naturalistic conditions…

Compared expressions of attachment relationships in preterm and full-term infants and their mothers at home at 8 and 12 months of age and in the Strange Situation at 18 months. Found 84% concordance in the distinctions between secure and nonsecure classifications of the mother-infant relationship made at home at 12 months and in the Strange…

Examines attachment prototype, attachment-related feelings about conflict, style of expressing conflict, and conflict tactics using self-report questionnaires from 188 volunteer college students. Analysis indicated that persons who endorsed secure attachment reported feeling less threat from arguing; persons endorsing dismissing attachment…

Examines two core assumptions of attachment theory: internal working models of attachment should increase in stability during development, and attachment is related to the adaptive solution of stage-salient issues, in adolescence, specifically to identity formation. Results show secure attachment representation was positively associated with the…

Examines the relationship between separation- individuation, adult attachment styles, and college adjustment. Results reveal that college adjustment was positively associated with secure adult attachment and counterindicated by fearful and preoccupied attachments. Implications for counseling practice and directions for future research are…

Reviews literature relating to naturalistic and laboratory studies of primates, human bonding, family systems theory, psychoanalytic notions of multiple inner representations, and pathological parenting in child abuse and neglect. Attempts to understand uniqueness of parent-child attachments and unique grief experienced at death of child. Proposes…