The development of insecure attachment relationships in the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (MDD) may initiate a negative trajectory leading to future psychopathology. Therefore, the provision of theoretically guided interventions designed to promote secure attachment is of paramount importance. Mothers who had experienced …

Objective: Attachment theory offers an intriguing formulation of protection and risk that ties together key aspects of behavior, emotion, and cognition. The authors present links among attachment status, other developmental domains, and the development and maintenance of externalizing disorders to illustrate an approach to integrating attachment…

Popular culture today characterizes middle-class parents as being consumed with anxiety about their children. Drawing on more than 100 consumer reviews of baby monitors published on Epinions.com, the author examines how parents respond to that anxiety. Although Epinions.com reviewers are not representative of the population at large, they do…

Based on Bowlby's attachment theory, which hypothesized that the caregiver-child relationship may play an important role in the social and academic adjustment of the child, this pilot study assessed the attitudes of student teachers regarding attachment issues. The subjects for this study were 38 graduate students in a teacher preparation program.…

This article commences with a review of the issues in the empirical literature surrounding the concept of 'bonding,' and notes some particular parallels with the concept of 'attachment,' demonstrating links between the two. The comparison is followed by a review of empirical findings of studies involving animals and humans, including those dealing…

A scheme for classifying attachment patterns is proposed that retains important elements of Ainsworth's system, but extends it to allow for the inclusion of more deviant patterns of behavior. The proposed scheme asserts that attachment relationships can be ordered on a continuum of felt security based upon an organizational interpretation of the…

This paper, supporting father involvement in pregnancy, birth, and infant care, recommends that the father 1) acknowledge and accept the emotional impact of pregnancy and share this with his mate, and 2) mentally visualize himself in childbearing and childrearing roles. It suggests that multiple benefits accrue to all involved when the father…

Intense sibling loyalty was examined in three sibling groups: (1) four brothers in mid-life, aged 36-45, three of whom were married; (2) two brothers, aged 20 and 22, attending the same university; and (3) a brother age 6 and his sister age 9 living together in a foster home. Anecdotal excerpts from extensive videotaped interviews are used to…

The consistency of eight attachment behaviors across a four-month period was investigated in two samples of infants. Multiple correlations revealed significant amounts of consistency in attachment behavior for vocalizing, visual regard, proximity to the mother from 10 to 14 months, and for touching and proximity to her from 14 to 18 months. (SE)

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)

Five hundred unmarried male and female college students were administered a questionnaire and instructed to rate the importance of 39 variables in the formation of an intimate, same-sex friendship. Six factors emerged: Initial attraction, personableness, proximity, attitudinal similarity, intimate accessibility, and reciprocal candor. (BD)

Results from this study of 110 low-risk, middle-class infants showed that a significantly greater proportion of infants whose mothers worked full-time outside the home were assigned to the category "insecure-avoidant" than infants whose mothers remained in the home throughout their children's first year of life. (PCB)

Based on data obtained on a sample of 63 mother-infant dyads, concludes that separation anxiety is multiply determined by characteristics of the mother, the infant, and the employment situation and that variation in anxiety has consequences for the development of attachment relationships. (RH)

Describes a different type of continuing attachment between former spouses by extending Bowen's (1978) ideas about emotional cut-off to the relationship between former spouses. Guidelines are offered concerning clinical interventions in emotionally cut-off divorce cases and a case example is provided. (NRB)