This follow-up study, which was part of a larger ongoing longitudinal project, compared early infant-parent attachment relationships to aspects of both parents' and children's mental representations of attachment when children were 6 years old. The sample consisted of 50 mothers, fathers, and children of predominantly upper-middle class social…

This paper explores important conceptual issues that confront researchers who wish to study the role of empathy in parent-child interaction. Part I reviews the major existing theories of parent empathy offered by the psychoanalytic-object relations and the client-centered schools of thought. In part II, a new processing model derived from the…

To examine the way in which mentally retarded children and adults in community living arrangements view notions of home and family, questionnaires were administered to direct care staff working with 151 retarded children and adults. Questionnaire items touched on such aspects as residents' age, sex, length and type of institutionalization,…

Reactions of foster children to separation from their families of origin were identified from case materials of 36 Canadian protective service workers. A broad range of reactions was apparent. Discussion focuses on anxiety, regression, physiological symptoms, denial of feelings, persistent attachment to rejecting or unreliable parents, rebellious…

The phenomena of fusion within a lesbian relationship is described in a six-phased model. Fusion in relationships is defined as two incomplete people coming together in an attempt to make one more complete whole, the merging of two ego boundaries. The six phases discussed include ecstacy, getting married, the routine, depression/withdrawal,…

In an effort to understand the emotional impact of abuse, many studies have been conducted to investigate the type of emotional problems suffered by abused children and to identify variables which may make them susceptible to damage. For example, studies have correlated emotional problems with age at which abuse occurred and with the type and…

To assess the validity of attachment scores derived from the Ainsworth "strange situation", 56 1-year-olds and 79 2-year-olds accompaned by either the mother, the father, or a brief acquaintance were studied. Proximity to the adult, duration of play, crying, activity, and the incidence of looks and distance bids were measured. (Author/CS)

Sharing behaviors of infants who had experienced early separation through hospitalization from their mothers were compared to behaviors of infants who had experienced no such separation. Responses of the mothers to their infants' prosocial behavior were also analyzed. Subjects were twenty 1-year-old infants and their mothers. On the basis of the…

Premarital dating couples (N=61) were asked to answer questions concerning their perceived commitment to their relationship, the amount of time they spend with their partner, the amount of time they spend arguing, their partner's attractiveness, the length of their relationship, and their desire to continue the relationship. Time spent together…

This study identifies elements in the attachment behaviors of 7-month infants which predict the quality of their attachment to their mothers at 13 months. At 7 months 147 infants were observed (and videotaped) during a free play period with their mothers present, during a separation from their mothers and then during a reunion period. At 13 months…

A study was conducted to investigate the degree to which both object familiarity and motivational factors influence infants' search behavior in an object permanence test. Infants' search behavior for an unfamiliar test object was compared with search behavior for (a) an experientially familiar object that each infant had played with daily for a…

This paper presents results of the first part of a research program designed to test the hypothesis that an hour of extra contact between mother and infant beginning about one half hour after delivery would be associated with more secure attachment of an infant to its mother at one year. In the overall study extra contact infants were also…

In this study of 40 primaparous mothers (15 to 36 years of age) and their newborns the significance of predictors of maternal responsiveness was assessed immediately following birth in the delivery room and at feedings 2-3 days and 4 weeks following delivery. The variables used as predictors included the mothers' age and background, prenatal…

This longitudinal study of 10 infants in a day care nursery traces the development of recognition and attachment to a primary caregiver from approximately 3 1/2 months of age (shortly after enrollment in the program) through the end of the first year. Monthly assessments of about 10 minutes each, on two successive days, were made of the infant's…

This paper presents an overview of the literature on mother-infant attachment behavior. Attachment is defined by Ainsworth as involving affection, discrimination, observable behavior, active participation by both parties, and reciprocal response. The process of attachment is seen by Stone, Smith, and Murphy as taking place in three stages over the…