Argues that research does not warrant Belsky's position that infant child care for more than 20 hours per week is a risk factor for infants' insecure-avoidant attachment and children's maladaptive social behavior. Suggests that quality of care and family characteristics are major influences. (NH)

Four interrelated yet distinct variables, economic independence, separate residence, personal control, and emotional attachment to parents, were highly significant predictors of both ego identity and college adjustment. The results confirm earlier preliminary investigations and support a broader definition of leaving home than those typically…

Attempts to replicate Ainsworth's Baltimore study by conducting lengthy home observations of mother-infant interactions before observing the infants in the strange situation. (NH)

Tested two models of the relationship between a hypothetical attachment mechanism and an incompatible motivation (a tendency to explore) by pitting two levels of attachment motivation against two levels of exploratory motivation among 15- to 18-month-old infants, alternating freely between play with novel toys at one end of the room and visits…

Examines the effect of an unfamiliar peer in a situation requiring a subject's separation from mother in order to play with attractive toys. Observation of 20 children 18 months old and 20 children 30 months old revealed that peer presence facilitated initial separation for both ages, but that age differences in subsequent behaviors existed. (CB)

Compares 18 maltreated and 19 matched 19-month-old lower class infants in Ainsworth and Wittig's Strange Situation and in the standard mirror-and-rouge paradigm. Finds that a greater proportion of maltreated infants showed insecure attachments to their mothers and, when rouge-marked, responded negatively and did not recognize themselves. (CB)

Examines qualitative information from 15 mothers whose childen had died several years earlier from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Concludes that mothers who experience a muted but comfortable dynamic intrapsychic relationship to the memories and thoughts associated with their children have achieved resolution of the loss. (NRB)

Using data from a large sample of college freshmen, the associations between reported closeness to parents and siblings and perceived social competence were examined. Significant positive relationships were found between family bonds and social self-esteem, instrumentality, expressiveness, shyness, and degree of satisfaction and ease in peer…

Peer competence in preschool children in two classes was assessed via (a) teacher rankings of social competence, (b) peer sociometrics, and behavioral measures of (c) social participation, and others. Affective expression and social behavior were temporally stable and consistent across contexts for both classes; however, patterns of…

Attachment describes the unique human ability to form lasting relationships with others, and to maintain these relationships over time and distance. Research into attachment has shown that children have the potential to form many attachment relationships, and that each relationship can contribute to the child's growing sense of self. This booklet…

Noting that researchers, practitioners, and families are increasingly interested in the roles fathers play in raising their children, this doctoral research paper reviews the interpersonal and external factors involved in attachment development between fathers and their children. Methodological considerations include pertinent definitions,…

This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series discusses how educators can observe and respond appropriately to the infants in their care. The booklet examines the two major opportunities for early childhood educators that have been shown to influence outcomes for infants: (1) the opportunity to help infants…

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the Brazelton exam as a parent education tool for mothers and fathers. Target parents in treatment groups were taught to perform the Brazelton exam on their own infant, with attention being drawn to the infant's most positive interactive and physical abilities. (Author/RH)

Investigated through direct observation in the home whether mothers socialize differently boys and girls growing up as opposite-sexed twins, triplets, and quadruplets as a function of their different genders. Children and mothers were rated on behaviors about which contradictory evidence had been reported in the literature. (Author/DB)

The 3-year-old's mode of expressing separation distress, observed during nursery school adaptation, was explored in relation to parental child care styles. The father-child relationship and the nature of parental differences were associated with the quality of nursery school adjustment, as illustrated by case reports. (Author/DB)