Of 1,805 early retirees, 40% returned to work (17% full time, 51% part time, 32% self employed). Return was positively related to work attachment and tenure at last job. Clerical workers were less likely than managers to choose part-time work over retirement. Lateral mobility and high work attachment were negatively related to postretirement…

Study serves as an exploratory analysis of how engagement in community service activities among college students is affected by significant attachment relationships. The findings revealed that students who had some community service experience evidenced more secure attachments to close personal friends while their attachments to parents were…

Attachment theory is used as the theoretical base to understand the impact that rejection of relationship connections can have on the development of gay and lesbian adolescents. Developmental challenges for gay and lesbian youth are addressed as are the frequent failure of families and schools to provide continuity of secure caregiving to these…

Examined use of aggressive behaviors in adolescent romantic relationships, the endorsement of attitudes that promote such behaviors, and the extent to which attachment and emotional styles are related to these behaviors and styles in 254 high school students. As expected, girls were somewhat more likely to report being the perpetrator of physical…

Summarizes studies of school environmental factors associated with student drug use and prevention. Major factors that emerge are school supportiveness, sense of community, and opportunities for students to interact and to exert influence. A common conclusion seems to be that a supportive environment increases students' attachment to school and…

Investigated attachment security and behavior in 34 physically disabled infants and 26 non-disabled infants using convergent, categorical, and continuous (Attachment Behavior Q-Set) measures of relationship, based on the same set of home observations. Proportions of attachment classifications were identical for each group, but insecure disabled…

Examined factors thought to be related to adolescent suicidal ideation: absence or disruption of interpersonal attachments, conviction of personal helplessness, and sense of hopelessness. Found nearly 61 percent of 191 college students to have some suicidal ideation. Low- and moderate- to high-level ideators reported poorer parent relationships…

Attempts to provide a plausible theory of music's evolutionary development. Speculates that music may have provided survival benefits by helping establish mother/infant bonds, by aiding in the acquisition of knowledge, by providing a unique way of knowing, and by playing important roles in social organization. (LS)

Studied interactions which are related to written language, attachment security, and emergent literacy between 45 mothers and their children, aged one-and-a-half to five-and-a-half years. Results suggest that mothers give reading instruction to small children by naming letters and well-known words which contain those letters. Mother-child…

Evaluated the enduring effectiveness of a skill-based training program to enhance maternal sensitivity toward infants between six and nine months of age. Found that more of the toddlers whose mothers participated in the intervention were securely attached than toddlers from the control group dyads. In the third year, evidence of sustained effects…

Presents the Maternal Behavior Q-Set, a 90-item assessment that describes a wide range of maternal behavior including interactive style, her sensitivity to her infant's state, feeding interactions, and the extent to which the home reflects the infant's needs. (HTH)

Examines the nature of mother-child bonding from the prenatal stage through early infancy, discussing how the mother's actions, even before birth, stimulate her child's senses. Explains the crucial role that physical contact, breastfeeding, and visual stimuli have on mother-child bonding in human and animal newborns. (MDM)

Families in individual-orientated Western society spend little time together and tend to focus on accomplishments rather than belonging. Proposes that human development is not an individual but a group process and that a nest of ongoing support during childhood encourages a sense of belonging. This support should include at least 10 minutes of…

Relations between maternal depression and attachment among 50 infant-mother and 54 preschooler-mother dyads were examined using several attachment measures. Attachment insecurity was found to be significantly associated with maternal depression among infants and preschoolers. Children without unitary, coherent attachment strategies tended to have…

Analyzes treasured possessions and their meanings in adolescence, including their relation to those treasured during early life and their relation to self-identity. Subjects were 14- to 18-year-old high school students (n=249). Results showed that males' most treasured possessions embodied enjoyment and instrumental meanings, whereas females'…