ATTACHMENT

Slowly Getting Attached to Attachment

Behaviorism; looks only at observable behavior - no love & attachment

In WWII, Important attachment was missing in orphanages, children didn’t thrive

Harry Harlow did his monkey attachment studies

Harlow’s Studies of Infant Monkeys

Attachment Milestones

Attachment Milestones

§  Pre-attachment phase - birth to 3 months

              Infants show no signs of attachment.

§  The social smile - at 2 months

§  Attachment in the making - 4 to 7 months

Infants start to show preference for their primary caregivers.

§  Clear-cut (focused) attachment – at 7 months

Signaled by separation anxiety and stranger anxiety

The zone of optimum comfort is about 200 feet

Social referencing - checking for the attachment figure and that person’s reactions

At one year, babies respond to intonation rather than content

By four, the meaning of the words is more important

§  A “working-model” of the attachment figure is good enough to comfort by age 3

Attachment Styles

Mary Ainsworth used the stranger situation test

She found distinct attachment styles

Securely attached

Insecurely attached children react in three ways:

Avoidant (indifferent)

Anxious-ambivalent (angry)

Disorganized – most at risk (bizarre)

Attachment Styles

The Attachment Dance

§  Are the baby and parent in synchrony?

§  Is the parent able to pick up on babies cues?

Are the parents sensitive and properly responsive?

The still face experiment rates child's emotional state /� upset and soothing

The Caregiver

Most sensitive caregivers have babies that are securely attached.

Maternal depression is particularly poisonous to secure attachment.

Even before birth, a woman’s unhappiness and ambivalence correlates to insecure attachment.

Even with these early warning signals, the child still has a chance to securely attach:

§  The child’s personality plays a role, too.

The Child’s Role

Look at a litter of new born puppies and you will see, each has a different temperament (inborn personality style).

Easy, Wary and Difficult babies:

§  Easy - have rhythmic cycles of eating and sleeping

§  Wary – slow to warm up

§  Difficult – hypersensitive, agitated and reactive

Temperament is biological (Nature) while care giving is part of nurturing. Which is more important?

§  The interaction of both influences the outcome

§  Remember, bidirectional reciprocal determinism

Other Attachments

§  A mother’s friends help overcome insecurity

§  A happy marriage helps produce secure attachments

Culture and Attachment

§  Babies around the world attach nearly identically

§  Secure attachment hovers around 60% worldwide

§  Early Kibbutz methods of child sleeping produced large amounts of insecure children

Changing the sleep patterns to co-sleeping increased secure attachments

§  Multiple attachments occur, but there is a primary figure that is most predictive of the child’s development

The Predictive Power of Attachment

Attachment and success in the wider world

§  Correlational studies show that securely attached children do very well socially

§  The correlations tend to deteriorate over time

Behavior near the testing date is more correlated than behaviors many years later in life

The Predictive Power of Attachment

Attachment and adult relationships

§  One longitudinal study showed that – although 60%  of infants were securely attached – at age 19 only 33% were still considered secure.

§  Most of the loss of secure attachment correlated to family issues – STRESS

§  There may be a sensitive period for secure attachment: 

A child that does not experience secure attachment within a year may never be able to become securely attached and may never do well socially

Given the opportunities to move from insecure to secure attachment, Harlow found that four months was a good predictor. If a monkey did not show signs of improvement within four months, they never did.

§  Insecure attachment is not simply the mother’s fault:

The child's temperament must be considered

There are other caregivers involved

The attachment of early life can be changed - up or down

The wider world environment also influences attachment

Contexts of Development

The prevalence of poverty

§  The U.S. Federal Government defines the poverty line as an income level that allows a household to pay for shelter, food, and clothes, with a small amount left over.

§  In 2005, that level was determined to be $19,350 or less for a family of four.

§  Single mother households, immigrant (mostly Latino) households, and elderly women are more prone to poverty.

Effects of Poverty

Poverty and Cognitive Development

§  Children in poverty

Score lower on IQ tests than their peers

Drop out of school more frequently than their peers

Tend not to attend preschool before starting schooling

Do not know as much as their peers when they get to school

Tend to be born in the low birth weight category

Do not overcome depressed mothers as well as their peers

Have less access to educational toys and computers

Appear to be stressed more than their peers

Live in substandard housing and go to substandard schools

Intervention and Impact

Giving disadvantaged children a boost

§  Head Start and Early Head Start

Provides health screening, social services, and parenting classes

The impact of childcare

§  The U.S. offers 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.

§  So, the average U.S. child begins non-maternal care at 3.5 months because mothers return to work.

§  Some of these children are cared for by other family members.

§  Non-family care can be “Family daycare” or “Daycare centers.”

Attachment and Childcare

Childcare, Attachment, and Development

§  Putting a child into daycare does not lessen the attachment bond

§  Research shows it is the quality, not the quantity, of the mother’s care that determines the attachment bond

§  However, high quantities of non-family care does correlate to less than optimal behavior by age 5

This may be due to parents sending hard to control� children to day care more than others.

Which Childcare?

Which childcare choice works best?

§  If you have options – pick the best quality daycare

§  Look for:  

Ø Lots of toys and loving caregivers

Ø The relationship between the caregivers and the children

Ø Sanitary surroundings

Ø Ask around the area about Safety violations

Ø Look for low employee turnover at the center

Ø How many caregivers are there per child?

Ø Are any of the caregivers certified? Do they get training?

Ø Is the center certified?

Final Childcare Topics

World view:

§  In Sweden, women get 1 year of maternity leave at 80% of their pay!

Sex differences in day care:

§  Boy babies were found to be much more difficult when adjusting to the situation.

§  The effects of bad and crowded day-care show up more in boys.

Attachment differences:

§  Securely attached children do best.

§  Children did better if their parents spent time at the center helping their children get acclimated.

Living as a Toddler

AGE OF AUTONOMY and SHAME AND DOUBT

§  The milestone of self-conscious emotions indicate awareness of self

§  Shame and guilt are essential to socializing

Socialization: The two-year-old challenge

§  Prior to age two, most rules center around safety issues

§  By age two, we include socializing rules

Ø Regulating behavior develops from 1.5 to 4 years of age and comes in two types

»    Stop doing something - don’t touch - (more easy to perform)

»    DO something - clean up - (not as easy to perform)

Temperament

Being Exuberant or Shy

§  Temperament is an important element in obedience

Ø The fearless, exuberant, joyful, intrepid explorer is harder to control and girls are more often able to regulate better than boys.

§  About 20% of babies are inhibited and another 20% are uninhibited

Ø Most will drift closer to the emotional center by age 4 to 7 years.

Being Exuberant or Shy

Socializing a shy baby

Ø Parents that insulate their shy baby end up with children ranked most shy.  Don't overprotect.

Ø Gently exposing the toddler to new and frustrating situations teaches them to cope.

Raising a rambunctious toddler

Ø Resist power assertion - don't yell, scream and hit

Ø The best way to get compliance is to develop a strong attachment bond

Ø Love and acceptance matters most to securely attached kids

Promoting the best temperament-environment fit

-Foster a secure, loving relationship

-Understand the child’s specific temperament

-Minimize vulnerabilities and accentuate strengths