Lecture 2.11

Attachment-

  • Separation Anxiety

  • Greeting reactions

  • Secure-based behavior

    • Infant uses the caregiver as a base for exploration

The bases of attachment formation

  • Does feeding play a role?

    • Classical study by Harry Harlow with baby monkeys

      • Study showed that feeding is not a key factor underlying attachment formation

    • Key factors is the need to cling and close bodily contact

      • Cloth surrogate mother was preferred, remembered better

    • Being raised in that abnormal condition (inadequate surrogate caregiver affects the psychosocialdevelopmental

      • Aggressive behavior or withdraw from peers

      • inadequate parenting when feral monkeys became mothers

  • Repeated interactions between the infant and a caregiver

    • Physical and social needs being met

  • Implications

    • Attachment with multiple caregivers

  • Children cease crying after the mother returns during the “reunion”

    • This shows secure attachment

Secure Attachment

  • The infant uses caregiver as secure base for exploration

  • Actively seeks contact or interaction upon reunion and readily comforted by contact with caregiver

    • If this behavior is shown you can classify it is secure attachment

Insecure-resistant attachment

  • the infant shows little exploration, wary of novel situations

  • Has difficulty settling down upon reunion (may show resistance after contact with caregiver, continue to cry)

Insecure-Avoidant

  • Infant shows independent exploration, little preference for caregiver

    • Actively avoids caregiver upon reunion

Disorganized-disoriented attachment

  • The infant shows conflicted behavior patterns: Sequential or simultaneous

  • Appears dazed or disoriented (slow movement, stilling, odd mannerism)

Quality of parenting

  • Sensitive and responsive parenting

    • Secrete attachment

  • Indifferent and rejecting care

    • Insecure-avoidant

  • Inconsistent and ineffective care

    • Insecure-resistant

  • Freighting, confusing, or abusive behavior by caregiver

    • Disorganized -disoriented

Context of parenting

  • Life stress, family conflict, maternal depression

  • Social support

  • Parents’d developmental history

    • Studies showed that feeding that monkeys that receive nurturing care as infants were more caring towards their own babies when they became parents

Infant temperament and attachment

  • Infant temperament determines what kind of care is sensitive based on goodness of fit

  • infant temperament is likely to affect the caregiver (difficult or irritable)

    • Temperament + parenting (goodness of fit)

      • Attachment pattern

  • Bowlby’s theory

    • Internal working model

      • An infant’s generalized expectations about the social world

    • Research

      • Attachment patterns in the first 2 years are associated with later language, cognitive, behavioral, and social emotional development

      • Secure attachment- better development

      • Disorganized-disoriented worse development

      • The insecure styles are up for debate of whether it is good or bad

    • Inter generational continuity is suggested

      • If parents form secure attachment with their parents they will with their children

        • Nurturing care from parents suggest that their will be nurturing care for children

  • Change can always occur

    • Attachment patterns may change due to changes in parenting, life circumstances

      • Prediction from attachment to later development is moderate (not perfect)

The impact of early child care

  • Daycare does not prevent the formation of secure attachment

    • Children can still form secure attachment with their parents, having the opportunity for regular contact

  • Quality of child care

    • the quality of child care matters

      • Sensitive and responsive caregiver + stimulating environment like toys, books, and person contact

      • The important is the ratio of caregiver to child

        • Higher the ratio the harder for a caregiver to give children proper care.

  • Quantity of care

    • Extensive day care (30 hours + per week) is a risk factor for subsequent devleopmental

    • Multiple years of daycare starting early in life

In reality though it is a combination of early extensive and poor quality care is likely to produce a negative effect.

After all family characteristics and parenting (sensitive parenting, home environment) often play a greater role than child care in a child’s development

Children from disadvantage families benefit most from good-quality care

  • Children experience stress from being at daycare (higher levels of cortisol) compared to being at home

    • Goes down at around age 3 but is highest 18-20 months

      • Children are fully readily for full days at around age 6

    • Stress may come from too much peer contact with children who are not outgoing.

Child Maltreatment:

  • Neglect

  • Physical abuse

  • Sexual abuse

  • Emotional maltreatment

    • Each year about 1 million children are substantiated victims

    • Highest rates occurs among children age 3 and younger

    • Most common is neglect

  • Contributing factors

    • Inadequate knowledge or understanding of childrearing (children being an inconvenience)

    • Single mothers in poverty → depression hopelessness and little access to information

    • Low social support

    • Parent’s own experience of maltreatment as a child

    • Antisocial personality

    • Substance use

  • Not all maltreated children develop abnormally or become abusive parents

  • Protective factors

    • A supportive person in child’s life

    • Resolution of negative emotions associated with maltreatment event

  • Prevention and intervention

    • Primary- prevent the occurrence

    • Secondary- intervene at the warning signs of maltreatment

    • Tertiary- intervention to reduce the harm

      • fostercare, kinship, adoption