RESUMEN

The influences of three risk factors (insecure attachment, maternal depressive symptoms, and economic risk) on children's depressive symptomatology were examined. Subjects were 85 children from a range of income levels; all subjects were between 7 and 9 years of age. Children's depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Dimensions of Depression Profile for Children and Adolescents. Results indicated that children at high economic risk were more likely to exhibit depressive symptomatology than were children at low economic risk. Security of attachment was significantly related to children's depressive symptomatology. In addition, a significant relation was noted between children's depressive symptomatology and the depressive symptomatology of their mothers. Contrary to expectations, no significant relation was found between maternal depressive symptomatology and security of attachment. A multiple regression analysis revealed that security of attachment, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk accounted for 47% of the variability in children's depression scores. Secure attachment served as a buffer; economic risk was associated with depressive symptoms only among insecurely attached children.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The present study investigated the links between aspects of the self (self-evaluations, self-worth), attachment representations and behavioral functioning in 8-year-old children. Self-evaluations were assessed with an interview in which children described themselves and discussed positive and negative aspects of the self; self-worth was assessed using a subscale from the Dimensions of Depression Inventory. Attachment representations were assessed using the Separation Anxiety Test. Mothers and teachers reported on children's behavior problems, school adaptation and peer competence. Following previous work with 5- (Verschueren & Marcoen, 1999; Verschueren, Marcoen, & Schoefs, 1996) and 6-year-olds (Cassidy, 1988), we predicted that aspects of the self would be positively associated with attachment security and behavioral adaptation. These predictions were confirmed. A rating of the child's ease of access to self-evaluations (EASE) during the interview was related to emotional security and coping responses during the Separation Anxiety Test. Children with greater ease of access to self-evaluations also had fewer internalizing and total behavior problems, according to both mothers and teachers, and their teachers reported more positive school adaptation, peer competence and egoresiliency.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

This investigation examined the longitudinal prediction of emotional availability in mother-child interaction during middle childhood from two indicators of socioemotional functioning in infancy: security of infant-mother attachment; and maternal depressive symptoms. Forty-five children and their mothers were seen during infancy: security of attachment was assessed in the laboratory Strange Situation; and mothers completed a self-report of depressive symptoms. At age 7, children were observed with their mothers in a lab playroom. The dyad's emotional availability was assessed during reunion following an hour-long separation. Results demonstrated significant associations between infancy and middle childhood socioemotional organization, both for mothers and for children. Security of attachment in infancy was related to maternal sensitivity and structuring, and to child responsiveness and involvement at age 7. Maternal depressive symptoms in infancy were associated with maternal sensitivity and structuring at age 7. Greatest differentiation was found between infants with secure attachments and those with insecure-disorganized attachments.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

A racially diverse sample of 112 low-income and homeless mothers of infants was examined for associations among housing status (homeless vs. housed), parenting practices, and infant attachment. Results demonstrated few effects of housing status on characteristics of parenting or security of attachment. Security of infant attachment was found to be related to parenting practices and parenting difficulties. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The predictive relations between assessments in infancy and parent- and teacher-reported behavior problems at age 7 were investigated within a low-income sample. Infancy assessments indexed family adversity, parent-infant interaction at home, infant attachment, infant anger-distress at home, gender, and cognitive functioning. Among children at age 7 identified by teachers as highly externalizing, 83% were both disorganized in their attachment behavior in infancy and below the national mean in mental development scores at 18 months, compared with 13% of nonexternalizing children. Avoidant attachment behavior in infancy was associated with later internalizing symptoms rather than with externalizing symptoms. The behavior problem data reported by mother suggested the possibility of attachment-related biases in maternal report data. The results indicate that child mental lag in the context of a disorganized attachment relationship constitutes 1 early step on the pathway to school-age externalizing behavior.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The relation between attachment to mother and knowledge of self and mother in 2 domains was assessed in 1- to 3-year-old infants. Infants' featural knowledge was measured by featural recognition, name, possession, and gender. In this domain, no difference between the 2 attachment classifications was obtained at 1 year of age, but significant and increasingly large differences between securely and insecurely attached infants were found at 2 and 3 years of age. The second domain measured infants' actions on self and mother in the context of symbolic play. Regardless of age, infants who were securely attached to mother acted on self and mother with greater complexity than did infants who were insecurely attached. Attachment was related equally to the complexity of infants' knowledge of self and mother. These data were discussed in the context of the development of infants' internal working models of attachment and the onset of representational ability.

Asunto(s)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Recent investigations of the relation between maternal employment and the stability of infant attachments have implied that maternal employment introduces a stressful, unpredictable element into family life. To assess the effect of maternal employment per se, stable and changing maternal employment status were distinguished in this study. Classifications of the quality of infant-mother and of infant-father attachments were made for 59 children at 12 and 20 months of age using the Ainsworth strange situation paradigm. The stability of attachments from 12 to 20 months was examined in 4 groups defined by maternal employment status. 3 of these groups (nonemployed, part-time employed, full-time employed) were characterized by no change in maternal employment status from several months prior to the first assessment of attachment through the 20-month assessment; the fourth group was characterized by maternal employment status that changed between the 2 assessments of attachment. Among the stable conditions of maternal employment status there was no indication of differences in the stability of attachment to either parent whether the mother was employed or not, indicating that maternal employment can lend as much stability to family relationships as the condition of maternal nonemployment. No changes in the quality of attachment to mother and relatively frequent changes in attachment to father (46%) were present when mother changed employment status. The basis for this difference is discussed in terms of maternal versus paternal response to alterations in life-style initiated by mother's employment changes.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The family context of toddler development was explored with 75 20-month-olds and their parents. To determine the impact of quantitative and qualitative aspects of fathering, relationships between father involvement in child rearing, parenting characteristics (attitudes and behavior), and child adaptation were investigated. Child characteristics included security of toddler-father and toddler-mother attachment assessed in the strange situation, and toddler affect and task orientation in a problem-solving task. Parental attitudes and father involvement were assessed with questionnaires. Analyses examining associations among father involvement, parenting characteristics, and toddler development demonstrated significant relationships. Extent of father involvement was related to toddler development with both fathers and mothers. However, results highlighted the salience of qualitative characteristics (attitudes, behavioral sensitivity) rather than quantitative characteristics (amount of father's time with child) of parenting for toddler development.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

18-month-old infants and their mothers were observed in the Ainsworth strange situation (SS) in order that security of attachment might be assessed. Infant dyads were created for observation in unstructured peer interaction according to their SS classification (security of attachment). Focus was on the subgroups within the securely attached (B) category. Results indicated a relationship between quality of infant-mother attachment and infant peer competence. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more frequent and more sophisticated interaction with peers than did the B3 and B4 infants, who intensely sought proximity and contact with their mothers in the peer session just as in the SS. The B1 and B2 infants engaged in more distal interaction with their mothers and were more sociable with the peers' mothers and with the stranger in the SS. Implications of individual differences in quality of attachment for the development of social competence and social relationships are discussed.

Asunto(s)