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NICHD_attachment classification and Maternal caregiving quality (1) (1).pdf Infant–Mother Attachment Classification: Risk and Protection in Relation to Changing Maternal Caregiving Quality NICHD Early Child Care Research Network The relations between early infant–mother attachment and children’s social competence and behavior problems during the preschool and early school-age period were examined in more than 1,000 children under conditions of decreasing, stable, and increasing maternal parenting quality. Infants’ Strange Situation attachment classifications predicted mothers’ reports of children’s social competence and teachers’ reports of externalizing and internalizing behaviors from preschool age through 1st grade. These relations appeared to be mediated by parenting quality; main effects of attachment classification disappeared when effects of parenting quality were controlled. Interactions were also observed. For example, when parenting quality improved over time, teachers rated children with insecure infant–mother attachments lower on externalizing behaviors; when parenting quality decreased, teachers rated insecure children higher on externalizing behaviors. In contrast, children classified as securely attached in infancy did not appear to be affected by declining or improving parenting quality. Keywords: early attachment security, risks and protection, behavior problems in preschoolers, maternal sensitivity, continuity from infancy to preschool Over the last decade, studies of the continuing effects of early attachment under changing environmental conditions have at- tracted increasing interest because of the central role attachment theory plays in developmental psychopathology (Sroufe, Carlson, Levy, & Egeland, 1999). Attachment theory identifies particular developmental pathways toward psychosocial adjustment. These pathways emerge out of early parent–caregiver relationships (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995; Sroufe, 1990) and have their origins in the child’s early attachment organization. A theory of process, attachment theory posits that children’s early experiences with their caregivers create the lenses through which children interpret and make sense of subsequent experiences. Attachment theorists acknowledge that change is possible at each phase of development, but they also assert that “change is constrained by prior adapta- tions, and alterations in some forms of adaptation may be more likely for certain individuals” (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995, p. 582). In this report, we examine the continuities and discontinuities between patterns of infant–mother attachment and children’s so- cial adjustment and externalizing and internalizing problems when children transition to formal schooling. Do children’s attachment classifications in infancy predict social competence and behavior problems in subsequent developmental periods? If so, is this con- tinuity mediated by continuity of parenting quality over time? Do the effects of early attachment organizations persist if the quality of maternal parenting changes? Are the effects of changes in caregiv- ing conditions moderated by the child’s initial attachment organiza- tion? Answering these questions will help researchers better under- stand and predict the conditions under which early attachment has long-term effects on children’s social adjustment and behavior. Predicting Later Social Competence From Early Attachment Classification Attachment researchers have identified four patterns of adapta- tion that emerge during early infant–parent relationships. In the secure pattern of attachment (B), an infant readily separates from an attentive, available caregiver, using the caregiver as a secure base for exploration (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). Securely attached children explore confidently in the presence of the caregiver, express their emotions directly to others, and ac- tively seek help from others when they are unable to help them- selves (Sroufe, Fox, & Pancake, 1983). Their openness to their own emotions and to the overtures of others is thought to help them regulate their emotions and emotional responsiveness and This study was directed by a steering committee and supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) through a cooperative agreement (U10), which calls for scientific collab- oration between the grantees and the NICHD staff. Participating investi- gators, listed in alphabetical order, are as follows: Jay Belsky, Birkbeck College, University of London; Cathryn L. Booth-LaForce, University of Washington; Robert Bradley, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Celia A. Brownell, University of Pittsburgh; Margaret Burchinal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Susan B. Campbell, University of Pitts- burgh; K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, University of California, Irvine; Martha Cox, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sarah L. Friedman, NICHD, Bethesda, MD; Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University; Jean F. Kelly, University of Washington; Bonnie Knoke, Research Triangle Insti- tute, Research Triangle, NC; Kathleen McCartney, Harvard University; Marion O’Brien, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Margaret Tresch Owen, University of Texas at Dallas; Deborah Phillips, Georgetown Univer- sity; Susan Spieker, University of Washington; Deborah Lowe Vandell, Uni- versity of Wisconsin—Madison; and Marsha Weinraub, Temple University. We express our appreciation to the study coordinators at each site for supervising data collection, the research assistants for collecting data, the teachers and caregivers for completing forms, and the families who wel- comed us into their homes and cooperated willingly with our repeated requests for information. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, NICHD, 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 4B05, Rockville, MD 20852. Developmental Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 42, No. 1, 38–58 0012-1649/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.38 38 adapt creatively and successfully to changing circumstances and new challenges. These skills may help children with histories of secure attachment form healthy and stable peer relationships in preschool and early childhood (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995). Because early caregivers have either ignored or rejected their signals, children with avoidant attachment histories (A) come to see their caregivers as unavailable and unresponsive. Avoidant infants learn to inhibit emotional signals, especially negative ones; in time, they may inhibit emotions and avoid emotionally charged situations. As a result, negative emotions—particularly distress and anger—may become redirected toward inappropriate sources. In preschool and early-childhood periods, these children may have difficulty expressing their negative feelings toward adults and peers adaptively. Prone to minimize their feelings, these children may develop idealized beliefs about others, and they may have difficulty controlling their anger. Such limitations are likely to predispose children toward increased risk for later externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems, and they may lead to dif- ficulties in social situations and problems in developing friend- ships (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995; Cassidy & Kobak, 1988; Kobak & Sceery, 1988). As a result of interactions with caregivers who are not consis- tently available or responsive, infants with the anxious–resistant pattern (C) are expected to become chronically vigilant toward caregiver activity and may show exaggerated expressions of dis- tress to elicit caregiver attention (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995). In preschool and early childhood, these children may be easily frus- trated, impulsive, and overly anxious, sometimes seeing them- selves as unworthy and helpless to cope with distress (Bowlby, 1980). Children with anxious–resistant attachments are likely to have reduced exploration in unfamiliar settings and increased preoccupation with personal suffering, heightened personal fears, and elevated psychosomatic symptoms. They may be either inap- propriately aggressive or excessively passive and prone to inter- nalizing behavior problems (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995). Finally, children with disorganized patterns (D) of early attach- ment, about whom less is known, show no clear organized attach- ment strategy in infancy and respond to their mothers in the Strange Situation with a variety of contradictory behavior patterns, odd or mistimed movements, or disorientation (Cassidy & Mohr, 2001). In contrast to other insecure infants, infants classified as having disorganized attachment may be at a greater risk for psy- chopathology in childhood (Greenberg, 1999). Researchers have identified greater incidence of increased aggression, externalizing disorders, and oppositional defiant disorder in these children (Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 1999; van IJzendoorn, Schuengel & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999). How does the quality of early attachment relationships affect later development? In the following sections, we examine three of the many possible models that describe how early attachment might affect subsequent psychological adjustment. In presenting these extreme and somewhat simplistic models, we hope to clarify some of the possible processes underlying the continuing effects of early attachment. The Extreme Early Effects Model The simplest model of understanding the continuing effects of early attachment might be labeled the extreme early effects model. In this main effect model, early attachment predicts later develop- ment regardless of later environmental change. A number of stud- ies, particularly those from the Minnesota group of researchers (e.g., Arend, Gove, & Sroufe, 1979; Erickson, Sroufe, & Egeland, 1985; Sroufe, Egeland, & Kreutzer, 1990; Urban, Carlson, Ege- land, & Sroufe, 1991) as well as others (Barglow, Contreras, Kavesh, & Vaughn, 1998; Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990; Cassidy, 1988; Greenberg, Speltz, DeKlyen, & Endriga, 1991; Lütkenhaus, Grossman, & Grossman, 1985; Shaw & Von- dra, 1995) have demonstrated continuity from infant attachment to later play activity, emotional regulation, and peer relations in preschool, middle childhood, and even adolescence. A meta- analysis of 63 studies examining relations between child–parent attachment and children’s peer relations produced an effect size in the small-to-moderate range (Schneider, Atkinson, & Tardif, 2000). More recent studies have also illustrated this continuity. Study- ing 3-year-old children, McElwain, Cox, Burchinal, and Macfie (2003) reported that a history of avoidant attachment was related to instrumental aggression during child–friend interactions; a history of anxious–resistant attachment was related to less self-assertion among friends. Following a sample of children of adolescent mothers from 12 months to 9 years of age, Munson, McMahon, and Spieker (2001) found that children with histories of either avoidant or disorganized attachments showed higher levels of externalizing problems at age 9 compared with children with secure attachment histories. Lyons-Ruth, Easterbrooks, and Cibelli (1997) found that infants with either avoidant or disorganized histories were rated high on both internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 7 compared with children with secure attachment histories. Some evidence suggests that greater risks to adaptation are incurred by children with insecure–disorganized attachment than by children with avoidant or anxious–resistant attachments (Carlson, 1998; Lyons-Ruth, Alpern, & Repacholi, 1993; Shaw, Owens, Vondra, & Keenan, 1996). Nevertheless, relations across time are not always strong and are not routinely documented, particularly in the normal range of behaviors (Belsky & Fearon, 2002a; Erickson, Sroufe, & Egeland, 1985; Lewis, Feiring, & Rosenthal, 2000). Lewis, Feiring, McGuf- fog, & Jaskir (1984) showed that early attachment insecurity predicted problem behaviors in first grade for boys only; Suess, Grossman, and Sroufe (1992) found that attachment predicted 5-year-old outcomes only for girls and only for children with early avoidant attachment. Attachment theorists and researchers ac- knowledge that not all infants who are insecurely attached develop problems later and that when they do, these relations appear to be associated with environmental continuity (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995). Indeed, many of the studies that have shown meaningful associations between early infant–mother attachment security and later social outcomes have come from researchers studying low- income, high-risk families