The Infant-Caregiver Attachment - Essay Example

The infant-caregiver attachment Eddie Cruz Psy 110 The infant-caregiver attachment Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. This book includes a comprehensive discussion on the attachment of infants with their mothers and emphasizes on the behavior pattern of the infants in response to such attachment. The authors examine various behavior patterns among the infants in the form of a laboratory situation where the environment is manipulated at varying degrees of intensity - a concept referred to as "strange situation". This is done to examine the manner in which the infants respond to controlled environmental changes and the change in their attachment behavior with other behavioral systems which are manipulated a a similar level of intensity. 2. Belsky, J. (2009). Early day care and infant-mother attachment security. In: Tremblay R.E, Barr R.G, Peters R.DeV, & Bolvin, M. (eds.) Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. 1-6. This article discusses the manner in which non-maternal childcare experience influences and impacts the development of children in the long run and its implications on the caregivers as well as policymakers. The article concludes that the effect of day care on infant attachment is not consistent across cultures and varies from country to country. The very concept of infant attachment is multidimensional and can better be studied based on cultural aspects of the same, since the results may vary substantially based on cultural contexts. 3. Berlin, L.J., Cassidy, J., & Applyard, K. (2008). The influence of early attachments on other relationships. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 333-347). New York: Guilford. The authors emphasize on the significance of attachment and its role in healthy development of the child. The study suggests the manner in which the caregivers / parents respond to their child during infancy is vital for healthy development of various future developmental trajectories. The research carried out by the authors indicate that a secure and stable infant-caregiver relationship during the infancy period, contributes to the overall healthy development of the child and is reflected in healthy friendships among the peer and healthier romantic relationships with their partners in the long run. 4. Bolwby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. Volume 1: Attachment. New York: Basic. In this book the author stresses on the significance, impact and implications of attachment and loss in infant-caregiver relationships. The book examines the manner in which young children respond to any given situation including loss, grief, or anxiety. The author provide various situations at varying degrees of intensity such as a permanent loss of a primary caregiver such as the mother, resulting in their prolonged absence from the infants life or a temporary loss situation where the primary caregiver is temporarily detached from the infant. Their responses are carefully observed to draw logical conclusions regarding the degree of attachment and the manner in which the infants respond to each situation. The study offer valuable insight into the personality development of the infants based on the attachment level with their caregivers during infancy. 5. Crnic, K.A., Greenberg, M.T., & Slough, N.M. (1986). Early stress and social support influences on mothers’ and high- risk infants’ functioning in late infancy. Infant Mental Healthy Journal, 7(1), 19-33. In this article the authors examine the impact and influence of social support on the interactions between infants and their primary caregivers and the change if any, on the behavior of infants due to such changes in their environment. The studies carried out on a group of infants aged between 8 to 12 months, indicate that high level of stress among the primary caregivers had a direct negative impact on the infant-caregiver relationship resolution in negative maternal affect on the infants and dyadic synchrony, and had a long term negative impact on the socio-emotional behavior of the infants. On the contrary, positive social support received by the mothers had a short-term as well as long term positive impact on the infant-caregiver relationships whereby the relationship between them was found to be more intimate and personal due to availability of community support, thus indicating that various external factors influence infant-caregiver relationships and emphasizing on the significance of community support for mothers and their children to ensure a positive socio-emotional development of the child. 6. Dickstein, S., Seifer, R., & Albus, K. (2009). Maternal adult attachment representations across relationship domains and infant outcomes: The importance of family and couple functioning. Attachment and Human Development, 11(1), 5-27. This study focuses on the manner in which relationship between infants and their caregivers, usually the parents are affected due to parental relationships. The study suggests that positive parental relationships are of crucial significance for the overall socio-emotional development of the child and negative parental relationships for instance children from broken families, are likely to be negatively affected. The authors state that since children learn from their environment, particularly the one they are exposed to the most, parental relationships that are driven by high level of emotional stress, divorce, or domestic violence. 7. Finger, B., Hans, S.L., Berstein, V.J., & Cox, S.M. (2009). Parent relationship quality and infant-mother attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 11(3), 285-306. This study studies the interrelationships between the parental conflicts and its impact on the mother-infant relationship. The study focused on various aspects of parental conflicts including domestic violence, the support received by the mother from the father, the behavior of the mother toward the infant, etc. The data was collected based on observations of a group of 79 African American families, from a highly stressed urban community. The study revealed that the support received by the mother from the father did not make any difference to the mother-child relationship. However parental conflicts on the other hand showed drastically different results. Parental conflicts were observed to negatively influence the behavior and attitude of the mother toward the child and affect the mother-infant relationship negatively. The mothers were found to be less sensitive toward their children, the infants on the other hand were observed to face severe insecurity and attachment issues. The results indicated that the circumstances of the infant-caregiver relationship has a direct bearing on the attachment of infants toward their primary caregivers and also tend to affect their long-term growth and development. 8. Grienenberger, J., Kelly, K., & Slade, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment: Exploring the link between mental states and observed caregiving behavior in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 299-311. This study aimed at examining and exploring the relationship between the maternal behaviour with the infants and their mental representations within the intergenerational transmission of attachment. The authors used the maternal reflective functioning hypothesis to study the patterns of behavior of infant-caregiver relationships and behavior. The study was carried out on a group of 45 mothers and their infants aged between 10 -14 months old. The results indicated that there was an inverse relationship between mother-infant relationship or behavior and attitudes of the mothers toward their infants and their maternal reflective functioning. The results were measured based on an AMBIANCE score. Mothers with a high AMBIANCE were observed to be distant and non-response to their infants while those with a low score were more likely to offer positive and secure care to their infants. 9. Harrison, L.J. & Ungerer, J.A. (2002). Maternal employment and infant-mother attachment security at 12 months postpartum. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 758-773. This study focused on examining the relationship between infant-caregiver and its impact on the long-term development of the child. The key purpose of the study was to study the manner in which childcare affects the relationship between infants and their caregivers. In order to achieve the research objective, the authors Harrison and Unger carried out a study on a group of 145 first-born Australian infants with a view to explore the various aspects of childcare and the impact on infant-mother relationship. The study particularly focused on mothers in active employment. The results of the study revealed that the time at which the mothers returned to employment had a direct bearing on their relationships with their children. This was apparent from the observation of mothers who returned to employment before five months postpartum, and were required to rely on childcare as a result. The results indicated that such mothers were observed to have decreased rates of insecure attachment at twelve months as compared to the mothers who returned to work much later or not at all. 10. Howes, P., & Markman, H.J. (1989). Marital quality and child functioning: A longitudinal investigation. Child Development, 60, 1044-1051. This study focuses on and explores the impact of parental relationship on that between the infants and their primary caregivers and that on the functioning of the child in the long run. The study explores and relies on previous literature that emphasizes on the marital discord and domestic violence and its consequences on the relationship between the infants and the caregivers. The authors observe that marital discord has a long-term negative impact on the functioning of the child and is directly associated with a range of socio-emotional problems in the child including increased anxiety, insecurity, aggression and insecure parent-child relationships. 11. Isabella, R.A., & Belsky, J. (1985). Marital change during the transition to parenthood and security of infant-parent attachment. Journal of Family Issue, 6, 505-522. This study focuses on examining the impact of marital change during the transition to parenthood and its impact on the infant-parent attachment. In order to achieve the desired objective this study explores and includes observations from historical longitudinal studies aimed at exploring the relationship and impact of family development on the infant-caregiver attachment relationship. It carries out a study on a group of families segregated based on their level of attachment security over a period of one year and the patterns of marital change are observed to explore its implications on the security of infant-caregiver attachment. The results indicated that mothers with secure infant-caregiver attachment experienced a positive marital relationship as compared to those with insecure infant-caregiver attachments. 12. Johnson, A. (2008). Promoting maternal confidence in the NICU. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 22(4), 254-257. This study aims at exploring the impact of maternal confidence on infant-caregiver attachment. It particularly explores the impact of premature and critically ill infants receiving care at the intensive care unit and the manner in which their health status affects their attachment behavior with their mothers. The study concludes that in case of infants who are temporarily separated from their mothers, due to their ill health, their attachment behavior with their primary caregivers / mothers, depend directly on the type and extent of support received by the mothers from the intensive care units. The support received by the mothers play a key role in boosting or negatively affecting their maternal confidence, which in turn have a simultaneous impact on their attachment behavior with their infants. 13. Kearvell, H. & Grant. J. (2010). Getting connected: How nurses can support mother/infant attachment in the neonatal intensive care unit. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27 (3), 75-82. This study was aimed at studying the manner in which the type of neonatal care received by the mothers can affect the infant-caregiver attachment behavior. The study explores the impact of temporary separation of the infant and their primary caregivers due to ill health or hospitalization and its consequences or implications on the attachment behavior of the infants and their mothers. It was observed that hospitalization or ill health of the infant negatively affects the attachment of the mothers and their infants and causes great stress to the mothers. It also strongly affects their bond, which in turn affects their ability to reciprocate emotionally in the long run. However the study also revealed that even despite hospitalization, if the mothers are given ample opportunity to interact with their infants through basic activities which allow the mothers to carry out their maternal roles such as breast feeding and other routine care, it helps in creating feeling of attachment, closeness and encourages mother-infant emotional bonding, which in turn help in positive personality development of the child. The infants who have the opportunity to regularly interact with their mothers during and despite hospitalization are observed to be able to develop positive and trustful relationships with their mothers thus further contributing to the attachment process during infancy. 14. Sagi, A., Koren-Karie, N., Gini, M., Ziv, Y., Joels, T. (2002). Shedding further light on the effects of various types and quality of early childcare on infant-mother attachment relationship: The Haifa study of early child care. Child Development, 73(4), 1166. This study was aimed at examining the effects of various types and quality of early childcare on the infant-mother attachment relationship. It was carried out on a large scale on a sample population comprising of 758 participants in Israel and a range of unique and different combinations of child-care related issues were observed to establish a link between such issues and its impact on infant-mother attachment behavior. Various characteristics of both - the mother as well as the child were observed and studied. The result indicated that infants who were entrusted to care centers had insecure attachment and relationship with their mothers as compared to those who received maternal care or care from a relative. 15. Sumer, H.C & Knight, P.A. (2001). How do people with different attachment styles balance work and family? A personality perspective on work-family linkage. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 653-663. This study aims at emphasizing the significance and importance of infant attachment with their primary caregivers in their long-term development and growth. The authors include a range of studies to indicate the role of infant-caregiver attachment in ensuring healthy socio-emotional development of the child both in the immediate present as well as in the long run. The study posits that positive and secure infant-caregiver relationship results in a higher self-esteem, better and positive relationships with their peers during adulthood, and overall leads a highly satisfactory life. 16. Romona, M., & Walker, L. (2006). A review of nursing interventions to foster becoming a mother. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 35(5), 598- 582. This study was aimed at studying the impact of nursing interventions and its impact on infant-mother attachment relationship. The results revealed that positive and all round care provided to the mothers significantly affected the mother-infant relationship thus indicating that the level and quality of nursing interventions received by the mothers is of crucial significance in ensuring positive infant-mother attachment relationship. 17. Schwerdtfeger, K.L., & Nelson-Goff, B.S. (2007). Intergenerational transmission of trauma: Exploring mother-infant prenatal attachment. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20(1), 39-51. In this study the authors observe and posit that the infant-mother / caregiver attachment behavior is severely affected by any negative incident such as illness or trauma experienced by the caregivers. The authors carried out a series of studies to indicate that caregivers who have a previous experience of trauma prior to giving birth, are likely to pass on the effects to their child affecting their attachment behaviour in the process. These include personal trauma such as childhood abuse, adult abuse, domestic violence or natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods that may have caused a serious physical or emotional injury to the parent /caregiver. The expectant mothers were observed to pass on the effects of their trauma to the child as was observed in a study comprising of a group of 41 expectant mothers. 18. Spitz,R.A. (1965). The first year of life. New York: International Universities Press. This study explores the various factors that contribute in the formation of positive infant-caregiver attachment relationships. The authors posit that in order to ensure positive infant-caregiver attachment it is highly imperative for the caregivers to be consistent in their responses toward the infants and react prompt and appropriately to their emotional and physical needs during infancy. Caregivers who indulged in constant and consistent physical contact such as holding, or patting as well as eye-contact with the infants were known to enjoy positive attachment relationship with their infants than those who suffered from poor verbal or physical communication. 19. Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Juffer, F. (2005). Disorganized infant attachment and preventative interventions: A review and meta-analysis. Infant Mental Health Journal, 26(3), 191-216. This study focuses on the disorganized infant attachment and its impact on the long-term development of the child. It aims at studying and exploring the various alternatives and intervention measures that can be adopted to prevent such attachment disorganization among the infants. The results indicated that sensitivity focused interventions are known to positively affect disorganized infant relationships and influence the positive development of the child in the long run. 20. Belsky, J., & Fearon, R. M. P. (2002). Infant-mother attachment security, contextual risk, and early development: A moderational analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 293-310. This study is aimed at studying the infant-mother attachment security, the contextual risks involved, and the impact on early development of the child. In order to achieve the study objectives, the authors carried out a study on a group of infants ranged between 15 to 36 months of age, and observed their interactions with their mothers / primary caregivers. The results indicated that early infant-mother attachment plays a key role in positive socio-emotional development of the child and hence it is highly imperative for the mothers to develop positive attachment with their infants during their early years. Early infant-mother attachment is known to result in improved cognitive development, reduce their vulnerability to contextual risks in adulthood and reduce insecurity in relationships. Read More