Caregiving, Cultural, and Cognitive Perspectives on Secure-Base Behavior and Working Models

The attachment bond that develops between infant and mother is the first of many intimate relationships we form throughout life, and as such it has been the focus of much research. But how does the quality of the secure base phenomena that defines this bond vary among individuals and across cultures? What methods can be used to asses its presence and characteristics?

Following an interview with Mary S. Ainsworth, the originator of the concept of secure base, this new Monograph brings together eleven papers that consolidate our understanding of the empirical advances that have occurred in attachment research. The collection is organized into three sections. Part One includes papers on the generalizability of attachment theory and data, including cross-cultural research. Part Two addresses both normative and individual differences among mothers, children, caregivers, and their interactions—and methods for the valid assessment of these. Part Three examines the mental representations that children use to depict their different attachment relationships. Together these papers will stimulate child development specialists and students to explore different assessment methods and to move beyond current understandings of attachment.

Editors' Introduction ix

PART 1: ON THE SHAPING OF ATTACHMENT THEORY AND RESEARCH

On the Shaping of Attachment Theory and Research: An Interview with Mary D. S. Ainsworth (Fall 1994)
Mary D. S. Ainsworth and Robert S. Marvin

PART 2: THE GENERALITY OF SECURE-BASE BEHAVIOR AND SECURE-BASE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Introduction to PART 2 25

The Secure-Base Phenomenon Across Cultures: Children's Behavior, Mothers' Preferences, and Experts' Concepts 27

A Quantitative Approach to the Description and Classification of Primary Social Relationships 49

Attachments in a Multiple-Caregiver and Multiple-Infant Environment: The Case of the Israeli Kibbutzim 71

PART 3: CONCURRENT MATERNAL SUPPORT FOR SECURE-BASE BEHAVIOR Introduction to Part 3 95

Maternal Behavior and Infant Security in Old World Monkeys: Conceptual Issues and a Methodological Bridge between Human and Nonhuman Primate Research 97

A Categorical Description of Infant-Mother Relationships in the Home and Its Relation to Q-Sort Measures of Infant-Mother Interaction 111

Is It Easier to Use a Secure Mother as a Secure Base? Attachment Q-Sort Correlates of the Adult Attachment Interview 133

The Role of Parenting Sensitivity, Infant Temperament, and Dyadic Interaction in Attachment Theory and Assessment 146

PART 4: LINKING SECURE-BASE PHENOMENA TO ATTACHMENT REPRESENTATION

Introduction to Part 4 177

Attachment Security, Affect Regulation, and Defensive Responses to Mood Induction 179

Narrative Processes and Attachment Representations: Issues of Development and Assessment 197

The Prototype Hypothesis and The Origins of Attachment Working Models: Adult Relationships with Parents and Romantic Partners 216

Appendix A: The Attachment Q-Set (Version 3.0) 234

Appendix B: Maternal Behavior Q-Set 247

Appendix C: Background and Sorting Instructions for The Attachment Q-Set for Infant Macaques and the Maternal Q-Set for Macaques 255

Appendix D: Scoring Key for Q-Sort Criteria and Derived Scales in the Attachment Q-Set and the Attachment Q-Set for Infant Macaques Item Sets 280

References 283

Commentary

Expanding the Study of the Formation of the Child's Relationships 300

A Communication Perspective on Attachment Relationships and Internal Working Models 310
Inge Bretherton

Contributors 330

Statement of Editorial Policy 336

Everett Waters earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota in 1977. He is engaged in a wide range of research on attachment.