Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T23:15:38.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quality of attachment in the preschool years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Patricia M. Crittenden
Patricia M. Crittenden
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This is a theoretical paper about differences in quality of attachment in preschool-aged children with emphasis on the development of the goal-corrected partnership. Inferences are made about the processes underlying preschoolers' attachment behavior. Specifically, the notion of quality of attachment is expanded to explicitly include strategy, regulation of affect, negotiation, secure base behavior, and response to maternal behavior. The classificatory system is expanded by adding two additional defended patterns, that is, compulsive caregiving and compulsive compliance, to the infant avoidant pattern. Furthermore, at the preschool age, the infant ambivalent pattern is identified as having a coercive strategy. In addition, the disorganized infant category is reconceptualized in terms of complex organization, reorganization, and disorganization. Finally, the process of generating new theories and hypotheses through a “participant observer” methodology is considered from the perspective of developmental psychopathology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 209 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1967). Infancy in Uganda: Infant care and the growth of love. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1979). Infant-mother attachment. American Psychologist, 34, 932–937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1984, April). Attachment, adaptation, and continuity. Paper presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, New York City.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1985). Patterns of infant-mother attachment: Antecedents and effects on development. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 61, 771–791.Google ScholarPubMed
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1990). Epilogue: Some considerations relevant to theory and assessment regarding attachment beyond infancy. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 463–488). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to personality development. American Psychologist, 46, 333–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belsky, J., Rovine, M., & Taylor, D. G. (1984). The Pennsylvania Development Project, III: The origins of individual differences in mother-infant attachment: Maternal and infant contributions. Child Development, 55, 719–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss. Vol. 2: Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss. Vol. 3: Loss. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1990). Open communication and internal working models: Their role in the development of attachment relationships. In Thompson, R. A. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on motivation: Socio-emotional development (pp. 57–113). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1991). Pouring new wine into old bottles: The social self as internal working model. In Gunnar, M. & Sroufe, L. A. (Eds.), Selfprocesses and development: The Minnesota Symposia on Child Development (pp. 1–41). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (in press). Theoretical contributions from developmental psychology to the development of family theory. In Boss, P., Doherty, W., Larossa, R., Schumm, W., & Steinmetz, S. (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The experimental ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campos, J. J., Campos, R. G., & Barrett, K. C. (1989). Emergent themes in the study of emotional development and emotion regulation. Developmental Psychology, 25, 394–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J., & Marvin, R. S., with the Working Group of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on the Transition from Infancy to Early Childhood. (1991). Attachment organization in three-and four-year olds: Coding guidelines. Unpublished manuscript, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D. (1990). The organization and coherence of socioemotional, cognitive and representational development: Illustrations through a developmental psychopathology perspective on Down syndrome and child maltreatment. In Thompson, R. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Vol. 36: Socioemotional development (pp. 259–366). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Cummings, E. M., Greenberg, M., & Marvin, R. (1990). An organizational perspective on attachment beyond infancy: Implications for theory, measurement, and research. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschoolyears: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 3–49). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Ganiban, J., & Barnett, D. (1991). Contributions fromthe study ofhigh risk populations to understanding the development of emotion regulation. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 15–48). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Greenberg, M. (Eds.). (1991). Attachment and developmental psychopathology [Special issue]. Development and Psychopathology, 3(4).Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Schneider-Rosen, K. (1986). An organizational approach to childhood depression. In Rutter, M., Izard, C., & Read, P. (Eds.), Depression in youngpeople (pp. 71–134). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. (1991). The making of a developmental psychopathologist. In Cantor, J., Spieker, C., & Lipsitt, L. (Eds.), Child behavior and development: Training for diversity (pp. 34–72). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1984). Sibling interaction: Evidence of a generational effect in maltreating families. International Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, 8, 433–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1985a). Maltreated infants: Vulnerability and resilience. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 85–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crittenden, P. M. (1985b). Social networks, quality of parenting, and child development. Child Development, 56, 1299–1313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1987). Non-organic failure-to-thrive: Deprivation or distortion? Infant Mental Health Journal, 8, 56–64.3.0.CO;2-A>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1988a). Distorted patterns of relationship in maltreating families: The role of internal representational models. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 6, 183–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1988b). Family and dyadic patterns of functioning in maltreating families. In Browne, K., Davies, C., & Stratton, P. (Eds.), Early predict ion and prevention of child abuse (pp. 161–189). London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1988c). Relationships at risk. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), The clinical implications of attachment (pp. 136–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1989). Teaching maltreated childern in the preschool. Topics in Early Childhood Education, 9, 16–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1990). Internal representational models of attachment relationships. Infant Mental Health Journal, 11, 259–277.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1992). Children's strategies for coping with adverse home environments: An interpretation using attachment theory. Child Abuse and Neglect, 16, 329–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crittenden, P. M. (in press). Treatment of child abuse and neglect. Human Systems.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M., & Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1989). Child maltreatment and attachment theory. In Cicchetti, D. & Carlson, V. (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 432–463). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M., & Dilalla, D. (1988). Compulsive compliance: The development of an inhibitory coping strategy in infancy. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 585–599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crittenden, P. M., Partridge, M. F., & Claussen, A. H. (1991). Family patterns of relationship in normative and dysfunctional families. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 491–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, P. M., & Snell, M. E. (1983). Intervention to improve mother-infant interaction. Infant Mental Health Journal, 4, 23–41.3.0.CO;2-X>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, E. M., & Cicchetti, D. (1990). Attachment, depression, and the transmission of depression. In Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment during the pre-school years (pp. 339–372). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1981). Child maltreatment from a sociobiological perspective. New Directions for Child Development, 11, 93–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dilalla, D. L., & Crittenden, P. M. (1990). Dimensions in maltreated children's behavior: A factor analytic approach. Infant Behavior and Development, 13, 439–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egeland, B., & Farber, E. A. (1984). Infant-mother attachment: Factors related to its development and changes over time. Child Development, 55, 735–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, A. (1981). Attachment and early maltreatment. Child Development, 52, 44–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elicker, J., & Sroufe, L. A. (in press). Predicting peer competence and peer relationships in childhood from early parent-child relationships. In Parke, R. & Ladd, G. (Eds.), Family-peer relationships: Modes of linkage. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N., & Masten, A. S. (1986). Stress, competence, and resilience: Common frontiers for therapist and psychopathologist. Behavior Therapy, 17, 500–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelfand, D. M., & Peterson, L. (1985). Child development and psychopathology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. P., & Marvin, R. S. (1982). Reactions of preschool children to an adult stranger: A behavioral systems approach. Child Development, 53, 481–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, M., & Speltz, M. (1988). Attachment and the ontogeny of conduct problems. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 177–218). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Grossmann, K., Fremmer-Bombik, E., Rudolph, J., & Grossmann, K. E. (1987, January). Maternal attachment representations as related to patterns of infant-mother attachment and maternal care during the first year. Paper presented at the Conference on Intrafamilial Relationships, Cambridge, Great Britain.Google Scholar
Hazen, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Development. (1990). [Special issue]. 33(2).Google Scholar
Jean-Gilles, M., & Crittenden, P. M. (1990). Maltreating families: A look at siblings. Family Relations, 39, 323–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobak, R., & Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59, 135–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lieberman, A. F. (1991). Attachment theory and infant-parent psychotherapy: Some conceptual, clinical, and research considerations. In Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. L. (Eds.), Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology, Vol. 3: Models and integration (pp. 261–287). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Lieberman, A. F., & Pawl, J. H. (1988). Infant mental health: A model for service delivery. Journal of Clinical Child Psychiatry, 14, 196–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1991). Patterns of relatedness in maltreated and non-maltreated children: Connections among multiple representational models. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 207–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K., Zoll, D., Connell, D., & Grunebaum, H. (1989). Family deviance and family disruption in childhood: Associations with maternal behavior and infant maltreatment during the first two years of life. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 219–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M. (1981). A voidance in the service of attachment: A working paper. In Immelmann, K., Barlow, G., Petrinovich, L., & Main, M. (Eds.), Behavioral development: The Bielfeld interdisciplinary project (pp. 651–693). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age six: Predictability from infant attachment classifications and stable across a one-month period. Developmental Psychology, 24, 415–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, P. (1990). Lack of resolution of mourning in adulthood and its relationship to infant disorganization: Some speculations regarding causal mechanisms. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In Bretherton, I., & Waters, E. (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research: Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209), 66–104.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1986). Discovery of an insecure disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern: Procedures, findings, and implications for the classification of behavior. In Yogman, M. & Brazelton, T. B. (Eds.), Affective development in infancy (pp. 121–160). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Weston, D. R. (1981). The quality of toddlers' relationship to mother and father: Related to conflict behavior and readiness to establish new relationships. Child Development, 52, 932–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marvin, R. M. (1977). An ethological-cognitive model for the attenuation of mother-child attachment behavior. In Alloway, T. M., Krames, L., & Finer, P. (Eds.), Advances in the study of communication and affect. Vol. 3. The development of social attachments (pp. 25–60). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Marvin, R. S., Marvin, C. N., & Abramovitch, L. A. (1973, April). The development of coy expressions in young children. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Marvin, R. S., & Pianta, R. C. (in press). A relationship-based approach to self-reliance in young children with motor impairments. Infants and Young Children.Google Scholar
Marvin, R. S., & Stewart, R. B. (1990). A family systems framework for the study of attachment. In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 51–86). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McMahon, R. J., & Peters, R. (Eds.). (1985). Childhood disorders: Behavioral developmental approaches. New York: Bruner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Radke-Yarrow, M., Cummings, M., Kuczynski, L., & Chapman, M. (1985). Patterns of attachment in two and three year olds in normal families and families with parental depression. Child Development, 56, 884–893.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. In Perlmutter, M. (Ed.), Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 16, pp. 41–81). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Fleeson, J. (1986). Attachment and the construction of relationships. In Hartup, W. & Rubin, Z. (Eds.), Relationships and development (pp. 51–71). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational construct. Child Development, 48, 1184–1199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tracy, R., & Ainsworth, M. (1981). Maternal affectionate behavior and infant-mother attachment patterns. Child Development, 52, 1341–1343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In Tulving, E. & Donaldson, W. (Eds.), Organization of memory. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (1979). Memory research: What kind of progress? In Nilsson, L. G. (Ed.), Perspectives on memory research: Essays in honor of Uppsala University's 500th anniversary (pp. 19–34). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (1985). How many memory systems are there? American Psychologist, 40, 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar