Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T09:54:10.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Very extensive nonmaternal care predicts mother–infant attachment disorganization: Convergent evidence from two samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2014

Nancy L. Hazen ,
Sydnye D. Allen ,
Caroline Heaton Christopher ,
Tomotaka Umemura  and
Deborah B. Jacobvitz
Nancy L. Hazen*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin
Sydnye D. Allen
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University
Caroline Heaton Christopher
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Tomotaka Umemura
Affiliation:
Masaryk University
Deborah B. Jacobvitz
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nancy L. Hazen, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 108 Dean Keaton Street, Stop A2702, Austin, TX 78712; E-mail: nancyhazen@mail.utexas.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examined whether a maximum threshold of time spent in nonmaternal care exists, beyond which infants have an increased risk of forming a disorganized infant–mother attachment. The hours per week infants spent in nonmaternal care at 7–8 months were examined as a continuous measure and as a dichotomous threshold (over 40, 50 and 60 hr/week) to predict infant disorganization at 12–15 months. Two different samples (Austin and NICHD) were used to replicate findings and control for critical covariates: mothers' unresolved status and frightening behavior (assessed in the Austin sample, N = 125), quality of nonmaternal caregiving (assessed in the NICHD sample, N = 1,135), and family income and infant temperament (assessed in both samples). Only very extensive hours of nonmaternal care (over 60 hr/week) and mothers' frightening behavior independently predicted attachment disorganization. A polynomial logistic regression performed on the larger NICHD sample indicated that the risk of disorganized attachment exponentially increased after exceeding 60 hr/week. In addition, very extensive hours of nonmaternal care only predicted attachment disorganization after age 6 months (not prior). Findings suggest that during a sensitive period of attachment formation, infants who spend more than 60 hr/week in nonmaternal care may be at an increased risk of forming a disorganized attachment.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 649 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Aviezer, O., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2008). Attachment and non-maternal care: Towards contextualizing the quantity versus quality debate. Attachment and Human Development, 10, 275–285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barglow, P., Vaughn, B. E., & Molitor, N. (1987). Effects of maternal absence due to employment on the quality of infant–mother attachment in a low-risk sample. Child Development, 58, 945–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belsky, J., & Rovine, M. J. (1988). Nonmaternal care in the first year of life and the security of infant–parent attachment. Child Development, 59, 157–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booth, C. L., Clarke-Stewart, K. A., Vandell, D. L., McCartney, K., & Owen, M. T. (2002). Child-care usage and mother–infant “quality time.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 16–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and Loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2010). Parent–child attachment and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical findings and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 177–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carey, W. B., & McDevitt, S. C. (1978). Revision of Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Pediatrics, 61, 735–739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, E. A. (1998). A prospective longitudinal study of attachment disorganization/disorientation. Child Development, 69, 1107–1128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships in maltreated infants. Developmental Psychology, 25, 525–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, R. P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Lapsley, A., & Roisman, G. I. (2010). The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: A meta-analytic study. Child Development, 81, 435–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedman, S. L., & Boyle, D. (2008). Attachment in US children experiencing nonmaternal care in the early 1990s. Attachment and Human Development, 10, 225–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1996). Adult Attachment Interview. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M., (2000). Early adversity and the development of stress reactivity and regulation. In Nelson, C. A. (Ed), The Minnesota symposia on child psychology: The effects of early adversity on neurobehavioral development (Vol. 31, pp. 163–200). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Hazen, N. L., Jacobvitz, D., Higgins, K. N., Allen, S., & Jin, M. (2011). Pathways from disorganized attachment to later social-emotional problems: The role of gender and parent–child interaction patterns. In Solomon, J. & George, C. (Eds.), Disorganized attachment and caregiving (pp. 167–206). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hazen, N. L., McFarland, L., Jacobvitz, D., & Boyd-Soisson, E. (2010). Fathers' frightening behaviors and sensitivity with infants: Relations with fathers' attachment representations, father–infant attachment, and children's later outcomes. Early Child Development and Care, 180, 51–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinicke, C. M., & Westheimer, I. (1966). Brief separations. Oxford: International University Press.Google Scholar
Hesse, E., & Main, M. (2000). Disorganized infant, child, and adult attachment: Collapse in behavioral and attentional strategies. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 48, 1097–1127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobvitz, D., Hazen, N., Zaccagnino, M., Messina, S., & Beverung, L. (2011). Frightening maternal behavior, infant disorganization, and risks for psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Roisman, G. I. (Eds.), The origins and organization of adaptation and maladaptation (pp. 283–322). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D., Leon, K., & Hazen, N. (2006). Does expectant mothers' unresolved trauma predict frightened/frightening maternal behavior? Risk and protective factors. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 363–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kochanska, G., & Kim, S. (2014). Early attachment organization with both parents and future behavior problems: From infancy to middle childhood. Child Development, 84, 283–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kotila, L. E., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Kamp Dush, C. M. (2013). Time in parenting activities in dual-earner families at the transition to parenthood. Family Relations, 62, 795–807.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lamb, M. E., & Sternberg, K. J. (1990). Do we really know how day care affects children? Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 11, 351–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K., Connell, D. B., Zoll, D., & Stahl, J. (1987). Infants at social risk: Relations among infant maltreatment, maternal behavior, and infant attachment behavior. Developmental Psychology, 23, 223–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K., & Jacobvitz, D. (1999). Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 520–554). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., Goldwyn, R., & Hesse, E. (2002). Adult attachment scoring and classification systems. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Psychology.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1992). Frightening, frightened, timid/deferential, dissociated, or disorganized behavior on the part of the parent: Coding system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1986). Discovery of an insecure–disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern. In Brazelton, T. & Yogman, M. W. (Eds.), Affective development in infancy (pp. 95–124). Westport, CT: Ablex.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 121–160). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (1996). Characteristics of infant child care: Factors contributing to positive caregiving. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 11, 269–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (1997). The effects of infant child care on infant–mother attachment security: Results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child Development, 68, 860–879.Google Scholar
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2001). Child care and family predictors of MacArthur preschool attachment and stability from infancy. Developmental Psychology, 37, 847–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, J., & Robertson, J. (1971). Young children in brief separation: A fresh look. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 26, 264–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rothbart, M. K. (1981). Measurement of temperament in infancy. Child Development, 52, 569–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K. (1986). Longitudinal observation of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 22, 356–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. L., & the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team (1998). Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 465–476.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. L., Kreppner, J. M., & O'Connor, T. G. (2001). Specificity and heterogeneity in children's responses to profound institutional privation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 97–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sasaki, T., Hazen, N., & Swann, W. B. (2010). The supermom trap: Involved dads foster marital satisfaction but erode mom's self-esteem. Personal Relationships, 17, 71–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarr, S., Phillips, D., & McCartney, K. (1989). Facts, fantasies, and the future of child care in the United States. Psychological Science, 1, 26–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuengel, C., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1999). Frightening maternal behavior linking unresolved loss and disorganized infant attachment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 54–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, D. S., Keenan, K., Vondra, J. I., Delliquadri, E., & Giovannelli, J. (1997). Pathways leading to internalizing problems from infancy to preschool. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1760–1767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, J., & George, C. (1999). The development of attachment in separated and divorced families: Effects of overnight visitation, parent and couple variables. Attachment and Human Development, 1, 2–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strous, M. (2011). Overnights and overkill: Post-divorce contact for infants and toddlers. South African Journal of Psychology, 41, 196–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, N. W. (2002). The package deal: Marriage, work, and fatherhood in men's lives. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
van IJzendoorn, M. H., Schuengel, C., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (1999). Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 225–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed