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Transition to child care: associations with infant–mother attachment, infant negative emotion and cortisol elevations
Abstract
Seventy 15-month-old infants were studied at home before starting child care, during adaptation (mothers present) and separation (first 9 days without mothers) phases, and 5 months later. Security of infant–mother attachment was assessed before and 3 months after child care began. In the separation phase, salivary cortisol rose over the first 60 min following the mothers' departures to levels that were 75% to 100% higher than at home. Compared with insecure infants, secure infants had markedly lower cortisol levels during the adaptation phase and higher fuss and cry levels during the separation phase, and their fuss and cry levels were significantly correlated with their cortisol levels. Attachments remained secure or became secure if mothers spent more days adapting their children to child care.
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“Secure attachment to parents buffers HPA activation (Ahnert et al., 2004; Nachmias et al., 1996)”
From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Ahnert et al., 2004
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“Even if avoidant infants do not react with HPA activation to brief separations (section 4.1), they can still mount intense HPA responses to family conflict, punishment, or even longer separation episodes (as found by Ahnert et al., 2004)”
From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Ahnert et al., 2004
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Ahnert, L., Gunnar, M. R., Lamb, M. E., & Barthel, M.
- Affiliations
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2004-05-01
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 639-650
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2136352610
- Cited by
- 334
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 11.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- infant-mother attachment, attachment security, cortisol, maternal separation, salivary cortisol
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Affect, Child, Child Care, Crying, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Infant, Mother-Child Relations, Object Attachment, Saliva
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