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Infant Irritability, Mother Responsiveness, and Social Support Influences on the Security of Infant-Mother Attachment
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of infant irritability, maternal responsiveness, and social support on the development of secure and anxious infant-mother attachments at 1 year. Infant irritability was assessed during the neonatal period using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, maternal responsiveness to crying was measured during observations at 3 months, and social support was based on interviews also conducted at 3 months. Security of attachment measures were derived from strange-situation videotapes. Results indicate that social support is the best predictor of secure attachment, and that it is most important for mothers with irritable babies. Maternal unresponsiveness is associated with resistance during reunion episodes and appears to be a mechanism through which anxious attachment develops. Some evidence suggests that social support may mitigate the effects of unresponsive mothering by providing the infant with a responsive substitute. Results are discussed in terms of a transactional/contextual model of development.
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“Two reports by Crockenberg (1981) and van den Boom (1994) that highly irritable infants tend to receive less sensitive care and are at greater risk for developing insecure relationships to their caregiver were especially compelling in this regard.”
From Infant and parent factors associated with early maternal sensitivity: A caregiver-attachment systems approach (2007) · cites this paper as Crockenberg (1981)
In the citing paper
“Their findings suggest that sensitive parenting might be challenged and reduced by infant negativity, but enhanced when the child positively stimulates the mother and responds to her bids for interaction”
From Infant and parent factors associated with early maternal sensitivity: A caregiver-attachment systems approach (2007) · cites this paper as Crockenberg (1981)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Crockenberg, S. B.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Crockenberg, Susan B.
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1981-09
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 857
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1993089994
- Cited by
- 777
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 29.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Health and Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- infant irritability, maternal responsiveness, social support, infant-mother attachment, secure attachment, attachment anxiety, neonatal crying, Strange Situation Procedure, transactional model of development
- MeSH terms
- Crying, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Male, Mother-Child Relations, Object Attachment, Personality, Social Behavior, Social Environment
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