84 ChapTer 3 Development Over the Life Span
their infants or too remote and insensitive.
In turn, their babies were more likely to be
insecurely attached at 18 months (Tomlinson,
Cooper, & Murray, 2005).
• The child’s own genetically influenced tem-
perament. Babies who are fearful and prone to
crying from birth are more likely to show inse-
cure behavior in the Strange Situation, suggest-
ing that their later insecure attachment may
reflect a temperamental predisposition (Gillath
et al., 2008; Seifer et al., 1996). However, an in-
fant’s temperament interacts with the mother’s
degree of responsiveness. When infants with a
genetic variation that creates high emotional
reactivity have particularly responsive mothers,
they are more likely to develop secure attach-
ment (Raby et al., 2012).
• Stressful circumstances in the child’s family.
Infants and young children may temporarily
shift from secure to insecure attachment, be-
coming clingy and fearful of being left alone, if
their families are undergoing a period of stress,
as during parental divorce or a parent’s chronic
illness (Belsky et al., 1996; Mercer, 2006).The bottom line, however, is that infants are
biologically disposed to become attached to their
caregivers. Normal, healthy attachment will occur
within a wide range of cultural, family, and individ-
ual variations in child-rearing customs. Although,
sadly, things can go wrong in prenatal develop-
ment and in the first year after birth, the plasticity
of the brain (see Chapter 4) and human resilience
can often overcome early deprivation or even
harm. We will return to the issue of resilience at
the end of this chapter, and in “Taking Psychology
With You,” we will discuss other information that
might alleviate the anxieties many parents feel
about whether they are doing the right thing.
Watch the Video Ross Thompson: Parent-Child
Attachments (APS Player) at MyPsychLabmother. Likewise, time spent in daycare—10 hours a
week to more than 30—has no effect on the security
of a child’s attachment (NICHD Early Child Care
Research Network, 2006).
What factors, then, do promote insecure
attachment?• Abandonment and deprivation in the first
year or two of life. Institutionalized babies are
more likely than adopted children to have later
problems with attachment, whereas babies ad-
opted before age 1 or 2 eventually become as se-
curely attached as their nonadopted peers (Rutter
et al., 2004; van den Dries et al., 2009).
• Parenting that is abusive, neglectful, or
erratic because the parent is chronically ir-
responsible or clinically depressed. A South
African research team observed 147 mothers
with their 2-month-old infants and followed up
when the babies were 18 months old. Many of
the mothers who had suffered from postpartum
depression became either too intrusive with“Please, Jason. Don’t you want to grow up to be an
autonomous person?”© The New Yorker Collection 1985 Lee Lorenz from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.Recite & Review
Recite: We hope you are feeling secure enough to state out loud what you know about prenatal
development, the major kinds of harmful influences on a fetus, infant abilities, contact comfort,
separation anxiety, secure and insecure attachment, and factors that promote insecure attachment.
Review: Next, reread this section.now take this Quick Quiz:
- Melanie is playing happily on a jungle gym at her daycare center when she falls off and badly
scrapes her knee. She runs to her caregiver for a consoling hug. Melanie seeks __.
Study and Review at MyPsychLab