Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-2pp2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T14:20:41.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Forming attachments in foster care: Infant attachment behaviors during the first 2 months of placement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

K. CHASE STOVALL–McCLOUGH  and
MARY DOZIER
K. CHASE STOVALL–McCLOUGH
Affiliation:
New York University School of Medicine
MARY DOZIER
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigated the development of attachment relationships in 38 foster infant–caregiver dyads over the first 2 months of placement. We used the Parent Attachment Diary to measure foster infants' daily attachment behaviors, the Adult Attachment Interview to examine foster parents' attachment states of mind, and Ainsworth's Strange Situation to capture attachment classifications. We examined differences in diary scales (secure, avoidant, resistant, and coherence) as they related to age at placement and foster parent attachment, using hierarchical linear modeling and analyses of variance. The results indicated infants with autonomous foster parents and infants placed at younger ages showed higher early and overall levels of secure behavior, less avoidant behavior, and more coherent attachment strategies compared to infants placed with nonautonomous foster parents. Changes in attachment behaviors over time were not predicted by the models; however, there was a significant decrease in the daily coherence of attachment behaviors associated with Strange Situation disorganization. Finally, we found significant concordance between the diary and Strange Situation scales for secure and avoidant behaviors.This research is part of an ongoing study of infants in foster care conducted at the University of Delaware in collaboration with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services and Delaware Department of Family Services. This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R0152135) to the second author. We acknowledge the help of Kathleen Albus and Brady Bates with this project. Thanks are also due to Doris Loftin, Beverly Williams, and Gerri Robinson of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, as well as John Bates, Darlene Lantz, and Kathy Way of the Delaware Division of Children, Youth, and Their Families. Our deepest gratitude is expressed to the caseworkers, foster families, and children at both agencies.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 253 - 271
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
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.
Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Eichberg, C. G. (1991). Effects on infant–mother attachment of mother's unresolved loss of an attachment figure or other traumatic experience. In P. Marris, J. Stevenson–Hinde, & C. Parkes (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 160–183). New York: Routledge.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss, sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models in social and behavioral research: Applications and data analysis methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Burlingham, D., & Freud, A. (1942). Young children in wartime. London: Allen & Unwin.
Burlingham, D., & Freud, A. (1944). Infants without families. London: Allen & Unwin.
Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships in maltreated infants. Developmental Psychology 25, 525–531.Google Scholar
Chisholm, K., & Ames, E. W. (1995). A follow-up study of attachment security and indiscriminately friendly behavior in Romanian adoptees. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN.
Chisholm, K., Carter, M. C., Ames, E. W., & Morison, S. J. (1995). Attachment security and indiscriminately friendly behavior in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Development and Psychopathology 7, 283–294.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. M. (1985). Maltreated infants: Vulnerability and resilience. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 26, 85–96.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1994). Effects of physical maltreatment on the development of social relations. Development and Psychopathology 6, 43–55.Google Scholar
Dozier, M., & Stovall, K. C. (1997). Parent Attachment Diary. Unpublished manuscript, University of Delaware.
Dozier, M., Stovall, K. C., Albus, K. E., & Bates, B. (2001). Attachment for infants in foster care: The role of caregiver state of mind. Child Development 72, 1467–1477.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (1981). Developmental sequelae of maltreatment in infancy. In R. Rizley & D. Cicchetti (Eds.), Developmental perspectives in maltreatment (pp. 77–92). San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1996). Adult Attachment Interview (3rd ed.). University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychology.
Giovannoni, J. (1989). Definitional issues in child maltreatment. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 3–37). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Grossmann, K., Fremmer–Bombik, E., Rudolph, J., & Grossmann, K. E. (1988). Maternal attachment representations as related to patterns of infant–mother attachment and maternal care during the first year. In R. A. Hinde & J. Stevenson–Hinde (Eds.), Relations between relationships within families (pp. 241–260). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Gunnar, M. R., Schuder, M., Morison, S. J., Ames, El W., & Fisher, L. (1999). Stress hormone levels in adopted Romanian children: Associations with long-term institutionalization and cognitive impairment. In M. Dozier (Chair), The continuum of caregiving deprivation: Effects on psychophysiological, emotional, and cognitive functioning. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.
Heinicke, C. (1956). Some effects of separating two-year-old children from their parents: A comparative study. Human Relations 9, 105–176.Google Scholar
Hinde, R., & Spencer–Booth, Y. (1971). Effects of brief separation from mother on rhesus monkeys. Science 173, 111–118.Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A., & Davies, L. (1972). Removing infant rhesus from mother for 13 days compared with removing mother from infant. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 13, 227–237.Google Scholar
Levine, L., Coe, C. L., Smotherman, W. P., & Kaplan, J. N. (1978). Prolonged cortisol elevation in the infant squirrel monkey after reunion with mother. Physiology and Behavior 20, 7–10.Google Scholar
Levine, L., Wiener, S. G., & Coe, C. L. (1993). Temporal and social factors influencing behavioral and hormonal responses to separation in mother and infant squirrel monkeys. Psychoneuroendocrinology 18, 297–306.Google Scholar
Levine, L. V., Tuber, S. B., Slade, A., & Ward, M. J. (1991). Mothers mental representations and their relationship to mother–infant attachment. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 55, 454–469.Google Scholar
Lyons–Ruth, K., Bronfman, E., & Parsons, E. (1999). Maternal frightened, frightening, or atypical behavior and disorganized infant attachment patterns. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 64, 67–96.Google Scholar
Lyons–Ruth, K., Connell, D., Zoll, D., & Stahl, J. (1987). Infants at social risk: Relations among infant maltreatment, maternal behavior and infant attachment behavior. Developmental Psychology 23, 223–232.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1984–1998). Adult attachment scoring and classification systems. Unpublished manuscripts, University of California at Berkeley.
Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1988). Interview-based adult attachment classifications: Related to infant–mother and infant–father attachment. Unpublished manuscript.
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 121–160). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mendoza, S. P., Smotherman, W. P., Miner, M. T., Kaplan, J., & Levine, S. (1978). Pituitary–adrenal response to separation in mother and infant squirrel monkeys. Developmental Psychobiology 11, 169–175.Google Scholar
O'Conner, T. G., Marvin, R. S., Rutter, M., Olrick, J. T., & Britner, P. A. (2003). Attachment following early institutional deprivation. Development and Psychopathology 15, 19–38.Google Scholar
Pilowsky, D. (1995). Psychopathology among children placed in family foster care. Psychiatric Services 46, 906–910.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.Google Scholar
Robertson, J. (1953). Some responses of young children to loss of maternal care. Nursing Care 49, 382–386.Google Scholar
Robertson, J. (1958). Film: Going to hospital with mother. New York: New York University Film Library.
Robertson, J., & Bowlby, J. (1952). Responses of young children to separation from their mothers. Courrier du Centre Internationale de l'Enfance 2, 131–142.Google Scholar
Robertson, J., & Robertson, J. (1971). Young children in brief separation: A fresh look. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 26, 264–315.Google Scholar
Sameroff, A. (1975). Transactional models in early social relations. Human Development 18, 65–79.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H. R. (1958). Objective observations of personality development in early infancy. British Journal of Medical Psychology 31, 174–183.Google 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.Google Scholar
Seay, B., Hansen, E., & Harlow, H. F. (1962). Mother–infant separation in monkeys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 3, 123–132.Google Scholar
Shore, N., Sim, K. E., Le Prohn, N. S., & Keller, T. E. (2002). Foster parent and teacher assessments of youth in kinship and non-kinship foster care placements: Are behaviors perceived differently across settings? Children & Youth Services Review 24, 109–134.Google Scholar
Singh, M. E. (1975). Mother–infant separation of young monkeys in a free-ranging natural environment. Primates 18, 205–214.Google Scholar
Spencer–Booth, Y., & Hinde, R. A. (1971). Effects of brief separations from mothers during infancy on behavior of rhesus monkeys 6–24 months later. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 12, 157–172.Google Scholar
Spieker, S. J., & Booth, C. L. (1988). Maternal antecedents of attachment quality. In J. Belsky & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 136–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spitz, R. A. (1946). Hospitalism: A follow-up report. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 2, 113–117.Google Scholar
Spitz, R. A., & Wolf, K. M. (1946). The smiling response: A contribution to the ontogenesis of social relations. Genetic Psychology Monographs 34, 57–125.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1988). The role of infant–caregiver attachment in development. In J. Belsky & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 18–38). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Stovall, K. C., & Dozier, M. (2000). The development of attachment in new relationships: Single subject analyses for ten foster infants. Development and Psychopathology 12, 133–156.Google Scholar
Suomi, S. J., Collins, M. L., & Harlow, H. F. (1976). Effect of maternal and peer separation on young monkeys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 17, 101–112.Google Scholar
Taussig, H. N., & Litrownik, A. J. (1997). Self- and other-directed destructive behaviors: Assessment and relationship to type of abuse. Child Maltreatment: Journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children 2, 172–182.Google Scholar
True, M., Pisani, L., & Oumar, F. (2001). Infant–mother attachment among the Dogon in Mali. Child Development 75, 1451–1466.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, C., & Dozier, M. (1999). Foster parents' understanding of children's problematic attachment strategies: The need for therapeutic responsiveness. Adoption Quarterly 2, 49–64.Google Scholar
van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment Interview. Psychological Bulletin 117, 387–403.Google Scholar
van IJzendoorn, M. H., Kranenburg, M. J., Zwart–Woudstra, H. A., Van Busschbach, A. M., & Lambermon, M. W. E. (1991). Parental attachment and children's socio-emotional development: Some findings on the validity of the Adult Attachment Interview in The Netherlands. International Journal of Behavioral Development 14, 375–394.Google Scholar
Waters, E., & Deane, K. E. (1985). Defining and assessing individual differences in attachment relationships: Q-methodology and the organization of behavior in infancy and early childhood. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, ( 1–2, Serial No. 209).Google Scholar
Yarrow, L. J., & Goodwin, M. S. (1973). The immediate impact of separation: Reactions of infants to a change in mother figure. In L. J. Stone, H. T. Smith, & L. B. Murphy (Eds.), The competent infant: Research and commentary (pp. 1032–1040). New York: Basic Books.