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The Infant-Mother Relationship: an Examination of the Antecedents of Attachment Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1985 The Infant-Mother Relationship: An Examination of the Antecedents of Attachment Janice M. Kowalski Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Kowalski, Janice M., "The Infant-Mother Relationship: An Examination of the Antecedents of Attachment" (1985). Dissertations. 2389. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2389 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1985 Janice M. Kowalski x THE INFANT-MOTHER RELATIONSHIP: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ANTECEDENTS OF ATTACHMENT by Janice M. Kowalski A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 1985 CS) 1985, Janice M. Kowalski ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A dissertation may be thought of as the culmination of one's postgraduate studies. It signifies a great personal and professional achievement to which family, friends, and colleagues have made many important contributions. I would like to extend my appreciation to these people who have influenced me throughout these years. Their collective love, wisdom, and support will never be forgotten. First and foremost, I would like to thank Deborah L. Holmes, Ph.D., who served as the director for this dissertation. Dr. Holmes has been both a mentor and friend throughout my graduate studies and has influenced my development in many ways. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation for both the academic and emotional support she provided during the course of this research project. I would also like to thank Carol G. Harding, Ph.D., and Jill N. Reich, Ph.D., for their assistance as committee members for this dissertation. Their incisive comments and thought-provoking questions contributed significantly to this project. I would also like to extend my thanks to Nancy A. Ruble with whom I worked throughout all phases of this project. I am also indebted to Frank L. Slaymaker, Ph.D., for his generous contributions to the sta­ tistical analyses of the data as well as his connnents on the first draft of this paper. There have been many friends and professional colleagues who have contributed to my professional development and I would like to ii express my gratitude to them. In particular, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to James E. Johnson, Ph.D., and Thomas P. Petzel, Ph.D., who were both instrumental to my ent.ering the field of clinical psychology. I would also like to thank Paula M. Gorlitz, Ph.D., who has provided me with much support and wisdom throughout the last year. Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and love to Edward D. Rossini, Ph.D. His love, encouragement, and support throughout the course of this project, though not always acknowledged at the time, shall never be forgotten. Ed, this one's for you! iii VITA The author, Janice M. Kowalski, is the daughter of Joseph G. and Helen Kowalski. She was born July 6, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois. Her elementary education was obtained in St. Camillus School in Chicago. Secondary education was obtained at Mount Assisi Academy, Lemont, Illinois, where she graduated in June, 1974. In September, 1974, she entered Loyola University of Chicago, and in June, 1978, received the degree of Bachelor of Science, sunnna cum laude, with a major in psychology. While attending Loyola Univer­ sity of Chicago, she was elected to Psi Chi, the national honor fraternity in psychology, in 1976. In September, 1978, she entered the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Loyola University of Chicago. She has worked as a re­ search assistant in the Psychology Department of Loyola University (1978-1979) and with the Adolescent Program at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute (1979-1980). In September of 1979, she was awarded an United States Public Health Fellowship. Her clinical training has included a clerkship at the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital and a clinical externship at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. She also completed a two-year internship at the Charles I. Doyle Center and Day School. An APA-approved internship in clinical child psychology was completed at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in June, 1984. Currently, she is working as a Fellow in the iv Department of Pediatrics, Division of Behavioral Sciences, at Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred in January, 1984. Previous research includes a publication she co-authored entitled "Behavior of depressed subjects in problem-solving groups" which appeared in the Journal of Research in Personality in 1981. She has also co-authored a paper entitled "Predicting quality of attachment at one year from neonatal characteristics" which was presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies in 1984. Professional affiliations include membership in the American Psychological Association and the Illinois Psychological Association. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • . ii VITA . • . • iv LIST OF TABLES viii CONTENTS FOR APPENDICES ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE . 4 Assessing Infant-Mother Attachment: The Stange Situation . • • • • • • • • • • • 13 Developmental Consequences of Attachment • • • • • 23 Statement of Problem and Hypotheses • • • • • • • 32 III. METHOD .••• 37 Subjects • 37 Procedure 39 Assessment Measures 44 IV. RESULTS 54 Subject Characteristics 54 Factor Analyses 57 Regression Analyses 64 V. DISCUSSION • 69 VI. SUMMARY 84 REFERENCES 87 APPENDIX A 94 APPENDIX B 96 vi Page APPENDIX C 98 APPENDIX D 101 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Neonatal Characteristics of Infant Sample 40 2. Characteristics of Maternal Sample 42 3. Means, Standard Deviations, and t-Tests by High- Versus Low-Risk Infant Groups . • • • • • • • • • • • 56 4. Means, Standard Deviations, and t-Tests by High- Versus Low-Risk Maternal Groups . 58 5. Factor Analysis of the Infant Variables . 60 6. Factor Analysis of the Maternal Variables . 63 viii CONTENTS FOR APPENDICES Page APPENDIX A Parental Perception Questionnaire • 95 APPENDIX B Summary of Episode Instructions for Infant-Mother Interactional Sequence . • • • • • • • • • 97 APPENDIX C Summary of Episodes of the Strange Situation 99 APPENDIX D Criteria for Group and Subgroup Classification of Infant Behavior in the Strange Situation • • . • . 102 ix x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The examination of the relationship between early childhood experience and later developmental outcomes has long dominated both the theory and research in the study of human development (Kagan, 1979; Rutter, 1982). Because of the extended biological and psycho­ logical dependence of the human infant upon his/her primary caretaker, who is typically the biological mother, it has been suggested that the quality of the earliest interactions between the infant and his/her mother plays an important role in organizing the child's perceptions of the world and mediating his/her experience with the gradually expanding environment (Brazelton, Koslowski, & Main, 1974). Attachment theory, originally proposed by Bowlby (1958, 1969, 1982) and extended by Ainsworth (1973, 1979, 1984; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), has provided the single most comprehensive framework for the study of early human social development (Campos, Barrett, Lamb, Goldsmith, 1983; Joffe & Vaughn, 1982). According to this view, attachment is defined as an enduring affectional tie between the child and the mother, which originates in the early infant-mother interactions, and facilitates the child's subsequent development in the cognitive, social, and emotional domains (Ainsworth, 1984; Ainsworth et al., 1978; Joffe & Vaughn, 1983). In particular, 1 2 contemporary research in the area has argued persuasively for the position that the quality of the infant-mother attachment relationship is strongly associated with the quality of the child's subsequent developmental functioning (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bretherton, 1985; Joffe & Vaughn, 1982). Given the nature of this proposed relation­ ship between quality of attachment and later cognitive and social­ emotional functioning, it becomes imperative to delineate the antece­ dents of a secure affectional bond between child and mother. However, research attempting to specify the antecedents of the infant-mother attachment relationship has lagged significantly behind efforts to empirically demonstrate the relationship between quality of attachment and a variety of important developmental outcomes (Antonucci & Leav­ itt, 1984). Part of this striking discrepancy is due to the complex matter under investigation. Early patterns of interaction between the infant and his/her mother are characterized by continual change and mutual adaptation. Accurate assessments of the dynamic nature of the interactive processes which have occurred between the child and the mother were difficult to obtain. However, recent advance­ ments in both developmental theory and research methodology have rendered this complex phenomenum more amenable to study. As a result, contemporary
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