Early prediction of attachment security: A multivariate approach

This study was designed to explore the possibility that variations in attachment security exhibited by infants in the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 13 months could be predicted from the behavior of mothers and infants in an analogous preseparation, separation and reunion situation at 7 months, when specific attachments begin to emerge. Data obtained on a large sample of 7-month-old infants and their mothers were subjected to factor analyses to identify important variables and interrelationships. Based on these analyses, variables were incorporated into multiple discriminant function analyses of a subsample of infants, with infant attachment classification at 13 months as the criterion. The results suggest that a) attachment security at the end of the first year can be significantly predicted from a brief observation of mother-infant interaction at seven months; b) predictability is influenced by observational context (e.g., preseparation vs reunion); and c) multivariate procedures are useful in detecting relationships and continuities among attachment indices.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24937/1/0000364.pd