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About the association between attachment and temperament at the age of 6 months

Helmut Niederhofer1, Alfons Reiter

  • 1Department of Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Anichstrasse 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria, helmut.niederhofer@uibk.ac.at.

Psychiatria Danubina
|December 30, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Insecure attachment in infants is linked to difficult temperaments. While secure attachment doesn't guarantee an easy temperament, interventions can improve both attachment and child behavior.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychiatry

Background:

  • Mother-child attachment is crucial for early development.
  • Child temperament influences social interactions and emotional regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between mother-child attachment at 6 months and infant temperament.
  • To test the hypothesis that secure attachment correlates with easy temperament and insecure attachment with difficult temperament.

Main Methods:

  • 105 healthy infants (0.5-0.8 months) were assessed.
  • Semi-structured interviews based on Axis II (Zero to Three) and Thomas et al. (1968) guidelines were used.
  • Correlation analysis and Mann-Whitney U-Test were employed for data comparison.

Main Results:

  • Insecure ambivalent attachment showed a strong association with "difficult" and "slow to warm up" temperaments.
  • Secure attachment did not significantly correlate with an "easy" child temperament.
  • Avoidant attachment showed no clear association with temperament factors.

Conclusions:

  • Insecurely attached infants may exhibit temperament disorders, suggesting a potential bidirectional relationship.
  • Attachment-focused interventions could improve infant temperament, potentially making children "easy".
  • Attachment and temperament are distinct behavioral constructs with only a weak association.
Abstract

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