Related Experiment Videos
Are insecure-avoidant infants with extensive day-care experience less stressed by and more independent in the strange
1College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802.
Insights
Infants with extensive nonparental care showed more distress and less play during separations than those with less care. This challenges the idea that early daycare reduces infant stress in the Strange Situation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Attachment Theory
- Childcare Research
Background:
- Insecure-avoidant attachment is often linked to extensive infant day-care.
- A hypothesis suggests routine separation may decrease infant stress in the Strange Situation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of extensive nonparental care on infant behavior in the Strange Situation.
- To test whether infants with more day-care experience exhibit less distress during reunions.
Main Methods:
- Compared two groups of 12-month-old infants with insecure-avoidant attachment.
- Assessed behavioral indices during reunion episodes in the Strange Situation.
- Group 1: <20 hours/week nonparental care; Group 2: >=20 hours/week nonparental care.
Main Results:
- Contrary to hypotheses, infants with extensive nonparental care cried more during reunions.
- Infants with more nonparental care engaged in less object play during reunions.
- Findings challenge the notion that early extensive day-care reduces separation distress.
Conclusions:
- Extensive infant day-care may not reduce, but could increase, distress in the Strange Situation for insecure-avoidant infants.
- Results contribute to the ongoing debate on the effects of infant day-care in the U.S.
- Further research is needed to understand the nuanced effects of nonparental care on infant attachment.
Abstract:
In order to test the hypothesis that elevated ratings of avoidance and classifications of insecure-avoidant attachments of infants with extensive infant day-care histories may be the result of the fact that children with routine experiences of separation are less stressed by, and more independent in, the Strange Situation than more traditionally reared infants, 2 groups of 12-month-old infants with insecure-avoidant attachments were compared on 2 behavioral indices in each reunion-with-mother episode of the Strange Situation. 9 infants experienced less than 20 hours per week of nonparental care in their first year, and 11 infants experienced 20 or more hours of care. Contrary to propositions advanced by Clarke-Stewart, Thompson, and others, insecure-avoidant infants with extensive nonparental care experience whimpered, fussed, and cried more and engaged in object play less in each reunion episode than their insecure-avoidant counterparts with less nonparental care experience. These results are discussed in terms of the recent controversy surrounding infant day-care in the United States.