Patterns of attachment in early infancy in normative samples, alternative caregiving systems, and high risk infants
Felipe Lecannelier1, Germán Monje2, Humberto Guajardo1
1Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Insights
Attachment styles in Chilean children vary significantly by care type. Secure attachment was most common in normative families, while high-risk and alternative care settings showed higher rates of insecure attachment.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Science
- Attachment Theory
Background:
- Early attachment is crucial for mental and physical health.
- Limited data exists on attachment styles in Chilean children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the distribution of attachment styles in Chilean children across different care environments.
- To investigate attachment system functioning in diverse populations.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective descriptive study of 714 mother-child pairs (1-36 months).
- Utilized Strange Situation Procedure, Attachment during Stress Scale (ADS), and Student-Teacher Relationship Scale.
- Samples included normative families, nursery/kindergarten attendees, and children in alternative care settings.
Main Results:
- Normative samples: 70% secure, 30% insecure attachment.
- Alternative care: 48.5% secure, 51.5% insecure attachment.
- High-risk samples: 39.6% secure, 60.4% insecure; and 25% secure, 75% insecure attachment.
Conclusions:
- Attachment distributions reveal disparities in early social-emotional development in Chile.
- Findings highlight the need for interventions addressing attachment in diverse care settings.
- Provides foundational data on child attachment in a Chilean context.
Introduction:
Scientific evidence gathered over the last decades has demonstrated that early attachment is a vital process for the understanding, prevention, and intervention of people's mental and physical health. However, information about the attachment system functioning in Chile is scarce.
Objective:
To des cribe attachment styles distribution in populations of children under different types of care.
Subjects And Method:
Through a retrospective descriptive method, 714 mother-child pairs (1 to 36 months- old) selected at random and purposefully, were assessed using the Strange Situation Procedure, Atta chment during Stress Scale (ADS), and Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. The samples were collec ted from randomly selected normative families, infants attending JUNJI nurseries and kindergartens, and infants from CONIN centers and who live in prison with their mothers.
Results:
The samples from six studies show the spectrum of the attachment system functioning in diverse conditions: 70% secure and 30% insecure, and 51.1% secure and 48.9% insecure in normative samples; 48.5% secure and 51.5% in secure in alternative care; 39.6% secure and 60.4% insecure, and 25% secure and 75% in secure styles in high-risk samples.
Conclusion:
the study presents interesting evidence on the atta chment distributions in childhood, which allow reflecting on the uneven Chilean reality with regard to early social and emotional development.
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