Related Experiment Videos
The relationship between affect and cognition in maltreated infants: quality of attachment and the development of
Insights
Early maternal maltreatment significantly increases insecure infant attachment. Self-recognition in maltreated infants does not correlate with secure attachment, unlike in non-maltreated infants, highlighting developmental impacts.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Attachment Theory
- Child Maltreatment Studies
Background:
- Early childhood maltreatment can negatively impact infant development and attachment.
- Attachment security is crucial for socio-emotional development.
- Self-recognition emerges around 18-24 months and may reflect cognitive and social development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the impact of maternal maltreatment on infant attachment security.
- To investigate the relationship between visual self-recognition and attachment security in maltreated and non-maltreated infants.
- To assess affective responses to self-recognition tasks as an indicator of developmental impact.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Ainsworth and Wittig's Strange Situation procedure to assess attachment.
- Employed the mirror-and-rouge paradigm to evaluate visual self-recognition.
- Observed and analyzed infants' affective responses during the self-recognition task.
Main Results:
- Maltreated infants showed a higher proportion of insecure attachments compared to controls.
- Secure attachment correlated with self-recognition in the overall sample.
- This correlation was absent in maltreated infants; 90% of non-maltreated infants with self-recognition were securely attached.
- Maltreated infants displayed more neutral/negative affect in response to the rouge test.
Conclusions:
- Early maternal maltreatment adversely affects infant attachment security, independent of socioeconomic status.
- Maltreatment disrupts the link between self-recognition and secure attachment, impacting developmental milestones.
- Negative affective responses in maltreated infants suggest broader cognitive and affective development challenges.
Abstract:
37 19-month-old infants, 18 maltreated and 19 matched lower-class comparisons, were seen in Ainsworth and Wittig 's Strange Situation in order to document the impact that early maltreatment by the mother has on the attachment relationship. In addition, these infants were observed in the standard mirror-and- rouge paradigm to investigate the hypothesis that individual differences in the emergence of the capacity for visual self-recognition could be related to qualitative differences in the attachment relationship. Consistent with predictions from attachment theory, maltreated infants were found to manifest a significantly greater proportion of insecure attachments than were nonmaltreated infants. When data for the entire sample of infants were analyzed, it was found that those infants who evidenced visual self-recognition were significantly more likely to be securely attached to their mothers. However, a separate analysis of the maltreated and comparison groups of infants revealed a different pattern of results. 90% of the nonmaltreated infants who recognized themselves were securely attached to their caregivers. In contrast, for those maltreated infants who recognized themselves, there was no significant relationship between this capacity and qualitative differences in the security of attachment. Furthermore, an analysis of the affective responses of the infants to their rough-marked noses revealed that nonmaltreated infants were more likely to show an increase in positive affect following the application of rouge , whereas maltreated infants manifested neutral or negative reactions. These results demonstrate that early maltreatment may have deleterious effects for the infant, independent of those risk factors commonly associated with lower-class membership. In addition, they underscore the impact of maltreatment upon the successful achievement of salient developmental tasks and upon the relationship between affective and cognitive development in the maltreated infant.