Related Experiment Videos
Stress reactivity and attachment security
M R Gunnar1, L Brodersen, M Nachmias
1Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
Insights
Attachment security influences infant physiological responses to stress. Secure attachment buffers the effects of fearful temperament on cortisol levels, while early maternal responsiveness is linked to lower infant cortisol.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Endocrinology
- Attachment Theory
Background:
- Infant attachment security is crucial for socio-emotional development.
- Temperament, particularly fearfulness, can influence stress responses.
- Maternal responsiveness plays a key role in early child development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between infant attachment security, temperament, and physiological stress responses.
- To examine how maternal responsiveness influences cortisol levels and attachment.
- To explore early indicators of attachment and stress reactivity.
Main Methods:
- Assessed attachment security using the Ainsworth Strange Situation at 18 months.
- Measured salivary cortisol, behavioral distress, and maternal responsiveness during clinic visits (2-15 months).
- Classified infants into high-fearful and average-to-low-fearful groups based on parental reports.
Main Results:
- Insecure attachment combined with high fearfulness correlated with higher cortisol responses to stress.
- Attachment security was associated with greater maternal responsiveness and lower baseline cortisol in early infancy.
- Early infant cortisol and behavioral reactivity to inoculations did not predict later attachment.
- Discrepancies between behavioral and hormonal stress responses in early infancy were linked to insecure attachment and lower maternal responsiveness.
Conclusions:
- Attachment security moderates the physiological impact of a fearful temperament.
- Maternal responsiveness in early infancy is linked to secure attachment and lower physiological stress.
- Early infant stress response patterns may offer insights into later attachment, particularly when considering maternal interaction.
Abstract:
Seventy-three 18-month-olds were tested in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. These children were a subset of 83 infants tested at 2, 4, 6, and 15 months during their well-baby examinations with inoculations. Salivary cortisol, behavioral distress, and maternal responsiveness measures obtained during these clinic visits were examined in relation to attachment classifications. In addition, parental report measures of the children's social fearfulness in the 2nd year of life were used to classify the children into high-fearful versus average- to low-fearful groups. In the 2nd year, the combination of high fearfulness and insecure versus secure attachment was associated with higher cortisol responses to both the clinic exam-inoculation situation and the Strange Situation. Thus, attachment security moderates the physiological consequences of fearful, inhibited temperament. Regarding the 2-, 4-, and 6-month data, later attachment security was related to greater maternal responsiveness and lower cortisol baselines. Neither cortisol nor behavioral reactivity to the inoculations predicted later attachment classifications. There was some suggestion, however, that at their 2-month checkup, infants who would later be classified as insecurely attached exhibited larger dissociations between the magnitude of their behavioral and hormonal response to the inoculations. Greater differences between internal (hormonal) and external (crying) responses were also negatively correlated with maternal responsiveness and positively correlated with pretest cortisol levels during these early months of life.