Representations of attachment in mothers and their one-year-old infants.

Attachment classifications in mothers and their 1-year-old infants were independently and concurrently assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure. Overall concordance was significant (k = 0.62), with strong links apparent between mothers classified dismissing and infants classified avoidant and between mothers classified autonomous and infants classified secure. Mothers' classified preoccupied were not more likely to have infants classified resistant. Mothers' perceptions and interpretations of the emotional distress of an infant observed in a 4-minute videotape were related to both infant and mother attachment classifications. These results are compatible with the suggestion that attachment classification reflect differences in internal working models of relationships. Other measures of maternal psychosocial adjustment were not related to infant attachment classifications.

When infants look to their parents: I. Infants' social referencing of mothers compared to fathers.

12-month-olds were seen with their mothers and fathers in a laboratory procedure designed to compare infants' solicitation of, emotional resonance to, and self-regulation on the basis of happy, fearful, and conflicting emotional signals from mothers versus fathers. Measures of positive and negative affect and affect lability; of look, approach, and proximity behavior; and of overall response pattern were obtained. Infants showed more positive and less negative affect and greater toy proximity with happy compared to fearful signals. Few differences emerged in infants' referencing response to mothers versus fathers. Infants looked more to mothers than fathers when no signals were given but did not differentiate between parents when only one was signaling or when both were signaling (conflict). In affective state and behavioral regulation, they were not differentially responsive to maternal versus paternal signals either when only one parent was signaling or when both were giving signals.