ArticlePublisher preview available

The First 20,000 Strange Situation Procedures: A Meta-Analytic Review

Psychological Bulletin
Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) was developed five decades ago to assess infant–parent attachment relationships. Although the procedure itself has remained relatively constant in over 285 studies (20,720 dyads) conducted to date, there have been vast sociological changes during this time, and research foci shifts to studying diverse populations. Since its inception, the SSP has also been adopted in over 20 countries. In this meta-analysis, we collate this large body of work, with the objectives of producing reliable estimates of the distribution of the four SSP attachment classifications, assessing temporal trends and geographical differences, and determining if and when distributions are different across various populations. Results revealed that the global distribution of SSP attachment was 51.6% secure, 14.7% avoidant, 10.2% resistant, and 23.5% disorganized. There were no differences in the distribution among mothers and fathers, and no child age or sex differences. We found a temporal trend in which there was less avoidant attachment over time and there were attachment distribution differences between samples from North America versus other regions of the world, particularly Asia, Middle East/Israel and South America. We found higher rates of avoidant and disorganized attachment in populations with sociodemographic risks and higher rates of disorganized attachment in samples where parents had psychopathology and when the child experienced maltreatment or was adopted from foster or institutional care. The implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.
The First 20,000 Strange Situation Procedures:
A Meta-Analytic Review
Sheri Madigan
1, 2
, R. M. Pasco Fearon
3
, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn
4, 5
, Robbie Duschinsky
6
,
Carlo Schuengel
7
, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
8
, Anh Ly
1
, Jessica E. Cooke
1, 2
,
Audrey-Ann Deneault
1, 2
, Mirjam Oosterman
7
, and Marije L. Verhage
7
1
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary
2
Alberta Childrens Hospital Research Institute
3
Centre for Family Research, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
4
Research Department of Clinical, Education and Health Psychology, University College London
5
Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University
6
Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge
7
Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
8
Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences, ISPA University
The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) was developed ve decades ago to assess infantparent attachment
relationships. Although the procedure itself has remained relatively constant in over 285 studies (20,720
dyads) conducted to date, there have been vast sociological changes during this time, and research foci shifts
to studying diverse populations. Since its inception, the SSP has also been adopted in over 20 countries. In
this meta-analysis, we collate this large body of work, with the objectives of producing reliable estimates of
the distribution of the four SSP attachment classications, assessing temporal trends and geographical
differences, and determining if and when distributions are different across various populations. Results
revealed that the global distribution of SSP attachment was 51.6% secure, 14.7% avoidant, 10.2% resistant,
and 23.5% disorganized. There were no differences in the distribution among mothers and fathers, and no
child age or sex differences. We found a temporal trend in which there was less avoidant attachment over
time and there were attachment distribution differences between samples from North America versus other
regions of the world, particularly Asia, Middle East/Israel and South America. We found higher rates of
avoidant and disorganized attachment in populations with sociodemographic risks and higher rates of
disorganized attachment in samples where parents had psychopathology and when the child experienced
maltreatment or was adopted from foster or institutional care. The implications of these ndings for future
research and practice are discussed.
Public Signicance Statement
This meta-analysis suggests that, worldwide, one in every two infants develops a secure attachment
relationship with their caregiver. Secure attachment is more likely to develop when fewer stressors are
imposed on the parentinfant dyad.
Keywords: strange situation procedure, infant attachment, parentinfant relationships
Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000388.supp
The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), rst introduced by Ains-
worth and Wittig in 1969, has been one of the most widely used and
relied upon paradigms in child development research over the last
half-century. The SSP is a 21-min observational procedure that
involves two separations and reunions between an infant and their
parent or other caregiver. It assesses individual differences in
attachment behavior by presenting mild cues to danger (i.e., pres-
ence of a stranger; separation from a caregiver) in a seminaturalistic
but standardized context, which are expected to activate the attach-
ment system.These differences in attachment behavior are thought
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Sheri Madigan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7536-3258
The authors Sheri Madigan and R. M. Pasco Fearon share rst authorship.
The authors acknowledge Cheri Nickel, Masters in Library and Informa-
tion Science (University of Calgary), for conducting the literature search for
this project.
Codebooks and scripts relevant to this submission can be found here at
https://osf.io/fr4e5/?view_only=2f1e35e7bebc4d28b12691a9d1a0ece4.The
data approach adopted the hierarchical linear modeling framework for
meta-analysis, in which individual data points are nested within studies.
This review was not preregistered.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sheri
Madigan, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University
Avenue, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada. Email: sheri.madigan@ucalgary.ca
Psychological Bulletin
© 2023 American Psychological Association 2023, Vol. 149, Nos. 12, 99132
ISSN: 0033-2909 https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000388
99
... Therefore, the quality of a child's interactions and relationships with their primary caregivers has long-term implications for the child's development and well-being (Fearon et al., 2010;Groh et al., 2012Groh et al., , 2014. While parental psychopathology increases the risk of poor parent-child interaction quality and insecure parent-child attachment (Bernard et al., 2018;Madigan et al., 2023), it is also linked with early infant social withdrawal (Braarud et al., 2013;Smith-Nielsen et al., 2019;Stuart et al., 2022). Infant social withdrawal is found to be an early nonspecific risk factor for a range of developmental outcomes, such as behavioral problems, delayed language development, and attachment disorders Milne et al., 2009;Smith-Nielsen et al., 2019). ...
... Child-Mother Attachment Quality. Infant-mother attachment quality was assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP; (Ainsworth et al., 1978a), which is a well-validated and commonly used research experiment for evaluating the quality of attachment relationships when infants are 11-24 months of age (e.g., Madigan et al., 2023). Through experimental manipulations aimed at causing mild-to-moderate stress in the child, the procedure activates the child's attachment behavioral system, and the organization of their attachment behavior in relation to a primary caregiver (here, the birth mother) can be observed. ...
... The distribution of infant-mother attachment classifications in our study is in line with the recent meta-analysis by Madigan et al. (2023). While we found relatively high frequencies of disorganized attachment (22.5%), it is still similar to the meta-analysis (23%), and the meta-analysis further indicates that there is a higher rate of disorganized attachment in samples with psychopathology. ...
Article
Full-text available
The Circle of Security – Parenting (COSP™) is a psychoeducational intervention aiming at fostering secure child-parent attachment relationships. In a randomized controlled trial, we investigate the effect of COSP™ as an adjunct to care-as-usual compared to only care-as-usual for at-risk families. Mothers and their 2–12-month-old infants were randomized into COSP™ +care-as-usual ( n = 197) for at-risk families in Copenhagen or only care-as-usual ( n = 100). At-risk status was either mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression and/or infants showed social withdrawal. The primary outcome was maternal sensitivity which was coded with the Coding Interactive Behavior. Our secondary outcomes were maternal reflective functioning, assessed with the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire – Infant Version, and child-mother attachment, assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure. Results showed no significant differences between the RCT groups on either the primary or secondary outcomes (all p s ≥ .146). We discuss these findings in relation to the applicability and targeted population who can benefit from COSP™, and whether alternative programs would be more effective for at-risk families with infants.
... Quality of Attachment. The quality of the child's attachment to the main caregiver was assessed using the internationally recognized Ainsworth's SSP (Madigan et al., 2023). The SSP was administered during the 15-month visit (fifth PCPS calendar visit). ...
... This included data from middle-class (15 studies and more than 2000 children) and lower-class families (seven studies and 586 children). The data were from a North American, nonclinical population, and the proportion of secure/insecure children reported was similar to that reported in European countries, even conservative, considering a recent metaanalytical study (Madigan et al., 2023). Furthermore, Van IJzerdoon et al. (1999) present data on lower-class families. ...
... Therefore, the baseline information used here was derived from North American studies. Cross-cultural studies have shown that the proportion of secure children is similar across cultures, with variations in the proportion of Avoidant or Resistant children (Van IJzendoorn et al., 1999;Madigan et al., 2023). Therefore, analyses were conducted by grouping secure versus insecure to maximize the clarity and size of the groups. ...
Article
Full-text available
The foremost index of caregiving quality is child attachment, as supported by attachment theory. Research supports the relevance of early parenting interventions in improving child outcomes in attachment quality to promote public health because of their long-term effects on mental health and functioning. This study aimed at evaluating the impact on both parenting and child outcomes of the Parent–Child Psychological Support Programme® (PCPS), a community-based program individually tailored to parents and their infants during periodic center-based visits to promote attachment security. The evaluation involved two cohorts from “vulnerable populations” and used the resources embedded in the program design without interfering with the normal functioning of the service. From an evaluative research approach, the effects on mothers and children were assessed using a quantitative approach. Pre- and post-test measures (parenting questionnaires) and child attachment quality assessments through the Strange Situation Procedure were examined. The equivalence of the cohorts was verified and used as a baseline for parenting outcomes. PCPS participants demonstrated increased parental competence and self-efficacy, as well as reduced levels of parenting stress. Analysis of the two cohorts showed a significant difference in the number of visits and proxies for intervention, which were associated with the expected pre–post changes in parenting dimensions. The proportion of securely attached children was significantly higher in the “medium-high intervention” group than in the “no/low intervention” group (72.7% vs 54.5%). Furthermore, compared with international baselines, this proportion showed no differences in the “no-/low-intervention” group but demonstrated expected significant differences in the “medium-high intervention” group.
... This group of variables were selected after screening the literature on the COVID-19 pandemic effects on infant social development, and based on the definition of confounder of confound blocker (Wysocki et al., 2022), to ascertain the specificity of the correlation between pandemic group and attachment behaviours in term and preterm infants. For example, the experience of the pandemic and attachment of term and preterm infants may vary based on proximal factors such as ethnicity (Madigan et al., 2023), neonatal health in preterm infants (López-Maestro et al., 2017) or distal factors such as socioeconomic risk (Dean et al., 2021). Thus, we considered infant ethnicity, co-morbidities of preterm birth and socioeconomic deprivation as potential covariates. ...
... These findings corroborate the need to re-examine archival longitudinal samples to better understand the cases that are routinely excluded from analyses due to maternal SF violations. Given that maternal sensitivity is a moderate predictor of attachment security [20], we question whether highly sensitive mothers who break the SF to soothe their infants, in particular, should be excluded from this line of research [26]. Excluding mothers who violate the SF also means that, in each sample, a considerable number of infants classified as having a disorganized/disoriented attachment are removed from final analyses, which may mask infants' true attachment patterns. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background During the still-face (SF) episode of the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF), mothers are instructed to remain still, unresponsive, and silent. However, some participants do not comply with these instructions, and researchers typically exclude them from their analyses. These mothers report feelings of anxiety and discomfort during SF. However, little is known about maternal SF violations and whether they are associated with other aspects of the mother-infant relationship. Aims In this experimental and longitudinal study, we compared mothers who violated the SF instructions to mothers who complied with them. We then focused on the group of mothers who violated the SF instructions, to investigate whether the type (i.e., those meant to soothe the infant vs. other violations), intensity (severe vs. mild), and form (verbal and non-verbal) of mothers’ SF violations in the FFSF at 3 months postpartum were associated with infant regulatory behavior in FFSF, mother-infant free-play behavior at the same age, infant attachment at 12 months, or other infant or maternal/familial characteristics. Methods The participants included 54 mothers identified as violating the SF instructions at 3 months and their infants, and 296 mothers who did not violate the SF instructions. At 3 months, mother-infant dyads were videotaped during two successive interaction tasks: an unstructured free-play task followed by the FFSF paradigm. At 12 months, infant attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation. Results Mothers who violated the SF were less sensitive during mother-infant free play than mothers who complied with the SF instructions, and their infants were more cooperative and less likely to exhibit a disorganized/disoriented attachment. Among mothers who violated the SF instructions, those who did so to soothe their infant exhibited higher sensitivity during free play, and their infants were more likely to exhibit a Social Oriented pattern of regulatory behavior during the FFSF, than mothers who violated the SF for other reasons. Furthermore, their infants were more cooperative during free play, and at 12 months, more likely to have a secure attachment, and less likely to have a disorganized/disoriented attachment. Conclusion Possibly, mothers who violate the SF to soothe their infants are more empathic and more likely to be a “safe haven” in stressful situations, contributing to secure relationships. However, mothers who violated SF for other reasons need further investigation and are linked with disorganized/disoriented infant attachment.
... Studi menunjukkan mindfulness dapat menurunkan stres, kecemasan, dan burnout serta meningkatkan produktivitas (Kerseamaekers et al., 2018). Pendekatan seperti lokakarya (Sarazine et al., 2020), pelatihan (De Vibe dalam Madigan et al., 2023), terapi seni (Newland & Bettencourt, 2020), dan afirmasi positif (Ardiana et al., 2023;Putri et al., 2024;Siburian & Siburian, 2023) terbukti membantu mengelola tekanan psikologis. ...
Article
Full-text available
The high level of psychological issues faced by young adults in Indonesia is a pressing problem that needs immediate attention, as it can impact an individual's life satisfaction. The strategy employed in this PKM (Student Creativity Program) is mindfulness practice using a keychain. The keychain, designed for a week-long mindfulness practice, is named "Mindkey." The implementation of this PKM involved four stages: preparation, execution, realization, and evaluation. The execution stage involved 213 young adult participants to select the final design of the Mindkey product from three available designs: one created by the PKM Team, one by a freelance design service, and one generated by AI (Midjourney). Participants also validated that the design and affirmation phrases on the Mindkey keychain were effective in motivating young adults to practice mindfulness. The selected design was produced by a trusted vendor and distributed to partners in need.
... Decades of extensive research illustrate that a secure caregiver-child relationship, a fundamental tenet of attachment theory, acts as a developmental safeguard against future adverse childhood mental and behavioral health outcomes (Groh et al., 2017). On the other hand, when children experience various forms of interpersonal trauma that leave them with ongoing distress or anxiety, or are exposed to cumulative socioeconomic risks (e.g., low education, low socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic minority status), they are at a higher risk of developing insecure or disorganized attachment (Madigan et al., 2023). This, in turn, can lead to elevated stress levels and long-lasting mental health issues (Groh et al., 2017). ...
Article
Psychodynamic-based practice (PBP), including approaches informed by attachment theory, is a widely used therapeutic modality in clinical social work for addressing trauma. Yet, in some clinical spaces, PBP has faced challenges due to its process-oriented nature, particularly in an era that increasingly favors manualized, short-term interventions. Meanwhile, sociocultural neuroscience has emerged as a field providing evidence for trauma interventions. Recently, both clinical social work and sociocultural neuroscience have begun highlighting the impact of structural trauma on mental health and the need to alleviate harms stemming from experiencing such trauma. Integrating neuroscience insights and methods may offer an opportunity to enhance PBP in clinical social work practice, particularly in addressing structural trauma. This article reviews recent developments in sociocultural neuroscience that is relevant for clinical social work practice with clients who have experienced trauma, outlines how these insights can inform PBP grounded in attachment theory, and discusses the potential implication of integrating sociocultural neuroscience with PBP in addressing structural trauma underpinning the place attachment framework.
... The SSP (Ainsworth et al., 1978) is considered the gold standard measure in assessing attachment for children aged 12 to 20 months (Madigan et al., 2023), and reliability and predictive validity are well-established in U.S. and Western European populations (Solomon & George, 2016, p. 373). The procedure lasts approximately 20 min in eight consecutive 3-min episodes where the child plays in a room either with or without the mother and/or a stranger. ...
... The effect size was f 2 = 0.22 corresponding to a minimum effect size of R 2 = .17. In addition, results from a recent meta-analysis (Madigan et al., 2023) evaluating infant-parent attachment relationships in 2,720 dyads collected over 20 countries report the following sample size parameters: M = 72.2; median = 51.0; ...
Article
The quality of the maternal communication plays a critical role in the development of secure infant–caregiver attachment. This relationship may be mediated by the caregivers’ capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to the child’s mental states (i.e., mind-mindedness). To specifically explore the role of mind-mindedness in the relationship between maternal communicative style and attachment, associations between maternal communicative style and attachment patterns were assessed in 88 infant–mother dyads using mind-mindedness as a mediator. Communicative style and attachment patterns were evaluated during the reunion episodes in the strange situation procedure. Communicative style was evaluated using the Coding System for the analysis of the Caregivers’ Communication Style scale, which produced three distinct communicative patterns: Misleading Communication, Denial Communication, and Affective Support. Attachment was classified by standard procedure as insecure-avoidant, secure, and insecure-ambivalent. Mind-mindedness, evaluated during free play, assessed mothers’ use of appropriate versus non-attuned mind-related comments. The results support a significant mediation of appropriate mind-minded comments in the relationship between affective supportive communicative style and both secure and insecure-avoidant attachment patterns, strengthening and mitigating direct relationships, respectively. No mediating role of mind-mindedness was found for insecure-ambivalent attachment. These findings help clarify the role of mind-mindedness in relation to communicative style and attachment and outline a certain behavioral consistency in mothers’ responses to their child across different observational contexts.
Article
Ainsworth and colleagues, who developed the strange situation procedure (SSP), emphasized the importance of context in attachment research. However, cultural characteristics of infants’ behavior during the SSP have not been explored in detail. This study examined whether East-Asian infants would differ in crying during the SSP from Western infants. If so, we further examined which episodes (e.g., separation and reunion episodes) East-Asian infants would cry differently from Western infants. This study compared three East-Asian samples, one Koran ( n = 76) and two Japanese ( n = 44 and n = 81), with two Western samples, one US ( n = 106) and one Czech ( n = 63). The results consistently revealed that when infants were separated from their mothers for the second time and stayed alone in a strange room, both Korean and Japanese infants scored higher on crying compared with US infants. Subsequently, when a stranger entered the room, all East-Asian infants also scored higher on crying compared with US and Czech infants. Infants did not show different levels of crying in the reunion episodes, with the exception of one sample of Japanese infants that scored higher on crying compared with the Western samples of Czech and US infants during the second reunion episode. The findings suggest cultural differences in infants’ crying during the SSP.
Article
I describe the development, with Ruth Goldwyn, Charlie Stanley and others, of the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST); particularly highlighting the pivotal role that Mary Main played in its evolution, and its approach to attachment Disorganization. MCAST is a doll play vignette-completion technique characterizing attachment representations in young school-aged children (4.5-8.5 years). It uses a specific dyadic focus and adapts both Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) methods within its coding procedure, thus allowing a full detailed attachment classification including Disorganisation. I detail how Mary's prior work, insight and continuing support, along with Erik Hesse, in applying these coding systems to play narratives, was crucial to the successful development of the instrument. With selected research data, I then review some of the developmental and clinical issues that MCAST has subsequently addressed, reflected in a 2018 meta-analytic review of 25 studies investigating MCAST Disorganisation.
Article
Full-text available
This study assessed the association between aspects of mother’s employment and security of infant-mother attachment, in combination with proximal)maternal sensitivity(and distal) demographic, maternal, child, child-care(factors. Participants were 145 Australian mothers and their firstborn children. Attachment security was assessed with the Strange Situation at 12 months. Results showed that mothers’ prenatal attitudes to work and timing of the return to work made significant, independent contributions to attachment outcomes over and above the effects of proximal and distal predictors. Mothers who expressed more commitment to work and less anxiety about using nonfamily child care, and who returned to work earlier, were more likely to have secure infants. These findings are considered in relation to contemporary expectations about mothers’ participation in paid work and other predictors of secure attachment.
Article
Full-text available
The relation between maternal alcohol consumption and infant attachment behavior at 1 year of age was investigated. Alcohol consumption was estimated by self-report questionnaires that were filled out by mothers over 30 years of age regarding the amount of alcohol they had consumed prior to, during, and following pregnancy. The attachment behavior of infants was observed using the Ainsworth “strange-situation” procedure. Infants were classified as secure (Group B); insecure-avoidant (Group A); or insecure-ambivalent/resistant (Group C). Additionally, a new classification of insecure-disorganized/disoriented (Group D), developed by Main and Solomon (1986), was used. The majority of infants of mothers who had consumed more alcohol were insecure in comparison with a minority of insecure infants of mothers who had been abstinent or light drinkers. The classification of infants as insecure-disorganized/disoriented helped to identify a large number of infants who were insecure in the group of heavy-drinking mothers.
Article
Full-text available
The strange-situation procedure was given to 60 pairs of Japanese mothers and infants, and their results were compared with those of Ainsworth. There were no significant differences in proportions of securely attached (68%) and insecurely attached (32%) infants between the countries. Degrees and patterns of interactive behaviors in each type were also similar. However, the Japanese insecure group consisted of only C types, and there were no A types. About half of the C-type infants behaved inconsistently: They behaved like B-type infants in Episodes 2–5 and like C-type ones thereafter. These findings were interpreted in terms of the excessive stress caused by the procedure as well as Japanese child-rearing customs fostering the attachment to the mother. Two strategies are proposed for getting richer information from the procedure in different cultures: multiple classification of varying stress levels and cultural examination of the diagnostic value of each behavior as a classificatory cue.
Article
Full-text available
Preregistration has been lauded as one of the solutions to the so-called ‘crisis of confidence’ in the social sciences and has therefore gained popularity in recent years. However, the current guidelines for preregistration have been developed primarily for studies where new data will be collected. Yet, preregistering secondary data analyses--- where new analyses are proposed for existing data---is just as important, given that researchers’ hypotheses and analyses may be biased by their prior knowledge of the data. The need for proper guidance in this area is especially desirable now that data is increasingly shared publicly. In this tutorial, we present a template specifically designed for the preregistration of secondary data analyses and provide comments and a worked example that may help with using the template effectively. Through this illustration, we show that completing such a template is feasible, helps limit researcher degrees of freedom, and may make researchers more deliberate in their data selection and analysis efforts.
Article
Full-text available
Although numerous individual studies have attempted to link child-parent attachment and prosociality, a systematic picture of that relation requires a meta-analytic approach that considers different dimensions of prosociality and potential moderators. The current meta-analysis examined 41 studies drawn primarily from North America and Europe and published between 1978 to 2020. Child age ranged from 12 to 53 months at the child-parent attachment assessment, and 12 to 108 months at the assessment of prosociality. Across 35 studies (100 effect sizes, N = 4,611), child-mother attachment security and child prosociality were significantly associated (r = .19, 95% CI [.14, .23]). No moderators were identified. Exploratory estimates were also derived for subtypes of child-mother attachment insecurity. Across 6 studies (8 effect sizes, N = 402), child-father attachment security was significantly associated with prosociality (r = .11, 95% CI [.02, .23]. The magnitude of effect sizes did not differ based on parent gender. The discussion considers areas of growth for attachment and prosociality research.
Article
Full-text available
Improving parenting, child attachment, and externalizing behaviors: Meta-analysis of the first 25 randomized controlled trials on the effects of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD). VIPP-SD combines support of parental sensitive responsiveness with coaching parents in sensitive limit setting. Here, we present meta-analyses of 25 RCTs conducted with more than 2,000 parents and caregivers. Parents or children had various risks. We examined its effectiveness in promoting parental cognitions and behavior regarding sensitive parenting and limit setting, in promoting secure child–parent attachment, and reducing externalizing child behavior. Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, and recent reviews were searched for relevant trials (until May 10, 2021). Multilevel meta-analysis with META, METAFOR, and DMETAR in R took account of the 3-level structure of the datasets (studies, participants, measures). The meta-analyses showed substantial combined effect sizes for parenting behavior ( r = .18) and attitudes ( r = .16), and for child attachment security ( r = .23), but not for child externalizing behavior ( r = .07). In the subset of studies examining effects on both parenting and attachment, the association between effect sizes for parenting and for attachment amounted to r = .48. We consider the way in which VIPP-SD uses video-feedback an active intervention component. Whether VIPP-SD indeed stimulates secure attachment through enhanced positive parenting remains an outstanding question for further experimental study and individual participant data meta-analysis.
Article
Full-text available
Grandmothers are important in Chinese families. This study explored the early emerging mother‐grandmother‐infant network and its association with child's socioemotional development in multigenerational families in a non‐WEIRD country. The analytic sample included 60 children (T1: Mage = 6.5 months) and their caregivers residing in Beijing. Measures used were the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP), the Maternal Behavior Q‐Sort (MBQS), and the Infant‐Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Structural equation and path modeling revealed that (1) more grandmaternal neutral/watching coparenting behaviors at the first assessment were related to more secure infant‐mother attachment relationships at the second assessment (T2: Mage = 1 year); (2) maternal sensitivity at T2 was a partial mediator between earlier undermining and neutral/watching coparenting behaviors and young children's externalizing problems at the final assessment (T3: Mage = 2 years). Findings are discussed in terms of the roles played by mother‐grandmother coparenting network in the children's socioemotional development.
Article
This meta-analysis synthesized the distribution of attachment classifications as coded with the Cassidy-Marvin Preschool Attachment Coding System and the Main-Cassidy Six-Year-Old System. These systems have extended scholars’ capacity to measure differences in the developing child-parent attachment relationship, and its sequelae, beyond the infancy period; however, the global distribution of the attachment categories in these systems, and the potential factors influencing this distribution, remain unknown. The meta-analysis included 97 samples (N = 8,186 children; 55% boys), mostly drawn from North American or European populations (89%; M = 76% White). Results indicated that the distribution of child-mother attachment was 53.5% secure, 14.0% avoidant, 11.0% ambivalent, and 21.5% disorganized/controlling. Moderator analyses showed that rates of security were lower, and rates of disorganization were higher, in samples of at-risk families, specifically when children were exposed to maltreatment. Variations in the procedure also moderated the distribution. The discussion calls for greater unity around methodological practices.
Article
Two meta‐analyses were conducted (N = 10,980 child–father dyads) with 93 studies published between 1983–2020, primarily in North America and Europe, on observed parental sensitivity to children (3–180 months; 48% girls; 14% non‐White) in partnered mothers and fathers. The first meta‐analysis found higher maternal mean levels of observed sensitivity, with a small effect size (d = −.27). Differences between parents were larger with micro coding and triadic/family assessments. Differences narrowed as a function of publication year and were not significant in European samples. The second meta‐analysis identified a moderate correlation between observed maternal and paternal sensitivity (r = .23 after adjusting for probable publication bias). Correlations were larger in Middle Eastern samples and with composite sensitivity scales.
Article
An unsettled question in attachment theory and research is the extent to which children's attachment patterns with mothers and fathers jointly predict developmental outcomes. In this study, we used individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess whether early attachment networks with mothers and fathers are associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Following a pre-registered protocol, data from 9 studies and 1,097 children (mean age: 28.67 months) with attachment classifications to both mothers and fathers were included in analyses. We used a linear mixed effects analysis to assess differences in children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems as assessed via the average of both maternal and paternal reports based on whether children had two, one, or no insecure (or disorganized) attachments. Results indicated that children with an insecure attachment relationship with one or both parents were at higher risk for elevated internalizing behavioral problems compared with children who were securely attached to both parents. Children whose attachment relationships with both parents were classified as disorganized had more externalizing behavioral problems compared to children with either one or no disorganized attachment relationship with their parents. Across attachment classification networks and behavioral problems, findings suggest (a) an increased vulnerability to behavioral problems when children have insecure or disorganized attachment to both parents, and (b) that mother-child and father-child attachment relationships may not differ in the roles they play in children's development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems.