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This study tested Bowlby and Ainsworth's hypothesis that a hierarchy of caregivers exists whereby infants prefer one caregiver over another when distressed. We examined parent gender (mother vs. father), primary caregiver status (defined as the parent who spent most time with the infant and performed most of the caregiving tasks), and role of toddlers' history of attachment security with each parent, as predictors of toddlers' preference for a particular caregiver when the toddlers are distressed and when they are content. Infants' attachment security with each parent was assessed at 12-15 months. At 24 months, mother-child and father-child interactions were observed in triadic (mother, father, toddler) home interactions. When distressed, regardless of the security of their attachment to each parent, toddlers more often interacted with the primary caregiver. When content, toddlers did not show this preference. As expected, toddlers' recovery from distress was predicted by their security of attachment with the parent whom they approached when distressed., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study explored the kinds of relationship experiences associated with earned-security, i.e., the extent to which mothers who report early negative relationship histories with their parents are later able to form a secure working model of attachment (indicated by the ability to speak clearly and coherently about these histories). Mothers from a low-risk sample (N = 121) expecting their first child completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), which was used to assess earned-security retrospectively using the stringent definition recommended by Main and Hesse (Hesse, 2008 ; Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 2002 ), as well as to identify alternative support figures. Participants also completed self-report measures of depressive symptomatology, questionnaires concerning their experiences in therapy, and later, when their babies were 12 to 15 months old, the Strange Situation procedure. Sixteen mothers were classified as earned-secure (25% of those classified as secure-autonomous and 13% of the whole sample). Women who were earned-secure (vs. insecure and continuous-secure) reported significantly higher levels of emotional support, but not instrumental support, from alternative support figures. They also spent more time in therapy than did insecure and continuous-secure women and were more likely to form secure attachments with their infants than insecure women. These findings were obtained even after controlling for depressive symptoms.

Emotional attunement (i.e., couples' dyadic emotional connectedness and responsiveness) was examined in 86 couples across the transition to parenthood. After controlling for prenatal emotional attunement and verbal ability, the authors found that prenatal assessments of husbands' and wives' representations of their parents' marriage (i.e., content and insightfulness) predicted emotional attunement between partners 24 months postpartum. There was a trend for husbands and a statistically significant relationship for wives who insightfully recalled disharmonious content to show greater residualized postnatal emotional attunement compared with other husbands and wives, suggesting that anticipating marital problems following the transition to parenthood may increase attention to maintaining the marriage. In contrast, wives who recalled disharmonious content with low insight showed the lowest residualized postnatal scores for emotional attunement., (Copyright (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.)