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ATTACHMENT AND CAREGIVER–INFANT INTERACTION: A REVIEW OF OBSERVATIONAL‐ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Author(s) -
Tryphonopoulos Panagiota D.,
Letourneau Nicole,
Ditommaso Enrico
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/imhj.21461
Subject(s) - strange situation , psychology , attachment theory , toddler , developmental psychology , attachment measures , referral , infant mental health , scale (ratio) , infant development , mental health , psychotherapist , medicine , nursing , physics , quantum mechanics
The relationship between maternal–infant interaction and attachment quality to infant developmental outcomes has long been established. As children mature, problems stemming from troubled caregiver–infant relations may result in referral to mental health or child protection services. The accurate and appropriate assessment of attachment is critical for early recognition of problematic relations and for informing suitable treatment modalities. Evaluating the quality of attachment poses a challenge for researchers and clinicians seeking to explore the association between infant development and the quality of early caregiving experiences. Although providing a definitive answer to the question of which of these assessment procedures is the single universal standard for measuring attachment quantity is beyond the scope of this article, readers will be provided with a description and comparison of strengths and limitations of the most commonly used measures of attachment, including the Strange Situation Procedure (M.D.S. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Waters, & S. Wall, 1978), Attachment Q‐Sort (E. Waters & K.E. Deane, 1985), Toddler Attachment Sort (TAS‐45; J. Kirkland, D. Bimler, A. Drawneek, M. McKim, & A. Scholmerich, 2004), CARE‐Index (P. Crittenden, 1985), Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE; E. Bronfman, E. Parsons, & K. Lyons‐Ruth, 1999), Massie–Campbell Scale of Mother–Infant Attachment Indicators During Stress Scale (Attachment During Stress Scale; H.N. Massie & B.K. Campbell, 1983), and the Risky Situation Procedure (D. Paquette & M. Bigras, 2010).