attachment and child care: relationships with mother and caregiver

Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 3, 403-416 (1988)

A ttachmen t and Child Care: Relationships With Mother and Caregiver

Carollee Howes Carol Rodning

Darlene C. Ga//uzzo Lisabeth Myers

University of California, Los Angeles

Two studies examined the influences of concordant and nonconcordant attachment relationships to mothers and to child care caregivers on children’s behavior in child care. In both studies, attachment security with the caregiver was assessed within child care, using the Waters and Deane Q-sort for attachment security. In the first study, 40 infants were seen in the Strange Situation at 12 months and observed in child care when they averaged 21.5 months. In the second study, 60 infants were observed in child care when they averaged 18.5 months; maternal attachment security was assessed, using the Q-sort, during child care arrivals and departures. In both studies, the child’s level of competence in play with the adult caregiver and engagement with peers was a function of attachment security with both mother and caregiver.

When mothers go to work outside the home, as they are doing in increasing numbers, the traditional family configuration is changed. The older pattern of mother as caregiver and father as breadwinner changes to mother and father juggling work and caregiving roles plus additional caregivers in the form of extended family members, nannies, or out-of-home care in family day care or centers. The child therefore acquires at least one other significant caregiver in addition to the mother. Such changes in family configuration provide opportunities for extending and challenging traditional attachment theory. In the current paper we examine associations between relationships with multiple significant caregivers and the child’s behavior in infant child care.

Portions of the research reported in this article were supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and from the Academic Senate of the University of California.

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Carollee Howes, Gradu- ate School of Education, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

403

404 Howes, Rodning, Calluzzo and Myers

The last decade of research derived from attachment theory has provided support for the notion that, within traditional families, internal working models of the self and others are formed within the context of first attachment relationships and are the basis for the child’s future social relations with others (Bretherton, 1985). However, in her recent review of current and future directions in attachment theory, Bretherton (1985) points out a serious problem with this generalization. It assumes that either each child has a single or most important attachment figure, that is, the mother, or that all early attachments to significant caregivers take the same form. However, some infants form nonconcordant attachment relationships with mothers and fathers (Lamb, 1977; Main & Weston, 1981), with mother, father, and metapelet (Sagi, Lamb, Lewkowicz, Shoham, Dvir, & Estes, 1985), and with mother and child care caregiver (Colin, 1986; Krentz, 1983). Current research offers little insight into the influence of nonconcordant attachment relationships on the concurrent or the long-term social competence of the child. The specific purpose of the studies reported in this article was to examine influences of concordant and nonconcordant attachment relationships to mothers and caregivers on children’s behaviors in child care.

According to attachment theory, separation from the mother because of maternal employment is stressful to infants and may disrupt the establishment of secure attachment relationships and future social competence (Vaughn, Deane, & Waters, 1985). However, the literature on relations between infant child care and child.outcomes is replete with contradictory results and methodological weaknesses (McCartney & Phillips, in press). Results range widely from reports that early out-of-home care is not dis- ruptive of secure attachment and may, in fact, promote greater social competence as children enter the preschool years, to evidence that infants in full-time, out-of-home care are more likely to form insecure attachment relations with their mothers than are infants in part-time care or those reared exclusively at home (Barglow, Vaughn, & Molitor, 1987; Clarke-Stewart & Fein, 1983; Howes & Olenick, 1986; Howes & Stewart, 1987; McCartney & Phillips, in press; Vaughn et al., 1986; Vaughn, Gove, & Egeland, 1980).

Some of the contradictory results in the literature on infant child care may arise from choice of outcome measure. If, as Main and Weston (1981) suggest, alternative and nonconcordant attachment relationships may compensate for insecure maternal attachment relationships, then it is possible for a child to be both classified as insecurely attached to the mother and appear socially competent within a child care setting. Theoretically, if the child care arrangement provides stable and responsive alternative caregivers, children may compensate for the stress of separation from the parent by forming secure attachments to the caregivers. If the parental attachment is maladaptive, for example in the case of an abusive or hostile parent, the child’s positive attachment to a caregiver provides the child with an alterna-

Attachment and Child Care 405

tive model of social relationships and thus may contribute to the development of competence. Even if the parental attachment is secure, an additional secure attachment to a caregiver would presumably enhance the development of competence.

Unfortunately, not all infant child care is of sufficiently high quality to provide stable and responsive alternative caregivers (Howes & Olenick, 1986; Howes & Stewart, 1987). Children with secure parental attachments may be buffered from the stresses of unstable and unresponsive child care caregiving (Erickson, Sroufe, & Egeland, 1985), but children who have insecure parental attachment are assumed to be at greater risk from poor quality child care (Gamble & Zigler, 1986).

We examined the influences of concordant and nonconcordant attachments for children’s social behavior in two studies of children attending out-of-home child care. The first study was a follow-up of children whose attachment to mother was assessed in the Strange Situation at 12 months (Rodning, 1987). Families in the study were contacted when the children were 18 months old and asked about their child care arrangements. If the child was regularly cared for in a child care arrangement that included other children, we observed the child in that setting and assessed the nature of the caregiver-child attachment, using newly developed Q-sort techniques (Waters & Deane, 1985).

In the second study, social behaviors of infants 13 to 24 months old attending center or family day care were observed, and their attachment security with caregivers was rated with the attachment Q-sort. Maternal attachment security was assessed using the Q-sort during separations and reunions at the beginning and end of child care. Such separations and reunions have frequently been used to assess the parent-child relationship (Cummings, 1980). Blanchard and Main (1979) report significant associations between avoidance of the parent in the Strange Situation and upon reunion in child care centers. In both studies we examined relations among the child’s behavior in child care, maternal attachment, and caregiver attachment.

We selected two categories of social behavior in child care for investiga- tion: sociability with peers and sociability with adults. Sociability with peers was measured by using a modification of the Howes Peer Play Scale (1980) and was simply the amount of time the child spent interacting with peers. Interaction was defined as at least parallel play with mutual awareness; that is, the child was exchanging eye glances with a partner and playing with similar materials; more sophisticated involvement in games could be included. Sociability with adults was measured in several ways. We were interested in both the child’s and the adult caregiver’s social initiations and responses. Therefore, the amount of time the child was within 3 feet of an adult and the percentage of time the child was in proximity and ignored by the adult

406 Howes, Rodning, Gallurzo and Myers

were assessed. We also rated each contact between the child and a caregiver on an adult play rating scale (Howes & Stewart, 1987) developed for use in infant child care.

STUDY ONE

Subjects The subjects, 115 children (53 girls), and their mothers were seen in the standard Ainsworth Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) at 12 months. Families were recruited through hospital birth records. The families of the children were two-parent, middle-class, Anglo, and well educated. At the time of the Strange Situation assessment, 62 (54%) of the mothers were employed outside the home, 26 part time, and 36 full time. Of the children of the working mothers, 21 (34%) received in-home care from a nanny or housekeeper, and the remaining 41 were enrolled in out-of-home care in family day care homes or centers.

All Strange Situation procedures were completed within the guidelines presented by Ainsworth and associates (1978). The assessments were video- taped, and the behavior of the infant was scored from the tapes by the second author and by Brian Vaughn. For the entire sample of 115, the distribution of cases across attachment categories was 22 (19%) insecure-avoidant, 71 (62%) secure, 15 (13%) insecure-resistant, and 7 (6%) insecure-disorganized. These proportions are similar to those reported by Main, Kaplan, and Cassidy (1985) and by Main and Weston (1981) when using the insecure-disorganized classification and a middle-class sample.

When the children were 18 months old, 44 of them were regularly enrolled in child care arrangements that included at least one nonfamilial peer. All of these arrangements were out-of-home care; 42 (95%) of the caregivers (10 centers and 32 family day care homes) agreed to let us observe the child in the care setting. The subsample of 42 children was no different from the original sample in maternal education or paternal occupation. Of the 42, 9 (21070) of the children had been classified as insecure-avoidant, 24 (57%) as secure, 5 (12%) as insecure-resistant, and 4 (10%) as insecure-disorganized in the Strange Situation assessment at 12 months. Again, these proportions are comparable to general population distributions (Main et al., 1985).

Children were observed in their child care settings when they averaged 21.5 months of age (SD = 2.43, range 18 to 28 months). Each child had been cared for a minimum of 2 months (M= 10.43, SD = 5.82, range 2 to 20 months) in the observed child care arrangement. On average the children had begun child care at 9.6 months (SD=7.28, range 2 to 20 months), although not necessarily in the setting in which they were observed. The majority of the children (73%) had begun child care before their first birthday. They were enrolled for an average of 23 hours per week (SD = 18.70, range = 3 to 55


hours). An average of 7 children other than our subjects were cared for in each setting (SD = 5.34, range 2 to 35). The average child:adult ratio in the settings was 4.6 (SD=2.23, range 1.5 to 12).

Procedures

Social Behaviors in Child Care. Each child was observed in the child care setting on two separate days by each of two observers. Each visit lasted an hour. Visits were scheduled during times when the child was free to inter- act with both adults and peers.

During each one-hour visit the observer coded three 5-minute time samples of social behaviors of the child. The time samples were spaced evenly throughout the observation period; that is, the child’s behavior was coded approximately every 20 minutes.

Each 20 seconds during the 5-minute coding period, the child was coded as in proximity (within 3 feet) to an adult, as playing with an adult, and as involved with a peer. Adult responses to the child’s proximity were coded as either ignoring or engaging with the child. Adult play with the child was coded according to a scale developed for use in family day care homes (Howes & Stewart, 1987). Adult play is rated as 0 if the adult ignores the child; as routine (1) if the caregiver touches the child for changing or other routine caregiving, but makes no verbal responses to the child; as minimal (2) if the caregiver touches the child only for necessary discipline or to move a child away from another, answers direct requests for help, or gives verbal direc- tives with no reply encouraged; as simple (3) if the caregiver uses some un- necessary physical contact or answers the child’s verbal bids, but does not elaborate; as elaborated (4) if the caregiver engages in some physical gestures, maintains close proximity to the child, acknowledges the child’s statements and responds, but does not restate them, or sits with the child during play or suggests materials; and as intense (5) if the caregiver hugs or holds the child, restates the child’s statements thus acknowledging them and providing answers to the child, engages the child in conversation, plays interactively with the child, or sits and eats with the child in a social atmosphere.

Two scores of adult play were derived. One, adulf play, measured the total time the child was involved with an adult; the other, level of adult play, measured the quality of involvement with the adult. The score was computed by weighting the frequency of play at each level by the scale point, summing the weighted frequencies, and dividing them by the total frequency of play.

The child’s activity with peers was coded using a modification of the Peer Play Scale (Howes, 1980). This 5-point scale assesses the complexity of a child’s involvement in peer play. Scale points range from level 1 parallel play (using the same materials or activities) with no awareness of the other, through level 3 simple social play that has a turn-taking structure, to level 5 action reversals in complementary and reciprocal play. In the current study,


children were considered to be engaged with peers if they were at ieast involved in parallel activities and exchanging eye glances with peers (level 2 on the scale).

Attachment Security With Caregiver. Following their observation of the child, each observer completed the Waters and Deane Q-sort of attachment security for the child with the child’s primary caregiver. The child was assigned the average of the two scores for each item, and the item scores were related to the security criterion supplied by Waters and Deane (1985). According to a convention suggested by E. Waters (personal communica- tion, December, 1986), children with security scores of .33 and higher were classified as securely attached; children with security scores of less than .33 were classified as insecurely attached.

Interobserver and Interrater Reliability. Interobserver reliability for observation was computed on 10 children seen simultaneously by both observers. Kappa scores were computed for interobserver reliability. They ranged from .89 to .93 (median = .91).

During training and the initial establishment of interrater reliability, a .82 criterion for agreement on the scale placement of each item (agreements- agreements + disagreements) was used for interrater reliability for caregiver Q-sorts before ratings could begin. Actual agreement was lower (median = .67, range .45 to 1 .OO) because the observer saw each child at different times.

Results

Attachment Security With Caregivers. Ratings of attachment security with caregivers ranged from - .Ol to .67 (M= .40, SD = .19); 27 (64%) of the children were classified as secure and 15 (36%) as insecure with the caregiver.

We found that 19 (45%) of the children had concordant attachment classifications with mother and caregiver; 14 of these attachments were secure-secure and 5 were insecure-insecure. The remaining 23 (55%) had nonconcordant attachment classifications with mother and caregiver; 13 (31070) of the children were classified as insecure with the mother and secure with the caregiver, while 10 (24%) were classified as secure with the mother and insecure with the caregiver.

Social Behaviors in Child Care. There were no significant differences in social behaviors in child care as a function of sex of child, type of care setting (center versus family day care home), age that the child entered child care, length of time the child had spent in the setting, or number of hours per week the child was enrolled.

Differences in social behaviors in child care as a function of attachment security with mother and with caregiver and any interactions with sex of child were first examined using 2x2x2 three-way analyses of variance. There were no significant main effects for sex of child and no interactions


between attachment classifications and sex of child. Although there were no significant sex differences in behaviors and no significant interaction with sex of child, several observed social behaviors-in particular, time spent in adult proximity (higher for girls), percentage of time ignores (higher for girls), and time in play with adult (higher for boys)-were different for girls and boys. Therefore, comparisons of social behaviors as a function of the security of attachment to mother and to adult caregiver were made using 2 x 2 analyses of covariance with sex of child as a covariate.

Descriptive statistics for attachment security with mother and caregiver are presented in Table 1. Scheffe tests (.05) were used for all post hoc

Table 1. Comparisons of Social Behaviors in Child Care as a Function of Attachment Classifications to Mother and to Caregiver

Attachment Classifications” F Values

Caregiver Behaviors

Secure Mother Insecure Mother Caregiver X

Secure Insecure Secure Insecure Mother Careeiver Careeiver

Adult proximity 49.0

(30.3) Ignore .23

(.l7) Play 44.0

(25.7) Level 3.57

C.51) Peer 72. I

(16.7)

Adult proximity 67.8

(28.6) Ignore .33’

(.I@ Play 61.5

(23.3) Level 3.48

C.32) Peer 60.50

(15.2)

35.3 (12.7)

.36 t.121

41.1 (22.7)

3.38 (.63)

55.7 (24.3)

74.5 (25.8)

.51 (.I@

61.4 (11.5)

3.36 (.20)

28.3 (12.4)

Study One

50.1 51.1 (13.7) (16.3)

.32 .45 C.21) (.27)

42.2 32.2 (23.6) (24.7)

3.40 2.78 (.43) (.65)

63.4 51.8 (21.9) (26.3)

Study Two

81.5 69.8 (43.1) (40.9)

.3l .39 (.23) (.14)

42.5 57.5 (17.7) (18.8)

3.61 3.32 (.48) (-25)

33.2 30.8 (13.4) (14.3)

.40 .20

.83 3.81*

I.11 .9l

2.62 .29

.43 6.16**

.58 .07

2.85 .20

1.09 .31

3.192 3.80’

2.03 5.24+

.4s

.67

1.01

5.56*

.04

.05

.I3

1.42

3.43*

7.24**

Nofe. Figures in table represent means. Figures in parentheses represent standard devia- tions.

a Concordant attachment: securely attached to mother and caregiver; or insecurely attached to both. Nonconcordant attachment: securely attached IO mother, insecurely to caregiver; or insecurely attached to mother, securely to caregiver.

* p< .05. ** p< .Ol.


comparisons between groups. Only significant comparisons are presented in the text. Children who were classified as insecurely attached to caregivers were more often ignored by caregiven than were children classified as securely attached to caregivers. Children who were classified as insecurely attached to both mother and caregivers had lower levels of play with adult caregivers than did children in any other group. Children who were classified as securely attached to caregivers spent more time engaged with peers than did children classified as insecurely attached to caregivers.

Child Cure History. Differences in child care history of the child as a function of attachment security with mother and with caregiver and any interactions with sex of child were examined using 2 x 2 x 2 three-way analyses of variance. There were no significant main effects for sex of child and no interactions between attachment classifications and sex of child. Descriptive statistics for attachment security with mother and caregiver are presented in Table 2. Scheffe tests (.05) were used for all post hoc comparisons among groups. Only significant comparisons are presented in the text. Children who were classified as securely attached to caregivers entered child care at earlier ages and were cared for in settings with fewer children per adult caregiver. Children who were classified as insecurely attached to both mother and caregiver were cared for in child care settings with large numbers of children per caregiver, while children who were classified as securely attached to both mother and caregiver were cared for in child care settings with fewer children per adult caregiver.

STUDY TWO

Subjects The subjects, 60 children (26 girls), as well as their mothers, caregivers, and peers, participated in this study. The children came from two-parent, well- educated, middle-class families. Approximately 50070 of the children were Anglo, 20% Latino, 20% Black, and 10% Asian in ethnic origin.

The children were recruited from five child care centers (n = 54) and one family day-care home (n = 6). The children were observed when they were between 13 and 24 months of age (M= 18.5; SD=3.2). They had been enrolled in their current child care setting an average of 8.7 months (SD = 5.7; range 2 to 22 months). They had entered child care on the average at 7 months (SD= 3.2; range 1 to 12 months). The children spent an average of 40.6 hours per week in child care (SD = 11, range 12 to 50 hours). Their child care settings had average child:adult ratios of 3.15 (SD= .98, range 1.5 to 6.5) and average group sizes of 6.6 children (SD= 1.9, range 3 to 13).

Procedures The assessment of social behaviors and attachment security to caregiver was identical to procedures used in study one.


Table 2. Comparisons of Child Care History as a Function of Attachment Classifications to Mother and to Caregiver

Caregiver Behaviors

Atlschmen( ClassificationsP F Values

Secure Mother Insecure Mother

Caregiver x Secure Insecure Secure Insecure Mother Caregiver Caregiver

Entry age 7.5 (7.9)

Time 9.1 (5.3)

Hours 27.9 (18.7)

Ratio 3.11 (2.1)

Entry age 7.0 7.3 (3.2) (3.3)

Time 8.4 9.8 (3.7) (6.1)

Hours 38.2 43.1 (11.4) (14.1)

Ratio 2.50 2.79 (.71) (.6‘3

(2) 12.3 (5.9 27.8

(18.6) 5.10

(1.7)

Study One 11.2 13.4 (6.3) (8.2) 10.3 10.2 (6.7) (5.9) 12.3 5.2 WI (3.7) 4.29 6.29

(2.7) (1.6) Study Two

7.5 7.6 (3.5) (4.1) 8.5 7.5

(1.7) (6.3) 42.5 45.0 (3.5) (5.9 3.07 3.61 C.91) (1.27)

.ll

1.20

.63

.03

.03

.20

.52

5.09+

3.58* .19

.Ol .66

6.28** 1.20

3.07’ 4.72*

.13 .Ol

.38 .ll

1.49 .07

3.63+ $20

Nole. Figures in table represent means. Figures in parentheses represent standard devia- tions.

a Concordant attachment: securely attached to mother and caregiver; or insecurely attached to both. Nonconcordant attachment: securely attached to mother, insecurely to caregiver; or insecurely attached to mother, securely to caregiver.

* p< .05. ** pc.01.

Attachment Security With Mother. Attachment security with the mother was assessed by having two observers each observe at least two arrivals and reunions with the mother as the child was dropped off and picked up at child care. The observers then completed the Waters and Deane (1985) attachment security Q-sort on the child’s behaviors with the mother at arrivals and reunions. A pilot study for the procedure of assessing attachment to mother during arrivals and reunions was made up of 23 children from study one who had been seen in the Strange Situation at 12 months. The pilot subjects were seen in child care at a mean age of 19.7 months. Of these children, 15 (65%) received the same classification in the Strange Situation and with the child care Q-sort: 12 (71 Vo) originally classified as secure were reclassified as secure, and 3 (50%) originally classified as insecure were reclassified as insecure. The stability of attachment classification in the pilot study was comparable to stability rates reported for Strange Situation re-


classification with a middle-class sample (Lamb, Thompson, Gardner, & Charnov, 1985).

Results

A ttachmen t Security With Caregiver. Ratings of attachment security with caregivers ranged from - .15 to .78 (M= .44, SD= .22); 40 (66%) of the children were classified as secure and 20 (34%) as insecure with the caregiver.

Attachment Security With Mother. Security ratings of attachment with mother ranged from - .26 to .79 (M= .50, SD = .23). However, 5 of the children were always dropped off and picked up at child care by their fathers. The security ratings of attachment with father for these children ranged from .27 to .74 (M= .53, SD= .lO). When the security ratings of attachment to father for these 5 children were substituted for the security rating of attachment to mother, 46 (77%) of the children were classified as secure and 14 as insecure (23%) with the mother.

Concordant and Nonconcordant Attachments We found that 42 (70%) of the children had concordant attachment classifications with mother and caregiver; 34 of these attachments were secure-secure and 8 were insecure-insecure. The remaining 18 (30%) had nonconcordant attachment classifications with mother and caregiver; 6 (10% of the total sample), of the children were classified as insecure with the mother and secure with the caregiver, while 12 (20%) of the total sample were classified as secure with the mother and insecure with the caregiver.

Social Behaviors in Child Care. There were no significant differences in social behaviors in child care as a function of sex of child, type of care setting (center versus family day care home), age that the child entered child care, length of time the child had spent in the setting, or number of hours per week the child was enrolled.

Differences in social behaviors in child care as a function of attachment security with mother and with caregiver and any interactions with sex of child were first examined using 2 x 2 x 2 three-way analyses of variance. There were no significant main effects for sex of child and no interactions between attachment classifications and sex of child. Although there were no significant sex differences in behaviors and no significant interaction with sex of child, several observed social behaviors-in particular, time spent in adult proximity (higher for girls) and time in play with adult (higher for boys)-were different for girls and boys. Therefore, comparisons of social behaviors as a function of the security of attachment to mother and to adult caregiver were made using 2 x 2 analysis of covariance with sex of child as a covariate.


Descriptive statistics for attachment security with mother and caregiver also are presented in Table 1. Scheffe tests (.05) were used to make comparisons between groups. Only significant comparisons are presented in the text. Children categorized as insecure with their mothers and those categorized as insecure with their caregivers engaged in less high level play with their caregivers than did children categorized as secure with their mothers and those categorized as secure with their caregivers. Children categorized as insecure with both mother and caregiver had the lowest level of adult play scores. Children categorized as insecure with their caregivers spent less time,engaged with their peers than did children categorized as secure with their caregivers. Children categorized as insecure with both mother and caregiver spent the least time engaged with peers.

Child Cure History. Differences in child care history of the child as a function of attachment security with mother and with caregiver and any interactions with sex of child were examined using 2 x 2 x 2 three-way analyses of variance. There were no significant main effects for sex of child and no interactions between attachment classifications and sex of child. Descrip- tive statistics for attachment security with mother and caregiver also are presented in Table 2. Scheffe tests (.05) were used for all post hoc comparisons among groups. Only significant comparisons are reported in the text. Children classified as securely attached to mothers and those classified as securely attached to caregivers were cared for in settings with fewer children per adult caregiver.

DISCUSSION

The current studies highlight the importance of examining the child’s relationships with both mother and alternative caregiver when attempting to explain influences of child care and maternal employment on children’s behaviors. The child’s involvement with adult caregivers and with peers in child care was a function of both attachment security with mother and with the caregiver. It is particularly important that measures of social competence, for example, level of interactive play with adult, reflected differences in attachment security with mothers and caregivers, rather than our measure of proximity to adult, which includes dependent as well as competent behaviors. It is also important that the children least able to engage in interactive play with adults were classified as insecurely attached to both mothers and caregivers. This suggests that one secure attachment relationship may at least partly compensate for an insecure attachment relationship. However, it must be noted that in both studies, and significantly so in study two, children categorized as insecure with their mothers engaged in lower levels of play with the caregiver regardless of their ratings of attachment security with the caregiver.


Although there is a body of literature that finds associations between attachment security with mother and later engagement with peers (see Lamb et al., 1985, for a review), we found in the current studies that the security of attachment to the caregiver was somewhat more influential in determining engagement with peers than security of attachment to mother. The children in our studies had spent most of their lives (88% of the combined samples entered child care before their first birthdays) in intimate associations with a small number of age-mates and a nonrelative caregiver. Therefore, it is not surprising that the relationship with the caregiver became the children’s model for relating to peers in child care. Several recent studies suggest that adults influence peer relationships not only through their relationship with the child, but also through their own value systems and behaviors regarding social relations with others (Howes, 1987). We therefore suspect that the caregivers in child care may have influenced both directly and indirectly the peer relations of the children in their care.

As we expected, the children’s attachment relationships with their mothers did not always predict the quality of their attachment relationships with their caregivers. Of the combined sample, 45% had nonconcordant attachment relationships with mother and caregivers, and 41% of these nonconcordant attachments were compensatory; that is, the child was categorized as insecure with mother and secure with caregiver. This suggests that infant child care can serve as an intervention for children with disturbed mother- child relationships.

It must also be noted, however, that children in the current studies were less likely to form secure attachments with caregivers when they were frequently ignored and when the number of children cared for by each adult increased. These findings are consistent with a recent study of maltreated children in child care (Bradley, Caldwell, Fitzgerald, Morgan, & Rock, 1986), which suggested that such children engage in more socially competent behavior when attending higher quality child care. Furthermore, parents with whom the child was categorized as insecurely attached selected child care arrangements with more children per adults. These results reflect the interaction between family characteristics and child care selection (Howes & Olenick, 1986; Howes & Stewart, 1987).

In summary, although several recent studies suggest that full-time maternal employment in the first year of a child’s life may be a risk factor for the child’s current attachment security and, by implication, for the child’s future social relations (Barglow et al., 1987), in the current study middle- class children attending either centers or family day-care homes were no more likely to be insecurely attached than children cared for primarily by their mothers. These findings were sufficiently robust to be found in children cared for in an extremely diverse sample of community-based child care.


Furthermore, some of the children with insecure attachment relationships with their mothers formed secure attachment relationships with their alternative caregivers. These children appeared more socially competent than the children who failed to form compensatory secure relationships with alternative caregivers. Our one measure of child care quality, adult:child ratio, was implicated in the formation of secure alternative attachment relationships. Children who formed secure alternative attachments were cared for in settings with fewer children per adult.

Our data also suggest that children who are securely attached to their mothers may be better able than children insecurely attached to compensate for child care arrangements that promote insecure attachments to caregivers. The children who were securely attached to mothers but insecurely attached to caregivers appeared more socially competent in child care than those children insecurely attached to both mother and caregiver. Therefore, conclusions regarding the influence of early maternal employment need to consider not only maternal attachments, but also alternative attachments and the nature of the alternative child care setting.

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