Infant Emotional Development and Attachment Theory

Emotional Responses in Infants: 6 to 9 Months

Two emotional responses that are typical of this period are related to emerging fears. On one hand is the fear of strangers, which appears at about six months but is not readily apparent until ten to fourteen months. A good deal of children, but not all, feel fear when approaching a stranger.

Each child has its own way of expressing this fear, which depends on a number of factors, including:

• The temperament of the baby.
• The characteristics of the stranger.
• The specific situation in which the stranger is encountered.

Especially important is whether the mother is present or not; the child reacts with much more fear when she is absent.

Separation Anxiety

The other emotional response very typical of this time is separation anxiety from the mother. This begins around eight or nine months, peaks at fourteen months, and then decreases slowly. Like the fear of strangers, not all children react the same when the mother leaves. These different reactions also depend on the nature of the situation and how the mother departs.

Defining Attachment According to Mary Ainsworth

Attachment is defined as a bonding between a person and another individual (or animal), a bond which links them across space and endures over time.

Factors Determining Attachment Quality

The mother's responsiveness to the child has much to do with the type of attachment formed. Secure mothers—those who provide confidence, care for their children, reason with them, and are sensitive to the needs of infants—tend to foster a secure attachment.

Conversely, when mothers are very insecure, it often results in the child becoming very insecure. Children may develop different types of attachment depending on the people who care for them. For example, a child may develop a secure attachment with the father but an insecure attachment with the mother.

Intergenerational Patterns and Temperament

The attachment a child develops may also be related to the attachment the parents experienced as children. It appears that parents who had a very strong attachment in childhood show a strong tendency to ensure their children also have one. Another factor is related to the child's temperament. Babies with difficult temperaments, or those who are naturally more anxious or fearful, tend to face more challenges in forming stable attachments.

Defining Temperament in Psychology

In psychology, temperament is an aspect of personality that refers to an individual's dispositions, reactions, speed, and intensity. The term is often used to refer to the prevailing mood of a person. Temperament traits are innate, appearing very early in a child's life, and remain fairly stable throughout life, although they can be changeable.

This definition must be taken with caution, as these traits have not always been confirmed in every longitudinal study.