Infants and Toddlers Socioeconomic Development

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Janet Belskys Experiencing the Lifespan, 1e
Chapter 4 Infancy Socioemotional Development
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ATTACHMENT - history

• Early 20th century Behaviorists thought that
  feeding was our main reinforcer. Cuddling a child
  would result in a pathologically dependent adult!
  (Watson)
• But mid 20th century researchers in Europe found
  that the need to be close to a caregiver is
  programmed to come out in every species (Konrad
  Lorenz goslings) including children separated
  from their moms.
• Harry Harlow (1959) proves the behaviorism meal
  dispenser model wrongmonkeys clung to a
  comforting cloth mother, even when they were fed
  (reinforced) by the wire mom.
• Psychological consequences of being raised
  without a mother scared of peers, rocked in
  their cages, couldnt have sex and when they had
  babies through artificial insemination, they were
  uncaring and abusive.

• J. Bowlby puts it all together (in the 1970s).
  Having a Primary Attachment is a crucial human
  need and needed for normal development!

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Attachment Milestones

• Pre-attachment phase - birth to 3 months
• Infants show no signs of attachment.
• The social smile does make its entrance at 2
  months
• Attachment in the making - 4 to 7 months
• Babies show a slight preference for their primary
  caregivers. But still goes to everyone
• Clear-cut (focused) attachment 7 months3 years
• Signaled by separation anxiety and stranger
  anxiety (peaks at 1-2 years)
• Babies need to know their caregiver is close, get
  anxious when she leaves
• Social referencing Babies check back to know
  their caregiver is monitoring their behavior
  requires interpersonal skills.
• Working-model phase - age 3
• we carry around an inner image (internal
  representation) of our attachment figureand
  proximity seeking behavior- or the need to make
  contact is only vitally important when we are
  under stress.

Note Our attachment response is innate and
extremely strong during the 1st year of life.
However, our Proximity-Seeking Behavior need to
make contact with an attachment figure is
activated anytime our survival is threatened or
compromised (internally externally).
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Attachment Styles

• Are there individual variations in the attachment
  response during the critical toddler clear cut
  phase? Yes, according to Dr. Mary Ainsworth
• Using the strange situationplanned separations
  and reunions-researchers find distinctive
  attachment styles
• Securely attached babies use mom as a secure
  base to explore environment toys If mom
  leaves, they may or may not become distressed.
  BUT, they react with joy when mom comes back
• Insecurely attached children react in three ways
• Avoidant (indifferent/detached when mom returns)
• Anxious-ambivalent (excessively anxious, clingy,
  overly nervous and afraid to explore toys AND
  unable to be comforted when mom returns)
• Disorganized reacts bizarrely to mom runs,
  freezes and looks frightened.

secure
Avoidant
Refer to page 133
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WHAT CAUSES SECURE ATTACHMENTS?

• Force 1 THE CAREGIVERS SENSITIVITY
• Synchronyis the wonderful sense of attunement as
  babies and caregivers relate
• Parents who dance well with their babies in
  early infancy (and beyond) are more likely to
  have infants who are securely attached

versus
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WHAT CAUSES SECURE ATTACHMENTS?

• Force 2 THE CHILDS TEMPERAMENT (inborn style
  of approaching the world)
• Three basic tempermental styles (Thomas Chess)
  
• Easy (most children) rhythmic patterns,
  positive and easily soothed
• Slow-to Warm Up
• Difficult (1 out of 10) hypersensitive,
  agitated, hyperreactive to sight and sound
• Some babies have difficult temperaments. These
  highly anxious at risk children are set up by
  their biology to be insecurely attached at age
  one
• Is it the babys biology that causes insecure
  attachment or the quality of caregiving?
• Actually, the two interact (bidirectional
  effect)--- While an exceptionally sensitive
  caregiver can soothe a temperamentally difficult
  child (and promote secure attachment), we must be
  very careful of just blaming the mom for
  attachment problems in the child!

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Force 3 The Caregivers Other Attachments

• The quality of attachment also depends on the
  wider world specifically, whether the
  caregivers other attachment relationships are
  working out. If you are in a stressful marriage
  or not being supported by the wider world, its
  very difficult to be a sensitive dancer, too.

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A Global Perspective on Attachment

• Babies around the world display the clear-cut
  attachment response at the right timeand most
  children in every society are ranked secure
  (refer to Figure 4.5 on page 115)
• Even in cultures such as the Efé (Africa) where
  infants have multiple caregivers from birth,
  babies get attached to their mom at the right
  age.
• But fascinating studies of kibbutz-reared
  children suggest that sleeping with (or near) the
  parents and being able to be comforted at night
  is crucial to cementing this important bond
• Finally, babies do get attached to more than one
  person , but at the critical age for clear-cut
  attachment there is a specific attachment figure
  they typically prefer most

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How does infant attachment relate the wider world?

• Securely attached babies are more competent
  socially and show higher levels of maturity.
• But these relationships between infant security
  and good outcomes are strongest in the first
  years of life one reason is that attachment
  security can change over time

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The consistency of attachment from babyhood to
adult life

• A landmark study of poverty- level women and
  their children although most infants were
  securely attached at age one at age 19 many had
  shifted to insecureespecially if they, and their
  attachment figuresexperienced high levels of
  stress.
• Bottom line message Bowlby and (Freud) were
  wrong. Early attachment does not magically
  insulate us from lifes blows. Stress can change
  our attachment status from secure to insecure

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Wrapping Up Attachment

• There is a sensitive period for secure attachment
  (in toddlerhood), but NOT being secure at age
  one, is no guarantee of never being secure. With
  love we can change an insecure attachment status
  to secure. And unfortunately, when our lives
  become difficult, and our attachment figures
  leave, we can change in the other direction too.
• Beware of just blaming the mother and use the
  developmental systems approach. The quality of
  attachment depends on many life forces from the
  mother, to the child, to the moms other life
  dances.

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POVERTY A Fact Sheet

• The U.S. Federal Government defines the poverty
  line as an income level that allows a household
  to pay for shelter, food, and clothes, with a
  small amount left over.
• In 2005, that level- 19,350 or less for a family
  of fourmay seriously underestimate what it
  really take to live!
• Although single moms are most at risk of
  poverty, two parent dual earner families can be
  living in poverty, because U.S. minimum wage
  jobs do not provide people with a living wage.
• Partly because of our
• meager government support,
• the U.S has the highest child
• poverty rates in the
• Western World

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Povertys Effects, Poverty Programs

• Young children (and their parents) living in
  poverty have a host of education-related stresses
• living in dangerous neighborhoods
• not having access to decent housing
• not being exposed to educational toys
• It is no wonder then that early childhood poverty
  can wreak a devastating impact in the cognitive
  realm.
• Two Federal Programs give young children
  a cognitive boost
• Early Head Start Provides health screening,
  social services, and parenting classes to
  low-income pregnant women with children under age
  3.
• Head Start Offers high-quality preschool to
  help prepare children aged 3-5 for school.
• These programs do make a short-term difference.
  The problem is that they may not be able to
  overcome the impact of going to low-quality
  schools!

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Child Care Facts and Options

• The U.S. offers 12 weeks of unpaid maternity
  leave. So, many mothers return to work during a
  childs first year of life. There are several
  different types of non-maternal care
• Care by other family members (either a parent or
  relative) or by a nanny/baby sitter
• Family day care a neighbor takes in a few
  children for a fee in her home
• Day care centers unlike family care, day care
  centers are much larger businesses and need to
  be licensed by the state

Refer to Figure 4.8 on page 123
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The Good News-Bad News Scenario With Day Care
(based on the major national study in the field)

• Putting a child into daycare does not lessen the
  attachment bond. The quality, not the quantity,
  of the mothers care is crucially important
• However, long hours in day care during the first
  four years of life do correlate with children
  being somewhat more likely to be ranked harder
  to handle in kindergarten
• While they vary in quality many U.S. day cares
  are only marginally acceptable. With regard to
  providing young children with high quality care,
  the U.S. has a long way to go!

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Day-care Study by NICHD - http//www.nichd.nih.gov
/health/topics/seccyd.cfm
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Toddlerhood Its special challengesAutonomy
versus Shame Doubt (E. Erikson)

• For the baby
• The need to move out and taste life on your own
  (as a little scientist)
• The need to be close to your primary caregiver
• 3) The dawning understanding that you are a
  self. During the 1st year, they show joy, fear
  anger. During toddlerhood children first feel
  those crucial and complicated self-conscious
  emotions such as pride, guilt and shame
• 4) The need to regulate your behavior or not do
  what you want to do!
• For caregivers
• SOCIALIZATION teaching the rules of
  living in the Human community!
• (The Result THE TERRIBLE 2s)

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Socialization facts

• 1) Socialization is heaviest and the clashes
  are most intense at age 2.
• 2) Its easier for children to keep from doing
  something they want to (eg. not touch desirable
  toys) than to perform an aversive task (picking
  up those toys or cleaning a room)
• 3) The ability to inhibit our actions is far
  better at four than at one, although this
  crucial quality develops gradually throughout
  childhood (Its actually a challenge throughout
  life!)
• 4) Fearful children (and girls) are easier to
  socialize, than exuberant toddler explorers
  temperament makes a huge difference in
  toddlerhood!

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Two Toddler Temperaments

• Exuberant Toddlers
• They are whirlwinds of activity, unfraid of the
  world, anxious to get into every thing
• Their strong joyous temperament makes them much
  more difficult to control
• They are at risk for experiencing harsh power
  assertive discipline and being labeled as bad
  kids
• Shy Toddlers
• They are wary, fearful, and anxious
• They are at risk for being unhappy and having
  trouble moving into the worldTo some extent
  these biological temperamental predispositions do
  persist (read the research on shy kids in the
  text on page 129-131), but these basic toddler
  styles tend to get less intense as kids grow
  older. They also can be softened by providing the
  best person environment fit

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Treating the different styles Some caregiver
guidelines

• Socializing a shy baby
• Dont overprotect.
• Gently exposing shy toddlers to new situations
  helps teach them to cope.
• Raising a rambunctious toddler
• Resist power assertion - dont yell, scream and
  hit
• The best way to get compliance is to develop a
  strong attachment bond
• Bottom line With kids who are bouncing off the
  walls go overboard to provide lots of loveeven
  when you want to scream!

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General guidelines for Temperament Friendly
socialization

• -Understand a childs specific temperament
• -Work to minimize that childs vulnerabilities
  and
• accentuate his strengths
• -Strive throughout childhood (and adulthood) to
• promote the best person-environment fit!