Close bond between mother and baby vital for developing toddlers' social skills
Katy Morton
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Babies who are highly irritable and do not have a secure attachment to their mothers have the greatest difficulty interacting with people and objects as toddlers, according to new research.
To assess their irritability, they observed how the children, at four weeks old or younger, reacted to a series of events including being undressed and hearing a bell ringing.
At 12-months-old they examined the children’s behaviour around their mother to measure their attachment to their main caregiver.
The securely attached children were able to go to their mothers when they were distressed for comfort, while the insecurely attached children could not.
To discover whether the children with difficult temperaments were more likely to be affected by the quality of their relationships with their mother, the researchers observed them at 18 and 24-months-olds to see how they responded to being around unfamiliar adults and toys.
They found that the highly irritable babies with secure attachments were the most sociable as toddlers, whereas babies with insecure attachments struggled. The children with insecure attachments were also less able to engage in exploration as toddlers.
The findings of the study suggest that for highly irritable babies, the quality of their attachment to their mother affects the way they respond to unfamiliar adults and toys as they get older.
The authors of the study conclude, ‘Findings suggest that infants who are highly irritable and can’t use their mothers as a secure base have the greatest difficulty interacting with both people and objects. But highly irritable children who can turn to their mothers for comfort and support have a greater tendency to be sociable in such situations.’
They recommend the use of interventions to help children become securely attached to their caregiver, for example by using video feedback so parents can become more aware of their children’s needs and respond sensitively to them.
The study, Newborn irritability moderates the association between infant attachment security and toddler exploration and sociability,is published in the journal Child Development, Volume 82, issue 5.
