The development of negative reactivity in irritable newborns as a function of attachment

• Published in: Infant behavior & development 2013-02, Vol.36 (1), p.139-146
• Main Authors: Sherman, Laura J., Stupica, Brandi, Dykas, Matthew J., Ramos-Marcuse, Fatima, Cassidy, Jude
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affect; Attachment; Biological and medical sciences; Child development; Classification; Developmental psychology; Emotion regulation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Irritability; Newborn. Infant; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reactivity; Temperament
• ISSN: 0163-6383; 1879-0453; 1934-8800
• DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.11.004

► We examine infant negative reactivity and attachment in irritable newborns. ► We tested whether infants minimize or maximize emotion based on attachment quality. ► Reactivity at 5 and 12 months were consistent with theory and our hypotheses. ► At 5 months, attachment groups did not differ in their negative reactivity. ► At 12 months, avoidant infants had the least reactivity and ambivalent the most. This longitudinal study builds on existing research exploring the developmental course of infants’ negative reactivity to frustration in a sample of 84 irritable infants. We investigated whether infants’ negative reactivity to frustration differed during the first year as a function of infant attachment classification. Various elements of the designs of previous studies investigating negative reactivity and attachment preclude the strong conclusion that negative reactivity develops differently as a function of attachment. Thus, we utilized the same observational assessment of infant negative reactivity, conducted without parental involvement, at 5 and 12 months. One proposition, based in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982; Cassidy, 1994), is that relative to secure infants, insecure-avoidant infants come to minimize their negative emotional reactions, whereas insecure-ambivalent infants come to maximize their negative emotional reactions. As expected, we found that at 5 months, attachment groups did not differ in reactivity, but at 12 months, insecure-avoidant infants were the least reactive, followed by secure infants, and insecure-ambivalent infants were the most reactive. Results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing the development of emotion regulation and their implications for future research.