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Infant gaze, head, face and self-touch at 4 months differentiate secure vs. avoidant attachment at 1 year: a microanalytic approach.
Attach Hum Dev. 2002 Apr; 4(1):3-24.AH

Abstract

The study attempted to distinguish avoidant vs. secure infants at 1 year from 4-month infant behavior only, during a face-to-face play interaction with the mother. Thirty-five 4-month-old infants were coded second by second for infant gaze, head orientation, facial expression and self-touch/mouthing behavior. Mother behavior was not coded. At 1 year, 27 of these infants were classified as secure (B), and 8 as avoidant (A) attachment in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Compared with the B infant, the future A infant spent less time paying 'focused' visual attention (a look of a minimum 2 seconds duration) to the mother's face. Only if the A infant engaged in self-touch/mouthing behavior did its focused visual attention match that of the B. Markovian t to t+1 transition matrices then showed that both for future A and for future B infants, focused visual attention on the mother constrained the movements of the head to within 60 degrees from center vis-à-vis, defining head/gaze co-ordination within an attentional-interpersonal space. However, infant maintenance of head/gaze co-ordination was associated with self-touch/mouthing behavior for the A infant but not the B. Positive affect was associated with a disruption of head/gaze co-ordination for the A but not the B. Whereas the B had more variable facial behavior, potentially providing more facial signaling for the mother, the A had more variable tactile/mouthing behavior, changing patterns of self-soothing more often. Thus, infants classified as A vs. B at 12 months showed different behavioral patterns in face-to-face play with their mothers as early as 4 months.

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Authors

Koulomzin M
No affiliation info available
Beebe B
No affiliation info available
Anderson S
No affiliation info available
Jaffe J
No affiliation info available
Feldstein S
No affiliation info available
Crown C
No affiliation info available

MeSH

Age FactorsFacial ExpressionFixation, OcularFollow-Up StudiesHumansInfantInfant BehaviorMother-Child RelationsObject AttachmentPlay and PlaythingsSampling StudiesTouch

Pub Type(s)

Comparative Study
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Language

eng

PubMed ID

12065027

Citation

Koulomzin, Marina, et al. "Infant Gaze, Head, Face and Self-touch at 4 Months Differentiate Secure Vs. Avoidant Attachment at 1 Year: a Microanalytic Approach." Attachment & Human Development, vol. 4, no. 1, 2002, pp. 3-24.
Koulomzin M, Beebe B, Anderson S, et al. Infant gaze, head, face and self-touch at 4 months differentiate secure vs. avoidant attachment at 1 year: a microanalytic approach. Attach Hum Dev. 2002;4(1):3-24.
Koulomzin, M., Beebe, B., Anderson, S., Jaffe, J., Feldstein, S., & Crown, C. (2002). Infant gaze, head, face and self-touch at 4 months differentiate secure vs. avoidant attachment at 1 year: a microanalytic approach. Attachment & Human Development, 4(1), 3-24.
Koulomzin M, et al. Infant Gaze, Head, Face and Self-touch at 4 Months Differentiate Secure Vs. Avoidant Attachment at 1 Year: a Microanalytic Approach. Attach Hum Dev. 2002;4(1):3-24. PubMed PMID: 12065027.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Infant gaze, head, face and self-touch at 4 months differentiate secure vs. avoidant attachment at 1 year: a microanalytic approach. AU - Koulomzin,Marina, AU - Beebe,Beatrice, AU - Anderson,Samuel, AU - Jaffe,Joseph, AU - Feldstein,Stanley, AU - Crown,Cynthia, PY - 2002/6/18/pubmed PY - 2002/8/9/medline PY - 2002/6/18/entrez SP - 3 EP - 24 JF - Attachment & human development JO - Attach Hum Dev VL - 4 IS - 1 N2 - The study attempted to distinguish avoidant vs. secure infants at 1 year from 4-month infant behavior only, during a face-to-face play interaction with the mother. Thirty-five 4-month-old infants were coded second by second for infant gaze, head orientation, facial expression and self-touch/mouthing behavior. Mother behavior was not coded. At 1 year, 27 of these infants were classified as secure (B), and 8 as avoidant (A) attachment in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Compared with the B infant, the future A infant spent less time paying 'focused' visual attention (a look of a minimum 2 seconds duration) to the mother's face. Only if the A infant engaged in self-touch/mouthing behavior did its focused visual attention match that of the B. Markovian t to t+1 transition matrices then showed that both for future A and for future B infants, focused visual attention on the mother constrained the movements of the head to within 60 degrees from center vis-à-vis, defining head/gaze co-ordination within an attentional-interpersonal space. However, infant maintenance of head/gaze co-ordination was associated with self-touch/mouthing behavior for the A infant but not the B. Positive affect was associated with a disruption of head/gaze co-ordination for the A but not the B. Whereas the B had more variable facial behavior, potentially providing more facial signaling for the mother, the A had more variable tactile/mouthing behavior, changing patterns of self-soothing more often. Thus, infants classified as A vs. B at 12 months showed different behavioral patterns in face-to-face play with their mothers as early as 4 months. SN - 1461-6734 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/12065027/Infant_gaze_head_face_and_self_touch_at_4_months_differentiate_secure_vs__avoidant_attachment_at_1_year:_a_microanalytic_approach_ L2 - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616730210123120 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -