Attachment classification from the perspective of infant-caregiver relationships and infant temperament.

Recently a number of investigators have suggested that classification differences in the Ainsworth Strange Situation (anxious and secure patterns of attachment) may be due largely or in part to endogenous temperamental variation. In doing so, these investigators have suggested a dimensional-trait approach in place of a qualitatively different taxonomic approach. Moreover, much evidence is directly contrary to a strong temperament interpretation of attachment patterns (changing attachments, differing attachments with different caregivers, prospective data on the early characteristics of infants later classified as securely or anxiously attached). Other interactionist temperament models currently have not been tested sufficiently. At the same time, a host of research findings support the interpretation that Ainsworth assessments capture aspects of the relationship between infant and caregiver, as derived from the history of their interaction. This includes direct evidence from observations of infants and mothers over time, the influence of varying patterns of care within and between cultures, the impact of factors presumed to influence quality of care (e.g., social support, life stress, caregiver family history), and predictions of later parent behavior from strange situation assessments of infant behavior. The importance of understanding attachment as a relational concept is twofold: it represents a theoretical and paradigmatic shift of importance for many aspects of developmental psychology, and it opens the way for more productive research on temperament, the interaction between temperament and experience, and important process studies of the unfolding of the infant-caregiver relationship.