Infant Child Care and Attachment

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that a child's attachment to its caregivers is assessed in terms of security because a secure attachment to caregivers engenders confidence in a child, facilitating and promoting his exploration of the world around him, ensuring that, in the event of anxiety or discomfort, the child will return to the security of the foundation provided by those caregivers. The author points out that a study has established that time spent in daycare, regardless of the quality of that daycare, correlates directly with the predictable problem profile of projected child behaviors. The paper concludes that a division of roles between parent and alternative caregiver, "shared care", provides a better sense of attachment, meaning security for the child and making better emotional and developmental opportunities for the child.

From the Paper:

"Structural features were found in the National Day Care Study. and had considerable effects on the manifest well-being of the infants in the day care settings that formed part of the sample. Dynamic features, the quality and frequency of interactions between the care-givers and the children, were seen to have a profound effect on self-esteem, physical and cognitive abilities. It was seen, however, that contextual features are perhaps the most potent at work in the definition of quality childcare: Child outcomes depend less on the form of care than on characteristics of the setting."

More papers on Infant Child Care and Attachment:

• Article Review # 139218 : "Child Care and Infant Attachment"
• Term Paper # 119541 : "Reactive Attachment Disorder"
• Research Paper # 15454 : "Parent-Infant Communication"

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