This article will cover the impact sensitive mothering (Ainsworth in Smith,
Cowie & Blades, 2003) has on child development, and its relevance in
building a positive connection between mother and child. I will examine the
implications of Bowlby’s attachment
theory (Bowlby, 1988), Ainsworth’s research, Erikson’s psychological stages of personality development (Erikson in
Stevens, 1983) and other relevant research to understand the role of sensitive
mothering in developing essential emotional and social skills of three to five
year olds and adults.
Sensitive
mothering relates to the quality of the interactions
between mother/primary carer and child (Smith, Cowie & Blades, 2003).
Therefore, a sensitive mother is very connected and responsive to her baby’s
signals, interpreting them correctly (Ainsworth in Smith, Cowie & Blades,
2003). Her responses are prompt, showing an emotional and physical availability
for the child, positive communication, cooperation and stimulation of the child
(Macleod-Brudenell & Kay, 2008). On the other hand, an insensitive mother tends to be self-centred, focusing on her/his
own needs and activities and interpreting the child’s signals (over-stimulating
or rejecting the child) according to them distorting the implications of the
child’s communication or not responding
at all (Ainsworth in Sylva & Lunt, 1989).
Research (Ainsworth & Bell, Schaffer,
Trevarthen & Richards, Stern in Sylva & Lunt, 1989) shows that the
mother’s early responsiveness and sensitivity to the needs of the infant lay
the foundations for the child’s later social and emotional development. Thus,
babies who were not deprived of care and affection, physical contact and timely
responses to their needs, developed a stronger
emotional bond to their mothers, a sense of trust which enabled them to explore their environments and
positively relate to others.
This was studied by Bowlby through observation of
the behaviour of children in different situations, their feelings and reactions
(Bowlby, 1988). His first study, Fourty
Four Juvenile Thieves, Their characters and Home Lives, was based upon
research carried out on juvenile offenders and their childhood experiences.
Bowlby discovered that one of the things the young adolescent boys had in
common was deprivation of maternal care, which he linked to the affectionless
nature of the boys, and their later misbehaviour (Bowlby, 1988). Bowlby also
studied hospitalised children, bringing attention to the
suffering of young children separated
from their primary caregivers. Separated children exhibited a sequence of
responses such as protest, despair, denial and detachment,
lacking responsiveness when united with the parents and keeping and unconcerned
appearance (Bowlby in Barnes, 1995). This study further consolidated his view
on the maternal role in healthy child development. Bowlby also published Maternal Care and Mental Health as he
was asked by the World Health Organization to prepare a report on homeless
children. He concluded that the love and
care of mothers in infancy was vital for healthy social and emotional
development (Bowlby in Macleod-Brudenell & Kay, 2008). Bowlby stated
that mother love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as
are vitamins and proteins for physical health.
His later work, The
Nature of the Child’s Tie to his Mother, published in 1957, was influenced
by the works of Lorenz and Harlow (Bowlby, 1988). Lorenz’s studies on ducklings and goslings showed two major
discoveries which Bowlby thought could also shed light in early human
development. The first was that there was a critical period (Lorenz in Barnes, 1995) during which young
birds and mammals learn which object to follow, a process known as imprinting
(Lorenz in Barnes, 1995). Usually, the mother is the first moving figure which
the babies encounter, thus being imprinted on the mother has a major role in
the survival of the baby. The second
finding was that in some animal species a strong bond to a mother-figure can
develop without the intermediary of food, as the ducklings and goslings were
able to feed themselves.
Further support of Bowlby’s theory came from Harlow’s studies on rhesus monkey. He
observed that when infant rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers and
isolated they became anxious and disturbed, were scared of other monkeys and
displayed aggressive or withdrawn behaviour, an irreversible process after the
age of 3 months (Harlow in Barnes, 1995).
By applying these animal studies in his
investigations of young children, Bowlby was able to explain the impact
maternal deprivation has on them. He suggested that babies too have a critical
period, from 6 months to 3 years, during which the presence and quality of
maternal care determines the attachment
behaviour (Bowlby, 1988) of the
child, which is “any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or
maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual” (Bowlby,
1988, pp. 29). Therefore, the child who
receives sensitive and responsive
caregiving develops a sense of
security and a positive attachment with the mother or other caregivers.
Ainsworth worked with Bowlby and suggested attachment could
be measured using a laboratory strange situation test (Ainsworth in
Smith, Cowie, & Blades, 2003). The test is comprised of seven short
episodes (with infants aged 12 – 24 months) which occur in a comfortably
designed room, during which the mother and the child meet a stranger. After a
brief interaction of the stranger and the infant in the presence of the mother,
the mother and the stranger alternatively leave the room, then return. Analysing the children’s reactions, Ainsworth
distinguished between different attachment
types.
The secure attachment (type B) (Ainsworth in Papalia, Wendkos-Olds &
Duskin-Feldman, 2010) is characterised by babies crying or protesting when the
mother leaves and happily greeting her when she returns. They use the mother/primary
carer as a secure base to explore, but will periodically come back for
reassurance. They are mostly calm and compliant and have rare anger outbursts.
The avoidant/anxious
(typeA) attachment (Ainsworth in Papalia, Wendkos-Olds &
Duskin-Feldman, 2010) is characterised by babies rarely crying when the mother
leaves and avoid the mother upon her return. They tend to be angry and not turn
to their mothers when in need. Ambivalent/disinterested (type C) attachment
(Ainsworth in Papalia, Wendkos-Olds & Duskin-Feldman, 2010) is shown by
babies having a conspicuous contact and interaction-resisting behaviour in the
reunion episodes. They become anxious before the mothers leave, and very upset
with the separation. When reunited, they seek contact with the mother but in
the same time reject it. Later research (Main & Solomon in Papalia,
Wendkos-Olds & Duskin-Feldman, 2010) identified a fourth type of
attachment, the disorganized or disoriented attachment (type D). These babies
do not show a clear and consistent pattern of behaviour, but often bizarre
responses to separation and reunion: happiness of reunion followed by
rejection, disrupted, insecure gestures, seeking closure with the stranger at
the reunion rather than the mothers.
Ainsworth and Bowlby advanced the hypothesis that
based on its mother interactions the infant will elaborate an internal
working model (Bowlby, 1988) of himself/herself and his primary caregiver(s). These working models includes the
previous experiences of the child in term of communication and general
interaction with the primary caregiver and
projects these past experiences as future expectations from him/her. Thus, securely attached children will build
up an internal working model of their primary caregiver as available and
responsive to their needs. Insecurely
attached children are not only emotionally distressed, but also construct
internal working models to help them cope with rejection and other forms of insensitive mothering (Ainsworth in
Barnes, 1995). According to Bowlby this remains unchanged throughout life.
Avoidant infants eventually learn to block off the
information which leads to the emotional distress. They will eventually stop
screaming and inhibit the emotional experience (Ekman in Branes, 1995). This is
the way avoidant children protect themselves from rejection, by showing little
emotion and avoiding the mother on reunion. In the long term, this will cause
difficulties in establishing close relationships with others.
Ambivalent infants learn to adapt by adopting an opposite
behaviour. They intensify their crying until the primary caregiver will appear
to calm them, but if the pattern persists, these babies will be self-centred,
focusing on their own feeling and needs at the expense of mutual sharing.
Ainsworth (in Barnes, 1995) suggests that they will build an internal working
model of the caregiver as inconsistently available and responsive.
The internal working model of the infant is
correlated with the concept of fundamental trust, (Erikson in
Stevens, 1983) formulated by Erikson. Erikson developed a psycho-social
development theory charting the human life cycle in 8 distinctive periods. Each
is characterized by a series of pair attitudes
(Erikson in Stevens, 1983) towards life, the self and other people. Until
adulthood a child goes through: basic
trust versus mistrust (0 to 18 months), autonomy
versus shame and doubt (12 to 18 months to 3 years), initiative versus guilt (3 to 6 years), industry versus inferiority (6 to puberty) and identity versus role confusion (from puberty to adulthood) (Erikson
in Papalia, Wendkos-Olds & Duskin-Feldman, 2010).
The critical feature of the first stage is the total dependence of the child on those who care
for him/her (the mother/primary carer). The satisfaction of his/her needs and
the comfort of his/her existence lays in the hands of the primary caregiver and his/her ability to sensitively respond
to them. Similar to Bowlby and Ainsworth’s finding, the quality of the
interaction projects future expectations and a sense of basic trust or mistrust towards the self and
the world (Erikson in Stevens, 1983). However the child also needs a reasonable
amount of mistrust to be able to protect him/herself from danger. Successful
completion of each stage results in the development of certain virtues (Erikson in Stevens, 1983) or
strengths. In this stage the virtue developed being hope “the enduring belief in the attainability of primal wishes”
(Erikson in Stevens, 1983, pp 44). If such a virtue is not attained, the
outcome is a state similar to that of insecurely attached children, of
excessive caution, withdrawal and inability to trust others or oneself. Failing
to positively complete the stage, the child may also become depressive and
his/her future stages of development might be impaired. The securely attached
infant will develop trust in those around him/her and in their environment.
Further research (Goldfarb, Rutter in Sylva &
Lunt, 1989, Tizard main & Cassidy in Barnes 1995, Matas, Arend &
Stroufe, Vartner, Kobak & Sceery, Hazan & Shaver, Cassidy & Kobak y
in Bowlby, 1988, Main et all, Lewis Waters, Fonagy, Phelps in Smith Cowie &
Blades, 2003)
determines how early attachment impacts the social and emotional
development of children and adults. Conducting
a variant of the strange situation
Main & Cassidy (in Barnes 1995)
analysed the behaviours of 3 to 6
year olds finding that children who have had positive experience with
relationships are likely to see themselves as lovable and worthy, will expect
others to like them and will have no difficulties in developing close intimate
relationships with others. Those who have had negative relationships with their
main caregivers, who have been rejected, or who have not met comfort when in
distress, will most probably develop a low self-esteem and will have low
expectations in relationships acting in ways which are likely to provoke
rejection. Disorganised attachment
was also found to predict later aggressive behaviour and child psychopathology
(Van Ijzendoorn et al. in Smith, Cowie & Blades, 2003). Carlson (in Smith,
Cowie & Blades, 2003) also found that disorganised attachment at 24 and 42
months predicted later behaviour problems in preschool, elementary school and
high school. Taking into account the previous studies on attachment formation
it may be that the disorganised attachment pattern will be found as the most
illustrative example of development of severely antisocial behaviours in life
as a result of severe maternal insensitivity.
To measure attachment in older adolescences and adults, Main et al (in Smith Cowie & Blades
2003) developed the Adult Attachment Interview,
a way of understanding the internal working models of parents with respect
to their attachments. They believed that if mothers recollect positive
childhood experiences, these experiences will be projected in their
relationships with their own children. Thus, they have identified four main patterns:
autonomous:
persons who openly and objectively talks about their experiences even though
not all of them were positive, dismissive: persons who regards
attachment relationships as of little value or concern, enmeshed: persons who
still actively struggle to please their parents, and unresolved: persons who
have experienced trauma and have not yet come to turns with it. The study
showed that the childhood experiences of the parents and the quality of care
they received influenced their own parenting styles.
We
can conclude that sensitive mothering leads to secure attachment which, in turn
leads to trust in the caregiver and in the environment. Insensitive mothering
leads to an insecure attachment and a lack of trust. Securely attached babies do not only develop
trust in the mother but also in their own capacities to obtain what they need
from the external environment. Lacking to provide warm and caring mothering
sets different internal working models for the children to cope with these
negative emotions. These models may also predict future behaviour through later
childhood, adolescence or adulthood.
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