ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300045
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: WARREN KING SEATTLE TIMES
Many working mothers worry that not being full-time moms during their child's first months means they won't establish a special bond. New research may help allay that fear:
Child care by someone else neither impairs nor promotes infants' emotional attachment to their mothers, according to a major new study, the most extensive ever on the subject.
However, researchers found that when a mother has problems being sensitive to a child's needs, three factors involving child care could make a significant difference: low-quality care, more than 10 hours of care a week and multiple child-care settings.
``The most important thing is maternal sensitivity, and it's something that mothers need to start early and the earlier the better,'' said Cathryn Booth, a University of Washington research professor who reported on the study Saturday at the International Conference on Infant Studies in Providence, R.I. Booth was one of the principal researchers in the project.
Conducted by 14 universities and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the study examined more than 1,300 families to measure the children's attachment at 15 months of age.
Behavioral experts define attachment as a child's sense of trust in his or her care-giver - a full confidence that the person will support him or her in a warm, loving way when needed. Psychologists have found that insecure attachments to mothers in infancy can lead to difficult developmental and social adjustment when the child is older.
Researchers began the new study in 1991 after a decade of apparently steady growth in early child care: The percentage of working mothers with infants younger than 1 year grew from 38 percent to 53 percent over the 10 years.
For this portion of the study, the researchers considered a variety of nonmaternal child care: day-care centers, family day-care homes, care by a nonrelative in the child's home, grandparent care and father care while the mother is working.
Another, uncompleted portion of the study analyzes the impact of child care on fathers' relationships to their children.
Families and infants less than 1 month old in 10 cities were enrolled in the study. The families were widely diverse in race, income, maternal education, maternal employment, family structure (including single parents), and amount and type of child care.
At 15 months, the infants were subjected to a laboratory test in which they were separated from their mothers for two three-minute intervals and their reactions monitored when the mothers returned.
Secure infants, those who were emotionally well-attached, established positive, interactive contact with their mothers when they were reunited. Those considered ``insecurely attached'' ignored or avoided them.
Booth said the test was considered a reliable measure because it was derived from extensive home observations conducted in previous studies.
Researchers evaluated the care of each child, including type, quality, number of hours a week, stability (number of child-care arrangements) and age of entry into care.
They also evaluated the mothers in their homes and in labs during different activities for their sensitivity to their child's needs.
``Insensitive meant they were disconnected in some way, they had a colder relationship, they were preoccupied with other things in their lives ... or they were inconsistently responsive - sometimes emotionally available to the child, sometimes not,'' Booth said. ``Sensitive means they are tuned in to the child, that they're warm and loving, that they're paying attention to what baby is doing and what is needed.''
She said none of the other key factors alone, or in combination, led to increased risk of insecure attachments. Insecurity was more likely to occur when they were combined with the maternal insensitivity. The key factors were:
* Low-quality care: The care-giver is not emotionally responsive to the children, such as not comforting them when they cry. Or the children are left to their own devices rather than being involved in activities.
* Multiple child-care settings: The child had several care-giving arrangements, all during a given week or several during the first 15 months.
* More than 10 hours of care per week.
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