Infant Day Care and Attachment Behaviors toward Mothers and Teachers

FARRAN, DALE C., and RAMEY, CRAIG T. Infant Day Care and Attachment Behaviors toward Mothers and Teachers. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1112-1116. The growing trend toward placing infants in group day care at very early ages may have serious effects on the development of the mother-child attachment bond. 23 black infant-day-care-reared children were observed in a situation designed to heighten attachment behaviors; both their mothers and an infant-day-care teacher were present. Children overwhelmingly preferred to be near and to interact with their mothers rather than their teachers, indicating that the attachment bond to the mother had indeed been formed. Moreover, they perceived their mothers as the help giver when faced with a mildly difficult problem.