Social referencing and the security of attachment

Abstract

The second episode of the Strange Situation procedure was used to study individual differences in infants' social referencing and relationships to the security of attachment. This 3-min episode entails interaction with an unfamiliar adult in which infants may seek emotional cues from mother. Forty-three 19 1/2 -month-old infants were observed. From videotaped records, the security of attachment was assessed using Ainsworth's criteria. For episode 2, minute-by-minute ratings of infant referencing and proximity to mother, and the quality of maternal utterances (to assess maternal emotional cuing) were performed. Referencing declined throughout the episode and was negatively related to proximity. A marginally significant (p <.06) main effect for attachment classification revealed that insecureresistant infants referenced most frequently (and showed persistent referencing early in the episode), insecure-avoidant babies referenced least frequently, with securely attached infants in between. Mothers displayed a positive vocal tone to the baby but did not vary with infant attachment status. These findings suggest that referencing may reflect aspects of secure base behavior which distinguish securely from insecurely attached infants.