Anxious Attachment and Defensive Reactions Associated with Day Care

Abstract

BLEHAR, MARY CURTIS. Anxious Attachment and Defensive Reactions Associated with Day Care. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 683-692. 20 2and 3-year-old children attending full. time group day care were compared with 20 home-reared children of the same ages in a standardized strange situation. Analysis focused on responses to separation from and reunion with the mother. Findings indicate qualitative disturbances in the mother-child relationship in day-care children, and this was attributed to the disruptive effects of frequent daily separations. The child's age at the time that day care began influenced the kind of disturbance shown. Those who started day care at age 2 showed avoidant behavior upon reunion with the mother, whereas those who started day care at age 3 showed anxious, ambivalent behavior.