A number of recent studies have identified significant relationships between the quality of infant-parent attachment and a wide range of concurrent and subsequent socialization outcomes. Unfortunately, reference to secure attachment does not explain socialization outcomes. Attachment/socialization correlations are data in search of an explanation. This application proposes a detailed longitudinal analysis of the role(s) that child-parent attachment plays in the development of prosocial, antisocial and problem behavior patterns. The application proposes a 4 year longitudinal study of 200 males (from ages 3 through 5 years). The study is designed to evaluate the contributions of: 1) child-parent attachment, 2) stable parental child-rearing practices, and 3) children's patterns of identification, to a wide range of socialization outcomes in early childhood. The principle hypotheses are: 1) The quality of child-parent attachment and characteristics of parental child-rearing practices exert a major interactive influence on a wide range of socialization outcomes; 2) patterns of attachment lead to individual differences in (a) differential attentiveness to and preference for parental values and standards, (b) familiarity with parental behavior, (c) spontaneous reproductions of parental characteristics, (d) responsiveness to parental socialization demands, (e) sensitivity to parental censure, and (f) differential responsiveness to parents as sources of approval and approbation; and 3) the relationship between attachment and socialization is mediated by the impact of individual differences in attentiveness to parents, etc. as moderators of the effect of child rearing practices in middle childhood. The proposed design will also allow us to evaluate the simpler hypothesis that attachment/socialization correlations simply reflect serially independent consequences of child rearing practices that differ among families but are quite stable within families.
