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16 February 2020

Infants & Socioemotional Development

In terms of infant’s behavior, attachment is understood as an attempt to seek proximity

with a primary caregiver in stressful situations. Child’s experience in these situations

(depending on the peculiarities of parental behavior) results in a certain pattern of attachment,

which, in accordance with Stevenson-Hinde (20), has a serious impact on the child’s

socioemotional development. On the other hand, the existing nature-nurture debate implies that

there might be some initial determinants, which might be even more significant, or which, at

least, play a certain role in this development. Therefore, it is important to shed some light on

three main interdependent determinants of the child’s socioemotional development:

temperament, attachment pattern, and parental behavior.

Following Benoit (3), the differences in temperament can be observed immediately

after birth. Allard and Hunter point out (2) that, depending on the child’s level of reactivity,

adaptability, responsiveness to stressors, general mood, distractibility, persistence, children can

be categorized into three groups, corresponding to temperamental types: flexible children are

generally in good mood, their habits sleeping and feeding habits are regular, they are rather

adaptable, tending to stay calm; feisty children are more prone to be fussy and irregular in their

habits, they are fearful and easily get upset, being intense in their reactions; cautious children

are less active, their behavior is characterized with withdrawal, negative reactions to unfamiliar

situations. Allard and Hunter (3) provide the idea that it is important for parents to understand
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these differences in order for them to ensure that child’s preferences are taken into account. It

is also important to avoid mismatching between parenting style and temperament to support

healthy socioemotional development.

Parenting style has a mediating role between child’s temperament and his further

attachment style. In order for the child be able to develop secure attachment style, apart from

being flexible to child’s natural temperament, parents should be consistently available,

demonstrating responsiveness to child’s needs, especially, in the situation of distress (Benoit

4). Colin (Infant Attachment: What We Know Now) also notices that mother’s sensitivity is the

main determinant of attachment style. The unavailability of parents, on the contrary, results

into insecure attachment styles: anxious-avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, and disorganized.

The attachment patterns are rather stable (Infant Attachment: What We Know Now),

being able to affect person’s adult attachment. These patterns include: secure attachment lets

toddlers to explore the world freely, since he is used to the availability of the caregiver;

anxious-ambivalent attachment results in child’s usual distress, feelings of anxiety, little

exploration of the environment; anxious-avoidant style implies conspicuousness and avoidant

behavior; disorganized attachment is associated with child trauma and perpetual distress. It

should be pointed out that, in accordance with Hong and Jae (449), securely attached children

demonstrate more curios, self-reliant, and independent behavior. They were found to be more

resilient, having increased abilities to cope with distress, and competent. On the contrast, when

parents were unable to take into account child’s temperament traits, to demonstrate sensitivity,

developing insecure attachment, their child was found to have difficulties with communication

and emotional regulation.

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CONCLUSION

To conclude, it is important to mention that the process of upbringing is rather

complicated and, therefore, implies complex approach. It is important to understand the

mediating role of the parenting style between two factors of child’s socioemotional

development – child’s temperament and his attachment style: in this sense, it is crucial for

parents to be sensitive to child’s unique temperament traits, staying sensitive to his needs.
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Works Cited

Benoit, Diane. “Infant-Parent Attachment: Definition, Types, Antecedents, Measurement and

Outcome.” Paediatrics & Child Health, Pulsus Group Inc, Oct. 2004,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2724160/.

“Infant Attachment: What We Know Now.” ASPE, 21 Feb. 2017, aspe.hhs.gov/basic-

report/infant-attachment-what-we-know-now.

Understanding Temperament in Infants and Toddlers. csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb_23.pdf.

Hong, Yoo Rha, and Jae Sun Park. “Impact of Attachment, Temperament and Parenting on

Human Development.” Korean Journal of Pediatrics, The Korean Pediatric Society,

Dec. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534157/.

Stevenson-Hinde, Joan. “Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical

Applications. Edited by J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver. Guilford Press, New York. Pp.

925.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 42, no. 2, 2001, pp. 279–282.,

doi:10.1017/s0021963001226754.