Developmental Psychology

1977, Vol. 13, No. 6, 637-648

The Development of Mother-Infant and

Father-Infant Attachments in the
Second Year of Life
MICHAEL E. LAMB
University of Michigan

Twenty infants were observed at home interacting with their mothers, fathers, and
an unfamiliar investigator, when they were 15, 18, 21, and 24 months of age. The
infants showed significant preferences for their fathers over their mothers in the
display of attachment and affiliative behaviors. Both parents were preferred to the
investigator on attachment behavior measures, though when the relative activity of
the adults was taken into account, the infants directed more affiliative behaviors to
the investigator than to their parents. Over the year, there were declines in the
occurrence of most attachment and affiliative behaviors. Fathers were far more
active in interaction with sons than with daughters. At 24 months, the infants were
observed in a laboratory playroom with their parents. In this situation, the infants
showed no preference for either parent in the display of attachment and affiliative
behaviors. They interacted far more with each parent when alone with her/him than
when both parents were present. A stranger's presence had a similar effect on
affiliative interaction within each parent-infant dyad, though the stranger effect
was differentiated by intensification of the attachment behavior system.

While the emergence and development of and infant-father attachments in 15-24-

attachment relations are regarded as the month-old infants.
major features of social development in the The second half of the first year of life is
first few years of life, researchers have de- characterized by the formation of the child's
voted comparatively little attention to the attachment relations (Bowlby, 1969). At the
explicitly developmental aspects of attach- start of the second year, however, there be-
ment, with a notable absence of research on gins a process of "detachment" (Schaffer,
the second year of life. The primary goal of 1971). At least within the laboratory,
the present investigation, accordingly, was toddlers are increasingly apt to move away
to assess the development of infant-mother from attachment figures in order to explore
the environment (Rheingold & Eckerman,
This research was supported by the Ecology of 1970,1971; Lewis & Ban, Note 1), though no
Human Development Program of the Foundation for investigations have been undertaken to de-
Child Development. Supplementary assistance from
the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Na- termine whether the decline in proximity
tional Institute of Child Health and Human Develop- seeking is apparent in naturalistic settings.
ment Grant HD 03008-09 is also gratefully acknowl- Since the frequency of attachment behav-
edged . The author was supported by Yale University as iors increases between 7 and 13 months of
Prize Fellow in the Social Sciences while undertaking age (Lamb, 1977b), a decline in the second
this research.
Thanks are due to Cheryl Arbaugh, Sheila Huddles- year would indicate that attachment behav-
ton, Jamie Lamb, Gloria Lieberman, Kay Saakvitne, iors occur most frequently around 12 and 13
Marilyn Ann Stade, and Kinthi Sturtevant who assisted months of age (Lamb, 1977b). Further, only
in the collection and analysis of the data, and to the one investigation has considered develop-
families who participated in the project.
Requests for reprints should be addressed to Michael mental changes in both father- and mother-
E. Lamb, Department of Psychology, University of infant relations using a measure other than
Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. separation protest (Lewis & Weinraub,
637
638 MICHAEL E. LAMB
1974). Consequently, the present investiga-
tion was designed to assess via repeated
home observations the developmental
changes in the behavior of infants during the
second year of life.
There is a second developmental issue
with which the present study was con-
cerned. Lewis and Ban (Note 1) considered
only mother-infant relations in their report,
while Lamb (1977b) noted that in the first
year the same developmental trends were
apparent in analyses of mother-, father-,
and stranger-infant interaction. Further-
more, there was, in his study, an Age x
Adult interaction on the attachment behav-
ior measures, indicating that as the infants
grew older the preference for the parents
over the visitor became more marked. There
was, however, no preference for either par-
ent over the other on the attachment behav-
ior measures. Most available evidence, al-
beit gathered in laboratory settings, or indi-
rectly by maternal report, implies that over
the second year of life any preferences for
mothers over fathers are reduced, presuma-
bly as the father-infant relationships con-
solidate (Kotelchuck, 1972; Schaffer &
Emerson, 1964). Some (e.g., Ainsworth,
Note 2) have argued, though, that the ab-
sence of parental preferences in the Lamb
(1976b, 1977b) study was an artifact of the
youthful age of his infant subjects, since
Sander's (1962) theory implies that while
subsidiary relationships may emerge shortly
after the primary (maternal) attachments,
the degree of preference for the mothers
over these other persons should peak only in
the middle of the second year of life.
Consequently, the second goal of the
study was to determine whether maternal
preferences emerged in the second year of
life or whether there was continuity from the
beginning of attachment relations (Lamb,
1976d), such that infants in the second year
of life, like younger babies, showed no par-
ental preferences.
A third important issue concerned the
emergence of sex differences, about which
previous findings have been inconsistent
(Brooks & Lewis, 1974). Based on the two
most recent reviews (Lewis & Weinraub,
1974; Lamb, 1976d), however, we expected
to find evidence of same-sex parental pref-
erences both at home and in the laboratory.
Previous investigations of father-infant
attachment have been concerned primarily
with determination of the existence of pref-
erences for one parent over the other (see
review by Lamb, 1976d). Recently, how-
ever, researchers have turned from investi-
gation of the two parent-infant dyads to ex-
ploration of the mother-father-infant triad.
Of particular importance in this endeavor,
Bronfenbrenner (1974) argued, is the eluci-
dation of "second-order effects"—changes
in interaction within one dyad caused by the
presence or absence of the other member of
the triad. Lamb has reported that in both 12-
(Lamb, 1977c) and 18-month-olds (Lamb,
1976a), there is a sharp decrease in the ex-
tent of parent-infant interaction when the
other parent enters.
Previous investigations of the second-
order effect have considered only the impact
of one parent's presence on the child's in-
teraction with the other parent. Is the
second-order effect limited to the father-
mother-child triad or are similar changes
evident when a parent-child dyad is joined
by any adult? This question has never been
addressed, as most previous investigations
of stranger-infant relations have focused on
the preference for mothers over strangers
(e.g., Corter, 1973; Maccoby & Feldman,
1972; Tracy, Lamb, & Ainsworth, 1976). In
Lamb's early studies (1976a, 1976e), the en-
trance of a stranger coincided with the re-
turn of a parent, thus confounding the
second-order and stranger effects. Accord-
ingly, experimental procedures were de-
signed to compare the stranger and second-
order effects directly in the present study.
Both effects should involve an inhibition of
affiliative interaction (Lamb, 1976a), though
the stranger effect should, in addition, in-
volve activation of the attachment behavior
system (cf. Bowlby, 1969). Unless the ef-
fects on the affiliative behavior system are
shown to be clearly differentiable, it might
be argued that the inhibition in the stranger
effect is simply due to the second-order ef-
fect, and that the stranger effect per se in-
volves only an impact on the attachment
behavior system.
 ATTACHMENT IN THE SECOND YEAR 639

In sum, there were three major develop- and 24 months of age. Each visit lasted approximately
mental issues to be explored in the home 1.5 hours. The visits were scheduled at the parents'
convenience, the only stipulation being that both par-
observation portion of the present investiga- ents be home. Consequently, most visits were made in
tion. First, is there a progressive decline in the evenings (about 50%) or on weekends. The parents
the display of attachment behaviors to both were encouraged to continue with their routines, even if
parents in the second year of life; second, is this involved leaving the room to perform chores. The
infants' routines were not disturbed.
there any emergence of parental preference All visits were made by two persons: the male ob-
in the second year or do infants of this age server and the female visitor. The visitor attempted to
show the same absence of preference as do interact with the parents and the child in the same
younger infants; and third, are there sex dif- manner as would any visitor to the home. Her purpose
ferences in the patterns of infant prefer- was to alleviate the parents' anxieties about being ob-
served and to offer the infants the choice between in-
ences, with same-sex preferences pre- teraction with the parents and with a responsive and
dominating? The laboratory study was de- participative stranger. She did not attempt to focus
signed to determine whether the second- attention on the child, but attempted to interact equally
order effect could be replicated and shown with both parents, in order not to influence their avail-
to occur in 2-year-olds and whether the ability to the child. The presence of the friendly and
nonevaluative visitor appeared to relax the parents
second-order effect could be distinguished greatly, as several of them remarked. Because personal
empirically from the stranger effect. circumstances prevented the first visitor from continu-
ing her function, she made only the 15-month visit to all
infants; subsequent visits were made consistently by a
Method replacement.
The observer dictated into a tape recorder a detailed
Subjects narrative account of the infant's behavior and the con-
tingent behaviors of the other persons present. The
Eleven female and 9 male infants were observed in observer used a microphone sufficiently sensitive to
their homes when they were 15,18,21, and 24 months of record his dictation at a level that was barely audible
age and in the laboratory at 24 months. The subjects and thus minimally obtrusive. All observations were
were recruited through the birth records of Yale-New made by the same observer.
Haven Hospital to participate in a longitudinal project; In the observations, and in the subsequent coding,
half of the families agreed to participate.1 The infants the focus was on the occurrence of the following infant
are the same as those observed at 18 months in a labora- behaviors, insofar as they were directed to a particular
tory setting (Lamb, 1976a). On Hollingshead's (Note 3) person: smiling, vocalizing, looking, laughing (or gig-
7-point Occupational Scale, 5 families were rated in gling) , offering or showing (proffering) a toy, touching a
ClassI,2inClassII,5inClassIII,6inClassIV,and2in person, asking to be picked up by, fussing to, and reach-
Class V. In all families, the mothers were the primary ing to a person. Behaviors that were not directed to a
caretakers, and until the last observation, none worked particular person were not considered in the analyses.
full-time outside the home. Shortly before the last ob- The observer continually reported the distance be-
servation, the mother of one girl started to work. Elev- tween the adults and the child, and in the subsequent
en of the children were first borns, 7 were second coding, the infant was adjudged to be in proximity of a
boms, and two were third borns. Though they were not person while within 3 ft (.91 m) of her/him and to have
requested to do so, the parents usually made arrange- approached him/her when moving from beyond to
ments for siblings to be absent during the observational within proximity of that person. Finally, the observer
visits. noted each time one of the adults vocalized or spoke to
the infant; the frequency of adult vocalization was con-
sidered a reliably observable index of the degree of
Procedure adult activity in interaction with the infant. The behav-
Home observations. The infants were observed in ioral definitions employed in the observations and in the
coding were the same as those provided in other reports
their homes, with both parents present, at 15, 18, 21,
(Lamb, 1976c, 1976f) to which the reader is referred for
details. Smiling, vocalizing, looking, laughing, and
1
Roughly half of the infants born in the Yale-New proffering are referred to as the affiliative behaviors; the
Haven hospital are black, yet black subjects rarely other child behavior measures are collectively called
participate in Studies of Infancy projects. If one takes the attachment behaviors.
into account the fact that only one infant in the present The dictated tapes were subsequently transcribed by
study had a black parent, it is reasonable to claim that a a typist. The transcripts were thoroughly checked
very high proportion of white families agreed to partici- against the tapes for their accuracy before being ana-
pate, making the sample representative of white North- lyzed, and at this time the transcripts were divided into
eastern families. The overall acceptance rate of nearly 15-sec units. Since episodes of proximity or touching
50% is remarkably high, since other users of these birth often extended over, a considerable period of time, a
records report an acceptance rate of only 25%. frequency tabulation seemed inappropriate. Conse-
640 MICHAEL E. LAMB

quently, the proximity and touching scores were based visits during which two observers dictated independent
on the number of 15-sec units that the child was in accounts of the infant's behavior and the contingent
proximity of, or touching, the person and are thus behavior of the adults. Interobserver reliability was
quasi-duration measures. All other behaviors were determined by comparing the total frequency of occur-
scored once each time they occurred, regardless of rence of each behavior to each adult. Coefficients were
duration. In the coding, the coder's task was to tabulate computed to express the proportion of the total number
for each 15-sec unit, the occurrence of attachment and of occurrences of each behavior reported by one ob-
affiliative behaviors directed to mother, father, and vis- server that were correctly reported by the other ob-
itor. server. The median coefficient was .81, the mean .81,
with coefficients ranging from .76 (looking) to .91 (prox-
Laboratory observation. The subjects were observed imity). Degree of agreement was similar for all three
in a 13 ft x 13 ft (3.94 m x 3.94 m) laboratory playroom persons.
equipped with overhead microphones and one-way The reliability of the laboratory observations was
windows on two walls. Within the playroom, there were computed by arranging for a second observer to dictate
chairs for the two parents, 7 ft (2.1 m) apart, and another an independent report of the infant's behavior in five
chair, 8 ft (2.4m) from the others, in which the stranger cases. Coefficients of agreement for each adult in each
sat while in the room. Taped lines on the floor indicated episode were computed in the manner described above.
a radius of 3 ft (.91 m) around each of the adult's chairs. Coefficients ranged from .60 (vocalize) to .98 (fuss)
Fifteen toys were laid out in a standardized manner with a median of .84 and a mean of .82. Coefficients
around the room. None was within 3 ft (.91 m) of any were similar for both parents and in all episodes.
adult's chair.
The procedure is described in Table 1. Five infants Intercoder reliability. The home observation tran-
were randomly assigned to each condition, with 3 girls scripts were each coded by one of two persons who were
and 2 boys in all conditions except A, in which there pretrained until coefficients of agreement of above .85
were 3 boys and 2 girls. were consistently obtained in all behavior categories.
The parents and the stranger were instructed to re- During the course of coding, 15% of the transcripts
main in their seats and chat to one another normally, but were independently coded by both persons, in circum-
though they were to respond to the child's initiatives, stances assuring that one or both of them did not know
they were to refrain from initiating interaction them- that reliability was being assessed. The median
selves. When leaving the room, the parents were asked coefficient of agreement was .88, the mean .88, with
to do so normally. On returning to the room, they were coefficients for individual measures ranging from .71
to pause briefly so that the child noted their return (proffer) to .95 (laugh). With one exception, all
before the other parent left the room. The same stranger coefficients were above .80. Degree of agreement was
was used for all infants. She was a 25-year-old female consistent across all three target persons.
college student never previously seen by the infants. Coding of the laboratory transcripts was pre-
She was unaware of any experimental hypotheses. ceded by training until coefficients averaging .90 were
From behind the one-way windows, an observer dic- regularly achieved. During the course of coding, four of
tated into a tape recorder a detailed narrative account of the transcripts were independently receded by another
the child's behavior. The dictated accounts were sub- person. Coefficients of agreement averaged .93, with a
sequently transcribed by a typist, after which the typed median of .93 and a range of .86 (approaching) to .98
transcripts were divided into 15-sec time units while (touching). Coder reliability was similar in all episodes
being checked against the tapes. An experienced coder and in coding of mother- and father-infant interaction.
then tabulated the occurrence of attachment and affilia-
tive behaviors in the manner described in the previous
section. Results

Reliability
Home Observations
Observer reliability. The reliability of the home ob- All scores were first transformed into fre-
servations was computed on the basis of 10 special
quencies per minute of observation time.
Table 1: Procedure
This procedure equalized the contribution
made by each infant to the group data. The
Persons present frequency of adult vocalization was em-
Episode 0
Type A Type B Type C Type D ployed as a covariate in many of the analyses
in order to control for differences in the
1 M, F, C M, F, C M, F, C M, F, C
levels of activity of the adults. In the
2 M, C F, C M, C, S F, C,S
3 M, C, S F, C, S M, C F, C repeated-measures multivariate analysis of
4 F, C M, C F, C, S M, C, S variance (MANOVA) procedures, the test
5 F, C, S M, C, S F, C M, C
6 M, F, C M, F, C M, F, C M, F, C of significance employed was the Wilk's
Note. M - Mother; F = Father; C == Child; S = Stranger.
lambda criterion, with approximate Fs de-
" All episodes were of 7 minutes' duration. rived using Rao's approximation (Harris,
 ATTACHMENT IN THE SECOND YEAR 641

Table 2: Mean Frequencies of Attachment and AfflUative Behaviors and Adult Vocalization
15 months 18 months 21 months 24 months
Behavior M M M M
Smile .06 .19 .09 .06 .14 .08 .03 .06 .06 .02 .05 .05
Vocalize .29 .47 .18 .40 .71 .22 .72 .76 .29 .68 1.07 .37
Look .87 1.27 1.08 .70 1.06 .85 .62 .70 .81 .49 .67 .63
Laugh .05 .11 .03 .06 .12 .03 .02 .09 .03 .05 .17 .06
Proffer .08 .12 .13 .12 .22 .16 .11 .15 .14 .11 .21 .18
Proximity 1.50 1.64 .80 1.67 1.80 .95 1.66 1.46 1.10 1.81 2.01 1.14
Touch .22 .41 .05 .25 .34 .10 .27 .27 .14 .31 .38 .05
Approach .22 .24 .16 .31 .34 .22 .23 .25 .18 .22 .29 .18
Seek to be held .02 .03 .00 .02 .04 .00 .02 .03 .01 .02 .03 .00
Fuss .04 .04 .01 .05 .04 .01 .02 .03 .01 .02 .02 .00
Reach .02 .04 .00 .02 .05 .02 .02 .02 .02 .01 .01 .01
Adult vocalize .97 1.56 .39 1.32 1.96 .37 1.45 1.57 .42 1.26 1.78 .47
Note. M = Mother, F = Father, V = Visitor.

1975; Morrison, 1967). Two (Age x Adult)
and three (Age x Adult x Sex) factor
MANO VAs were employed: The factors are
discussed in separate sections below. The
frequencies of the infant behaviors and the
adult vocalization are presented in Table 2.
Parental Preferences
The adult factor on the MANOVAs
showed a significant effect (ps < .001), indi-
cating that the centroids representing the
extent of mother-, father-, and visitor-
infant interaction could be differentiated
statistically. There were no significant Adult
x Age interactions on any of the measures
or on the MANOVA. Subsequent analyses
were then computed to determine the pat-
terns of preferences in the mother-father,
mother-visitor, and father-visitor compari-
sons. The results of these analyses are dis-
played in Table 3.
The table shows that when the covariate
was not employed, there were significant
preferences for both parents over the visitor
on all the attachment behavior measures.

Table 3: Patterns of Preferences in the Display of Attachment and AfflUative Behaviors:

15-24-month-olds
M versus F M versus V F versus V
Behavior Covariate No covariate Covariate No covariate Covariate No covariate
Affiliative behaviors" F > M**« F > M* V > M** V > M*** »*„ p > v**
Smile F > M*** F > M* V > M**» V > M»* F > V**
Vocalize F > M* M > V«* F > v***
— M** V— V— —
Look F> F > M* > M*** V > M** > F*
Laugh F > M*** F > M* V > Mt F > V* F > V***
Proffer F > M** F > M* V > M*** V—
> M* V > F* —
Attachment behaviors" F > M*** F > M*« M > V*** M > V* F > v*** F> v***
Proximity — — M > V* p > y* F> V***
Touch F>— Mt M > V** M > V* F > v*** F> y**
— M > V* F> v***
Approach
—M*
F > Mt F > V*
Seek to be held F> F > M** M—
> V" M > V* F > V*** F> v**
Fuss — — M > V* F > V** F> v***
Reach F > M** F > M** — F > V* F> v***
— —
All measures" p > M** F > M«* M > V** M > V*** F > v*** p > V**
Note. M = Mother; F = Father, V = Visitor.
* MANOVA comparison.
b
While the centroids were significantly differentiable in the multidimensional space, the direction of the differences on the individual measures was
inconsistent. Some showed preferences for the fathers, others showed preferences for the visitor. Consequently, it would be inappropriate to interpret
the MANOVA as indicative of a significant preference for either adult.
• •'' p < .001.
" p < .01.
• p < .05.
t p < .10.
642 MICHAEL E. LAMB

Preferences in the display of affiliative be- nificant preferences for fathers over the vis-
haviors were less consistent, with fathers itor.
being preferred to the visitor, who was in Finally, preference for the fathers over
turn, preferred to the mothers. There were the mothers emerged on both attachment
preferences for the fathers over the mothers and affiliative measures. The covariation
in the display of both attachment and affilia- procedure had the effect of reducing both
tive behaviors. the number of measures showing significant
However, both parents vocalized to the differences and the level of significance on
infants far more than did the visitor (ps < some other measures. The MANOVAs,
.001), while the fathers vocalized more than though, still showed unambiguous prefer-
the mothers (p < .05). Consequently, the ences for the fathers.
analyses were recomputed, this time em-
ploying the frequency of adult vocalization Developmental Trends
as a covariate. When this procedure was
employed, as inspection of Table 3 reveals, As indicated previously, there were no
preferences for the parents over the visitor significant Age x Adult interactions, indi-
in the display of affiliative behaviors almost cating that the age trends were similar for all
all disappeared; many of these measures three persons. For simplicity of presenta-
now showed significant preferences for the tion, the developmental trends described in
visitor. Preferences for the visitor over the Table 4 refer to all three of the adults consid-
parents were not analogously affected. ered together, though they describe effects
Clearly, when the relative activity of the evident in data relating to each of individual
adults is taken into account, a relatively un- adults equally well. There were significant
familiar person is the focus of more affilia- age effects both with and without the
tive interaction than the more familiar par- covariate (ps < .001) Changes on individual
ents. measures attained the same level of sig-
The covariation procedure affected anal- nificance regardless of whether the co-
yses involving the attachment behaviors in variate was employed. Inspection of
similar though less dramatic fashion. The Table 4 reveals that there were significant
multivariate comparisons still showed sig- changes in the use of most attachment and
nificant preferences for the parents over the affiliative behaviors during the second year
visitor, although several of the individual of life. There were declines in the use of
measures failed to differentiate mothers most behaviors over the 9-month period,
from the visitor. All measures showed sig- though there were deviations from this trend
Table 4: Changes Over the 9-month Period in the Occurrence of Attachment and Affiliative Behaviors
Frequency of occurrence8
Behavior 15 months 18 months 21 months 24 months Significance
Affiliative behaviors" .001
Smile .113 .093 .048 .039 .001
Vocalize .317 .447 .588 .704 .001
Look 1.072 .868 .709 .596 .001
Laugh .060 .070 .048 .093 .10
Proffer ,111 .166 .134 .166 ns
Attachment behaviors" .001
Proximity 1.313 1.472 1.405 1.651 ns
Touch .224 .226 .225 .246 ns
Approach .205 .289 .218 .229 .05
Seek to be held .016 .023 .018 .018 ns
Fuss .029 .032 .020 .012 .001
Reach .022 .031 .018 .017 .01
All behaviors .001
1
These frequencies are the means for all three adults combined. Means for the individual adults are given in Table 2.
' MANOVA comparisons.
 ATTACHMENT IN THE SECOND YEAR 643

on four measures. There was a tendency for
both laughing and vocalizing to adults to
become more common as the infants grew
older, while the frequency of approaching
and reaching increased from 15 to 18
months, and then declined.
Sex Differences
There were no significant sex effects on
the infant behavior MANOVAs—neither
with nor without the covariate. However,
three of the six attachment behavior mea-
sures showed sex differences. The girls re-
mained near their parents more than boys (p
< .05), and touched them more (p < .05)
while the boys more often approached (and
thus, by corollary, more often moved away
from) their parents (p < .10).
In addition, while there were no sig-
nificant Sex x Age, Parent x Sex, or Sex x
Parent x Age interactions on the MAN-
OVAs, three of the six attachment behavior
measures (proximity,p < .05; approach,/; <
.05; fussing, p < .10) showed Parent x Sex
interactions in univariate analyses. These
analyses indicated that while the boys were
in proximity of, approached, and fussed to,
their fathers more than the girls, the latter
were in proximity of, and fussed to, their
mothers more than the boys, while ap-
proaching their mothers about as often as
the boys.
A repeated measures Sex x Parent x Age
univariate analysis of variance of the adult
vocalization scores yielded significant sex (p
< .001) and parent (p < .05) effects, and a
Sex x Parent (p < .001) interaction. Boys
were far more often spoken to than girls.
While fathers were significantly more active
than the mothers overall, they were far more
active than mothers in interaction with sons,
while both parents vocalized to daughters
about as often.
Laboratory Observation
Attachment and Affiliative Behaviors
Scores on most of the affiliative behavior
measures were normally distributed, as
were the frequencies of adult vocalization.
Consequently, repeated-measures MAN-
OVA procedures could be used in statistical
tests of the affiliative behavior measures
(Harris, 1975). In several of the analyses, the
frequency of adult vocalization was em-
ployed as a covariate. Of the attachment
behaviors, however, only the frequencies of
proximity were normally distributed and
could thus be analyzed using parametric
procedures (analysis of variance, and analy-
sis of covariance). The other attachment be-
havior measures were analyzed using the
Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test
(Siegel, 1956) unless otherwise indicated. In
the multivariate procedures, the test of sig-
nificance employed was the Wilk's lambda
criterion, with the approximate F derived
using Rao's approximation (Harris, 1975).
Table 5 displays the frequencies of infant
behaviors and adult vocalizations in the six
episodes.

Table 5: Mean Frequencies of Attachment and Affiliative Behaviors and Adult Vocalization
(Laboratory Observation)
Episode 1 Parent alone Parent and stranger Episode 6
Behavior M 1 M F M F M F
Smile 1.2 1.8 1.0 1.7 .3 .5 .7 .5
Vocalize 7.5 9.8 28.6 25.9 13.5 14.8 10.3 15.1
Look 7.9 7.2 11.8 12.4 6.9 7.3 8.0 8.5
Laugh .1 .4 .4 .9 .8 .3 .4 .5
Proffer 2.1 4.0 4.5 5.6 3.5 5.7 2.2 3.6
Proximity 8.3 10.6 18.9 17.6 18.0 21.4 14.1 12.0
Touch .3 .6 1.8 2.0 4.7 4.8 1.2 3.1
Approach 3.4 4.5 3.7 4.5 4.0 4.0 3.3 2.7
Seek to be held 0 0 .1 .2 .4 .5 .2 .1
Fuss .1 0 .3 .1 .4 .4 .2 .2
Reach .1 .2 .2 .1 .2 .3 .1 0
Adult vocalize 11.9 17.1 33.8 33.3 21.2 23.6 17.6 19.4
Note. M = Mother; F = Father.
644 MICHAEL E. LAMB

The Parent Effect or whether the effect occurred only when

Neither overall, nor in any of the condi- another parent entered. The effect of a
tions or episodes, were there significant stranger's presence on parent-infant interac-
preferences for either parent on either at- tion was assessed in two stages. First, since
tachment or affiliative behavior measures. the entry of a stranger, like the entrance of
Furthermore, there were no significant in- the other parent, changes a dyadic into a
teractions between the parent factor and any triadic situation, the stranger effect as
of the other factors. second-order effect was investigated by
comparing interaction in the two single
parent-child episodes with interaction in the
The Second-Order Effect parent-child-stranger episodes. Second,
Since preliminary analyses using MAN- the distinguishability of second-order ef-
OVA procedures revealed a slight but sig- fects involving the stranger and another par-
nificant change in the frequency of affiliativeent was investigated by comparing interac-
behaviors between Episodes 1 and 6 (p < tion in Episodes 1 and 6 (mother-father-
.05), the data from Episodes 1 and 6 were child) with interaction in the two intermedi-
averaged in assessments of the second-order ate episodes involving the stranger
effect. Parent-infant interaction in these (mother-stranger-child, father-stranger-
episodes (both parents present) was then child).
compared with the interaction in the two Stranger effect as second-order effect.
intervening episodes in which infants were There was vastly less interaction between
alone with each parent (stranger absent). parent and child when the stranger was
The results supported the experimental hy- present than when she was absent. This
potheses . Both parents spoke to their infants effect was evident in a MANOVA of the
far more often (ps < .001) when alone with affiliative behaviors (p < .001), as well as on
them, while a MANOVA of the affiliative three of the five univariate measures (smil-
behavior measures (p < .001) and three of ing,p < .01; vocalizing,/? < .001; looking,p
the univariate tests (vocalizing, p < .001; < .001). In addition, both parents vocalized
looking,p < .001; proffering,/? < .01) simi- less to the child when the stranger was pres-
larly showed greater interaction when the ent (p < .01 for mothers; p < .05 for
infants were alone with one parent. When fathers). When this change in parental activ-
the frequency of adult vocalization was em- ity was taken into account by covariation,
ployed as a covariate, the MANOVA at- the MANOVA still showed a significant
tained only marginal significance (p < .10), change in infant behavior (p < .01), as did
though two of the univariate tests (vocaliz- the three univariate tests (smiling, p < .01;
ing, p < .05; looking, p < .05) remained vocalizing, p < .10; looking, p < .01). Two
significant. Neither with nor without the of the measures, meanwhile, showed an in-
covariate was there a significant Parent x tensification of attachment behavior in the
Second-order-effect interaction: Thus the stranger's presence (proximity, p < .05;
enhancement of interaction in the single touching, p < .05).
parent-child situation occurred in both None of the measures showed a sig-
parent-child dyads. nificant Parent x Stranger Presence interac-
On the attachment behavior measures, tion. Thus the inhibition of affiliative in-
the only near-significant change was an in- teraction and the intensification of attach-
crease in proximity (p < .10). This one ment behavior occurred similarly in interac-
change could well have occurred by chance. tion with both parents.

The Stranger Effect Comparison of the second-order and stranger

effects. The previous analyses revealed
We then attempted to determine whether that the presence of a stranger and the pres-
the entrance of any person would have the ence of the other parent had similar inhib-
same influence on parent-child interaction itory effects on affiliative interaction be-
 ATTACHMENT IN THE SECOND YEAR
tween parent and child. Interaction in Epi-
sodes 1 and 6 (both parents present) was
then compared with interaction in the two
parent-child-stranger episodes.
A MANOVA of the affiliative behavior
measures showed significant differences be-
tween the effects of a parent's and a
stranger's presence (p < .004), though the
univariate tests showed that the direction of
the difference varied across measures. Uni-
variate tests indicated more smiling (p < .05)
to each parent when the other parent was
present than when the stranger was present.
However, two other measures (laughing,/)
< .10; proffering,/? < .05) showed trends in
the opposite direction. The parents, more-
over, vocalized to the infants more when the
stranger was present than when their spouse
accompanied them (p < .02), so the analyses
were recomputed using the frequency of
adult vocalization as a covariate. The
MANOVA still showed a significant differ-
ence (p < .02), though now only one of the
univariate tests (smiling, p < .05) even ap-
proached significance.
Two of the attachment behavior measures
differentiated the two conditions. With and
without the covariate, the infants more often
touched (ps < .001) and were in proximity of
(ps < .001) their parents in the presence of
the stranger than in the presence of the other
parent.
On none of the measures, nor on the
MANOVA, was there a significant Parent
x Stranger Presence interaction. Thus there
were similar effects on both the mother- and
father-infant dyads.
Sex Differences
Overall, girls were significantly more
likely to direct affiliative behaviors to both
parents (p < .001), though only two of the
five univariate tests were significant (vocal-
izing,p < .001; proffering,p < .001). Since
both parents vocalized to their daughters
more often (p < .05), the analyses were re-
computed using the frequency of adult vo-
calization as a covariate. This procedure
lowered the significance levels in the mul-
tivariate (p < .05) and univariate (vocaliz-
ing, p < .10; proffering, p < .05) tests,
645
though the same trends were still evident.
None of the attachment behavior measures
showed significant sex differences (Mann-
Whitney U tests). There were no significant
interactions between the Sex factor and any
other factors.
Discussion
The home observations yielded results
consistent with two of the three hypotheses
posed in the introduction. The hypotheses
concerning the emergence of sex differences
and the process of "detachment" were
confirmed although, contrary to expecta-
tions based on previous findings (Feldman &
Ingham, 1975; Kotelchuck, 1972; Lamb,
1976a, 1976b,1976e, 1977a, 1977b; Lewis &
Weinraub, 1974) and theoretical predictions
(Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969; Lamb,
1976d; Sander, 1962), paternal preferences
were clearly evident.
Even when the degree of adult activity
was taken into account by covariation, sig-
nificant preferences for the fathers over the
mothers were evident in the display of both
attachment and affiliative behaviors. Per-
haps the index of adult activity used in the
present study was inadequate to reflect other
differences in the degree or quality of par-
ental activity in interaction with the child. It
may have been particularly inappropriate as
an index of parental behavior likely to en-
courage or discourage attachment behav-
iors. Thus the apparent preferences for the
fathers may indeed by artifacts of different
levels of activity or responsiveness on the
part of the parents. The laboratory findings
are consistent with such an interpretation.
Recall that in laboratory observations at
both 18 (Lamb, 1976a) and 24 (above)
months, these infants showed no preference
for either parent in the stress-free episodes.
Possibly the preferences for fathers failed to
appear in the laboratory setting because the
parents were asked not to initiate interac-
tion, which may have caused fathers to in-
hibit those behaviors that enhanced their
salience at home.
Nevertheless, whatever the cause, it is
evident that when both mothers and fathers
are at home and accessible to their infants,
fathers benefit from enhanced salience
646 MICHAEL E. LAMB
which leads their children to interact with
them preferentially. To this extent, there-
fore, the potential importance of fathers for
the psychological development of their chil-
dren is underscored. In evaluating these
findings and their significance, though, it is
important to remember that the infants and
their parents were observed in the presence
of both an observer and a visitor. Their pres-
ence may well have influenced the nature of
parent-child interaction to a significant ex-
tent.
There were unequivocal preferences for
both parents over the visitor in the display of
attachment behaviors. These were evident
whether or not the covariate was employed.
Several authors (e.g., Bretherton &
Ainsworth, 1974; Lamb, 1976b, 1977b;
Tracy et al., 1976) have reported that these
measures differentiate attachment from
nonattachment figures in 7- to 13-month-
olds, and the present study indicates that
they continue to do so throughout the sec-
ond year of life. Further, the absence of
significant Age x Adult interactions sug-
gests that the degree of preference for the
parents over the visitor remained unchanged
over the course of the year. As in Lamb's
study (1976c, 1977a), though, preferences
for the parents over the visitor in the display
of affiliative behaviors were inconsistent
and disappeared when differences in the
level of adult activity were taken into ac-
count. Indeed, there were significant prefer-
ences for the visitor on most of these mea-
sures after the effects of differential adult
activity had been partialled out. Presum-
ably, the novelty of the visitor enhanced her
salience in the infants' eyes, thus accounting
for the preferences on the affiliative behav-
ior measures (Eckerman & Rheingold, 1974;
Eckerman & Whatley, 1975).
The developmental trends were largely as
expected. Consistent with findings obtained
in several laboratory studies (Maccoby &
Feldman, 1972; Marvin, 1972; Lewis & Ban,
Note 1) there were decreases in the occur-
rence of several attachment behaviors over
the course of the second year, indicating the
increasing independence and maturity of the
children. The present study indicates that
these trends are apparent at home as well as
in the laboratory and that they characterize
developmental changes, not only in moth-
er-child, but also in father-child, and
stranger-child interaction. Curiously, how-
ever, there were no significant changes in
the occurrence of touching and proximity,
the measures most often used by these other
researchers. Lamb (1977b) has previously
reported declines in the occurrence of prox-
imity between 7 and 13 months of age. Per-
haps these results indicate, therefore, that
the mild stress occasioned by laboratories
causes 1-year-olds to be more reliant on
proximity to their parents than at home,
thereby making the developmental trends
emerge later than they occur in naturalistic
settings.2
Several affiliative behaviors also became
less common, though vocalizations were in-
creasingly frequent, presumably reflecting
the rapidly developing communicative ca-
pacities of the infants.
The laboratory observation provided
clear evidence of second-order effects: The
infants interacted far more with either par-
ent when only one was present than when
both were simultaneously available. Similar
effects have been observed among 12- and
18-month-olds (Lamb, 1976a, 1977c), and
Lamb (1977c) has discussed the social cues
responsible for these effects. They may
have important implications for interpreta-
tions of data derived from observations of
family interaction in structured settings (see
Bronfenbrenner [1974, 1976] and Lamb
[1977a] for a fuller discussion).
In addition, it was shown that a similar
effect occurs when an unfamiliar person,
rather than the other parent, joins the
parent-child dyad. Indeed, the entrance of
either stranger or parent resulted in very
similar changes in the extent of affiliative
interaction. Previously, the inhibition of
affiliative interaction consequent to the en-
trance of a stranger has been attributed to
wariness (Bretherton & Ainsworth, 1974),
which clearly cannot explain the effect of a
2
It should be stressed that the decline in the use of
the attachment behaviors recorded here does not imply
a diminution of the parent-infant bonds (Lamb, 1974).
Older infants may rely on different attachment behav-
iors, while there may also be changes in the organiza-
tion of attachment behaviors to which the present
method of analysis is quite insensitive.
 ATTACHMENT IN THE SECOND YEAR
parent's entrance. It is possible to distin-
guish the two effects only by considering
their differential impact on the attachment
behavior system. The entrance of a parent
led to a reduction in the frequency of affilia-
tive behaviors without any impact on at-
tachment behavior measures. The stranger,
on the other hand, caused an 'inhibition' of
affiliative interaction as well as an inten-
sification of attachment behavior. Though
previous studies have found the wariness
evident on several attachment behavior
measures (Bretherton & Ainsworth, 1974;
Lamb, 1976a, 1976e), we found significant
effects on only two of the six measures. Per-
haps the measures are insensitive indices
with older infants, among whom the criterial
behaviors occur far less frequently (see
above).
Finally, the hypotheses regarding sex dif-
ferences received mixed support. The home
observations showed girls using proximity-
seeking (i.e., attachment) behaviors more
than boys, while same-sex parental prefer-
ences characterized both boys and girls (cf.
Lewis & Weinraub, 1974). Meanwhile, there
was evidence that the fathers consistently
made themselves more salient to sons than
daughters, whereas mothers did not behave
in an analogous manner. On the other hand,
the laboratory observations unexpectedly
showed that girls interacted more with both
parents than boys, and that both parents in
turn, interacted more with their daughters.
In the absence of any clear explanation of
this situational inconsistency, speculative
interpretations of the sex differences appear
unwise.
REFERENCE NOTES
1. Lewis, M., & Ban, P. Stability of attachment behav-
ior: A transformational analysis. Paper presented to Lamb, M. E. A reexamination of the infant social
the Society for Research in Child Development,
Minneapolis, April 1971.
2. Ainsworth, M. D. Personal communication, August
11, 1975.
3. Hollingshead, A. B. The two factor index of social Lamb, M. E. Infant social cognition and 'second order'
position. Unpublished manuscript (Available from
the author, Department of Sociology, Yale Univer-
sity, New Haven, CT 06520), 1957.
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(Received December 24, 1976)

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