Caldera and Hart

Caldera and Hart (2004), wrote an article called, "Exposure to Child Care, Parenting Style and Attachment Security". It presented a study to determine whether or not the security of attachment varied, based on the amount of exposure to child care and parenting quality. After reading previous research, the authors created a hypothesis believing that child care exposure could serve as a positive influence to infants, who had less-optimal parenting because they would have positive attachment security. On the other hand, infants with superlative parents would show negative attachment security, and child care could be a negative impact.

A total of 60 mothers, who were in the middle class and mostly White (two were Hispanic, two were Asian, and one was African American), had participated with their 14-month-old babies. The infants were from marital families and received "exclusive maternal care, or varying degrees of exposure to child care" (p. 21). In fact, 20 infants were cared by mothers who were stay-at-home moms, while 20 were taken to full-time child care (more than 30 hours a week) and 20 were taken to part-time child care (less than 20 hours a week). The 60 mothers and their infants were then placed into one of the three groups, which was based on the type of child care (at home, full- or part-time child care).

Once the mothers and infants were divided, they were then assessed. The types of measurement used in the study were: (a) Attachment Q-Set, (b) Infant Characteristics Questionnaire, and (c) observation. Attachment Q-Set had assessed the attachment of the infant to the mother. It consisted of 90 cards, which described typical infant behaviors and characteristics. The mothers were asked to place the cards in 9 piles, based on how common the description fit their child. For example, Pile 9 displayed traits that were closely illustrated to their child, while Pile 1 showed traits that mothers did not see in their infants. These piles were then weighted based on their placement (9 being Pile 9, and 1 being Pile 1). This then could represent "the 'ideally secure' child. Thus, a security coefficient represents the correlation between the ideal and observed infant" (p. 25-26). A higher score would reflect a favorable attachment relationship. Furthermore, the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire had assessed how mothers perceived their infants temperament. Lower scores had shown children with an easier temperament, while higher scores showed difficult temperament. Maternal Behaviors were measured through observations at the family's homes, during a sequence of teaching tasks. The timed tasks were: "(1) place seven cubes in a cup, for 1 min; (2) stack five wooden blocks, for 30 s; (3) complete a puzzle, for 2 min; (4) listen to mother read a book, for 3 min" (p. 26). All in all, the three types of measurements helped create detailed results, regarding infants and their attachment to their mother.

The results had revealed multiple findings and associations on how the quantity of child care exposure can impact attachment security. First, children who had higher temperament ratings were found to have lower attachment security, while those with lower temperament had higher attachment security. Second, infants who were receiving insufficient and low involvement parenting were found to have a positive attachment security relationship. In contrast, infants who had optimal and highly involved mothers were found to have a negative attachment security relationship.

The study that Caldera and Hart (2004) conducted had many strengths, but also some weaknesses. One strength was the use of three different measurements; the Attachment Q-Set had measured the characteristics and behavior of each infant, while the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire had measured the mother's perception of their infant's temperament. In addition, observations