life span chap 10

Babies have at least three types of cries:

Basic cry. A rhythmic pattern that usually consists of a cry, followed by a briefer silence, then a shorter inspiratory whistle that is somewhat higher in pitch than the main cry, then another brief rest before the next cry. Some infancy experts stress that hunger is one of the conditions that incite the basic cry. Anger cry. A variation of the basic cry in which more excess air is forced through the vocal cords. The anger cry has a loud, harsh sound to it, almost like shouting. Pain cry. A sudden long, initial loud cry followed by breath holding; no preliminary moaning is present. The pain cry is stimulated by a high-intensity stimulus.

PICS

Passion, as described earlier, is physical and sexual attraction to another. Intimacy is the emotional feelings of warmth, closeness, and sharing in a relationship. Commitment is each partner's cognitive appraisal of the relationship and their intent to maintain the relationship even in the face of problems.

Following are some of the results of what is now referred to as the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, or NICHD SECCYD

Patterns of use. Many families placed their infants in child care very soon after the child's birth, and there was considerable instability in the child-care arrangements. By 4 months of age, nearly three-fourths of the infants had entered some form of nonmaternal child care. Almost half of the infants were cared for by a relative when they first entered care; only 12 percent were enrolled in child-care centers. Low-income families were more likely than more affluent families to use child care, but infants from low-income families who were in child care averaged the same number of hours of child care as other income groups. In the preschool years, mothers who were single, those with more education, and families with higher incomes used more hours of center-based care than other families. Minority families and mothers with less education used more hours of care by relatives. Quality of care. Evaluations of quality of care were based on characteristics such as group size, child-adult ratio, physical environment, caregiver characteristics (such as formal education, specialized training, and child-care experience), and caregiver behavior (such as sensitivity to children). An alarming conclusion is that a majority of the child care in the first three years of life was of unacceptably low quality. Positive caregiving by nonparents in child-care settings was infrequent—only 12 percent of the children studied were experiencing positive nonparental child care (such as positive talk and language stimulation)! Further, infants from low-income families experienced a lower quality of child care than infants from higher-income families. When quality of caregivers' care was high, children performed better on cognitive and language tasks, were more cooperative with their mothers during play, showed more positive and skilled interaction with peers, and had fewer behavior problems. Caregiver training and good child-to-staff ratios were linked with higher cognitive and social competence when children were 54 months of age. In one study, high-quality infant-toddler child care was linked to better memory skills at the end of the preschool years (Li & others, 2013). In another study, higher-quality child care from birth to 4½ years of age was linked to higher cognitive-academic achievement at 15 years of age (Vandell & others, 2010). In this study, early high-quality care also was related to youth reports of less externalizing behavior (lower rates of delinquency, for example). Also, in another study, high-quality infant-toddler child care was linked to better memory skills at the end of the preschool years (Li & others, 2013). Amount of child care. In general, when children spent 30 hours or more per week in child care, their development was less than optimal (Ramey, 2005). In one study, more hours of early non-relative child care was related to higher levels of risk taking and impulsivity at 15 years of age (Vandell & others, 2010). Family and parenting influences. The influence of families and parenting was not weakened by extensive child care. Parents played a significant role in helping children to regulate their emotions. Especially important parenting influences were being sensitive to children's needs, being involved with children, and cognitively stimulating them. Indeed, parental sensitivity has been the most consistent predictor of a secure attachment, with child-care experiences being relevant in many cases only when mothers engage in insensitive parenting (Friedman, Melhuish, & Hill, 2011). An important point about the extensive NICHD research is that findings show that family factors are considerably stronger and more consistent predictors of a wide variety of child outcomes than are child-care aspects such as quality, quantity, and type. Home and child-care settings. The worst outcomes for children occur when both home and child-care settings are of poor quality. For example, one study involving the NICHD SECCYD data revealed that worse socioemotional outcomes (higher levels of problem behavior, lower levels of prosocial behavior) for children occurred when they experienced both home and child-care environments that conferred risk (Watamura & others, 2011).

Intention, Goal-Directed Behavior, and Cooperation

Perceiving people as engaging in intentional and goal-directed behavior is an important social cognitive accomplishment that initially occurs toward the end of the first year (Thompson, 2015). Joint attention and gaze following help the infant to understand that other people have intentions (Suarez-Rivera, Smith, & Yu, 2019). Joint attention occurs when the caregiver and infant focus on the same object or event. By their first birthday, infants have begun to direct the caregiver's attention to objects that capture their interest (Marsh & Legerstee, 2017). Amanda Woodward and her colleagues (Krogh-Jerspersen, Liberman, & Woodward, 2015; Krogh-Jespersen & Woodward, 2016, 2018; Liberman, Woodward, & Kinzler, 2017; Shneidman & Woodward, 2016; Shneidman & others, 2016; Sodian & others, 2016) argue that infants' ability to understand and respond to others' meaningful intentions is a critical cognitive foundation for effectively engaging in the social world. They especially emphasize that an important aspect of this ability is the capacity to grasp social knowledge quickly in order to make an appropriate social response. Although processing speed is an important contributor to social engagement, other factors are involved such as infants' motivation to interact with someone, the infant's social interactive history with the individual, the interactive partner's social membership, and culturally specific aspects of interaction (Howard & others, 2015; Krogh-Jespersen & Woodward, 2016, 2018; Liberman, Woodward, & Kinzler, 2017). Page 330Cooperating with others also is a key aspect of effectively engaging with others in the social world. Can infants engage in cooperation with others? One study involved presenting 1- and 2-year-olds with a simple cooperative task that consisted of pulling a lever to get an attractive toy (Brownell, Ramani, & Zerwas, 2006) (see Figure 5). Any coordinated actions of the 1-year-olds appeared to be more coincidental than cooperative, whereas the 2-year-olds' behavior was characterized as more actively cooperative efforts to reach a goal. In this study, the infants also were assessed with two social understanding tasks, observation of children's behavior in a joint attention task, and the parents' perceptions of the language the children use about the self and others (Brownell, Ramani, & Zerwas, 2006). Those with more advanced social understanding were more likely to cooperate. To cooperate, the children had to connect their own intentions with the peer's intentions and put this understanding to use in interacting with the peer to reach a goal.

Smiling

Smiling is critical as a means of developing a new social skill and is a key social signal (Dau & others, 2017; Martin & Messinger, 2018). In one study, researchers found that smiling and laughter at 7 months of age were associated with self-regulation at 7 years of age (Posner & others, 2014).

Positive and Negative Emotions

Stereotypes suggest that older adults' emotional landscape is bleak and that most live sad, lonely lives. Researchers have found a different picture (Carstensen, 2019; Carstensen & DeLiema, 2018). One study of a very large U.S. sample examined emotions at different ages (Mroczek & Kolarz, 1998). Older adults reported experiencing more positive emotion and less negative emotion than younger adults, and positive emotion increased with age in adults at an accelerating rate (see Figure 4). In another study, emotional experiences of individuals 22 to 93 years of age were assessed in the mornings and evenings (English & Carstensen, 2014b). Older adults reported experiencing more positive emotions than younger adults at both times of the day. And in a recent study, older adults reacted with less anger about a personal memory than younger adults did (Kunzmann & others, 2017). overall, compared with younger adults, the feelings of older adults mellow (Carstensen, 2019). Emotional life is on a more even keel, with fewer highs and lows. It may be that although older adults have less extreme joy, they have more contentment, especially when they are connected in positive ways with friends and family. Compared with younger adults, older adults react less strongly to negative circumstances, are better at ignoring irrelevant negative information, and remember more positive than negative information (Carstensen & DeLiema, 2018). Research has also indicated that healthy older adults who age successfully show reduced responsiveness to regrets, not looking back with anger at missed opportunities in life (Brassen & others, 2012; Suri & Gross, 2012). Since opportunities to undo regrettable circumstances decrease with age, reduced connections with these situations may be a protective strategy to maintain well-being in old age. In a recent commentary, Laura Carstensen (2016) commented that when older adults focus on emotionally meaningful goals, they are more satisfied with their lives, feel better, and experience fewer negative emotions. Page 321One study revealed that positive emotion increased and negative emotion (except for sadness) decreased from 50 years of age through the mid-eighties (Stone & others, 2010). In this study, a pronounced decline in anger occurred from the early twenties onward, and sadness was essentially unchanged from the early twenties through the mid-eighties. Another study found that aging was linked to more positive overall well-being and greater emotional stability (Carstensen & others, 2011). In this study, adults who experienced more positive than negative emotions were more likely to remain alive over a 13-year period. Other research also indicates that happier people live longer (Frey, 2011). Further, in a recent study, older men showed more engagement with highly positive contexts than did younger men (Martins & others, 2018). Also, in a recent meta-analysis of 72 studies of more than 19,000 individuals in 19 countries, it was concluded that emotional experiences are more positive in the lives of older adults than in the lives of younger adults (Laureiro-Martinez, Trujillo, & Unda, 2017), Also, in this review, it was concluded that older adults focus less on negative events in their past than younger adults do. Thus, research consistently documents that the emotional life of older adults is more positive than stereotypes suggest (Carstensen, 2019; Carstensen & DeLiema, 2018; English & Carstensen, 2014b; Paul, 2019).

Developmental Social Neuroscience and Attachment

The emerging field of developmental social neuroscience examines connections between socioemotional processes, development, and the brain (Laurita, Hazan, & Spreng, 2019; Sullivan & Wilson, 2018). Attachment is one of the main areas on which theory and research on developmental social neuroscience has focused. These connections of attachment and the brain involve the neuroanatomy of the brain, neurotransmitters, and hormones. Theory and research on the role of the brain's regions in mother-infant attachment is just emerging (Antonucci & others, 2018; Sullivan & Wilson, 2018). One theoretical view proposed that the prefrontal cortex likely has an important role in maternal attachment behavior, as do the subcortical (areas of the brain lower than the cortex) regions of the mother's amygdala (which is strongly involved in emotion) and the hypothalamus (Kim, Strathearn, & Swain, 2016). An ongoing fMRI longitudinal study is exploring the possibility that different attachment patterns can be distinguished by different patterns of brain activity (Kim & others, 2014; Kim, Strathearn, & Swain, 2016; Strathearn, 2007, 2011). Research on the role of hormones and neurotransmitters in attachment has emphasized the importance of the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin and the neurotransmitter dopamine in the formation of the maternal-infant bond (Feldman, 2017; Kim, Strathearn, & Swain, 2016). Oxytocin, a mammalian hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain, is released in the mother during breast feeding and by contact and warmth (Ebstein & others, 2012). Oxytocin is especially thought to be a likely candidate in the formation of infant-mother attachment (Ehrlich & others, 2016; Feldman, 2017; Polan & Hofer, 2016; Toepfer & others, 2019). A research review found strong links between levels or patterns of oxytocin production and aspects of mother-infant attachment (Galbally & others, 2011). Page 336Although oxytocin release is stimulated by birth and lactation in mothers, might it also be released in fathers? Oxytocin is secreted in males, and one research study found that at both 6 weeks and 6 months after birth, when fathers engaged in more stimulation contact with babies, encouraged their exploration, and directed their attention to objects, the fathers' oxytocin levels increased (Gordon & others, 2010). In this study, mothers' behaviors that increased their oxytocin levels involved more affectionate parenting, such as gazing at their babies, expressing positive affect toward them, and touching them. One study also found that fathers with lower testosterone levels engaged in more optimal parenting with their infants (Weisman, Zagoory-Sharon, & Feldman, 2014). Also in this study, when fathers were administered oxytocin, their parenting behavior improved, as evidenced in increased positive affect, social gaze, touch, and vocal synchrony when interacting with their infants. In mothers, the experience of pleasure and reward influences the brain's dopamine circuits when mothers care for their infants and are exposed to their infants' cues, such as eye contact, smiling, and so on (Feldman, 2017; Kim, Strathearn, & Swain, 2016). These experiences and brain changes likely promote mother-infant attachment and sensitive parenting. Also, the influence of oxytocin on dopamine in the mother's nucleus accumbens (a collection of neurons in the forebrain that are involved in pleasure) likely is important in motivating the mother's approach to the baby (de Haan & Gunnar, 2009). Figure 8 shows the regions of the brain we have described that are likely to play important roles in infant-mother attachment. In sum, it is likely that a number of brain regions, neurotransmitters, and hormones are involved in the development of infant-mother attachment (Feldman, 2017; Sullivan & Wilson, 2018). Key candidates for influencing this attachment are connections between the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hypothalamus; the nucleus accumbens; and the neuropeptide oxytocin and the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Emotions are influenced

biological foundations, cognitive processes, and a person's experiences. Biology's importance to emotion also is apparent in the changes in a baby's emotional capacities. Certain regions of the brain that develop early in life (such as the brain stem, hippocampus, and amygdala) play a role in distress, excitement, and rage, and even infants display these emotions. But, as we discuss later in the chapter, infants only gradually develop the ability to regulate their emotions, and this ability is linked to the gradual maturation of frontal regions of the cerebral cortex that can exert control over other areas of the brain (Bell, Broomell, & Patton, 2018; Bell, Ross, & Patton, 2018).Emotion regulation also can influence whether biological and experiential factors are linked to various developmental outcomes. For example, in G × E interaction, the short version of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is linked to increased risk of depression when individuals often experience stressful environments. A study of 9- to 15-year-olds who were characterized by this gene-environment combination found that they were less likely to be depressed if they were effective at emotion regulation (Ford & others, 2014). Cognitive processes, both in immediate "in the moment" contexts and across childhood development, influence children's emotional development (Bell, Diaz, & Liu, 2019). Attention toward or away from an experience can influence children's emotional responses. For example, children who can distract themselves from a stressful encounter show a lower level of negative affect in the context and less anxiety over time (Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2006). Also, as children become older, they develop cognitive strategies for controlling their emotions and become more adept at modulating their emotional arousal (Perry & Calkins, 2018). Page 311Social relationships provide the setting for the development of a rich variety of emotions (Cole, Lougheed, & Ram, 2018; Dollar & Collins, 2019; Leerkes & Augustine, 2019; Morris & others, 2018; Perry & Calkins, 2018). When toddlers hear their parents quarreling, they often react with distress and inhibit their play. Well-functioning families make each other laugh and may develop a light mood to defuse conflicts. A study of 18- to 24-month-olds found that parents' elicitation of talk about emotions was associated with their toddlers' sharing and helping (Brownell & others, 2013). In another study of 10- to 12-year-olds, mothers of more anxious children were more likely to engage in psychologically controlling behavior intended to manipulate the children's emotional state, showed less warmth and interest in the children, and elaborated less during conversations about an emotionally negative event (Brumariu & Kerns, 2015). Biological evolution has endowed human beings with the capacity to be emotional, but cultural embeddedness and relationships with others provide diversity in emotional experiences (Norona & Baker, 2017). Emotional development and coping with stress are influenced by whether caregivers have maltreated or neglected children and whether children's caregivers are depressed or not (Doyle & Cicchetti, 2018; Jackson, 2019; Thompson, 2019). When infants become stressed, they show better biological recovery from the stressors when their caregivers engage in sensitive caregiving (Sullivan & Wilson, 2018). Cultural variations characterize emotional development (Cole & Hollenstein, 2018). For example, researchers have found that East Asian infants display less frequent and less intense positive and negative emotions than non-Latino White infants (Cole & Tan, 2007). Throughout childhood, East Asian parents encourage their children to show emotional reserve rather than to be emotionally expressive (Cole, 2016). Further, Japanese parents try to prevent children from experiencing negative emotions, whereas non-Latino White mothers more frequently respond after their children become distressed and then try to help them cope (Rothbaum & Trommsdorff, 2007).

In infancy, emotions have important roles

(1) communication with others and (2) behavioral organization. Through emotions, infants communicate important aspects of their lives such as joy, sadness, interest, and fear). In terms of behavioral organization, emotions influence children's social responses and adaptive behavior as they interact with others in their world . When we think about emotions, a few dramatic feelings such as rage or glorious joy spring to mind. But emotions can be subtle as well, such as uneasiness in a new situation or the contentment a mother feels when she holds her baby. Psychologists classify the broad range of emotions in many ways, but almost all classifications designate an emotion as either positive or negative. Positive emotions include enthusiasm, joy, and love. Negative emotions include anxiety, anger, guilt, and sadness.

attachment

A close emotional bond between two people.

anger cry

A cry similar to the basic cry but with more excess air forced through the vocal cords.

Early Emotions

A leading expert on infant emotional development, Michael Lewis (2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2018) distinguishes between primary emotions and self-conscious emotions. Primary emotions are emotions that are present in humans and other animals; these emotions appear in the first six months of the human infant's development. Primary emotions include surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust (see Figure 1 for infants' facial expressions of some of these early emotions). In Lewis' classification, self-conscious emotions require self-awareness that involves consciousness and a sense of "me." Self-conscious emotions include jealousy, empathy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt—most of these occurring for the first time at some point after 18 months of age when a sense of self becomes consolidated in toddlers. Researchers such as Joseph Campos (2005) and Michael Lewis (2018) debate about how early in the infant and toddler years these self-conscious emotions first appear and what their sequence is. As an indication of the controversy regarding when certain emotions first are displayed by infants, consider jealousy. Some researchers argue that jealousy does not emerge until infants are approximately 18 months old (Lewis, 2007), whereas others assert that it is displayed much earlier (Hart, 2018). Some research studies suggest that the appearance of jealousy might occur as early as 6 months of age (Hart & others, 2004). In one study, 6-month-old infants observed their mothers giving attention either to a lifelike baby doll (hugging or gently rocking it, for example) or to a book. When mothers directed their attention to the doll, the infants were more likely to display negative emotions, such as anger and sadness, which may have indicated their jealousy (Hart & Carrington, 2002) (see Figure 2). Some observers have been skeptical of this interpretation, suggesting that these infants' expressions of anger and sadness simply may have reflected frustration about not being able to have the novel doll to play with. However, in one study, 9-month-old infants displayed jealousy-related behavior and EEG patterns characteristic of jealousy when their mothers gave attention to a social rival (Mize & others, 2014). Debate about the onset of an emotion such as jealousy illustrates the complexity and difficulty of indexing early emotions. That said, some experts on infant socioemotional development, such as Jerome Kagan (2013), conclude that the structural immaturity of the infant brain makes it unlikely that emotions requiring thought—such as guilt, pride, despair, shame, empathy, and jealousy—can be experienced during the first year. Nonetheless, some leading researchers have argued that research now indicates that empathy can be expressed before the infant's first birthday (Davidov & others, 2013).

But varying combinations of the dimensions of love create three qualitatively different types of love:

A relationship marked by intimacy and commitment but low or lacking in passion is called affectionate love, a pattern often found among couples who have been married for many years. If passion and commitment are present but intimacy is not, Sternberg calls the relationship fatuous love, as when one person worships another from a distance. If passion, intimacy, and commitment are all strong, the result is consummate love, the fullest type of love.

basic cry

A rhythmic pattern usually consisting of a cry, a briefer silence, a shorter inspiratory whistle that is higher pitched than the main cry, and then a brief rest before the next cry.

social smile

A smile in response to an external stimulus, which, early in development, typically is a face.

reflexive smile

A smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli. It happens during the month after birth, usually during sleep.

pain cry

A sudden, initial loud cry followed by breath holding, without preliminary moaning.

slow-to-warm-up child

A temperament style in which the child has a low activity level, is somewhat negative, and displays a low intensity of mood.

easy child

A temperament style in which the child is generally in a positive mood, quickly establishes regular routines, and adapts easily to new experiences.

difficult child

A temperament style in which the child tends to react negatively and cry frequently, engages in irregular daily routines, and is slow to accept change.

ADOLESCENCE

Adolescence has long been described as a time of emotional turmoil (Hall, 1904). Adolescents are not constantly in a state of "storm and stress," but emotional highs and lows do increase during early adolescence (Rosenblum & Lewis, 2003; Somerville, 2018). Young adolescents can be on top of the world one moment and down in the dumps the next. In some instances, the intensity of their emotions seems out of proportion to the events that elicit them (Morris, Cui, & Steinberg, 2013). Young adolescents might sulk a lot, not knowing how to adequately express their feelings. With little or no provocation, they can blow up at their parents or siblings, a response that might reflect the defense mechanism of displacing their feelings onto another person. For some adolescents, such emotional swings can reflect serious problems. Depression is more common in adolescence than in childhood, and it is increasing among adolescents (Dietz, Silk, & Amole, 2019). In a large-scale national study, the overall percentage of adolescents who had experienced major depressive episodes increased from 8.7 percent in 2005 to 11.3 percent in 2014 (Mojtabai, Olfson, & Han, 2016). Girls are especially vulnerable to depression in adolescence (Mash & Wolfe, 2019; Parritz, 2018). In the same national study, the percentage of adolescent girls with major depressive episodes increased from 13.1 percent in 2005 to 17.3 percent in 2014. In 2005, the percentage of adolescent boys with major depressive episodes increased from 4.5 percent in 2005 to 5.7 percent in 2014. It is, however, important for adults to recognize that moodiness is a normal aspect of early adolescence and to understand that most adolescents make it through these moody times to become competent adults. Page 320Reed Larson and Maryse Richards (1994) found that adolescents reported more extreme emotions and more fleeting emotions than their parents did. For example, adolescents were five times more likely to report being "very happy" and three times more likely to report being "very unhappy" than their parents were (see Figure 3). These findings lend support to the perception of adolescents as moody and changeable (Rosenblum & Lewis, 2003).

Linking Infant Attachment to Adult Attachment

Although relationships with romantic partners differ from those with parents, romantic partners fulfill some of the same needs for adults as parents do for their children (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2019; Zayas & Hazan, 2014). Recall that securely attached infants are defined as those who use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment (Woodhouse & others 2019). Similarly, adults may count on their romantic partners to be a secure base to which they can return and obtain comfort and security in stressful times (Fraley, 2019; Gewirtz-Meydan & Finzi-Dottan, 2018; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016, 2019; Simpson & Rholes, 2017). Do adult attachment patterns with partners reflect childhood attachment patterns with parents? In a retrospective study, Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver (1987) revealed that young adults who were securely attached in their romantic relationships were more likely to describe their early relationship with their parents as securely attached. In a longitudinal study, infants who were securely attached at 1 year of age were securely attached 20 years later in their adult romantic relationships (Steele & others, 1998). Also, a longitudinal study revealed that securely attached infants were in more stable romantic relationships in adulthood than their insecurely attached counterparts (Salvatore & others, 2011). A longitudinal study found that insecure avoidant attachment at 8 years of age was linked to a lower level of social initiative and prosocial behavior and a higher level of social anxiety and loneliness at 21 years of age (Fransson.& others, 2016). Further, a study of adoptees found that higher maternal sensitivity in infancy and middle and late childhood predicted more secure attachment to partners in emerging adulthood (Schoenmaker & others, 2015). However, in another longitudinal study the links between early attachment styles and later attachment styles were weakened by stressful and disruptive experiences such as the death of a parent or instability of caregiving (Lewis, Feiring, & Rosenthal, 2000).

Understanding Emotions

Among the most important changes in emotional development in early childhood is an increased understanding of emotion (Denham & Bassett, 2019). During early childhood, young children increasingly understand that certain situations are likely to evoke particular emotions, facial expressions indicate specific emotions, emotions affect behavior, and emotions can be used to influence others' emotions (Cole & others, 2009). In one study, young children's emotional understanding was linked to how extensively they engaged in prosocial behavior (Ensor, Spencer, & Hughes, 2010). Between 2 and 4 years of age, children use an increasing number of terms to describe emotions. During this time, they are also learning about the causes and consequences of feelings. When they are 4 to 5 years of age, children show an increased ability to reflect on emotions. They also begin to understand that the same event can elicit different feelings in different people. Moreover, they show a growing awareness that they need to manage their emotions to meet social standards (Denham & Zinsser, 2015). And, by 5 years of age, most children can accurately identify emotions that are produced by challenging circumstances and describe strategies they might call on to cope with everyday stress (Cole & others, 2009). Page 317One program that is designed to improve young children's understanding of emotions is the Emotion-Based Prevention program (EBP) (Izard & others, 2008). This program consists of a teacher-conducted emotions course in the classroom, emotion tutoring and coaching teacher dialogues, and weekly parent messages that reinforce the lessons taught in the classroom. In the classroom, teachers ask children to label or demonstrate emotional expressions, share ideas about what causes them to feel the emotions they described, compare expressions of different emotions and their intensities, and draw pictures or act out emotion expressions for their classmates. One study found that EBP was effective in improving Head Start children's emotion knowledge and the children who participated in the program showed a decrease in negative emotional expressions and internalizing behaviors (Finion & others, 2015).

avoidant attachment style

An attachment style that describes adults who are hesitant about getting involved in romantic relationships and, once in a relationship, tend to distance themselves from their partner.

anxious attachment style

An attachment style that describes adults who demand closeness, are less trusting, and are more emotional, jealous, and possessive.

secure attachment style

An attachment style that describes adults who have positive views of relationships, find it easy to get close to others, and are not overly concerned or stressed out about their romantic relationships.

Coping with Stress

An important aspect of children's lives is learning how to cope with stress (Mash & Wolfe, 2019; Thompson, 2019). As children get older, they are able to more accurately appraise a stressful situation and determine how much control they have over it. Older children generate more alternatives for coping with stressful conditions and make greater use of cognitive coping strategies (Saarni & others, 2006). For example, older children are better than younger children at intentionally shifting their thoughts to a topic that is less stressful. Older children are also better at reframing, or changing their perception of a stressful situation. For example, younger children may be very disappointed that their teacher did not say hello to them when they arrived at school. Older children may reframe this type of situation and think, "She may have been busy with other things and just forgot to say hello." By 10 years of age, most children are able to use these cognitive strategies to cope with stress (Saarni & others, 2006). However, in families that have not been supportive and are characterized by turmoil or trauma, children may be so overwhelmed by stress that they do not use such strategies (Thabet & others, 2009). Disasters can especially harm children's development and produce adjustment problems (Masten, 2017; Masten & Kalstabakken, 2018; Masten & Palmer, 2019). Among the outcomes for children who experience disasters are acute stress reactions, depression, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Danielson & others, 2017; Narayan & Masten, 2019). The likelihood that a child will face these problems following a disaster depends on factors such as the nature and severity of the disaster and the type of support available to the child.

temperament

An individual's behavioral style and characteristic way of responding.

stranger anxiety

An infant's fear of and wariness toward strangers; it tends to appear in the second half of the first year of life.

Social Referencing

Another important social cognitive accomplishment in infancy is developing the ability to "read" the emotions of other people (Carbajal-Valenzuela & others, 2017). Social referencing is the term used to describe "reading" emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a specific situation. The development of social referencing helps infants to interpret ambiguous situations more accurately, as when they encounter a stranger and need to know whether or not to fear the person (Stenberg, 2017). By the end of the first year, a mother's facial expression—either smiling or fearful—influences whether an infant will explore an unfamiliar environment. Infants become better at social referencing in the second year of life. At this age, they tend to "check" with their mother before they act; they look at her to see if she is happy, angry, or fearful.

Kagan's Behavioral Inhibition

Another way of classifying temperament focuses on the differences between a shy, subdued, timid child and a sociable, extraverted, bold child (Asendorph, 2008). Jerome Kagan (2002, 2008, 2010, 2013) regards shyness with strangers (peers or adults) as one feature of a broad temperament category called inhibition to the unfamiliar. Beginning at about 7 to 9 months, inhibited children react to many aspects of unfamiliarity with initial avoidance, distress, or subdued affect. In Kagan's research, inhibition shows some continuity from infancy through early childhood, although a substantial number of infants who are classified as inhibited become less so by 7 years of age. In one study, having an inhibited temperament at 2 to 3 years of age was related to having social phobia symptoms at 7 years of age (Lahat & others, 2014). Also, research findings indicate that infants and young children who have an inhibited temperament are at risk for developing social anxiety disorder in adolescence and adulthood (Perez-Edgar & Guyer, 2014; Rapee, 2014). In another study, if parents had a childhood history of behavioral inhibition, their children who had a high level of behavioral inhibition were at risk for developing anxiety disorders (Stumper & others, 2017).

social referencing

"Reading" emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a specific situation.

romantic love

Also called passionate love, or eros, this type of love has strong components of sexuality and infatuation, and it often predominates in the early part of a love relationship.

Mothers and Fathers as Caregivers

An increasing number of U.S. fathers stay home full-time with their children (Dette-Hagenmeyer, Erzinger, & Reichle, 2016). In one survey, the number of stay-at-home dads in the United States was estimated to be 2 million in 2012 (Livingston, 2014). The 2 million figure represents a significant increase from 1.6 million in 2004 and 1.1 million in 1989. A large portion of the full-time fathers have career-focused wives who provide most of the family's income. One study revealed that the stay-at-home fathers were as satisfied with their marriage as traditional parents, although they indicated that they missed their daily life in the workplace (Rochlen & others, 2008). In this study, the stay-at-home fathers reported that they tended to be ostracized when they took their children to playgrounds and often were excluded from parent groups. Can fathers take care of infants as competently as mothers can? Observations of fathers and their infants suggest that fathers have the ability to care for their infants as sensitively and responsively as mothers do (Parke, Roisman, & Rose, 2019). One study found that marital intimacy and partner support during prenatal development were linked to father-infant attachment following childbirth (Yu & others, 2012). Another study found that infants who showed a higher level of externalizing, disruptive problems at 1 year of age had fathers who displayed a low level of engagement with them as early as the third month of life (Ramchandani & others, 2013). In another study, researchers found that fathers with a college-level education engaged in more stimulating physical activities with their infants than less-educated fathers did and that fathers in a conflicting couple relationship participated in less caregiving and physical play with their infants (Cabrera, Hofferth, & Chae, 2011). Consider also the Aka pygmy culture in Africa, where fathers spend as much time interacting with their infants as mothers do (Hewlett, 2000; Hewlett & MacFarlan, 2010). Remember, however, that although fathers can be active, nurturing, involved caregivers with their infants, as Aka pygmy fathers are, in many cultures men have not chosen to follow this pattern (Parkinson, 2010). Page 337Do fathers behave differently from mothers when interacting with their infants? Maternal interactions usually center on child-care activities—feeding, changing diapers, bathing (Lamb & Lewis, 2015). Paternal interactions are more likely to include play (Parke, Roisman, & Rose, 2019), and fathers engage in more rough-and-tumble play than mothers do. They bounce infants, throw them up in the air, tickle them, and so on (Lamb, 2013). Mothers do play with infants, but their play is less physical and arousing than that of fathers. Nonetheless, mothers engage in play with their children three times as often as fathers do (Cabrera & Roggman, 2017). In a recent study of low-income families, fathers' playfulness with 2-year-olds was associated with more advanced vocabulary skills at 4 years of age, while mothers' playfulness with 2-year-olds was linked to a higher level of emotion regulation at 4 years of age (Cabrera & others, 2017). A concern about fathers as parents involve those who have mental health problems, in which case they may not interact as effectively with their infants. For example, in a recent study, children whose fathers' behavior was more withdrawn and depressed at 3 months had a lower level of cognitive development at 24 months of age (Sethna & others, 2018). Also in this study, children whose fathers were more engaged and sensitive, as well as less controlling, at 24 months of age had a higher level of cognitive development at that age. Another study revealed that depressed fathers focused more on their own needs than on their infants' needs and that they directed more negative and critical speech toward infants (Sethna, Murray, & Ramchandani, 2012). And a recent study revealed that both fathers' and mothers' sensitivity assessed when infants were 10 to 12 months old were linked to children's cognitive development at 18 months and language development at 36 months (Malmberg & others, 2016). Other recent studies indicate that when fathers are positively engaged with their children, developmental outcomes are better (Alexander & others, 2017; Roopnarine & Yildirim, 2018).

Interpreting Differences in Attachment

Do individual differences in attachment matter? Ainsworth notes that secure attachment in the first year of life provides an important foundation for psychological development later in life. The securely attached infant moves freely away from the mother but keeps track of where she is through periodic glances. The securely attached infant responds positively to being picked up by others and, when put back down, freely moves away to play. An insecurely attached infant, by contrast, avoids the mother or is ambivalent toward her, fears strangers, and is upset by minor, everyday separations. If early attachment to a caregiver is important, it should influence a child's social behavior later in development. For some children, early attachments seem to foreshadow later functioning (Coyne & others, 2018; Dozier, Bernard, & Roben, 2019; Kim, Woodhouse, & Dai, 2018; Woodhouse & others, 2019). In the extensive longitudinal study conducted by Alan Sroufe and his colleagues (2005, 2016; Sroufe, Coffino, & Carlson, 2010; Sroufe & others, 2005), early secure attachment (assessed by the Strange Situation at 12 and 18 months) was linked with positive emotional health, high self-esteem, self-confidence, and socially competent interaction with peers, teachers, camp counselors, and romantic partners through adolescence. Also, a research meta-analysis concluded that secure attachment in infancy was related to social competence with peers in early childhood (Groh & others, 2014). Yet another study discovered that attachment security at 2 years of age was linked to lower rates of peer conflict at 3 years of age (Raikes & others, 2013). Further, one study revealed that infant attachment insecurity (especially insecure resistant attachment) and early childhood behavioral inhibition predicted adolescent social anxiety symptoms (Lewis-Morrarty & others, 2015). And a recent research meta-analysis concluded that secure attachment was linked to better resilience (Darling Rasmussen & others, 2019). Few studies have assessed infants' attachment security to the mother and the father separately (Cowan & others, 2019a). However, one study revealed that infants who were insecurely attached to their mother and father ("double-insecure") at 15 months of age had more externalizing problems (out-of-control behavior, for example) during the elementary school years than their counterparts who were securely attached to at least one parent (Kochanska & Kim, 2013). Also, a recent study found that an infant's secure attachment to the father was not enough to reduce the infant's stress reactions when the mother-infant attachment was insecure (Kuo & others, 2019). An important issue regarding attachment is whether infancy is a critical or sensitive period for development. Many, but not all, research studies reveal the power of infant attachment to predict subsequent development (Farrell & others, 2019; Hudson & others, 2016; Roisman & others, 2016; Steele & Steele, 2019; Thompson, 2015, 2016, 2017; Waters & Roisman, 2018). In one longitudinal study, attachment classification in infancy did not predict attachment classification at 18 years of age (Lewis, Feiring, & Rosenthal, 2000). In this study, the best predictor of an insecure attachment classification at 18 was the occurrence of parental divorce in the intervening years. Page 334Consistently positive caregiving over a number of years is likely an important factor in connecting early attachment with the child's functioning later in development (Cowan & others, 2019b; O'Connor & others, 2019). Indeed, researchers have found that early secure attachment and subsequent experiences, especially maternal care and life stresses, are linked with children's later behavior and adjustment (Leerkes, Gedaly, & Su, 2016; Roisman & Cicchetti, 2017; Thompson, 2017). For example, a longitudinal study revealed that changes in attachment security/insecurity from infancy to adulthood were linked to stresses and supports in socioemotional contexts (Van Ryzin, Carlson, & Sroufe, 2011). These results suggest that attachment continuity may be a reflection of stable social contexts as much as early working models. The study just described (Van Ryzin & others, 2011) reflects an increasingly accepted view of the development of attachment and its influence on development. That is, it is important to recognize that attachment security in infancy does not always by itself produce long-term positive outcomes, but rather is linked to later outcomes through connections with the way children and adolescents subsequently experience various social contexts as they develop (O'Connor & others, 2014). The Van Ryzin, Carlson, and Sroufe (2011) study reflects a developmental cascade model, which involves connections across domains over time that influence developmental pathways and outcomes (Almy & Cicchetti, 2018; Waters & Roisman, 2018). Developmental cascades can include connections between a wide range of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes (attachment, for example), and also can involve social contexts such as families, peers, schools, and culture. Further, links can produce positive or negative outcomes at different points in development, such as infancy, early childhood, middle and late childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (Koehn & Kerns, 2018; Waters & Roisman, 2018). A meta-analysis supported these views just described (Pinquart, Feubner, & Ahnert, 2013). In this analysis of 127 research reports, the following conclusions were reached: (1) moderate stability of attachment security occurred from early infancy to adulthood; (2) no significant stability occurred for time intervals of more than 15 years; (3) attachment stability was greater when the time span was less than 2 years than when it was more than 5 years; and (4) securely attached children at risk were less likely to maintain attachment security, while insecurely attached children at risk were likely to continue to be insecurely attached. Some developmentalists think that too much emphasis has been placed on the attachment bond in infancy. Jerome Kagan (2000), for example, emphasizes that infants are highly resilient and adaptive; he argues that they are evolutionarily equipped to stay on a positive developmental course, even in the face of wide variations in parenting. Kagan and others stress that genetic characteristics and temperament play more important roles in a child's social competence than the attachment theorists, such as Bowlby and Ainsworth, are willing to acknowledge (Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn, 2016; Kim & others, 2017; Simpson & Belsky, 2016). For example, if some infants inherit a low tolerance for stress, this, rather than an insecure attachment bond, may be responsible for an inability to get along with peers. One study found links between disorganized attachment in infancy, a specific gene, and levels of maternal responsiveness. In this study, a disorganized attachment style developed in infancy only when infants had the short version of the serotonin transporter gene—5-HTTLPR (Spangler & others, 2009). Infants were not characterized by this attachment style when they had the long version of the gene (Spangler & others, 2009). Further, this gene-environment interaction occurred only when mothers showed a low level of responsiveness toward their infants. However, some researchers have not found support for genetic influences on infant-mother attachment (Leerkes & others, 2017) or for gene-environment interactions related to infant attachment (Luijk & others, 2011; Roisman & Fraley, 2012). Another criticism of attachment theory is that it ignores the diversity of socializing agents and contexts that exists in an infant's world. A culture's value system can influence the nature of attachment (Keller & Bard, 2017; Otto & Keller, 2018). Mothers' expectations for infants to be independent are high in northern Germany, whereas Japanese mothers are more strongly motivated to keep their infants close to them (Grossmann & others, 1985; Rothbaum & others, 2000). Not surprisingly, northern German infants tend to show less distress than Japanese infants when separated from their mothers. Also, in some cultures, infants show attachments to many people. Among the Hausa (who live in Nigeria), grandmothers and siblings provide a significant amount of care for infants (Harkness & Super, 1995). Infants in agricultural societies tend to form attachments to older siblings, who are assigned a major responsibility for younger siblings' care. In a recent study in Zambia where siblings were substantially involved in caregiving activities, infants showed strong attachments to both their mothers and their sibling caregivers (Mooya, Sichimba, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2017). In this study, secure attachment was the most frequent attachment classification for both mother-infant and sibling-infant relationships.

emotion

Feeling, or affect, that occurs when a person is engaged in an interaction that is important to him or her, especially to his or her well-being.

Leading experts Mario Mikulincer and Phillip Shaver (2014, 2016, 2019) have reached the following conclusions about the benefits of secure attachment:

Individuals who are securely attached have a well-integrated sense of self-acceptance, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. They have the ability to control their emotions, are optimistic, and are resilient. Facing stress and adversity, they activate cognitive representations of security, are mindful of what is happening around them, and mobilize effective coping strategies.

Affectionate Love

Love is more than just passion (Hanley, 2020; Sternberg, 2020e, f; Youyou & others, 2017). Affectionate love, also called companionate love, is the type of love that occurs when individuals desire to have the other person near and have a deep, caring affection for the person. There is a growing belief that as love matures, passion tends to give way to affection (Sternberg, 2013). One investigation interviewed 102 happily married couples in early (average age 28), middle (average age 45), and late (average age 65) adulthood to explore the nature of age and sex differences in satisfying love relationships (Reedy, Birren, & Schaie, 1981). As indicated in Figure 10, communication was more important in early adulthood, sexual intimacy was more important in early to middle adulthood, and feelings of emotional security and loyalty were more important in later-life love relationships. Young adult lovers also rated communication as more characteristic of their love than their older counterparts did. Aside from the age differences, however, there were some striking similarities in the nature of satisfying love relationships. At all ages, emotional security was ranked as the most important factor in love, followed by respect, communication, help and play behaviors, sexual intimacy, and loyalty. The findings of this research also suggested that women believe emotional security is more important in love than men do.

Child Care

Many U.S. children today experience multiple caregivers. Most do not have a parent staying home to care for them; instead, the children have some type of care provided by others—"child care." Many parents worry that child care might reduce their infants' emotional attachment to them, impede their infants' cognitive development, fail to teach them how to control anger, and allow them to be unduly influenced by their peers. How extensive is child care? Are the worries of these parents justified?

Attachment does not emerge suddenly but rather develops in a series of phases, moving from a baby's general preference for human beings to a partnership with primary caregivers. Following are four such phases based on Bowlby's conceptualization of attachment

Phase 1: From birth to 2 months. Infants instinctively direct their attachment to human figures. Strangers, siblings, and parents are equally likely to elicit smiling or crying from the infant. Phase 2: From 2 to 7 months. Attachment becomes focused on one figure, usually the primary caregiver, as the baby gradually learns to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar people. Phase 3: From 7 to 24 months. Specific attachments develop. With increased locomotor skills, babies actively seek contact with regular caregivers such as the mother or father. Phase 4: From 24 months on. Children become aware of others' feelings, goals, and plans and begin to take these into account in forming their own actions.

goodness of fit

The match between a child's temperament and the environmental demands the child must cope with.

socioemotional selectivity theory

The theory that older adults become more selective about their activities and social relationships in order to maintain emotional well-being.

romantic love

Well-known love researcher Ellen Berscheid (1988) says that romantic love is what we mean when we say that we are "in love" with someone. It is romantic love, she stresses, that we need to understand if we are to learn what love is all about. According to Berscheid, sexual desire is the most important ingredient of romantic love. We discuss sexuality in more detail in the chapter on "Gender and Sexuality." Romantic love includes a complex intermingling of emotions—fear, anger, sexual desire, joy, and jealousy, for example. Obviously, some of these emotions are a source of anguish. One study found that romantic lovers were more likely than friends to be the cause of depression (Berscheid & Fei, 1977). Another study revealed that a heightened state of romantic love in young adults was linked to stronger depression and anxiety symptoms but better sleep quality (Bajoghli & others, 2014). Recently, romantic attraction has not only taken place in person but also over the Internet (Doucette & others, 2019; Jin, Ryu, & Mugaddam, 2019). Forty million Americans use online dating services (about 40 percent of the U.S. singles pool) (Broussard, 2015). Is looking for love online likely to work out? It didn't work out so well in 2012 for Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, whose online girlfriend turned out to be a "catfish," someone who fakes an identity online. However, online dating sites claim that their sites often have positive outcomes. A poll commissioned by match.com in 2009 reported that twice as many marriages occurred between individuals who met through an online dating site as between people who met in bars, clubs, and other social settings. In 2010, Barbara Hassan, a 47-year-old divorcee from Texas, registered with match.com and within one day had three matches, all of whom appeared to be intelligent, attractive, and well off (Marinova, 2013). Barbara's first thoughts were that they were too good to be true, and those first thoughts were right. One of her matches said he was a construction engineer from Nigeria who had designed a building for orphans. She communicated with him for several months and then he asked her to send him $2,700 so he could come to the United States. That was enough to end the connection.

Strange Situation

Ainsworth's observational measure of infant attachment to a caregiver that requires the infant to move through a series of introductions, separations, and reunions with the caregiver and an adult stranger in a prescribed order.

primary emotions

Emotions that are present in humans and other animals, emerge early in life, and are culturally universal; examples are joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust.

Emotion Regulation and Coping

Earlier, we discussed some general developmental changes in emotion regulation across the childhood years. Here we examine in detail how infants develop emotion regulation and coping skills. During the first year of life, the infant gradually develops an ability to inhibit, or minimize, the intensity and duration of emotional reactions (Ekas, Braungart-Rieker, & Messinger, 2018). From early in infancy, babies put their thumbs in their mouths to soothe themselves. But at first, infants mainly depend on caregivers to help them soothe their emotions, as when a caregiver rocks an infant to sleep, sings lullabies to the infant, gently strokes the infant, and so on. In a recent study, researchers found that young infants with a negative temperament used fewer attention regulation strategies, and maternal sensitivity to infants was linked to more adaptive emotion regulation (Thomas & others, 2017). Another recent study also linked maternal sensitivity to better emotion regulation in 10-month-old infants (Frick & others, 2018). Later in infancy, when they become aroused, infants sometimes redirect their attention or distract themselves in order to reduce their arousal. By 2 years of age, toddlers can use language to define their feeling states and the context that is upsetting them (Kopp, 2008). A toddler might say, "Feel bad. Dog scare." This type of communication may allow caregivers to help the child learn how to regulate emotion. Page 316Contexts can influence emotion regulation (Morris & others, 2018). Infants are often affected by fatigue, hunger, time of day, the people who are around them, and where they are. Infants must learn to adapt to different contexts that require emotion regulation. Further, new demands appear as the infant becomes older and parents modify their expectations. For example, parents may take it in stride if their 6-month-old infant screams in a grocery store but may react very differently if their 2-year-old starts screaming. To soothe or not to soothe—should a crying baby be given attention and soothed, or does this attention spoil the infant? Many years ago, behaviorist John Watson (1928) argued that parents spend too much time responding to infant crying. As a consequence, he said, parents reward crying and increase its incidence. Some researchers have found that a caregiver's quick, soothing response to crying increased crying (Gewirtz, 1977). However, infancy experts Mary Ainsworth (1979) and John Bowlby (1989) argue that a quick, comforting response to an infant's cries is an important ingredient in the development of a strong bond between the infant and caregiver. In one of Ainsworth's studies, infants whose mothers responded quickly when they cried at 3 months of age cried less later in the first year of life (Bell & Ainsworth, 1972). Controversy continues to surround the question of whether or how parents should respond to an infant's cries. Some developmentalists argue that an infant cannot be spoiled in the first year of life, a view suggesting that parents should soothe a crying infant. Parental responsiveness should help infants develop a sense of trust and secure attachment to the caregiver. One study revealed that mothers' negative emotional reactions (anger and anxiety) to crying increased the risk of subsequent attachment insecurity (Leerkes, Parade, & Gudmundson, 2011). Another study found that problems in infant soothability at 6 months of age predicted insecure attachment at 12 months of age (Mills-Koonce, Propper, & Barnett, 2012). And one study found that mothers were more likely than fathers to use soothing techniques to reduce infant crying (Dayton & others, 2015). Further, a recent study revealed that depressed mothers rocked and touched their crying infants less than non-depressed mothers (Esposito & others, 2017). Also, recently an intervention that trained mothers to effectively use soothing techniques in the fourth week after birth resulted in infants' waking up less at night and crying less in assessments at 7, 11, and 23 weeks after birth (Ozturk Donmez & Bayik Temel, 2019).

Gender, Culture, and Temperament

Gender may be an important factor shaping the environmental context that influences temperament (Gaias & others, 2012; Jenzer & others, 2019). Parents might react differently to an infant's temperament depending on whether the baby is a boy or a girl. For example, in one study, mothers were more responsive to the crying of irritable girls than to the crying of irritable boys (Crockenberg, 1986). Similarly, the caregiver's reaction to an infant's temperament may depend in part on culture (Desmarais & others, 2019). For example, behavioral inhibition is more highly valued in China than in North America, and researchers have found that Chinese children are more inhibited than Canadian infants are (Chen, Fu, & Zhao, 2015). In one study, the cultural differences in temperament were linked to parents' attitudes and behaviors (Chen & others, 1998). Canadian mothers of inhibited 2-year-olds were less accepting of their infants' inhibited temperament, whereas Chinese mothers were more accepting.

Variations in Child Care

Because the United States does not have a policy of paid leave for child care, child care has become a major national concern (Burchinal & others, 2015; Sanders & Guerra, 2016). Many factors influence the effects of child care, including the age of the child, the type of child care, and the quality of the program. Child-care settings in the United States vary extensively (Burchinal & others, 2015; Hasbrouck & Pianta, 2016). Child care is provided in large centers with elaborate facilities and in private homes. Some child-care centers are commercial operations; others are nonprofit centers run by churches, civic groups, and employers. Some child-care providers are professionals; others are mothers who want to earn extra money. Infants and toddlers are more likely to be found in family child care and informal care settings, while older children are more likely to be in child-care centers and preschool and early education programs. Figure 9 delineates primary care arrangements for children under 5 years of age with employed mothers (Clarke-Stewart & Miner, 2008). In the United States, approximately 15 percent of children 5 years of age and younger attend more than one child-care arrangement. A study of 2- and 3-year-olds revealed that an increase in the number of child-care arrangements the children experienced was linked to an increase in behavioral problems and a decrease in prosocial behavior (Morrissey, 2009). High-quality child care also involves providing children with a safe environment, access to age-appropriate toys and participation in age-appropriate activities, and a low caregiver-to-child ratio that allows caregivers to spend considerable time with children on an individual basis. An Australian study revealed that higher-quality child care that included positive child-caregiver relationships at 2 to 3 years of age was linked to children's better self-regulation of attention and emotion at 4 to 5 and 6 to 7 years of age (Gialamas & others, 2014). Quality of child care matters in children's development, and according to UNICEF, the United States meets or exceeds only 3 of 10 child-care quality benchmarks. An analysis of U.S. child-care studies found that a greater quantity of child care was a strong predictor of socioemotional problems (Jacob, 2009). However, a study in Norway (a country that meets or exceeds 8 of 10 UNICEF benchmarks) revealed that the amount of time spent in child care there was not linked to children's externalizing problems (Zachrisson & others, 2013). To read about one individual who provides quality child care to individuals from impoverished backgrounds in the United States, see the Connecting with Careers profile.

Cross-Cultural Variations

Culture has strong influences on many aspects of human development, including romantic relationships (Luo, 2019). In collectivist countries like China and Korea, intimacy is more diffused in love because of the strong group emphasis on connections outside of a romantic love relationship. By contrast, in individualistic countries such as the United States and most European countries, intimacy is often more intensified because an individual's social network is more likely to be smaller and less group-oriented (Gao, 2016). Also, research indicates that greater passion characterizes U.S. romantic relationships compared with Chinese romantic relationships (Gao, 2001). And researchers have found that self-disclosure is more common in U.S. romantic relationships than in Japanese romantic relationships (Kito, 2005). Feelings of commitment are stronger in Chinese romantic relationships than in U.S. romantic relationships (Dion & Dion, 1993). In an exploration of cross-cultural variations, romantic relationships were studied in four countries—Japan, Argentina, France, and Qatar (Ansari, 2015). In Japan, the marriage rate is declining so rapidly that the Japanese government is very concerned that this could lead to a considerable drop in Japan's population. In 2013, 45 percent of Japanese women 16 to 24 years of age reported that they were not interested in or despised having sexual contact. Also, the percentage of Japanese men and women who aren't involved in any romantic relationship has increased significantly in recent years. In Argentina, romantic interest is much stronger than in Japan (Ansari, 2015). Sexual and romantic flirtation is a way of life for many Argentinians. Online dating is not nearly as frequent as in the United States, apparently because men are so forward in their romantic pursuits in person. In France, as in Argentina, interest in passionate love is strong. However, in the three-country comparison, one aspect of French interest in romantic relationships stood out—their affinity for having extramarital affairs. In one comparison, only 47 percent of survey respondents in France stated that having an extramarital affair is morally wrong, compared with 69 percent in Japan, 72 percent in Argentina, and 84 percent in the United States (Wike, 2014). In sum, there are striking cultural variations in many aspects of romantic relationships. Page 347In the previously mentioned exploration of romantic relationships in different countries, the Middle Eastern country of Qatar also was studied (Ansari, 2015). In Qatar, casual dating is forbidden and public displays of affection can be punished with prison time. However, with the recent advent of smartphones, social media, and the Internet, young adults in Qatar are now contacting each other about co-ed parties in hotel rooms, a private way to hang out away from the monitoring of parents, neighbors, and government officials.

Evaluating the Strange Situation

Does the Strange Situation capture important differences among infants? As a measure of attachment, it may be culturally biased (Gernhardt, Keller, & Rubeling, 2016). For example, German and Japanese babies often show different patterns of attachment from those of American infants. As illustrated in Figure 7, German infants are more likely than U.S. infants to show an avoidant attachment pattern and Japanese infants are less likely than U.S. infants to display this pattern (van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988). The avoidant pattern in German babies likely occurs because their caregivers encourage them to be independent (Grossmann & others, 1985). Also as shown in Figure 7, Japanese babies are more likely than American babies to be categorized as resistant. This may have more to do with the Strange Situation as a measure of attachment than with attachment insecurity itself. Japanese mothers rarely allow anyone unfamiliar with their babies to care for them. Thus, the Strange Situation might create considerably more stress for Japanese infants than for American infants, who are more accustomed to separation from their mothers (Miyake, Chen, & Campos, 1985). Even though there are cultural variations in attachment classification, the most frequent classification in every culture studied so far is secure attachment (Mooya, Sichimba, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2016; van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg, 1988).

Attachment in Middle and Late Childhood

Earlier you read about the importance of secure attachment in infancy and the role of sensitive parenting in attachment (Dozier, Bernard, & Roben, 2019; Woodhouse & others, 2019). The attachment process continues to be an important aspect of children's development in the childhood years. In middle and late childhood, attachment becomes more sophisticated, and as children's social worlds expand to include peers, teachers, and others, they typically spend less time with parents. Kathryn Kerns and her colleagues (Brumariu, Kerns, & Seibert, 2012; Kerns & Brumariu, 2016; Kerns & Seibert, 2012; Kerns, Siener, & Brumariu, 2011; Koehn & Kerns, 2018; Siener & Kerns, 2012) have studied links between attachment to parents and various child outcomes in middle and late childhood. Secure attachment was associated with a lower level of internalized symptoms, anxiety, and depression in children (Brumariu & Kerns, 2011), as well as a higher level of children's emotion regulation and less difficulty in identifying emotions (Kerns & Brumariu, 2014). Might certain parenting behaviors be associated with different attachment categories in children and adolescents? In recent research, a series of meta-analyses of 5- to 18-year-olds found that parents of children who were more securely attached were more responsive, provided better support of their children's autonomy, and were less punitive (Koehn & Kerns, 2018). Also in this research, parents of children who showed more avoidant attachment were less responsive and more punitive, while children with ambivalent attachment showed no association with parenting behaviors.

Developmental Connections in Temperament

Easy and difficult temperaments. In one study, children who had an easy temperament at 3 to 5 years of age were likely to be well adjusted as young adults (Chess & Thomas, 1977). In contrast, many children who had a difficult temperament at 3 to 5 years of age were not well adjusted as young adults. Also, other researchers have found that boys with a difficult temperament in childhood are less likely as adults to continue their formal education, whereas girls with a difficult temperament in childhood are more likely to experience marital conflict as adults (Wachs, 2000). And a recent study revealed that a difficult temperament at 5 years of age was linked to delinquency at 15 years of age (DiLalla & DiLalla, 2018). Inhibition. Inhibition is another characteristic of temperament that has been studied extensively (Kagan, 2008, 2010, 2013). One study revealed that behavioral inhibition at 3 years of age was linked to shyness at age 7 (Volbrecht & Goldsmith, 2010). Also, research indicates that individuals with an inhibited temperament in childhood are less likely as adults to be assertive or to experience social support, and more likely to delay entering a stable job track (Asendorph, 2008). Another study found that disinhibition in the toddler years was linked to career stability in middle adulthood (Blatny & others, 2015). Page 326Ability to control one's emotions. A recent study found that having an emotionally reactive temperament at 1 year of age was linked to having emotional problems at 5.5 years of age (Abulizi & others, 2017). Also, in a longitudinal study, when 3-year-old children showed good control of their emotions and were resilient in the face of stress, they were likely to continue to handle emotions effectively as adults (Block, 1993). By contrast, when 3-year-olds had low emotional control and were not very resilient, they were likely to show problems in these areas as young adults. Researchers have found that a high level of emotionality at 6 years of age is associated with depression in emerging adulthood (Bould & others, 2014).

Emotional Expression and Social Relationships

Emotional expression is involved in infants' first relationships. The ability of infants to communicate emotions permits coordinated interactions with their caregivers and the beginning of an emotional bond between them (Perry & Calkins, 2018; Thompson, 2015, 2016). Not only do parents change their emotional expressions in response to infants' emotional expressions, but infants also modify their emotional expressions in response to their parents' emotional expressions. In other words, these interactions are mutually regulated (Bridgett & others, 2009). Because of this coordination, the interactions are described as reciprocal, or synchronous, when all is going well. Sensitive, responsive parents help their infants grow emotionally, whether the infants respond in distressed or happy ways (Bedford & others, 2017). One study found that a higher level of maternal positive emotionality predicted more initial infant smiling and laughter, while a higher level of parental stress predicted a lower trajectory of infant smiling and laughter (Bridgett & others, 2013). Also, a recent observational study of mother-infant interaction found that maternal sensitivity was linked to a lower level of infant fear (Gartstein, Hancock, & Iverson, 2018). Another study revealed that parents' elicitation of talk about emotion with toddlers was associated with the toddlers' sharing and helping behaviors (Brownell & others, 2013). Cries and smiles are two emotional expressions that infants display when interacting with parents. These are babies' first forms of emotional communication.

self-conscious emotions

Emotions that require consciousness and a sense of "me"; they include empathy, jealousy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt, most of which first appear at some point after 18 months of age when a sense of self becomes consolidated in toddlers.

Three stages characterize the development of romantic relationships in adolescence

Entry into romantic attractions and affiliations at about 11 to 13 years of age. This initial stage is triggered by puberty. From 11 to 13, adolescents become intensely interested in romance, and it dominates many conversations with same-sex friends. Developing a crush on someone is common, and the crush often is shared with a same-sex friend. Young adolescents may or may not interact with the individual who is the object of their infatuation. When dating occurs, it usually takes place in a group setting. Exploring romantic relationships at approximately 14 to 16 years of age. At this point in adolescence, two types of romantic involvement occur: casual dating and group dating. Casual dating emerges between individuals who are mutually attracted. These dating experiences are often short-lived, last a few months at best, and usually endure for only a few weeks. Dating in groups is common and reflects embeddedness in the peer context. A friend often acts as a third-party facilitator of a potential dating relationship by communicating their friend's romantic interest and determining whether this attraction is reciprocated. Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds at about 17 to 19 years of age. At the end of the high school years, more serious romantic relationships develop. Romantic relationships within this age group are characterized by strong emotional bonds more closely resembling those in adult romantic relationships. These bonds often are more stable and enduring than earlier bonds, typically lasting one year or more.

Rothbart and Bates' Classification

Extraversion/surgency includes approach, pleasure, activity, smiling, and laughter. Kagan's uninhibited children fit into this category. Negative affectivity includes "fear, frustration, sadness, and discomfort" (Rothbart, 2004, p. 495). These children are easily distressed; they may fret and cry often. Kagan's inhibited children fit this category. One study revealed that preschool children with high levels of surgency were more likely to overeat in the absence of hunger, while those with high levels of negative affectivity were more likely to have tantrums over being denied food and less likely to eat in the absence of hunger (Leung & others, 2014). Effortful control (self-regulation) includes "attentional focusing and shifting, inhibitory control, perceptual sensitivity, and low-intensity pleasure" (Rothbart, 2004, p. 495). Infants who are high on effortful control show an ability to keep their arousal from getting too high and have strategies for soothing themselves. By contrast, children low on effortful control are often unable to control their arousal; they become easily agitated and intensely emotional. One study found that young children higher in effortful control were more likely to wait longer to express anger and were more likely to use a self-regulatory strategy, distraction (Tan, Armstrong, & Cole, 2013). Another study revealed that effortful control was a strong predictor of academic success skills, including school readiness, math skills, and reading skills, in kindergarten children from low-income families (Morris & others, 2014). Also, a recent study revealed that self-regulation capacity at 4 months of age was linked to school readiness at 4 years of age (Gartstein, Putnam, & Kliewer, 2016). And in two recent studies, effortful control was linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the first study, a lower level of children's temperament regulation at 3 years of age predicted the presence of ADHD symptoms in the first grade (Willoughby, Gottfredson, & Stifter, 2017). In the second study, children with a lower level of effort control at 3 years of age were more likely to have ADHD symptoms at 13 years of age (Einziger & others, 2018).

Social Orientation

From early in their development, infants are captivated by their social world. Young infants will stare intently at faces and are attuned to the sounds of human voices, especially those of their caregivers (Quinn, Lee, & Pascalis, 2019). Later, they become adept at interpreting the meaning of facial expressions and voices (Weatherhead & White, 2017). Face-to-face play often begins to characterize caregiver-infant interactions when the infant is about 2 to 3 months of age. The focused social interaction of face-to-face play may include vocalizations, touch, and gestures (Quinn, Lee, & Pascalis, 2019). Such play results in part from many mothers' motivation to create a positive emotional state in their infants (Parsons & others, 2017). In part because of such positive social interchanges between caregivers and infants, by 2 to 3 months of age infants respond differently to people and objects, showing more positive emotion to people than to inanimate objects such as puppets (Legerstee, 1997). At this age, most infants expect people to react positively when the infants initiate a behavior, such as a smile or a vocalization. This finding has been discovered by use of a method called the still-face paradigm, in which the caregiver alternates between engaging in face-to-face interaction with the infant and remaining still and unresponsive (Busuito & others, 2019). As early as 2 to 3 months of age, infants show more withdrawal, negative emotions, and self-directed behavior when their caregivers are still and unresponsive (Adamson & Frick, 2003). The frequency of face-to-face play decreases after 7 months of age as infants become more mobile (Thompson, 2006). Infants also learn about the social world through contexts other than face-to-face play with a caregiver (Swingler & others, 2017). Even though infants as young as 6 months of age show an interest in each other, their interaction with peers increases considerably in the second half of the second year. As increasing numbers of U.S. infants experience child care outside the home, they are spending more time in social play with peers (Honig, 2019). Later in the chapter, we further discuss child care.

GOODNESS OF FIT AND PARENTING

Goodness of fit refers to the match between a child's temperament and the environmental demands the child must cope with. Some temperament characteristics pose more parenting challenges than others, at least in modern Western societies (Bates & Pettit, 2015; Parade & others, 2018; Wagers & Kiel, 2019). When children are prone to distress, as exhibited by frequent crying and irritability, their parents may eventually respond by ignoring the child's distress or trying to force the child to "behave." In one research study, though, extra support and training for mothers of distress-prone infants improved the quality of mother-infant interaction (van den Boom, 1989). Researchers also have found that decreases in infants' negative emotionality are linked to higher levels of parental sensitivity, involvement, and responsiveness (Bates & Pettit, 2015; Gartstein, Hancock, & Iverson, 2018; Parade & others, 2018). Other findings support the use of positive parenting, including high warmth and low use of harsh control, to increase children's effortful control (Bates & Pettit, 2015). To read further about some positive strategies for parenting that take into account the child's temperament, see the Connecting Development to Life interlude. Page 328A final comment about temperament is that recently the differential susceptibility model and the biological sensitivity to context model have been proposed and studied (Baptista & others, 2017; Belsky & Pluess, 2016; Belsky & van IJzendoorn, 2017; Jolicoeur-Martineau & others, 2019). According to these models, certain characteristics—such as a difficult temperament—that render children more vulnerable to difficulty in adverse contexts also make them more susceptible to optimal growth in very supportive conditions. Jay Belsky (2014) proposed the controversial view that intervention programs might try to target these children who are more vulnerable to difficulty in adverse conditions because of the greater cost-effectiveness involved in their being likely to flourish when given a lot of care and support. These models offer a new perspective on "negative" temperament characteristics.

emotional skills

Having awareness of one's emotional states EX - Being able to differentiate whether one feels sad or anxious Detecting others' emotions EX -Understanding when another person is sad rather than afraid Using the vocabulary of emotion terms in socially and culturally appropriate ways EX -Appropriately describing a social situation in one's culture when a person is feeling distressed Having empathetic and sympathetic sensitivity to others' emotional experiences EX - Being sensitive to other people when they are feeling distressed Recognizing that inner emotional states do not have to correspond to outer expressions EX - Recognizing that one can feel very angry yet manage one's emotional expression so that it appears more neutral Adaptively coping with negative emotions by using self-regulatory strategies that reduce the intensity or duration of such emotional states EX - Reducing anger by walking away from an aversive situation and engaging in an activity that takes one's mind off the aversive situation Having awareness that the expression of emotions plays a major role in relationships EX -Knowing that expressing anger toward a friend on a regular basis is likely to harm the friendship Viewing oneself overall as feeling the way one wants to feel EX -Striving to cope effectively with the stress in one's life and feeling that one is successfully doing this

Developmental Changes

How do romantic relationships change in emerging adulthood? In a recent study that spanned 10 years, short-term relationships were more common as individuals moved into emerging adulthood (Lantagne & Furman, 2017). Long-term adolescent relationships were both supportive and turbulent, characterized by elevated levels of support, negative interactions, higher control, and more jealousy. In emerging adulthood, long-term relationships provided high levels of support as well as decreased levels of negative interactions, control, and jealousy.

Changes in the Aging Brain

How might the brain be involved in the changes that take place in older adults' emotions? Although links between the aging brain and emotion have only just begun to be studied, recent research suggests some possible connections (Fernandez & others, 2019; Malinowski & others, 2017). Reduced negative emotion in older adults may be associated with decreased physiological arousal of emotion due to aging in the amygdala and autonomic nervous system (Kaszniak & Menchola, 2012). More effective emotion regulation may be related to this reduction in subcortical activation and also to increased activation in the prefrontal cortex (Samanez-Larkin & Carstensen, 2011).

Here are some important developmental changes in emotions during the middle and late childhood years

Improved emotional understanding. Children in elementary school develop an increased ability to understand complex emotions such as pride and shame. These emotions become less tied to the reactions of other people; they become more self-generated and integrated with a sense of personal responsibility. A child may feel a sense of pride about developing new reading skills or shame after hurting a friend's feelings. Also, during middle and late childhood as part of their understanding of emotions, children can engage in "mental time travel," in which they anticipate and recall the cognitive and emotional aspects of events (Hjortsvang & Lagattuta, 2017; Kramer & Lagattuta, 2018; Lagattuta, 2014a, b). Marked improvements in the ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions. Children now sometimes intentionally hide their emotions. Although a boy may feel sad or angry because a friend does not want to play with him, for example, he may decide not to share those feelings with his parents. The use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings. In the elementary school years, children reflect more about emotional experiences and develop strategies to cope with their emotional lives. Children can more effectively manage their emotions by cognitive means, such as using distracting thoughts. A boy may be excited about his birthday party that will take place later in the afternoon, but still be able to concentrate on his schoolwork during the day. Page 318An increased tendency to take into fuller account the events leading to emotional reactions. A fourth-grader may become aware that her sadness today is influenced by her friend's moving to another town last week. Development of a capacity for genuine empathy. Two girls see another child in distress on the playground and run to the child and ask if they can help.

Social Orientation/Cognition

In Ross Thompson's (2006, 2015, 2016, 2017) view, infants are socioemotional beings who show a strong interest in the social world and are motivated to orient to it and understand it. In other words, babies are socially smarter than used to be thought (Blankenship & others, 2019; Krogh-Jerspersen & Woodward, 2016; Nolen & others, 2019). In previous chapters, we described many of the biological and cognitive foundations that contribute to the infant's development of social orientation and cognition. Using techniques such as eye-tracking, violation of expectations, and habituation that were described in earlier chapters ("Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development" and "Cognitive Developmental Approaches"), researchers have discovered that infants have the capacity to understand others' actions and social interactions early in their development (Krogh-Jespersen & Woodward, 2016). In this chapter we will call attention to relevant biological and cognitive factors as we explore social orientation; locomotion; intention, goal-directed behavior, and cooperation; and social referencing. Discussing biological, cognitive, and social processes together reminds us of an important aspect of development: these processes are intricately intertwined (Cole & Hollenstein, 2018; Dollar & Calkins, 2019).

ollowing are descriptions of studies of how various aspects of traumatic events and disasters affect children:

In a study of mothers and their children aged 5 years and younger who were directly exposed to the 9/11 attacks in New York City, the mothers who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were less likely to help their children regulate their emotions and behavior than mothers who were only depressed or only had PTSD (Chemtob & others, 2010). This outcome was linked to their children having anxiety, depression, aggression, and sleep problems. A study of the effects of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka found that severe exposure to the tsunami combined with more exposure to other adversities, such as an ongoing war and family violence, was linked to poorer adjustment after the tsunami disaster (Catani & others, 2010). A research review revealed that children with disabilities are more likely than children without disabilities to live in poverty conditions, which increases their exposure to hazards and disasters (Peek & Stough, 2010). When a disaster occurs, children with disabilities have more difficulty escaping from the disaster.

Infants' Social Sophistication and Insight

In sum, researchers are discovering that infants are more socially sophisticated and insightful at younger ages than was previously envisioned (Thompson, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2017). Such sophistication and insight are reflected in infants' perceptions of others' actions as intentionally motivated and goal-directed, their motivation to share and participate in that intentionality, and their increase in emotional understanding and communication by their first birthday (Krogh-Jespesen & Woodward, 2018). These social cognitive skills could be expected to influence infants' understanding and awareness of attachment to a caregiver.

EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

In the "Intelligence" chapter, we briefly considered the concept of emotional intelligence. Here we examine a closely related concept, emotional competence, that focuses on the adaptive nature of emotional experience (Denham & Bassett, 2019). Carolyn Saarni (1999; Saarni & others, 2006) notes that becoming emotionally competent involves developing a number of skills in social contexts, including the following: Page 313As children acquire these emotional competence skills in a variety of contexts, they are more likely to effectively manage their emotions, become resilient in the face of stressful circumstances, and develop more positive relationships (Cole & Hollenstein, 2018; Denham & Bassett, 2019).

Caregiving Styles and Attachment

Is the style of caregiving linked with the quality of the infant's attachment? Securely attached babies have caregivers who are sensitive to their signals and are consistently available to respond to their needs (Baradon & others, 2019; Coyne & others, 2018; Dozier & Bernard, 2018; Dozier, Bernard, & Roben, 2019; Groh & Haydon, 2018). These caregivers often let their babies have an active part in determining the onset and pacing of interaction in the first year of life. One study revealed that maternal sensitivity in responding was linked to infant attachment security (Finger & others, 2009). Another study found that maternal sensitivity in parenting was linked with secure attachment in infants in two different cultures: the United States and Colombia (Posada & others, 2002). Further, recent research indicates that if parents who engage in inadequate and problematic caregiving are provided with practice and feedback focused on interacting sensitively with their infants, parent-infant attachment becomes more secure (Coyne & others, 2018; Dozier, Bernard, & Roben, 2019; Slade & others, 2019; Woodhouse & others, 2019). How do the caregivers of insecurely attached babies interact with them? Caregivers of avoidant babies tend to be unavailable or rejecting (Posada & Kaloustian, 2011). They often don't respond to their babies' signals and have little physical contact with them. When they do interact with their babies, they may behave in an angry and irritable way. Caregivers of resistant babies tend to be inconsistent; sometimes they respond to their babies' needs and sometimes they don't. In general, they tend not to be very affectionate with their babies and show little synchrony when interacting with them. Caregivers of disorganized babies often neglect or physically abuse them (Almy & Cicchetti, 2018; Roisman & Cicchetti, 2017). In some cases, these caregivers are depressed. In sum, caregivers' interactions with infants influence whether infants are securely or insecurely attached to the caregivers (Woodhouse & others, 2019).

Regulating Emotions

Many researchers consider the growth of emotion regulation in children as fundamental to the development of social competence (Cole & Hollenstein, 2018; Cole, Ram, & English, 2019; Dollar & Calkins, 2019). In one study of 5- to 7-year-olds, understanding others' emotions was linked to the children's emotion regulation (Hudson & Jacques, 2014). Emotion regulation can be conceptualized as an important component of self-regulation or of executive function (Bell, Diaz, & Liu, 2019; Perry & Calkins, 2018). Executive function is increasingly thought to be a key concept in describing the young child's higher-level cognitive functioning (McClelland & Cameron, 2019; McCoy, 2019). Cybele Raver and her colleagues (Blair, 2016, 2017; Blair & Raver, 2012, 2015, 2016; Blair, Raver, & Finegood, 2016; McCoy & Raver, 2011; Raver & others, 2011, 2012, 2013; Zhai, Raver, & Jones, 2012) are using various interventions, such as increasing caregiver emotional expressiveness, to improve young children's emotion regulation and reduce behavior problems in children growing up in poverty conditions. Emotions play a strong role in determining the success of a child's peer relationships (Smetana & Ball, 2018). Specifically, the ability to modulate one's emotions is an important skill that benefits children in their relationships with peers. Moody and emotionally negative children are more likely to experience rejection by their peers, whereas emotionally positive children are more popular. A recent study found that young children with higher emotion regulation were more popular with their peers (Nakamichi, 2019).

A research review on attachment in older adults reached the following conclusions

Older adults have fewer attachment relationships than younger adults (Cicirelli, 2010). With increasing age, attachment anxiety decreases (Chopik, Edelstein, & Fraley, 2013). In late adulthood, attachment security is associated with psychological and physical well-being (Bodner & Cohen-Fridel, 2010). Insecure attachment is linked to more perceived negative caregiver burden in caring for patients with Alzheimer disease (Karantzas, Evans, & Foddy, 2010).

Fear

One of a baby's earliest emotions is fear, which typically first appears at about 6 months of age and peaks at about 18 months. However, abused and neglected infants can show fear as early as 3 months (Campos, 2005). The most frequent expression of an infant's fear involves stranger anxiety, in which an infant shows a fear and wariness of strangers (Van Hulle & others, 2017). Stranger anxiety usually emerges gradually. It first appears at about 6 months of age in the form of wary reactions. By age 9 months, the fear of strangers is often more intense, reaching a peak toward the end of the first year of life (Scher & Harel, 2008). Not all infants show distress when they encounter a stranger. Besides individual variations, whether an infant shows stranger anxiety also depends on the social context and the characteristics of the stranger (Kagan, 2008). Infants show less stranger anxiety when they are in familiar settings. It appears that when infants feel secure, they are less likely to show stranger anxiety. In addition to stranger anxiety, infants experience fear of being separated from their caregivers. The result is separation protest—crying when the caregiver leaves. Separation protest is initially displayed by infants at approximately 7 to 8 months and peaks at about 15 months (Kagan, 2008). One study revealed that separation protest peaked at about 13 to 15 months in four different cultures (Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo, 1978). Although the percentage of infants who engaged in separation protest varied across cultures, the infants reached a peak of protest at about the same age—early in the second year of life.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

One theory developed by Laura Carstensen (1991, 1998, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2019) stands out as important in thinking about developmental changes in adulthood, especially in older adults. Socioemotional selectivity theory states that older adults become more selective about their activities and social relationships in order to maintain social and emotional well-being. Because they place a high value on emotional satisfaction, older adults often spend more time with familiar individuals with whom they have had rewarding relationships. This theory argues that older adults deliberately withdraw from social contact with individuals peripheral to their lives while they maintain or increase contact with close friends and family members with whom they have had enjoyable relationships. This selective narrowing of social interaction maximizes positive emotional experiences and minimizes emotional risks as individuals become older. According to this theory, older adults systematically condense their social networks so that available social partners satisfy their emotional needs (Sims, Hogan, & Carstensen, 2015). Also, the fact that older adults have a decreasing number of years to live likely influences them to place more emphasis on prioritizing meaningful relationships (Moss & Wilson, 2019). Is there research to support life-span differences in the composition of social networks? Researchers have found that the social networks of older adults are smaller than those of younger adults (Charles & Carstensen, 2010). In a study of individuals from 18 to 94 years of age, with increasing age in adulthood, they had fewer peripheral social contacts but retained close relationships with people who provided them with emotional support (English & Carstensen, 2014a). However, in a large-scale examination of healthy living in different age groups by the Stanford Center on Longevity called the Sightlines Project, social engagement with individuals and communities appeared to be weaker than it was 15 years ago for 55- to 64-year-olds (Parker, 2016). Many of these individuals, who are about to reach retirement age, had weaker relationships with spouses, partners, family, friends, and neighbors than their counterparts of 15 years ago. The Sightlines Project (2016) offers the following recommendations to increase the social engagement of older adults: employer wellness programs that strengthen support networks, environmental design that improves neighborhood and community life, technologies that improve personal relationships, and encouragement of volunteerism. Page 322Socioemotional selectivity theory also focuses on the types of goals that individuals are motivated to achieve (Carstensen, 2019; Carstensen & others, 2011; Sims, Hogan, & Carstensen, 2015). According to the theory, motivation for knowledge-related goals starts relatively high in the early years of life, peaks in adolescence and early adulthood, then declines in middle and late adulthood. The trajectory for emotion-related goals is high during infancy and early childhood, declines from middle childhood through early adulthood, and increases in middle and late adulthood.

Biological Influences

Physiological characteristics have been linked with different temperaments (Mize & Jones, 2012). In particular, an inhibited temperament is associated with a unique physiological pattern that includes high and stable heart rate, high level of the hormone cortisol, and high activity in the right frontal lobe of the brain (Kagan, 2008). This pattern may be tied to the excitability of the amygdala, a structure of the brain that plays an important role in fear and inhibition. The temperament dimension of negative emotionality is linked to stress reactivity, which involves brain functioning (especially the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its link to higher levels of cortisol) (Rothbart, 2011). And the development of effortful control is linked to advances in the brain's frontal lobes (Bates, 2012a, b). What is heredity's role in the biological foundations of temperament? Twin and adoption studies suggest that heredity has a moderate influence on differences in temperament within a group of people (Buss & Goldsmith, 2007; van Wijk & others, 2019). Too often the biological foundations of temperament are interpreted as meaning that temperament cannot develop or change. However, important self-regulatory dimensions of temperament such as adaptability, soothability, and persistence look very different in a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old (Easterbrooks & others, 2013). These temperament dimensions develop and change with the growth of the neurobiological foundations of self-regulation.

Following are some recommendations for helping children cope with the stress of especially devastating events

Reassure children of their safety and security. This step may need to be taken numerous times. Allow children to retell events and be patient in listening to them. Encourage children to talk about any disturbing or confusing feelings. Tell them that these are normal feelings after a stressful event. Help children make sense of what happened. Children may misunderstand what took place. For example, young children "may blame themselves, believe things happened that did not happen, believe that terrorists are in the school, etc. Gently help children develop a realistic understanding of the event" (p. 10). Protect children from re-exposure to frightening situations and reminders of the trauma. This strategy includes limiting conversations about the event in front of the children and limiting exposure to media coverage of the event.

Locomotion

Recall from earlier in the chapter how important independence is for infants, especially in the second year of life. As infants develop the ability to crawl, walk, and run, they are able to explore and expand their social world. These newly developed self-produced locomotor skills allow the infant to independently initiate social interchanges on a more frequent basis. The development of these gross motor skills is the result of a number of factors, including the development of the nervous system, the goal the infant is motivated to reach, and environmental support for the skill (Adolph, 2018; Adolph & Hoch, 2019; Adolph, Rachwani, & Hoch, 2019). The infant's and toddler's push for independence also is likely paced by the development of locomotor skills (Adolph, 2018). Locomotion is also important for its motivational implications. Once infants have the ability to move in goal-directed pursuits, the reward from these pursuits leads to further efforts to explore and develop skills (Adolph & Hoch, 2019).

Expressing Emotions

Recall from our earlier discussion that even young infants experience emotions such as joy and fear, but to experience self-conscious emotions, children must be able to refer to themselves and be aware of themselves as distinct from others (Lewis, 2018). Pride, shame, embarrassment, and guilt are examples of self-conscious emotions. Self-conscious emotions do not appear to develop until self-awareness appears in the second half of the second year of life. During the early childhood years, emotions such as pride and guilt become more common (Lewis, 2018). They are especially influenced by parents' responses to children's behavior (Thompson, 2015). For example, a young child may experience shame when a parent says, "You should feel bad about biting your sister."

What are some strategies parents can follow in regard to child care?

Recognize that the quality of your parenting is a key factor in your child's development. Make decisions that will improve the likelihood you will be good parents. "For some this will mean working full-time"—for personal fulfillment, income, or both. "For others, this will mean working part-time or not working outside the home." Monitor your child's development. "Parents should observe for themselves whether their children seem to be having behavior problems." If problems arise, parents need to talk with their child-care providers and their pediatrician about their child's behavior. Take some time to find the best child care. Observe different child-care facilities and be certain that you like what you see. "Quality child care costs money, and not all parents can afford the child care they want. However, state subsidies, and other programs like Head Start, are available for families in need."

Two types of smiling can be distinguished in infants:

Reflexive smile. A smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli and appears during the first month after birth, usually during sleep. Social smile. A smile that occurs in response to an external stimulus, typically a face in the case of the young infant. Social smiling occurs as early as 4 to 6 weeks of age in response to a caregiver's voice (Messinger, 2008).

Dating and Adjustment

Researchers have linked dating and romantic relationships with various measures of how well adjusted adolescents are (Bonache, Gonzalez-Mendez, & Krahe, 2017; Davila, Capaldi, & La Greca, 2016; Furman & Rose, 2015). For example, a study of 200 tenth-graders revealed that those with more romantic experiences reported higher levels of social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence—however, having more romantic experience also was linked with a higher level of substance use, delinquency, and sexual behavior (Furman, Low, & Ho, 2009). Also, among adolescent girls but not adolescent males, having an older romantic partner was linked with an increase in depressive symptoms, largely influenced by an increase in substance use (Haydon & Halpern, 2010). Dating and romantic relationships at an early age can be especially problematic (Connolly & McIsaac, 2009). Another study found that romantic activity was linked to depression in early adolescent girls (Starr & others, 2012). Researchers also have found that early dating and "going with" someone are linked with adolescent pregnancy and problems at home and school (Florsheim, Moore, & Edgington, 2003). However, in some cases, romantic relationships in adolescence are linked with positive developmental changes. For example, in a recent study, having a supportive romantic relationship in adolescence was linked to positive outcomes for adolescents who had negative relationships with their mothers (Szwedo, Hessel, & Allen, 2017).

Based on how babies respond in the Strange Situation, they are described as being securely attached or insecurely attached (in one of three ways) to the caregiver:

Securely attached children use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment. When in the presence of their caregiver, securely attached infants explore the room and examine toys that have been placed in it. When the caregiver departs, securely attached infants might protest mildly, and when the caregiver returns these infants reestablish positive interaction with her, perhaps by smiling or climbing onto her lap. Subsequently, they usually resume playing with the toys in the room. Insecure avoidant children show insecurity by avoiding the mother. In the Strange Situation, these babies engage in little interaction with the caregiver, are not distressed when she leaves the room, usually do not reestablish contact with her on her return, and may even turn their back on her. If contact is established, the infant usually leans away or looks away. Insecure resistant children often cling to the caregiver and then resist her by fighting against the closeness, perhaps by kicking or pushing away. In the Strange Situation, these babies often cling anxiously to the caregiver and don't explore the playroom. When the caregiver leaves, they often cry loudly and push away if she tries to comfort them on her return, then want to be held again. Insecure disorganized children are disorganized and disoriented. In the Strange Situation, these babies might appear dazed, confused, and fearful. To be classified as disorganized, babies must show strong patterns of avoidance and resistance or display certain specified behaviors, such as extreme fearfulness around the caregiver.

triangular theory of love

Sternberg's theory that love includes three components or dimensions—passion, intimacy, and commitment.

tend and befriend

Taylor's view that when women experience stress, they are more likely to seek social alliances with others, especially female friends.

Falling Out of Love

The collapse of a close relationship may feel tragic. In the long run, however, our happiness and personal development may benefit from getting over being in love and ending a close relationship. In particular, falling out of love may be wise if you are obsessed with a person who repeatedly betrays your trust; if you are involved with someone who is draining you emotionally or financially; or if you are desperately in love with someone who does not return your feelings. Being in love when love is not returned can lead to depression, obsessive thoughts, sexual dysfunction, inability to work effectively, difficulty in making new friends, and self-condemnation (Sbarra, 2012). Thinking clearly in such relationships is often difficult because they are so colored by arousing emotions. Some people get taken advantage of in relationships (Duck, 2011; Metts & Cupach, 2007; Sternberg, 2020f, g). For example, without either person realizing it, a relationship can evolve in a way that creates dominant and submissive roles. Detecting this pattern is an important step toward learning either to reconstruct the relationship or to end it if the problems cannot be worked out. What other types of personal growth can follow romantic relationship breakups? To find out more about this aspect of relationships, see the Connecting with Research interlude.

Attachment to Parents

The initial interest in attachment focused on infants and their caregivers (Dozier, Bernard, & Roben, 2019; Woodhouse & others, 2019). Developmentalists have recently begun to explore the role of secure attachment and related concepts, such as connectedness to parents, during adolescence (Kobak & Kerig, 2015; Kochendorfer & Kerns, 2017; Koehn & Kerns, 2018). A recent longitudinal study revealed that secure attachment in adolescence and emerging adulthood was predicted by observations of maternal sensitivity across childhood and adolescence (Waters, Ruiz, & Roisman, 2017). And a recent study revealed that many adolescents have a fairly stable attachment style, but that attachment stability increases in adulthood (Jones & others, 2018). Adults often have more stable social environments than adolescents and have had more time to consolidate their attachment style. Also in this study, family conflict and parental separation or divorce were likely candidates to undermine attachment stability (Jones & others, 2018). In addition, a recent study revealed that adolescents who had grown up in poverty engaged in less risk-taking when they had a history of secure attachments to caregivers (Delker, Bernstein, & Laurent, 2018). Also, in another recent study, more secure attachment to parents was associated with fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents (Kerstis, Aslund, & Sonnby, 2018). In other research, Joseph Allen and his colleagues (2009) also found that adolescents who were securely attached at 14 years of age were more likely to report at age 21 that they were in an exclusive relationship, comfortable with intimacy in relationships, and attaining increased financial independence. Research indicated that the most consistent outcomes of secure attachment in adolescence are positive peer relations and emotion regulation (Allen & Miga, 2010).

Sociocultural Contexts and Dating

The sociocultural context is a strong influence on adolescents' dating patterns (Cheng & others, 2012; Yoon & others, 2017). Values and religious beliefs of various cultures often dictate the age at which dating begins, how much freedom in dating is allowed, whether dates must be chaperoned by adults or parents, and the roles of males and females in dating. For example, Latino and Asian American cultures have more conservative standards regarding adolescent dating than does the Anglo-American culture. Dating may be a source of cultural conflict for many adolescents whose families come from cultures in which dating begins at a later age with little freedom, especially for adolescent girls. One study found that Asian American adolescents were less likely to have been involved in a romantic relationship in the past 18 months than African American or Latino adolescents (Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003). A recent study found that mother-daughter conflict in Mexican American families was linked to an increase in adolescent daughters' romantic involvement (Tyrell & others, 2016). When immigrant adolescents choose to adopt the ways of the dominant U.S. culture (such as unchaperoned dating), they often clash with parents and extended-family members who have more traditional values.

What Is Attachment?

There is no shortage of theories about why infants become attached to a caregiver. Three theorists—Freud, Erikson, and Bowlby—proposed influential views. Freud noted that infants become attached to the person or object that provides oral satisfaction. For most infants, this is the mother, since she is most likely to feed the infant. Is feeding as important as Freud thought? A classic study by Harry Harlow (1958) reveals that the answer is no (see Figure 6). Harlow removed infant monkeys from their mothers at birth; for six months they were reared by surrogate (substitute) "mothers." One surrogate mother was made of wire, the other of cloth. Half of the infant monkeys were fed by the wire mother, half by the cloth mother. Periodically, the amount of time the infant monkeys spent with either the wire or the cloth mother was computed. Regardless of which mother fed them, the infant monkeys spent far more time with the cloth mother. Even if the wire mother but not the cloth mother provided nourishment, the infant monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother. And when Harlow frightened the monkeys, those "raised" by the cloth mother ran to the mother and clung to it; those raised by the wire mother did not. Whether the mother provided comfort seemed to determine whether the monkeys associated the mother with security. This study clearly demonstrated that feeding is not the crucial element in the attachment process and that contact comfort is important. Page 331Physical comfort also plays a role in Erik Erikson's (1968) view of the infant's development. Recall Erikson's proposal that the first year of life represents the stage of trust versus mistrust. Physical comfort and sensitive care, according to Erikson (1968), are key to establishing a basic trust in infants. The infant's sense of trust, in turn, is the foundation for attachment and sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a good and pleasant place to be. The ethological perspective of British psychiatrist John Bowlby (1969, 1989) also stresses the importance of attachment in the first year of life and the responsiveness of the caregiver. Bowlby stresses that both infants and their primary caregivers are biologically predisposed to form attachments. He argues that the newborn is biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior. The baby cries, clings, coos, and smiles. Later, the infant crawls, walks, and follows the mother. The immediate result is to keep the primary caregiver nearby; the long-term effect is to increase the infant's chances of survival.

Parental Leave

Today far more young children are in child care than at any other time in history. About 2 million children in the United States currently receive formal, licensed child care, and uncounted millions of children are cared for by unlicensed baby-sitters. Child-care policies around the world vary in eligibility criteria, duration of parental leaves, benefit level, and the extent to which parents take advantage of the policies (Burchinal & others, 2015; Hasbrouck & Pianta, 2016; Shivers & Fargo, 2016). Europe has led the way in creating new standards of parental leave: The European Union (EU) mandated a paid 14-week maternity leave in 1992. In most European countries today, working parents on leave receive from 70 percent of the worker's prior wage to the full wage, and paid leave averages about 16 weeks (Tolani & Brooks-Gunn, 2008). The United States currently allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn. Most countries restrict eligibility for maternity benefits to women employed for a minimum time prior to childbirth (Sanders & Guerra, 2016; Tolani & Brooks-Gunn, 2008), but in Denmark even unemployed mothers are eligible for extended parental leave related to childbirth. In Sweden, parents can take an 18-month job-protected parental leave with benefits that can be shared by parents and applied to full-time or part-time work.

EMOTION REGULATION

Too often when people think about emotion they think about it in negative ways, such as having emotional problems. However, emotion can be adaptive and help individuals live more competent, enriching lives. In terms of emotions being adaptive, consider that infants communicate via emotion even before they understand language and their emotions are critical to their survival and thus their adaptation. As we see next, emotion regulation plays a key role in the adaptiveness of emotions, especially so they don't interfere with our daily functioning and relationships. The ability to control one's emotions is a key dimension of development (Cole & Hollenstein, 2018; Dollar & Calkins, 2019). Emotion regulation consists of effectively managing arousal to adapt to circumstances and to reach a goal (Perry & Calkins, 2018). Arousal involves a state of alertness or activation, which can reach levels that are too high for effective functioning. Anger, for example, often requires regulation. In infancy and early childhood, regulation of emotion gradually shifts from external sources to self-initiated, internal sources. Also, with increasing age, children tend to improve their use of cognitive strategies for regulating emotion, modulate their emotional arousal, become more adept at managing situations to minimize negative emotion, and choose effective ways to cope with stress (Bell, Diaz, & Liu, 2019). Emotion regulation is involved in many aspects of children's and adolescents' development, and there are wide variations in children's and adolescents' ability to modulate their emotions (Cole, Ram, & English, 2019; Perry & Calkins, 2018; Dollar & Calkins, 2019). Indeed, a prominent feature of children and adolescents with problems is that they often have difficulty managing their emotions (Thompson, 2019). Ineffective emotion regulation is linked with a lower level of executive function, difficulty succeeding in school, a lower level of moral development (weak conscience and lack of internalization of rules, for example), failure to adequately cope with stress, and difficulty in peer relations (Blair, 2016, 2017; Cole, Ram, & English, 2019). Many researchers consider the growth of emotion regulation in children as fundamental to the development of social competence (Thompson, 2019). Page 312Parents can play an important role in helping young children regulate their emotions (Leerkes & Augustine, 2019). Depending on how they talk with their children about emotion, parents can be described as taking an emotion-coaching or an emotion-dismissing approach (Gottman, 2019). The distinction between these approaches is most evident in the way the parent deals with the child's negative emotions (anger, frustration, sadness, and so on). Emotion-coaching parents monitor their children's emotions, view their children's negative emotions as opportunities for teaching, assist them in labeling emotions, and coach them in how to deal effectively with emotions. In contrast, emotion-dismissing parents view their role as to deny, ignore, or change negative emotions. Researchers have observed that emotion-coaching parents interact with their children in a less rejecting manner, use more scaffolding and praise, and are more nurturant than are emotion-dismissing parents (Gottman & DeClaire, 1997). Moreover, the children of emotion-coaching parents are better at soothing themselves when they get upset, are more effective in regulating their negative affect, focus their attention better, and have fewer behavior problems than the children of emotion-dismissing parents. One study found that fathers' emotion coaching was related to children's social competence (Baker, Fenning, & Crnic, 2011). Another study revealed that having emotion-dismissing parents was linked with children's poor emotion regulation (Lunkenheimer, Shields, & Cortina, 2007). And in a recent study, mothers' emotion-dismissing parenting was linked to toddlers' lower emotional competence, while mothers' emotion-coaching parenting was associated with toddlers' higher emotional competence (Ornaghi & others, 2019).

Developmental Contexts

What accounts for the continuities and discontinuities between a child's temperament and an adult's personality? Physiological and hereditary factors likely are involved in continuity (Clauss, Avery, & Blackford, 2015; DiLalla & DiLalla, 2018). Links between temperament in childhood and personality in adulthood also might vary, depending on the contexts that individuals experience (Bates & Pettit, 2015; Wachs & Bates, 2011). In short, many aspects of a child's environment can encourage or discourage the persistence of temperament characteristics (Bates & Pettit, 2015; Gartstein, Putnam, & Kliewer, 2016; Shiner & DeYoung, 2013). For example, one study found that fathers' internalizing problems (anxiety and depression, for example) were linked to a higher level of negative affectivity in 6-month-olds (Potapova, Gartstein, & Bridgett, 2014). In another study, if parents had a childhood history of behavioral inhibition, their children who had a high level of behavioral inhibition were at risk for developing anxiety disorders (Stumper & others, 2017). Yet another study revealed that maternal negativity and child problem behavior were most strongly linked for children who were low in effortful control and living in chaotic homes (Chen, Deater-Deckard, and Bell, 2014). One useful way of thinking about temperament-environment connections involves the concept of goodness of fit, which we examine next.

Stress and Gender

Women and men differ in the way they experience and respond to stressors (Taylor, 2015, 2018). Women are more vulnerable to social stressors such as those involving romance, family, and work. For example, women experience higher levels of stress when things go wrong in romantic and marital relationships. Women also are more likely than men to become depressed when they encounter stressful life events such as a divorce or the death of a friend. When men face stress, they are likely to respond in a fight or flight manner—become aggressive, withdraw from social contact, or drink alcohol. By contrast, according to Shelley Taylor (2015, 2018), when women experience stress, they are more likely to engage in a tend and befriend pattern, seeking social alliances with others, especially friends. Taylor argues that when women experience stress an influx of the hormone oxytocin, which is linked to nurturing in animals, is released.

Self-regulation

involves variations in the extent or effectiveness of an individual's control of emotions.

Reactivity

involves variations in the speed and intensity with which an individual responds to situations with positive or negative emotions.

Crying Crying

most important mechanism newborns have for communicating with their world. The first cry verifies that the baby's lungs have filled with air. Cries also may provide information about the health of the newborn's central nervous system. A recent study found that excessive infant crying in 3-month-olds doubled the risk of behavioral, hyperactive, and mood problems at 5 to 6 years of age (Smarius & others, 2017).

Two variations on these stages in the development of romantic relationships

romantic relationships in adolescence involve early and late bloomers (Connolly & McIsaac, 2009). Early bloomers include 15 to 20 percent of 11- to 13-year-olds who say that they currently are in a romantic relationship and 35 percent who indicate that they have had some prior experience in romantic relationships. One study found that early daters had more externalized problems throughout adolescence than on-time daters and late bloomers (Connolly & others, 2013). Late bloomers comprise approximately 10 percent of 17- to 19-year-olds who say that they have had no experience with romantic relationships and another 15 percent who report that they have not engaged in any romantic relationships that lasted more than four months.

early exploration of romantic relationships

today's adolescents often find comfort in numbers and begin hanging out together in heterosexual groups. Sometimes they just hang out at someone's house or get organized enough to get someone to drive them to a mall or a movie. Indeed, peers and friends play an important role in adolescent romantic relationships (Kochendorfer & Kerns, 2017). One study also found that young adolescents increase their participation in mixed-gender peer groups (Connolly & others, 2004). This participation was "not explicitly focused on dating but rather brought boys and girls together in settings in which heterosocial interaction might occur but is not obligatory" (p. 201). In another study, adolescents who engaged in a higher level of intimate disclosure at age 10 reported a higher level of companionship in romantic relationships at 12 and 15 years of age (Kochendorfer & Kerns, 2017). In this study, those who reported more conflict in friendships had a lower level of companionship in romantic relationships at 15 years of age.