Examining Associations Between Young Infants’ Attachment Behaviors and Physiological Reactivity During the Still Face Paradigm

• In Event: Physiological impact of parenting

Abstract

Attachment patterns are thought to reflect strategies for regulating one’s emotions, attention, and behavior in the context of interpersonal stressors (Cassidy, 1994; Dykas & Cassidy, 2011; Main, 2000; Sroufe & Waters, 1977). Recently, there has been increased research attention to the idea that attachment patterns may also regulate individuals’ physiological responses to interpersonal stressors. A recent meta-analysis indicates that infant attachment security, assessed during the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), is associated with infants’ heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and cortisol responses during the reunion portion of the task (Groh & Narayan, 2019). Conradt and Ablow (2010) reported that young infants’ attachment behaviors during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP; Tronick et al., 1978), a theoretically similar task for infants aged 6-12 months, may also be associated with their autonomic responses during this task (Conradt & Ablow, 2010). However, the potential associations between young infants’ attachment behaviors and their physiological responses to the SFP is less researched. The current study will build on prior literature by assessing whether infants’ avoidant and resistant attachment behaviors during the SFP are uniquely associated with their autonomic responses (HR, RSA, and electrodermal activity) and cortisol responses to the SFP.
This study included 97 mother-infant dyads who were invited to the lab when infants were approximately aged seven months. Upon arrival to the lab, infants’ baseline salivary cortisol samples were collected, and infants were fitted with electrodes. Next, mothers and infants watched a two-minute resting baseline video before completing an extended version of the SFP (Haley & Stansbury, 2003). This extended SFP, which includes a second still face episode followed by a second reunion episode, was used because it elicits a larger cortisol response from infants compared to the original version (Provenzi et al., 2016). An additional salivary cortisol sample was collected 30 minutes after completing the SFP. Infants’ physiological reactivity was calculated by subtracting baseline physiological data from data collected during the SFP reunion or third cortisol collection time point. Infants’ behaviors during the two reunion episodes of the SFP were rated for attachment avoidance and attachment resistance using 3-point coding scales described by Kogan and Carter (1996).
Results indicated that infants who display high resistance during the SFP reunion also exhibited elevated HR and greater RSA withdrawal during the reunion portions of the SFP (see Table 1). Infant resistance was not significantly associated with electrodermal or cortisol responses to the reunions, and avoidance was not significantly associated with changes in any of the physiological variables.
These results indicate that infants who are highly resistant to their mothers attempts to comfort them during the SFP reunion also experience autonomic responses associated with greater regulation efforts. This supports the notion that young infants’ attachment behaviors are associated with their autonomic regulation during stressful interpersonal interactions prior to one year of life.

Authors

• Bailey Speck, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Isenhour, University of Utah

• Tracey Tacana

• Anna M Zhou, University of Utah

• Liz Conradt, Duke University

• Sheila E Crowell, University of Utah

• Lee Raby, University of Utah