Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development 1 ©2004 Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development Dozier M The Impact of Attachment-Based Interventions on the Quality of Attachment Among Infants and Young Children MARY DOZIER, PhD University of Delaware, USA (Published online December 15, 2004) Topic Attachment Introduction A key biologically-based task for infants and toddlers is developing attachment relationships with caregivers. The quality of attachment that children develop appears largely dependent on caregivers’ availability. 1 When caregivers are responsive, children tend to develop secure attachments, seeking out caregivers directly when distressed. When caregivers reject children’s bids for reassurance, children tend to develop avoidant attachments, turning away from caregivers when distressed. When caregivers are inconsistent in their availability, children tend to develop resistant attachments, showing a mixture of proximity-seeking and resistance. Although it may be optimal for children in our society to develop secure attachments, 2-5 each of these three attachment types can be seen as well-suited to caregivers’ availability. When caregivers are frightening to children, though, children have difficulty developing organized attachments and instead often develop disorganized attachments, which leave children without a consistent strategy for dealing with their distress. Attachment quality has been linked with later problem behaviours, with disorganized attachment especially predictive of dissociative symptoms (e.g. seeming spacey, “in a fog” etc.), 6 and internalizing and externalizing problems. 7-8 A number of prevention and intervention programs have been developed that aim to improve infant attachment quality. Subject The strongest predictor of infant attachment is parental state of mind with regard to attachment. 9 State of mind refers to the manner in which adults process attachment- related thoughts, feelings and memories. When parents are coherent in discussing their own attachment experiences, they are said to have “autonomous states of mind” with regard to attachment. When parents are not coherent in discussing their own attachment experiences, they are said to have “non-autonomous states of mind” with regard to attachment. Parents with autonomous states of mind are most likely to have babies with secure attachments, whereas parents with “non-autonomous” states of mind are most likely to have babies with insecure attachments. Given this association between parental