The present study exploited a “natural experiment” which covered variations in child-rearing conditions within the communal setting of the Israeli kibbutz. The long-term effects of these variations and of childhood experiences on attachment styles of adults were examined. Three groups of mothers who were raised in the kibbutz participated: (1) a Communal group, mothers raised communally and now raising their child communally; (2) a Familial group, mothers raised in the family and now raising their child in the family, and (3) a Non-continuous group, mothers raised communally and now raising their child in the family. In keeping with studies with infants, we expected the familial group to show the most security, the communal group to show the least security, and the non-continuous to be in between. Participants were 152 women with school-age children. They reported on their attachment styles and availability of significant others during childhood. Additionally, they evaluated the child-rearing context of themselves and of their children. The three groups did not differ in their attachment security or in the reported availability of significant others in childhood. They differed in their evaluations of their own and their children’s child-rearing contexts. Specifically, they had negative evaluations regarding the communal sleeping arrangement. Security of attachment was related to reported availability of significant others in childhood. These results are discussed in view of the differentiation between contextual-distal variables and process-proximal variables.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ainsworth, M.D.S. , Blehar, M.C. , Waters, E. , & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
2.
Aviezer, O. , van IJzendoorn, M.H. , Sagi, A. , & Schuengel, C. (1994). “Children of the dream” revisited: 70 years of collective early child care in Israeli kibbutzim . Psychological Bulletin, 116, 99-116 .
3.
Bartholomew, K. (1990). Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7, 147-148 .
4.
Bartholomew, K. , & Horowitz, L.M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226-244 .
5.
Beit-Hallahmi B. , Sharabany, R. , Dana-Engelstein, N. , Rabin, A.I. , & Regev, E. (1982). Patterns of interpersonal attachment: Sociability, friendship, and marriage. In A.I. Rabin & B. Beit-Hallahmi, Twenty years later: Kibbutz children grow up (pp. 119-144). New York: Springer .
6.
Belsky, J. , & Rovine, M. (1990). Patterns of martial change across the transition to parenthood: Pregnancy to three years postpartum . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 5-19 .
7.
Benedek, T. (1959). Parenthood as a developmental phase . Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 7, 389-417 .
8.
Bettelheim, B. (1969). The children of the dream. New York: Macmillan .
9.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books .
10.
Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Tavistock .
11.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss: Sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books .
12.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books . (Original work published 1969).
13.
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base. London: Routledge .
14.
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1-2, Serial No. 209), 3-37.
15.
Bretherton, I. (1991). Pouring new wine into old bottles: The social self as internal working model. In M. Gunnar & A. Sroufe , (Eds.), Self processes and development. The Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 1-41). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
16.
Bretherton, I. (1995). A communication perspective on attachment relationships and internal working models . Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 60 (2-3, Serial No. 244), 310-329 .
17.
Bretherton, I. , Biringen, Z. , & Rideway, D. (1991). The parental side of attachment. In K.A. Pillemer & K. McCartney (Eds.), Parent-child relations throughout life (pp. 1-24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
18.
Bronfenbrener, U. (1969). Dream of the kibbutz . Saturday Review, 20 Sept., 72-85 .
19.
Bronfenbrener, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives . Developmental Psychology, 22, 723-742 .
20.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. In V. Ross (Ed.), Annals of child development (Vol. 6, pp. 187-249). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press .
21.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen , G.H. Elder Jr. , & K. Luscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context (pp. 619-647). Washington DC: American Psychological Association .
22.
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer . Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155-159 .
23.
Collins, N.L. , & Read, S.J. (1990). Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 644-663 .
24.
Cowan, C.P. , Cowan, P.A. , Heming, G. , Garrett, E. , Coysh, W.S. , Curtis-Boles, H. , & Boles, A.J. (1985). Transitions to parenthood: His, hers, and theirs . Journal of Family Issues, 6, 451-481 .
25.
Crowell, J.A. , Fraley, C. , & Shaver, P.R. (1999). Measurement of individual differences in adolescent and adult attachment. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (pp. 434-468). New York: Guilford Press .
26.
Crowell, J.A. , & Treboux, D. (1995). A review of adult attachment measures: Implications for theory and research . Social Development, 4, 294-327 .
27.
Dar, Y. (1998). Education in a changing kibbutz: Sociological and psychological perspectives [in Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Hebrew University .
28.
Davis, K. (1988). Stalking the elusive love style: A proposed integration of attachment and love styles . Paper presented at the annual meeting of the society for Experimental Social Psychology, Madison WI.
29.
Davis, K.E. , Kirkpatrick, L.A. , Levy, M.B. , & O’Hearn, R.E. (1994). Stalking the elusive love style: Attachment styles, love styles, and relationship development. In R. Erber & R. Gilmour (Eds.), Theoretical frameworks for personal relationships (pp. 179-210). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
30.
De Hass, M.A. , Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. , & van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1995). The adult attachment interview and questionnaires for attachment style, temperament, and memories of parential behavior . Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 471-486 .
31.
De Wolff, M.S. , & van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1997). Sensitivity and attachment: A meta-analysis on parental antecedent s of infant attachment . Child Development, 68, 571-591 .
32.
Fraley, R.C. , & Davis, K.E. (1997). Attachment formation and transfer in young adults’ close friendships and romantic relationships . Personal Relationships, 4, 131-144 .
33.
George, C. , & Solomon, J. (1996). Representational models of relationships: Links between caregiving and attachment . Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 198-216 .
34.
Gerlsma, C. , Buunk, B.P. , & Mustsaers, W.C.M. (1996). Correlates of self-reported adult attachment styles in a Dutch sample of married men and women . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13, 313-320 .
35.
Hazan, C. , & Hutt, M. (1990, July). Continuity and change in inner working models of attachment . Paper presented at an international conference on personal relationships, Oxford.
36.
Hazan, C. , & Shaver, P.R. (1987) Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511-524 .
37.
Hazan, C. , & Zeifman, D. (1994). Sex and the psychological tether. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 5, pp. 151-178). London: Jessica Kingsley .
38.
Hershlag, E. (1984). Intimacy and reciprocal familiarity of emotions among married couples in the city and in the kibbutz [in Hebrew]. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Haifa.
39.
Hertz-Lazarowitz, R. , Rosenberg, M. , & Guttman, J. (1989). Children of divorce and their intimate relationship with parents and peers . Youth and Society, 21, 85-104 .
40.
Josselson, R. , Lieblich, A. , Sharabany, R. , & Wiseman, H. (1997). Conversation as method: Analysing the relational world of people who were raised communally. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
41.
Kirkpatrick, L.A. , & Davis, K.E. (1994). Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: A longitudinal analysis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 502-512 .
42.
Kirkpatrick, L.A. , & Hazan, C. (1994). Attachment styles and close relationships: A four-year prospective study . Personal Relationships, 1, 123-142 .
43.
Klohnen, E. , & Berra, S. (1998). Behavioral and experiential patterns of avoidantly and securely attached women across adulthood: A 31-year longitudinal perspective . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 211-223 .
44.
Lamb, M.E. , Thompson, R.A. , Gardner, W.P. , Charnov, E.L. , & Estes, D. (1984). Security of intimate attachment as assessed in the “strange situation”: Its study and biological interpretation . Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 127-171 .
45.
Lavi, Z. (1990). Introduction. In Z. Lavi (Ed.), Kibbutz members study kibbutz children (pp. 1-16). New York: Greenwood .
46.
Levy, K.N. , Blatt, S.J. , & Shaver, P.R. (1998). Attachment styles and parental Representations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 407-419 .
47.
Levy, M.B. , & Davis, K.E. (1988). Love styles and attachment styles compared: Their relations to each other and to various relationship characteristics . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 5, 439-471 .
48.
Levi, Y. , & Leviatan, U. (1994) Preface. The kibbutz in the mid-1990’s: Crisis and change . Journal of Rural Cooperation, 12, 3-4 .
49.
Main, M. , & Goldwyn, R. (1990). An adult attachment classification system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley .
50.
Main, M. , Kaplan, N. , & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points in attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, (1-2, Serial No. 209), 66-106.
51.
Mayseless, O. (1991). Attachment history and love relationships . Invited address before the Eighth Annual Tel Aviv Workshop on Human Development and Education.
52.
Mayseless, O. (1994). Attachment patterns of adults—A controlling type. Unpublished manuscript. University of Haifa .
53.
Mayseless, O. (1995). Attachment patterns and marital relationships. In S. Shulman (Ed.), Close relationships and socioemotional development: Vol. 7. Human development (pp. 185-202). Norwood, NJ: Ablex .
54.
Mayseless, O. (1996a). Attachment patterns and their outcomes . Human Development, 39, 206-223 .
55.
Mayseless, O. (1996b). A controlling attachment pattern: Theoretical considerations and relevant ” ndings . Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Personal Relationships, Banff, Canada.
56.
Mayseless, O. (1998). Characteristics of the controlling attachment pattern in adulthood: Further validation . Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Personal Relationships, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York.
57.
Mayseless, O. , Danieli, R. , & Sharabany, R. (1996). Adults’ attachment patterns and coping with separation . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 667-690 .
58.
Mayseless, O. , & Sagi, A. (1994). The association between the adult attachment interview and attachment patterns in romantic relationships . Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Personal Relationships, Groningen, The Netherlands.
59.
Mayseless, O. , Sharabany, R. , & Sagi, A. (1997). Attachment concerns of mothers as manifested in parental, spousal, and friendship relationships . Personal Relationshps, 4, 255-269 .
60.
Mickelson, K.D. , Kessler, R.C. , & Shaver, P.R. (1997). Adult attachment in a nationally representative sample . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1092-1106 .
61.
Mikulincer, M. (1995). Attachment style and the mental representation of the self . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1203-1215 .
62.
Mikulincer, M. , & Erev, I. (1991). Attachment styles and the structure of romantic love . British Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 563-569 .
63.
Mikulincer, M. , Florian, V. , & Tolmacz, R. (1990). Attachment styles and fear of personal death: A case study of affect regulation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 273-280 .
64.
Mikulincer, M. , Florian, V. , & Weller, A. (1993). Attachment styles, coping strategies, and posttraumatic psychological distress: The impact of the Gulf War in Israel . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 817-826 .
65.
Mikulincer, M. , & Nachshon, O. (1991). Attachment styles and patterns of self disclosure . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 321-331 .
66.
Mikulincer, M. , & Orbach, I. (1995). Attachment styles and repressive defensiveness: The accessibility and architecture of affective memories . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 917-925 .
67.
Nathan, M. , Frankel, E. , & Kugelmas, S. (1993). From adolescence to adulthood: Development of psychopathology in kibbutz and town subjects . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 22, 605-621 .
68.
Noller, P. , & Feeney, J.A. (1994). Whither attachment theory: Attachment to our caregivers or to our models?Psychological Inquiry, 5, 51-56 .
69.
Rabin, A.I. (1965). Growing up in the kibbutz. New York: Springer .
70.
Rabin, A.I. , & Beit-Hallahmi, B. (Eds.) (1982). Twenty years later: Kibbutz children grow up. New York: Springer .
71.
Regev, E. , Beit-Hallahmi, B. , & Sharabany, R. (1980). Affective expressions under three child-rearing conditions . Child Development, 51, 232-237 .
72.
Rutter, M. , & Rutter, M. (1992). Developing minds: Challenge and continuity across the life span. London: Penguin .
73.
Sagi, A. , Lamb, M.E. , Lewkowicz, K.S. , Shoham, R. , Dvir, R. , & Estes, D. (1985). Security of infant-mother, father and metapelet attachments among kibbutz reared Israeli children. In I. Bretherton & E. Walters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory in research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1-2, Serial No. 209), 257-275.
74.
Sagi, A. , van IJzendoorn, M.H. , Aviezer, O. , Donnell, F. , & Mayseless, O. (1994a). Sleeping out of home in a kibbutz communal arrangement: It makes a difference for infant-mother attachment . Child Development, 65, 992-1004 .
75.
Sagi, A. , van IJzendoorn, M.H. , Scharf, M. , Koren-Karie, N. , Joels, T. , & Mayseless, O. (1994b). Stability and discriminant validity of the adult attachment interview: A psychometric study in young Israeli adults . Developmental Psychology, 30, 771-777 .
76.
Sagi, A. , van IJzendoorn, M.H. , Scharf, M. , Koren-Karie, N. , Joels, T. , Mayseless, O. , & Aviezer, O. (1997). Ecological constraints for intergenerational transmission of attachment: In search of determinants of transmission failures . International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 287-299 .
77.
Scharfe, E. , & Bartholomew, K. (1994). Reliability and stability of adult attachment patterns . Personal Relationships, 1, 23-43 .
78.
Scher, A. , & Mayseless, O. (1994). Mother’s attachment dimensions and parenting: A case of a differential model . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11, 601-609 .
79.
Seginer, R. , & Schlesinger, R. (1998). Adolescents’ future orientation in time and place: The case of the Israeli kibbutz . International Journal of Behavioral Development, 22, 151-167 .
80.
Sharabany, R. (1982). Comradeship: Peer group relations among preadolescents in kibbutz vs. city . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8(2), 302-309 .
81.
Sharabany, R. , Gershoni, R. , & Hoffman, J.E. (1981). Girlfriend, boyfriend: Age and sex differences in intimate friendship . Developmental Psychology, 17, 800-808 .
82.
Sharabany, R. , Kaminer, H. , Beit-Hallahmi, B. , & Rabin, A.I. (1982). Adults and their parents’ past memories and present relations. In A.I. Rabin & B. Beit-Hallahmi, Twenty years later: Kibbutz children grow up. New York: Springer .
83.
Sharabany R. , & Wiseman, H. (1993). Close relationships in adolescence: The case of the kibbutz . Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 22, 671-695 .
84.
Sharabany, R. , & Wiseman, H. (1998). Adolescence with peers: Intimate friendship and emotional expression among kibbutz born. In Y. Dar, Education in a changing kibbutz: Sociological and psychological perspectives [in Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Hebrew University .
85.
Shaver, P.R. , & Hazan, C. (1993). Adult romantic attachment: Theory and evidence. In D. Perlman & W. Jones (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 4, pp. 29-70). Greenwich, CT: JAI .
86.
Shaver, P.R. , Collins, N. , & Clark, C.L. (1996). Attachment styles and internal working models of self and relationship partners. In G.J.O. Fletcher & J. Fitness (Eds.), Knowledge structures in close relationships: A social psychological approach (pp. 25-61). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
87.
Shepher, J. (1971). Mate selection among second generation kibbutz adolescents and adults: Incest avoidance and negative imprinting . Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1, 293-307 .
88.
Simpson, J.A. (1990). In‘ uence of attachment styles on romantic relationships . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 971-980 .
89.
Simpson, J.A. , Rholes, W.S. , & Nelligan, J.S. (1992). Support seeking and support giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 434-446 .
90.
Slade, A. , & Cohen, L.J. (1996). The process of parenting and remembrance of things past . Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 217-238 .
91.
Solomon, J. , & George, C. (1996). Defining the caregiving system: Toward a theory of caregiving . Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 183-197 .
92.
Spiro, M.E. (1958). Children of the kibbutz. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
93.
van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment, a meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment Interview . Psychological Bulletin, 117, 387-403 .
94.
Waters, E. , Merrick, S.K. , Treboux, D. , Crowell, J. , & Albersheim, L. (in press). Attachment security from infancy to early adulthood: A 20-year longitudinal study . Child Development.
95.
Werner, E.E. (1993). Risk, resilience, and recovery: Pespectives from the Kauai Longitudinal Study . Development and Psychopathology, 5, 503-515 .
96.
Wiseman, H. , & Lieblilch, A. (1992). Individuation in a collective community . Adolescent Psychiatry, 18, 156-179 .
