Evaluations of Attachment Relationships by Jewish Israeli-Day-Care Providers

Abstract

Israeli day-care providers (N = 109) viewed one 20-minute videotape of a mother and infant interacting in the Strange Situation. After viewing the videotape, subjects completed a questionnaire that included items related to the labeling and evaluation of infant behavior in the Strange Situation. In addition, subjects were asked to rank order eight definitions-descriptions of the eight subcategories comprising the traditional categorical system on how well they described the infant in the videotape. On 12 of the 16 labeling and evaluation items, groups were significantly differentiated, with most differences in the expected direction. Sixty-one percent of the care providers ranked the correct classification as their first or second choice, and 82% of the care providers who did not rank the correct definition in first or second place classified the infant in a conceptually adjacent category. These Israeli care providers preferred to interact with B₂ infants and liked the C₁ infants least, suggesting approval of independence on the part of young infants. The results of this study suggest that naive Israelis classify, label, and evaluate infants in a manner consistent with the explicit values of attachment theorists.