INTERACTIONAL HARMONY AT 7 AND 10 MONTHS OF AGE PREDICTS SECURITY OF ATTACHMENT AS MEASURED BY Q-SORT RATINGS

Fifty-eight infants and their mothers were observed at home for 45 min utes at seven and ten months of age using a detailed behavioral checkl ist. During these observations, the degree of mutual interactional eng agement was also rated on a 4-point scale every 20 seconds. The attach ment security of 38 infants was assessed at 13 months using mothers' r eports on the Attachment Q-set (AQS, Waters, 1987). Composite measures of mother-infant interaction derived from the behavioral observations were moderately, stable over time. Measures of maternal interactive b ehaviors and ratings of mutual engagement were highly correlated. Moth ers' and infants' behaviors were combined into an index of behavioral harmony that was sensitive to differences in the infants' attachment s ecurity three and six months later. Using a stepwise multiple regressi on, 43% of the valiance in the AQS-scores tvas explained by behavioral harmony at seven months, mutual engagement at 10 months, and infant f uss/cry at seven months.