Coping with a new setting - Attachment and accommodation into day care

The phase of transition from the family setting into day care reveals attac hment-related issues. These refer to the relation between day-care experien ce and mother-child attachment, the caregiver as an attachment figure, and the relation between attachment quality and the infants' coping behavior in the new setting. Thirty-five one-year-olds were videotaped in the Ainswort h Strange Situation with their mothers immediately before entering day care and after six months of day-care experience and with their caregivers afte r seven months of day-care experience. The infants' emotional reactions, th eir social orientation, and exploratory behavior were rated in the day-care center by experienced observers on days one in the day care center and sev en. and again after four weeks. Pace of accommodation into day-care was ind exed by the infants' daily presence in the center with and without their mo thers during the first foul weeks, Infants with smooth introduction into da y-care were found to be securely attached to their mothers even after six m onths of day-care more frequently than infants with abrupt introduction. Th e quality of the infants' attachments to their new caregivers was independe nt of the quality of their relationship with the mother and independent of their introduction experiences. Infants who entered day-care with secure at tachment to their mothers were initiually more irritable than were insecure ly-avoidant infants. After four weeks of day care experience this relation reversed.