In the debate concerning the effects of day care on infant development, ins
ufficient attention has been paid to the potential relationship between pre
-existing emotional differences among mothers and the type of care they cho
ose for their infants. To shed light on this issue, this study examines the
attachment representations of mothers who choose day-care centres as oppos
ed to mothers who choose to remain at home with their infants. Participants
were 76 primiparous mothers. Mothers' attachment classifications were asse
ssed by the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI; Main M, Kaplan N, Cassidy J. 1
985. Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: a move to the level of
representation. In Growing Points of Attachment Theory and Research. Monogr
aph of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, (1-2, serial no.
209), Bretherton I, Waters E (eds); 66-104]. Results indicate that more Day
-care than Home-Care mothers are classified as insecurely attached. These r
esults highlight the contribution of maternal emotional characteristics to
the effects of diverse child care arrangements on infant development. Copyr
ight (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.