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Primary Caregiver

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Children have a primary caregiver that they have a main attachment with. Attachment is the bond that is felt between a child and their caregiver (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). This bond helps a child move through life confidently with the caregiver’s help. There are four different attachment styles. These styles include secure attachment, avoidant attachment, anxious attachment, and disorganized attachment. Many studies have been done showing the prevalence rates of each attachment type but most of these studies do not account for socioeconomic status as a confounding factor. There are many risk-factors that work in conjunction with low socioeconomic status that help predict if the infant has a secure attachment or not. These risk factors …show more content…

Many children spend time with other caregivers, especially children born into close communities like a Spanish speaking Mexican community. This means that children have a higher chance of bonding with more than one caregiver in the first few years of life. Fathers were unlikely to be considered a caregiver but other relatives were much more likely to considered an alternative caregiver. Non-relative caregivers were also common especially by 14 months. The mothers and alternative caregivers completed the Attachment Q-Sort to determine the attachment security with the children (Howes &Wishard, …show more content…

At 24 months, mothers had a score of .34 and the alternative caregivers had a score that increase dramatically to .49. At 36 months, both the mother and the alternative caregivers had scores of .52. Most of the mothers of this study were able to form secure attachments with the children. This was also true for the alternative caregivers of the children. It is believed that having a secure attachment leads to higher resiliency of children, adding another protective factor (Howes & Wishard, 2009). It is unknown, however, if this is only a protective factor if the secure attachment is with the primary caregiver or if it can be with an alternative caregiver as well. The study also did not clarify if the infants had secure attachments to more than one person or if it was only with one caregiver. This could be important if the insecure attachment is with the primary caregiver who they spend the most time

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