Infants who experience stable, sensitive, responsive care from their primary caregivers develop more secure attachments.
THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONSIVE AND SENSITIVE CAREGIVING IN BUILDING CAREGIVER-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS
Infants who experience stable, sensitive and responsive care from their primary caregivers develop
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- Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2016). From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts: A Science-Based Approach to Building a More Promising Future for Young Children and Families. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Caregivers’ ability to support children’s developmental needs, for example, when they are anxious when facing new situations, helps children develop trust in their caregivers. They also become confident when exploring the world. Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Juffer, F. (2003). Less is more: Meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood. Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 195–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.195 Landry, S. H., Smith, K. E., & Swank, P. R. (2006). Responsive parenting: establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 627–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.627
Research into parent-child interactions found that face-to-face interactions between parent and child such as following babies' gaze, responding to them or talking about what they are looking at help build secure relationships and later, self-regulation.
Responsive parent-child interaction provides children with a predictable and secure environment that gives them the possibility to trust that they have someone to depend on in case of need. When early attachment relationships are predominantly positive and consistent, children feel safe with caregivers who become a "secure base" from which children can feel free and confident to explore and interact with the world. Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Cortazar, A., & Herreros, F. (2010). Early Attachment Relationships and the Early Childhood Curriculum. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 11(2), 192–202. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2010.11.2.192
Extensive neuroscience research incorporating 47 years of programme evaluation data and multiple meta-analyses, along with examining other literature review, carried out by the Harvard Center on the Developing Child also found that sensitive and responsive care involving serve and return interactions between the child and caregiver help shape and build a child’s brain architecture. When an infant or young child babbles, gestures, or cries and an adult responds appropriately with eye contact, words or a hug, neural connections are built and strengthened in the child's brain that supports the development of communication and social skills.
Neural connections in the brains grow exponentially during early childhood. For instance, 80% of the brain is developed by three years old. As such, the quality of the caregiving can have the great long-term effects. "Serve and return" interactions form neural pathways that build attachments, develops brain functioning and social skills. Furthermore, they also help children to withstand stresses in the environment, making them more resilient in future.
Meta-analytical research involving 70 studies and 9,957 children on the effects of interventions to help improve parents’ sensitivity in parenting found that such interventions not only boosted parental sensitivity but also effectively enhanced attachment security. This supports the notion that caregiver sensitivity can shape attachments.