Thesis
Multiple caretaking and attachment among the Aka foragers of the Central African Republic
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/106343
Abstract
Research on attachment relationships has proceeded from a mother-centric bias. Studies of infant care among hunter-gatherers in Central Africa (Tronick et al. 1987; Hewlett 1991b; Meehan 2005) suggest that infants have many close relationships with a wide network of caregivers. Researchers have considered the roles of other caregivers such as fathers (Lamb 2010) or professionals (Sagi et al. 1995) and the formation of attachment relationships to these other caregivers, but these studies use a lab test, the Strange Situation (Lamb 1984). Naturalistic observations of discrete behaviors reveal an infant's interactions with all caretakers throughout the day. This study uses timed behavioral observations (Altmann 1974; Meehan 2005) to examine attachment behaviors as defined by Ainsworth (1963, 1967; Bell and Ainsworth 1972) in her work with Ganda infants in Uganda and American infants in Baltimore. Aka infants express attachment behaviors to many other caregivers besides their mothers, and these caregivers acknowledge and respond to these displays. Though mothers received the greatest number of attachment bouts and were most responsive, results suggest that Aka infants form close relationships with numerous other individuals. Principle components analysis revealed three components of infant care, the first of which appears to match Bell and Ainsworth's (1972) definition of sensitivity, those responses that are most appropriate to the infant's cues. The next two were components of affect, both negative and positive. Though infants expressed more attachment behaviors to their mothers, other caretakers were equally prompt in responding to infants' cries. Finally, infants who had non-maternal caregivers who were more sensitively responsive were less likely to show distress in the absence of their mothers. This is the first study to examine attachment relationships to multiple individuals using naturalistic observation techniques. The results from this thesis suggest that Aka infants form attachment relationships with many other caregivers besides their mothers, and that these caregivers are attentive to the infants' signals.
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Details
- Title
- Multiple caretaking and attachment among the Aka foragers of the Central African Republic
- Creators
- Sean Michael Hawks
- Contributors
- Courtney L. Meehan (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525385301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis