Adult attunement and child availability: Interaction of mother and caregiver with three-year-old kibbutz children

Eshel, Y Landau, R Daniely, A Ben-Aaron, M

Y. Eshel et al., Adult attunement and child availability: Interaction of mother and caregiver with three-year-old kibbutz children, INF MEN H J, 21(6), 2000, pp. 411-427

47

INGLESE

Article

Psycology

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL

0163-9641 → ACNP

21

6

2000

411 - 427

ISI

0163-9641(200011/12)21:6<411:AAACAI>2.0.ZU;2-9

Relationships of mother and nonmaternal caregiver with 33 three-year-old ki bbutz toddlers were investigated. Attunement and intrusiveness of these car egivers in their contact with children were determined by analysis of discr ete child-adult interactions rather than by a global assessment of their re lationships. The validity of these adult attunement scores was examined fir st by comparison of the attunement and intrusiveness scores of mother and o f caregiver, and second by determining their association with independent s cores of child availability to each of these caregiving adults. Results ten ded to support the validity of the present measures of adult attunement to the child. They indicated that in cases of disagreement mothers were more a ttuned than nonmaternal caregivers to the signals of the child, and the lev el of adult attuned agreement to the child was positively associated with c ooperative attempts of children to involve caregivers in their activities.