Maternal Self-Efficacy and Infant Attachment: Integrating Physiology, Perceptions, and Behavior Author(s): Wilberta L.

Donovan and Lewis A. Leavitt Source: Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 460-472 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1130990 . Accessed: 08/05/2013 19:04
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Maternal Self-Efficacy and Infant Attachment: Integrating Physiology, Perceptions,

and Behavior
Wilberta L. Donovan and Lewis A. Leavitt
Universityof Wisconsin-Madison
WILBERTA L., and LEAVITr,LEWIS A. Maternal Self-Efficacy and InfantAttachment: DONOVAN, Integrating Physiology, Perceptions, and Behavior. CHILDDEVELOPMENT, 1989, 60, 460-472. 48

mothersof 5-month-oldinfantswere asked to estimatetheir controlover the termination of an infant child-caretask. Motherswho greatlyoverestimatedtheir controldifcry in a laboratory-simulated fered from low or moderate"illusion-of-control" mothersby exhibitinga depression-prone attributional style, a depressed mood state, perceiving the fatheras participating less in child care, and of aversive condiresponding to impending infant cries with heart-rateaccelerationcharacteristic tioning. At age 16 months, 40 of the mother-infantpairs participatedin the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Insecure infant attachmentat 16 months was associated with maternalperception of overcontrol,depressed mood state, and aversiveconditioningto the impendingcry in the laboratory task at the 5-monthperiod. During interaction, both infant and mother emit signals designed to capture the other's attention, indicating whether to join, to sustain, or to terminate the interactive process. On the infant's part, crying is a powerful signal influencing the developing pattern of interaction. The mother's response to the cry is determined by her perception of the meaning of and causal attributions for the cry as well as by circumstantial events attending the release of the cry. Crying is one of the first challenges faced by mothers. If successful at terminating the cry, the mother may gain confidence in her own effectiveness; if unsuccessful in terminating the cry, the mother may begin to focus on her own inefficacy. Perception of efficacy has been identified as an influential factor in the initiation and regulation of behavior (Rotter, Chance, & Phares, 1972; Seligman, 1975) and in judgments of how well one expects to do in a particular situation (Bandura, 1982). A mother learns about her effectiveness as a parent as she responds to her infant's signals. The de-

velopmental literature indicates that maternal warmth and sensitivity to infant behaviors are linked to later child social and cognitive competency. Although there is not agreement as to whether these variables work indirectly through the creation of a secure attachment that encourages the infant to explore, or directly through the provision of experiences which enhance developmental competency (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Lamb, Thompson, Gardner, Charnov, & Estes, 1984; Sroufe, 1983), the mother's perceived self-efficacy is an important determinant of whether or not she responds sensitively to her infant's signals (Donovan, 1981; Donovan & Leavitt, 1985a; Donovan, Leavitt, & Walsh, 1987). In the current study, the mother's attributional style, mood state, social support, and perception of her infant's temperament are considered potential determinants of the mother's responsiveness to infant behavior. Self-efficacy is the mediating construct between these determinants and the develop-

research. Her contribution was substantial and we are grateful for it. Requests for reprints should be addressed to either author, Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development, University of Wisconsin--Madison, Madison, WI 53705. [Child Development, 1989, 60, 460-472. ? 1989 by the Society for Researchin Child Development, Inc. All rightsreserved.0009-3920/89/6002-0010$01.00]

discussion of our data. Reghan Walsh gave advice and assistance throughoutall phases of this

computer expert and psychophysiologist.

This research was supportedin part by NIH grant HD-03352 to the WaismanCenter, NIH grantMH-42479,and by grant 150649 from the GraduateSchool of the Universityof WisconsinMadison.Portionsof these data were presented at the International Conferenceon Infant Studies, Los Angeles, 1986; the Society for PsychophysiologicalResearch,Montreal,1986; and the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore,1987. We wish to thank MaryRoachfor a critical reading of the manuscriptand James Ver Hoeve for his generous help throughhis many skills as a
We are indebted to Frances Graham for an insightful

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Donovan and Leavitt 461

mental outcome of the child. We have used with the significant effect of less severe mamother-infant attachment as a developmental ternal depressive symptoms on the child's deoutcome to assess the implication of variation velopmental outcome (Zuckerman & Beardsin perceived self-efficacy. lee, 1987). Our research explores the relation Attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Kelley, between the depressed mood state of the 1973) proposes underlying rules by which mother within the range of a normally funcpeople attribute motives or causes to behav- tioning population and the child's later develiors they observe. An attribution is defined by opmental outcome. the intersection of factors on three dimenSocial support frequently counters less sions-internal/external, stable/unstable, and than optimal environments and is associated global/specific. Internal factors lie within the with increased sensitive, responsive, and inindividual, whereas external factors lie within volved maternal behavior (Cmic, Ragozin, the environment. Stable factors are recurrent Greenberg, Robinson, & Basham, 1983; Crocor long-lived, whereas unstable factors are kenberg, 1981, 1987). Data support the thesis intermittent and short-lived. Global factors that social support facilitates the maintenance affect a wide variety of outcomes, whereas of self-esteem in times of stress (Cohen & Mcspecific factors have a narrower focus. Attri- Kay, 1984). Cutrona and Troutman (1986) butional style characterizes how individuals have proposed that social support exerts a formulate their attributions along these three protective function against maternal depresdimensions. A self-serving attributional style sion by enabling the mother to perceive heris a characteristic of the self-efficacious person self as more effective. The probability of and reflects making internal, stable, and forming an insecure attachment is reduced for global attributions for positive outcomes and infants of depressed mothers if the husband, a external, unstable, and specific attributions figure of social support, is in the household for negative outcomes. In contrast, making ex(Radke-Yarrow et al., 1985). and ternal, unstable, specific attributions for positive outcomes and internal, stable, and Numerous studies have explored the link global attributions for negative outcomes has between the mother's perception of her inbeen labeled a depression-prone attribu- fant's temperament and other maternal or detional style (Abramson, Seligman, & Teas- velopmental outcome measures. Studies indidale, 1978). Bugental and Shennum (1984) cate that parents perceive the cries of difficult have reported that a parent's attribution about infants to be more aversive, demanding, and success or failure in child rearing acts as a "spoiled sounding" (Lounsbury & Bates, selective filter or sensitizer to child behaviors. 1982) as well as more grating, arousing, and A mother with low self-perceived efficacy re- piercing (Boukydis & Burgess, 1982) than the acts negatively to the unresponsive child in a cries of easy infants. Boukydis and Burgess manner that reinforces unresponsiveness in report that difficult-infant cries elicit greater the child, thus demonstrating how the child's physiologic arousal than easy-infant cries. Evbehavioral patterns interact with parental at- idence is mixed as to the effect of perceptions tributions about control to affect adult social- of infant difficulty on maternal responsiveness. While there are reports of lowered reizing tactics. of mothers who perceive their Mood state, as well, may adversely affect sponsiveness infants as difficult (Campbell, 1979; Milmother-infant interaction. Low self-perceived liones, 1978), others have found that the diffiefficacy, learned helplessness, and passive cult infant elicits attentive behavior from the have been associated with physiologic coping mother (Klein, 1984) or has no noticeable imsymptoms and self-reports of depression (Mcpact (Daniels, Plomin, & Greenhalgh, 1984). Cabe & Schneiderman, 1985). The behaviors When infant difficulty has been studied as a of a depressed caregiver, including emotional potential predictor of the attachment relationin unavailability, apathy, and confusion, are ship, no relationship has been found (Bates, sharp contrast to and may potentially interfere with optimal caregiving behavior. Parental Maslin, & Frankel, 1985), although individual mental health is particularly relevant in pre- aspects of temperament, such as proneness to distress, may predict resistant behavior, one dicting the social competence of the child aspect of an insecure attachment (Goldsmith (Sameroff& Feil, 1985). Insecure attachments & Alansky, 1987). are more frequent in dyads containing depressed mothers than in dyads containing Learned helplessness theory (Seligman, nondepressed mothers (Radke-Yarrow, Cum1975) has provided a useful model for the mings, Kuczynski, & Chapman, 1985). Clinilearning of personal efficacy. Using a simucians are becoming increasingly concerned lated child-care task designed after the help-

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Child Development
In this short-term longitudinal study, a depression-prone attributional style, a negative mood state, low social support, and perceived infant difficulty were predicted to adversely affect maternal response to infant behavior and subsequent infant development. Since perceived self-efficacy reflects how well one expects to manage in a given situation (Bandura, 1982), assessing perceptions of control allows us to explore the role of selfefficacy as a mediator between the above determinants and the developmental outcome of the child. Specifically, the relation between the mother's perception of control over the termination of an infant cry in a simulated child-care task and one aspect of the infant's of attachdevelopmental outcome-security ment-will be assessed.

lessness paradigm, Donovan (1981) demonstrated that the mother's past experience with failure in terminating infant crying proactively interfered with performance on a childcare task. Furthermore, only mothers with prior experience controlling the cry exhibited physiologic indicators of attentional processing to the impending cry. Attributing the cry to a "difficult" infant as compared with attributing the identical stimulus cry to an "easy" infant increased the helplessness effect (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985a). In the current study, an alternative paradigm was employed to assess self-efficacy by directly measuring maternal perception of control over the termination of an infant cry. In contrast to the development of helplessness, individuals who experience success should develop the expectation that important outcomes are controllable. In fact, people often treat noncontingent events as if they were contingent, thus overestimating their own control and thereby exhibiting an illusion of control (Alloy & Abramson, 1979). Experimentally, control can be defined by the individual's estimation of the contingency between outcome and response. Hence the relation between experimentally controlled objective contingencies and a person's subjective judgment about contingencies can be studied in the laboratory (Alloy & Abramson, 1979). Indexing physiologic substrates of the psychological processes activated while attending to environmental stimuli can enhance our understanding of a person's perception of control. Cardiac deceleration following stimulus onset is an index of the orienting response (Graham, 1979) and has been used as a measure of attentional processing (Lacey & Lacey, 1974). In contrast, cardiac acceleration is a physiologic indicator of activation and is a component of the defensive response, which buffers or minimizes the effects of stimulation when the external environment is "rejected" or attention is turned inward, such as during mental arithmetic (Lacey & Lacey, 1974). The characteristic phasic cardiac deceleration associated with attention has been found to correlate with the mother's sensitivity to infant signals during a feeding session and with the infant's development (Donovan, Leavitt, & Balling, 1978). Data also indicate that security of mother-infant attachment is reflected in the physiologic responses of both mother and infant to the social events of interest in the Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) Strange Situation (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985b).

Method
Subjects Forty-eight mothers participated in this study. Their mean age was 29.5 years (range 19-39 years). All were white and married and each had a 5-month-old infant; 29 were primiparous. All had graduated from high school, 43 of the 48 had attended college, 32 had graduated, and 12 had attended graduate school. Of the original 48 mothers, 40 mothers and their infants participated in the follow-up attachment phase of the study. Infants ranged in age from 14.6 to 16.4 months, with a mean age of 15.8 months. Seven of the 48 mothers had moved prior to testing, and one declined to participate because of time constraints. All families were intact throughout the entire period of data collection. Instruments Demographic data and related variinformation included ables.-Demographic sex of infant, parity, mother's age, educational level, and occupational status, including work situation at the time of the study. The mother's degree of conflict over her decision to remain at home or work outside of the home was assessed on a seven-point Likert scale. Related information included method of feeding the infant and an estimation of the number of hours per day her infant cried. modified Infant Attribution Scale.-A version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson et al., 1982) was developed to focus specifically on maternal perceptions of outcomes involving infant care. The original 12-item, self-report questionnaire assesses an individual's tendency to make internal/external, stable/unstable, and global/specific attri-

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Donovan and Leavitt 463

butions for positive and negative outcomes in affiliative and achievement domains. The achievement-related items were not relevant for this study and were replaced with infantcare items (e.g., You are out in public and you cannot quiet your crying infant.). Coefficient alpha reliabilities for subscales are as follows: positive outcome internality = .38, positive outcome stability = .56, positive outcome globality = .42; negative outcome internality = .43, negative outcome stability = .60, negative outcome globality = .60. Internal consistency for the composite scales for positive and negative outcomes was .69 and .59, respectively, with no correlation (r = .07) between the two. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).-The BDI is a 21-item, self-administered measure of depression with demonstrated validity (Beck, 1972). Social support.--The mother's perception of social support was assessed by asking how often the father and persons other than the father participated in the infant's care. These questions were answered on a sevenpoint Likert scale. Temperament Questionnaire Infant infant (Carey & McDevitt, 1978).-Specific behaviors are rated on a six-point scale reflecting the frequency of a behavior in various situations. Scores on five of the scales (rhythmicity, approach, adaptability, mood, and intensity) were averaged. Based on a mean split of these scores (rather than the more stringent criterion adopted by Carey) mothers were categorized as having either a "difficult" or an "easy" infant. Procedures Mothers visited the laboratory twice. During the first visit, they completed the instruments described above and participated in a simulated child-care task to assess their perception of control over the termination of an infant cry. Cardiac rate was monitored by electrocardiogram throughout the simulated task. During the second visit, approximately 1 year later, the BDI and social support items were again administered and security of mother-infant attachment was assessed. Simulated child-care task.-The task is a modification of the illusion of control paradigm developed by Alloy and Abramson (1979) in which perceived control is studied experimentally. The task involves making one of two responses to an event after which the subject is asked to estimate their perceived control over the event. In our task, the mothers responded to an infant cry, their goal being the termination of the cry. Objective control, as opposed to perceived control, is defined as the relative difference in response effectiveness. Because were responses equally effective during the task, objective control was zero. Cry termination occurred 50% of the time for each response. The tape-recorded infant cry was produced by a 5-month-old female infant and recorded on a Sony TC-850 tape recorder. It was elicited by having the mother play with her infant and then withdraw from the infant's visual field. Periods of fussing and pauses were edited out so that the stimulus tape consisted of a continuous cry. The tape was presented at a level comparable to that experienced in the home [80 db (A)] via a 10.16-cm KLH Model 708 speaker within the soundattenuated chamber. Electronic switching-relay equipment was used for controlling stimulus presentation and for recording mothers' responses. The stimulus apparatus for the judgment of control task consisted of a white wooden stand-up platform on which a red light was positioned facing the mother. The response apparatus consisted of a metal box on which a spring-loaded button was mounted in the center. Each mother received 42 30-sec trials. Each trial was initiated by the onset of a 10sec red light (CS) followed by cry onset (UCS). For the first 40 trials and for trial 42, the onset of the UCS was simultaneous with CS offset. On trial 41, the cry stimulus was omitted. The intertrial interval ranged from 20 to 30 sec with a mean of 25 sec. Instructions stated that this was a problem-solving task, and that after the presentation of each cry the mother had the option of either pressing or not pressing the button. Her response was followed by a fixed schedule of cry termination at 5 sec (success) on half of the trials or cry continuation for 20 sec (failure). Following the child-care simulation task, each mother was asked to estimate how much control she thought she had (i.e., was one response more effective than the other) over the termination of the cry. Estimates of control were indicated on a scale in units of 5 with extreme values of 0 (labeled "no control") and 100 (labeled "complete control") and the 50% point (labeled "intermediate control"). The task was designed as a zero contingency task in which neither response was more effective than the other in terminating the cry. There-

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464

Child Development
B, C), and 90% when all eight subgroups were considered.

fore, objective control (i.e., zero control) subtracted from perceived control constituted the mother's illusion of control score.' Each mother then completed the Cry Characteristics Scale (Zeskind & Lester, 1978). Perception of the cry is assessed on eight bipolar dimensions (e.g., urgent vs. not urgent) arranged on seven-point Likert scales. Physiologic response recording.-Cardiac activity was recorded via miniature electrodes attached to both ankles and right forearm. Electrodes were attached prior to giving the instructions. The heart-rate (HR) signal was transduced and amplified by an Offner Type R Dynograph and via a Vetter FM Model-3 recorder adaptor was recorded on magnetic tape on a Teac 3300 S recorder. The R-R intervals of the electrocardiogram were timed to the nearest millisecond off-line using a PDP-12 computer and then converted to beats per minute for each 1-sec interval. The physiologic dependent measure was the mean cardiac change scores (i.e., deviation from prestimulus level) during (a) the 10-sec CS interval prior to the onset of the UCS, (b) the initial 5-sec UCS interval, (c) the 20-sec interval during the omission of the UCS on trial 41, and (d) the 10-sec CS period on trial 42. The Strange Situation. -Approximately 1 year after the first visit, infants and their mothers returned to the laboratory to participate in the Ainsworth and Wittig (1969) Strange Situation. This procedure is comprised of a standard sequence of episodes designed to assess the balance between the infant's exploratory and attachment behavioral systems. Observations are made of the infant's reaction to a novel environment, interaction with a stranger, and separation from and reunion with its mother. Two adult females served as the stranger. Sessions were videotaped through a one-way mirror for later analysis. Verbal interactions were recorded through ceiling microphones. Two trained coders, blind to the illusion scores of the mothers, assessed the security of attachment according to the classification system developed by Ainsworth and colleagues (1978) and independently placed each infant in one of the eight subgroups. Reliability (agreements/[agreements + disagreements]) was 97% for the three major classifications (A,

Results
Mothers were divided into three groups based on their illusion of control scores. Categorization of mothers allowed for the possibility that some predictors might bear a linear relation, others a curvilinear relation, to illusion scores. Recalling that objective control was zero, mothers with scores of <20 were designated as Low Illusion (n = 24) since a difference of 25% is typically necessary for persons to detect contingencies (Alloy & Abramson, 1979); mothers receiving scores between 20 and 50 were designated as Middle Illusion (n = 14) since group means of estimated control seldom exceed 50% in zero contingency tasks (Alloy & Abramson, 1979), and mothers receiving scores of >50 were designated as High Illusion (n = 10). The Low Illusion group included 16 easy and eight difficult infants, the Middle Illusion group included four easy and 10 difficult infants, and the High Illusion group included five easy and five difficult infants. An initial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with illusion of control as the between-subjects factor and attributional style, mood, support, and infant temperament as dependent variables yielded a significant effect, F(18,74) = 1.91, p < .03. Since earlier work has frequently found the infant temperament variable to interact with the main variable of interest (Donovan & Leavitt, 1985a; Donovan et al., 1978; Leavitt & Donovan, 1979), a second MANOVA was conducted with illusion of control and temperament as the between-subjects factors and attributional style, mood, and support as the dependent variables. This analysis yielded a significant interaction, F(16,70) = 1.86, p < .04. Univariate analyses, as well as trend analyses, from these two MANOVAs were then examined and are reported below. We report, as well, the univariate analyses on the demographic variables. Concurrent Correlates of Illusion of Control Demographic data and related variables.-Univariate analyses on the demographic variables of age, education, and occupational status, and frequency counts on sex of infant and parity, demonstrated that moth-

1While not systematicallyrelated to illusion group,the disproportionate use of one response over the other yielded a minimaldegree of controlfor five of the mothers.For these mothersactual control fromestimated controlwas their illusion score.

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Donovan and Leavitt 465

ers in the Low, Middle, and High Illusion groups did not differ (p's > .25). Differences in method of feeding as a function of illusion group were significant, F(2,37) = 4.22, p < .02.2 Multiple t tests indicated that mothers in the High Illusion group were more likely to breast-feed their infants without using supplements than mothers in the Low (p < .03) or Middle (p < .007) Illusion groups, which did not differ from each other. They were also least likely to have returned to work outside the home, indicated by a significant linear trend on the means, t(37) = 2.14, p < .04. Infant Attribution Scale.-Univariate analyses on the separate dimensions of attributional style yielded a significant effect for illusion on the stability dimension for positive outcomes, F(2,45) = 4.37, p < .02. Multiple t tests indicated that mothers in the High Illusion group had a more depression-prone attributional style by attributing positive outcomes to unstable factors as compared to mothers in the Low (p < .005) or Middle (p < .05) Illusion groups, which did not differ from each other. Also, the linear trend on the means, t(45) = 1.85, p < .07, showed that mothers in the High Illusion group exhibited a depression-prone attributional style to a lesser extent by making global attributions for negative outcomes. Univariate analyses yielded a significant interaction effect for attributional style on the globality dimension for positive outcomes, F(2,42) = 8.37, p < .001, and a marginally significant interaction effect on the internality dimension for positive outcomes, F(2,42) = 2.62, p < .08. Pairwise comparisons indicated that for mothers in the Middle and High Illusion groups, those with difficult rather than easy infants were more likely to exhibit a depression-prone attributional style by attributing positive outcomes to specific (p's < .04) and external (p's < .06) factors. In contrast, mothers with difficult infants in the Low Illusion group showed a self-serving attributional style by attributing positive outcomes to global factors (p < .03).
2

Beck Depression Inventory.-Depression means for the three illusion groups were: Low (M = 4.8, SD = 2.72), Middle (M = 3.9, SD = 2.37), and High (M = 7.7, SD = 4.00).3 Univariate analyses indicated a significant effect for illusion, F(2,45) = 5.20, p < .01. Multiple t tests indicated that this was accounted for by mothers in the High Illusion group as compared to the Middle (p < .003) and Low (p < .01) Illusion groups, which did not differ from each other. Higher depression scores also correlated with more work/home conflict, r = .36, p < .02. Social support.-Univariate analyses on social support (i.e., perception of the father's participation in the infant's care) yielded a significant quadratic trend on the means of the Likert scores, t(45) = 2.20, p < .03. Mothers in the High Illusion group scored the lowest, mothers in Middle Illusion group scored highest, and mothers in the Low Illusion group reported an intermediate score. Mothers reporting less father participation in child care also reported more work/home conflict, r .24, p < .05. temperament.-Temperament Infant means for the three illusion groups were: Low (M = 2.55, SD = .40), Middle (M = 2.84, SD = .44), and High (M = 2.82, SD = .44), with infant temperament correlating positively with illusion scores, r = .38, p < .05. The univariate analysis for temperament yielded an F(2,45) = 2.60, p < .09, with the multiple t tests indicating that the Low Illusion group differed from the Middle (p < .05) and High (p < .10) Illusion groups, which did not differ from each other. Infant difficulty ratings also correlated with the reported number of hours the infant cried at home, r = .40, p < .01. Scale.-CorrelaCry Characteristics tional data showed that the more difficult the mother perceived her baby to be, the more discomforting, r = .24, p < .05, and aversive, r = .23, p < .06, the cry sounded.

events at 5 months were collected on 40 mothers at the 16-month period. At this later period, we refined our questions concerning method of feeding the infant, work outside of the home at both the 5- and 16-month period as well as whether sittercare was related to work or nonwork activities at the

The change in degrees of freedom reflects the fact that this small subset of data referringto

3 For our scoring, item 27 was necessarily omitted because the majority of mothers with a 5month-old infant are indeed losing weight gained during pregnancy. Therefore, the mean depression score for mothers in the High Illusion group (M = 7.7) was comparable to the cutoff point (9 or greater) used by Alloy and Abramson (1979) in defining depression in their studies. Mothers with a high illusion of control would not be considered clinically depressed nor can their relationships with their infants be described as pathological.

two periods.

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466
E

Child Development
C.
6. TRIALBLOCK 1 TRIALBLOCK 2 TRIALBLOCK 3

.C
oD o 0 t-o

L -2 -2.

-4, -B.

2
cs

Seconds

1O

c 6 Seconds

Seconds

CS - CRYONSET

LOWILLUSION

MIDDLEILLUSION

HIGH ILLUSION

FIG.1.-Mean second-by-secondchanges in heartrateto the CS on the firstsix trials(blockedby two) as a functionof illusion group. Physiologic data.-Heart-rate data were analyzed for changes in tonic level and for differences in phasic components between groups. Resting heart-rate levels recorded at the beginning of the session did not differentiate mothers. However, all mothers showed a mean increase in resting heart rate of approximately four beats per minute between the beginning and the end of the session, F(1,42) = 13.42, p < .001. We used the mean cardiac change score across seconds to analyze changes in the phasic components. To determine trends across selected second-by-second intervals and trends across trials, these second-bysecond change scores were analyzed in ANOVAs with illusion group and infant temperament as the between-subjects factors. heart-rate change during the anticipatory (CS) period in a two-stimulus paradigm (CS-UCS) we divided the heart-rate response into three phasic components, an initial brief decelerative component followed by an accelerative component (A) and a second longer decelerative component (D2). This component division is based on data that identify them as correlates of signal processing activity (Bohlin & Kjellberg, 1979). Increased magnitude of the accelerative component is interpreted as a measure of UCS (i.e., cry) aversiveness, whereas increased magnitude of the second decelerative component is interpreted as a measure of "attentive" processing. Differences in the magnitude of the decelerative component are interpreted as differentiating mothers' ability to predict the nature as well as the timing of UCS occurrence (i.e., anticipatory orienting). Response to the CS on the first six trials (blocked by two) was used as a measure of the mothers' initial response to the impending cry. Mothers in the High Illusion group showed an augmented accelerative component across trials consistent with an interpretation of aversion to the impending cry. In contrast, mothers in the Middle and Low Illusion groups did not show the aversive conditioning across trials, but rather exhibited moderate attentive responses. This difference between groups in response on the first three trial blocks was demonstrated statistically by the significant linear trend across trials of the cubic second, F(2,42) = 3.30, p < .04, and is shown graphically in Figure 1. Because of the possibility of cardiac-somatic coupling effects (Obrist et al., 1974), it is important to note that mothers in the three illusion groups did not differ in amount of button pressing. Therefore, differences in the observed acceleratory response cannot be accounted for by differences in motor preparation among mothers in the three groups. Analysis of response to the CS across the full 40 trials (blocked by four) yielded a significant linear trials on cubic second effect for illusion, reflecting rapid habituation for mothers in the Low Illusion group, F(2,42) = 3.57, p < .04. The significant linear trials on quadratic second main effect of infant temperament indicated that mothers of difficult infants showed slowest habituation of the A component and a fairly rapid habituation of an early D2 component, F(1,42) = 4.18, p < .05, interpreted as aversive conditioning for mothers of difficult infants. A significant illusion group x infant temperament interaction was found with a linear trials on linear second effect, F(2,42) = 4.13, p < .02, and a quadratic

1. Ten-second CS interval.-To analyze

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Donovan and Leavitt 467

trials on cubic second effect, F(2,42) = 3.10 p < .05. In the Low Illusion group, the D2 component was prolonged for mothers of difficult infants, indicating that although perception of infant difficulty may adversely affect mothers, its effect is limited in that mothers with a low illusion of control were actually more attentive, indexed physiologically, if paired with the more difficult infant.
LOWILLUSION
MIDDLE ILLUSION HIGH ILLUSION

0.
a)

2. Five-second UCS interval.-Analysis

of response across trials to the 5-sec UCS interval yielded significant linear, F(1,42) = 68.75, p < .0001, quadratic, F(1,42) = 23.27, p < .0001, and cubic, F(1,42) = 72.73, p < .0001, second effects indicating a consistent activation response to the cry common to all mothers. However, varying rates of habituation across trials were expected to differentiate groups because response habituation is recognized as an important aspect of behavioral plasticity (Siddle, 1985). Mothers in the Low and Middle Illusion groups habituated consistently and smoothly across trials, as reflected by the linear trials on cubic second effect, F(2,42) = 3.07, p < .05. In contrast, the pronounced acceleratory response of mothers in the High Illusion group habituated rapidly, remained low for several trial blocks, and then increased in magnitude toward the end of the session. This response modulation seen in the High Illusion group, reflected statistically by the quadratic trials on cubic second effect, F(2,42) = 6.54, p < .003, may be associated with an ineffective coping process.

-6 -4
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10

15

FIG.2.-Mean second-by-secondchanges in heart rate to the omitted UCS as a function of illusion group. the omitted UCS on Trial 41. The significant cubic second as a function of illusion group x infant temperament, F(2,42) = 3.73, p < .03, was due to the divergent responses of mothers with difficult infants. A pronounced decelerative, attentive response was shown by mothers of difficult infants in the Low Illusion group and a pronounced accelerative, defensive response was shown by mothers of difficult infants in the High Illusion group (see Fig. 3). Again, these data indicate less attentive and more defensive reactions for mothers of difficult infants in the High Illusion group. Analysis of response to the CS on the trial preceding the omission of the cry revealed that there were no significant differences as a function of either illusion group or infant temperament. To summarize the effects of grouping on perceptions of control, although mothers in the High Illusion group perceived their infants as no more difficult than did mothers in the Middle Illusion group, they had a depression-prone attributional style, were the most depressed, and saw their husbands as participating least in the infant's care. Physiologically, in the simulated task these mothers exhibited aversive conditioning to the infant's impending cry, failed to habituate to the cry across the session, and showed a delayed peak deceleration to the omission of the cry. Similar physiologic insensitivity has been linked to later behavioral insensitivity (Donovan & Leavitt, 1978). We predicted, therefore, that a less attentive behavioral response would characterize mothers in the High Illusion group, and that the infants of these mothers would be most at risk for an insecure attachment.

3. Cry omission trial 41.-The

elicita-

tion of an orienting response (i.e., cardiac deceleration) at the omission of an anticipated event is used as an index of an "expectancy" process (Ohman, 1979; Siddle, 1985). Cardiac change scores during the omission of the cry on trial 41 indicated that mothers in the three groups differed in the formation of the CSUCS association by differing in the time required for them to reach peak deceleration. As indicated by the significant linear second effect, F(2,42) = 3.82, p < .03, mothers in the High Illusion group were considerably delayed in their recognition of the change in anticipated events (i.e., CS-UCS pairing) (see Fig. 2). A significant quadratic second effect as a function of infant temperament, F(1,42) = 5.31, p < .03, indicated that mothers of difficult infants were delayed in their recognition of the change. 4. Trial 42.-Response to the CS on trial 42 following the omitted UCS on Trial 41 is of interest because the CS has acquired a new meaning due to the uncertainty generated by

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Child Development

6.
E 4
n

8.

'EASY "OIFFICLLT

2 c 0c -2.

cr-4. I -6
-e

2
CS

4 6 Seconds

8 10 t UCS - CRYONSET

86 Seconds

10

4 6 Seconds

10

LOWILLUSION

MIDDLE ILLUSION

HIGH ILLUSION

FIG.3.-Mean second-by-secondchanges in heartrateto the CS on trial42 followingcry omissionon trial41 as a functionof illusion groupand infanttemperament.

Of the 40 mothers who returned for the collection of attachment data, three subjects each were lost from the Low and the Middle Illusion groups, and two from the High Illusion group. Of the 21 infants of mothers in the Low Illusion group, two were classified as A2, one as B1, nine as B2, and nine as B3 infants. In the Middle Illusion group, one infant was classified as Al, one as A2, one as B1, three as B2, five as B3, and one as a B4 infant. One set of twins (B2, B3) in this group was treated as a single securely attached infant for the analysis yielding a total of 11 dyads. Of the eight infants of mothers in the High Illusion group, two were classified as A2 infants, one as B1, three as B2, one as B3, and one as a C1 infant. The percentage of infants in the insecure groups (18%) was only slightly lower than that typically reported by others (Ainsworth et al., 1978). Relations among predictor variables for perception of control scores (attributional style, mood, support, and infant temperament), control scores themselves, and attachment status were investigated. Since we predicted that infants of mothers in the High Illusion group would be at risk for developing an insecure attachment, we tested for a difference between the number of insecurely attached infants in the Low and Middle groups (n = 4) versus those in the High Illusion group (n = 3). A higher number of insecurely attached infants were paired with mothers in the High Illusion group, X2(1,38) = 2.77, p < .05. Mothers of insecurely attached infants were more depressed at 5 (but not 16) months (M = 7.86, SD = 3.58) than mothers of securely attached infants (M = 4.48, SD = 3.05), t(38) = 2.32, p < .05. Mothers of insecurely attached infants also had been less likely to get alternative care for non-work-re-

Security of Attachment

lated activities at the 5-month period, t(38) = 2.95, p < .01, and were still less likely to do so at the 16-month period, t(38) = 2.28, p < .04. Analysis of the heart-rate data collected during the simulated task at the 5-month period showed that mothers of insecurely attached infants exhibited aversive conditioning (i.e., cardiac acceleration) to the impending cry, a significant linear trials on cubic second effect, F(1,38) = 6.23, p < .01. Six of the seven insecurely attached infants were male. Attachment status was not directly related to attributional style, father participation, or infant temperament.

Discussion
In a simulated child-care task, mothers were required to estimate their control over the termination of an infant cry. Mothers who greatly overestimated their control (i.e., high illusion of control) had a depression-prone attributional style, were the most depressed, and reported the father as participating least in childcare. Although they perceived their infants as being no more difficult than mothers with a moderate illusion of control, they alone responded physiologically with signs of aversion to the impending cry. A disproportionate number of infants of these mothers were found to be insecurely attached as assessed in the Strange Situation. Mothers in the High Illusion group responded to the impending cry with increased cardiac acceleration across trials interpreted as aversive conditioning. We argue that this is a defensive reaction. This argument is consistent with the proposal that the process of cardiac acceleration diminishes the effect of aversive stimuli (Lacey & Lacey, 1974) and, furthermore, that this perceptual gating process reflects defensive behavior (Hare &

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Donovan and Leavitt 469

Blevings, 1975). Mothers in the High Illusion group also showed a lack of behavioral plasticity (Siddle, 1985) indexed by delayed response habituation to the cry across the session and delayed recognition when the cry was omitted. We believe that defensive responding masks perceived inefficacy. Several studies link perceived inefficacy and physiologic indices of arousal. In anticipation of an aversive event, elevated blood pressure and cardiac acceleration are correlated with low perceived self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982). Knowing when an aversive event will occur without being able to exercise control increases anticipatory stress reactions (Gunnar, 1980; Miller, 1981). In contrast, the ability to exercise behavioral control over potentially aversive events eliminates or decreases autonomic reactions to them (Miller, 1981), and manipulations involving enhanced self-efficacy are followed by changes in physiologic responding (Bandura, 1982). In addition to showing defensive responding, mothers in the High Illusion group were also the most depressed. Although a depressive mood state is associated with both helplessness (Seligman, 1975) and a high illusion of control, as reported here, these different coping strategies can be discriminated physiologically. Physiologic response patterns associated with aversive conditioning were exhibited by mothers with a high illusion of control, not by mothers experiencing helplessness (Donovan, 1981). Clinical data are consistent with the data presented here. Subjects who claimed low anxiety, but reported high defensiveness, responded to a laboratory stressor with physiologic (e.g., heart rate) and behavioral (e.g., reaction time) indications that they were anxious (Weinberger, in press). From these and other data, Weinberger has postulated three distinct coping styles-depressive, repressive, and selfassured. These are similar to the parenting behaviors suggested here-helpless, defensive, and self-efficacious. Alloy and Abramson (1979) found that nondepressed persons exhibit an illusion of control over an inanimate event, whereas we found that mothers with a high illusion of control were the most depressed. This may reflect the fact that a social signal (i.e., infant crying) was used as the event to be controlled. Whereas control over environmental events is considered a positive accomplishment in our culture, in the interpersonal domain high levels of control may interfere with social exchange, and indeed may hinder the establishment of meaningful relationships. In support of this argument, Field et al. (1985) report that mothers experiencing pregnancy problems (marital difficulties and ambivalence about the child) were postpartum more depressed, expressed more punitive, controlling childrearing attitudes, and showed less optimal interaction patterns with their infants (e.g., fewer contingent responses). If mother-infant communication depends on the ability to allow the other to change as a function of the interaction, then high levels of control over the other could be counterproductive. This same idea is expressed by Bugental and Shennum (1984), who also found that social power attributed to the child was as important as self-perceived power of the caregiver in predicting positive social interaction between parent and child. Self-perceived power is important in that attributions act as important moderators in the interaction process. Thus our finding that attributional style is related to illusion scores (i.e., high illusion of control was related to a depression-prone attributional style) is consistent with the thesis that attributions act as selective filters to child behaviors. Together, the findings of a depressed mood and a depression-prone attributional style being related to high levels of illusion of control support the argument that, in the interpersonal domain a high level of illusion of control, in contrast with a low or a moderate level, is not characteristic of the person of high perceived self-efficacy. In addition to negative attributional style and mood state, low social support also adversely affected maternal response. We found that less father participation in the infant's care was reported by mothers with a high illusion of control. This is in agreement with other studies that have found that increased social support is associated with responsive maternal behavior and adaptive child development (Crnic et al., 1983; Crockenberg, 1981), facilitates the maintenance of self-esteem in times of stress (Cohen & McKay, 1984), and buffers the mother against postpartum depression (Cutrona & Troutman, 1986). We found that maternal perception of infant temperament affects maternal response, however, we better understand its effect when it is studied in conjunction with other variables. There was a tendency for mothers in the Low Illusion group to perceive their infants as "easier" than mothers in the other two groups. While mothers in the Middle and High Illusion groups perceived their infants as equally "difficult," only mothers with a

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Alloy, L. B., & Abramson, L. Y. (1979). Judgment of contingency in depressed and nondepressed students: Sadder but wiser? Journal of Experi-

high illusion of control exhibited defensive responding throughout the simulated task, indicating that infant temperament alone does not necessarily present a problem for the mother. With infant temperament as the second factor, we found another similarity/contrast between mothers in the Middle and High Illusion groups. Those mothers who perceived their infants as difficult in these groups had similar attributional styles-both were depression-prone, but it was the mothers with the high illusion of control who exhibited a defensive physiologic response on the last trial following the cry's omission. In contrast to the defensive response seen in these mothers, a physiologic "attentive" response was seen in mothers of difficult infants in the Low Illusion group. This agrees with the finding that infant difficulty can elicit attentive behavior (Klein, 1984). Together, these data provide evidence that perception of infant difficulty need not adversely affect maternal response but frequently interacts with other variables to determine that response (Crockenberg, 1986). In sum, mothers who exhibited a high illusion of control in our simulated child-care task had a depression-prone attributional style, were the most depressed, reported the father as participating least in childcare, and physiologically exhibited defensive behavior throughout the task. Both a high illusion of control and a depressed mood state for the mother at the 5-month visit were associated with an insecure attachment for the infant at 16 months. These findings shed some light on the value of contrasting styles of coping with child-care tasks. High illusion of control appears to be limited in its effectiveness as a way of coping and as a consequence may interfere with the infant's developmental progress.

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