Abstract
Researchers in the field of the intergenerational transmission of attachment have recently focused on mothers' attuned responses, which are akin to empathic responses to infants' negative emotions (i.e., showing that the mother is “in tune” with the baby's emotions). The present observational study investigated how mothers produce attuned responses to their infants. Regression analyses revealed that mothers with a secure internal working model produced “mind-related comments (i.e., comments that express something about the infant's thought processes) with smiles” in response to their infants' negative emotions. Insecure mothers either did not make these responses, or instead made responses that did not include mind-related comments. Avoidant mothers and infants displaying highly fearful temperaments rarely produced mind-related comments with smiles. Because such attuned responses may have been overlooked in previous studies, it is important to focus on these responses as factors that promote infants' socioemotional development.
