ABSTRACT
One of the unique characteristics of the multiple birth event is that the infant and child will necessarily be cared for by multiple caregivers, particularly in the early months of life. The concept of attachment has been developed by Bowlby (1969) in its more ethological sense that the infant has a bias toward attaching himself especially to one figure, usually the mother. Bowlby differs from Freud's concept of the mother infant relationship as based on the child's physiological need for food and warmth, which Bowlby calls the secondary drive hypothesis. Ainsworth describes four behavioral systems that interact to form the baby's attachment behavior: attachment, wariness/fear, affiliation or sociability, and exploration. Marvin found that contact and physical interaction are more important in the formation of a specific attachment than feeding, among the Hausa infants of Nigeria.
