ABSTRACT
According to John Bowlby, the mother-infant attachment is crucial for emotional, social and, in consequence, cognitive development. Both biological and environmental factors contribute to the development of gender roles. Male and female infants are treated differently from earliest infancy. By about 18 months infants start to behave in gender-typed ways, and these behaviors are often differentially reinforced by adults. The infant’s response to separation from the mother indicates secure, anxious/avoidant, or anxious/ambivalent attachment. Attachment can be formed to any caregiver, and to more than one person. There are differences in an infant’s attachment to mother and father. Infant-mother attachment may be affected by day care, depending on the quality of care provided, and how much time the infant is away from the mother. It is clearly important that the caregiver provides the infant with the same sort of nurturance as the mother would.
