Instability of infant-parent attachment security

Data from 2 separate projects were examined to address the stability of infant-parent attachment security. Both included infant-mother attachment classifications at 12 and 18 months of age (n = 125, n = 90), and 1 included infant-father classifications at 13 and 20 months (n = 120). Significant stability was not discerned in attachment security, either at the level of ABC or secure-insecure classifications. Rates of stability ranged from 46-55%. Results are discussed in terms of the select nature of the samples studied (all sons in 1, some depressed mothers in the other), the fact that past estimates of stability are based on small samples, the potential influence that coding for disorganized behavior may have on how Strange Situations are classified, and the changing ecology of infancy over the past 10-15 years.