Sleeping Out of Home in a Kibbutz Communal Arrangement: It Makes a Difference for Infant-Mother Attachment

Abstract

SAGI, ABKAM \M, \ VN IJ/LNDOOHN, M UUNUS H Avii ζι κ, ΟΗΛ DOSNLLI , FUVNK and M > OUVA Sleeping Out of Home in a Kibbutz Communal Arrangement It \iakes a Difference for Injant-Mother \ttacninent CIÜLD Dt VLLOPMLNM , 1994,65,992-1004 Att ichment classific.Uion distributions oi mlant-mothei dyads hvmg in 2 tvpes of Isiaeh kibbut7im wtre comp.utd The subjects weie 48 uiiants, 14-22 months old (M = 18 29 months) 13 bovs and 10 girls were from 23 kibbut.7 infants houses with communal sleeping arrangements ind 13 bovs ind 12 guls were hom 25 kibbutz inlants houses with honie-b ised sleeping arrangements The 2 groups diel not dilfer on inlants' temperament and eaily hfe events, mother-mtant plav mteraction, quahty of infants' davtime environment, 01 any oi severil maternal variables Among the home-based mfants, 80% weie secuiely attached to then mothers veisus 48% of the infants in communal sleeping anangements No avoidant relationships were found Including the disorgamzed disonented attachment classification (44% m the communal group, 32% in the home-based group) did not change the results We argue that the communal sleeping arrangement presents a childreanng environment that deviates markedly fiom the environment of evolutionary adaptedness Bowlby (1984, p 60) emphasized the et al , 1985), we exammed the secunty of impoitance of observmg the development of mfant-mother attachment when infants weie children raised within settmgs that deviate being raised in a traditional kibbutz commuconsiderably from the so-called environ-nal sleeping arrangement. Infants in this setment of evolutionary adaptedness. In our ting are exposed to child-reanng practices first study on the development oi attachment that differ markedly from those that attachm infants raised m Israeli kibbutzim (Sagi ment theonsts consider desirable, and conThis work was supported in part by funds provided to Abraham Sagi by the Umversity of Haifa Research Authouty and m part by a PIONEER grant awarded to Marinus H van IJzendoorn by the Netherlands Orgamzation for Scientific Research Frank Donnell's master's thesis at the Umversity of Haifa was based on this study We aie most grateful to Arza Avrahami, the director of the Institute of Research on Kibbutz Education, foi her outstanding assistance and cooperation throughout the various phases of the study Special thanks are due to Zvi Lavi and Michael Nathan, lormer duectors of the Institute We should also hke to thank Tirtsa Joels, Moshe Tuvia, and Yael Harel for their unusual devotion in collecting and codmg the data Finallv, our deep appreciation to the eailv education coordmators, metaplot, and iamihes m the vanous kibbut/im loi thcu wann coopeiation Couespondcnce concerning this aiticle should be addressed to \biaham Sagi,

A “Natural Experiment” in Childrearing Ecologies and Adolescents' Attachment and Separation Representations

“…Thus, it seems that repeated exposure to nightly separation, an integral feature of the communal sleeping arrangement and not the experience of group child care early in life per se, is a significant risk factor to the development of attachment in- security. This proposition accords with a similar conclusion of earlier research with infants raised in communal sleeping arrangements (Sagi, Lamb, Lewkowicz, Shoham, Dvir, & Estes, 1985;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, Aviezer, et al, 1994).…”

“…From the attachment paradigm it appeared that the kibbutz practice of communal sleeping for children created an environment that deviated from what might be considered desirable for healthy emotional development . In a recent study (Sagi, van IJzendoorn, Aviezer, Donnell, & Mayseless, 1994), kibbutz infants in the communal sleeping arrangement showed low incidence of secure attachment (48%) compared with the Ainsworth and colleagues (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) normative sample (all the insecure infants were ambivalent). In comparison, kibbutz infants in the familial sleeping arrangement showed a high frequency of secure attachment patterns (80%).…”

“…Changes in childrearing practices from communal to familial sleeping were affected by the upsurge in familistic tendencies (Tiger & Shepher, 1975) and the growing prosperity of the kibbutz economy, which allowed enlargement of each family's living space. The transition of any specific kibbutz from communal to familial sleeping arrangement, however, did not stem from its members being more "childoriented" than members of other kibbutzim where communal sleeping was maintained (Tiger & Shepher, 1975;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, Aviezer, et al, 1994). Taking all these considerations into account, it seems that in terms of actual childrearing practices kibbutzim pursuing the different sleeping arrangements were quite similar, besides the sleeping arrangement variation .…”

Mothers of Anxious/Ambivalent Infants: Maternal Characteristics and Child‐Care Context

“…Most of the insecure infants in the day-care context were anxious/ ambivalent. This last finding, namely predominance of the anxious/ambivalent pattern among insecure infants, reflects a consistent pattern in Israel (Sagi et al, 1985;Sagi, van IJzendoorn, Aviezer, Donnell, & Mayseless, 1994). The present study explored two aspects of the child-care situation: (1) the number of hours the mother worked away from home and (2) the type of substitute care employed, namely one substitute caregiver or a group day-care situation.…”

“…This social-cultural context may be unique. For example, in a series of studies conducted by Sagi and his colleagues, it was demonstrated that the vast majority of insecure infants in Israel are ambivalent (Sagi et al, 1985(Sagi et al, , 1994. This poses a question about whether the meaning of ambivalent attachment in Israel is similar to ambivalence in other cultures (Sagi, van IJzendoorn, & Koren-Karie, 1991).…”