| PROJECT TITLE: | K01 : AMERICAN INDIAN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND ATTACHMENT |
| FUNDING SOURCE: | NIMH |
| DATES OF FUNDING: | 2001 - 2006 |
| PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S): | Michelle Christensen, Ph.D. |
| CENTER STAFF INVOLVED: | Michelle Christensen, Ph.D., Marvine Douville |
SPECIFIC AIMS/RESEARCH GOALS:
- To systematically examine the cultural construction of attachment for American Indian parents and children with special emphasis on the implication of this knowledge for measurement of attachment within this cross-cultural context.
- To specifically examine the utility of the Adult Attachment Interview as a measure of adult attachment and the Strange Situation as a measure of child attachment in an American Indian population.
- To implement a study of American Indian parenting and child development, the purpose of which is to examine the impact of maternal attachment status on child attachment status and social-emotional and cognitive developmental progress at age 12-14 months.
RESEARCH DESIGN:
- Field observation of attachment-related behaviors and qualitative interviews.
- Focus group and key-informant interviews regarding cross-cultural appropriateness of research measures.
- Conduct interviews with mothers before the birth of their child.
- Conduct interviews and administer research measures with mothers and
their 12-14 month old child.
PARTICIPANTS:
Research participants will be first-time mothers and their infants recruited
from a Northern Plains reservation. Participants will be contacted
for recruitment through a local health care agency. Eighty mothers
and their children will be recruited.
MEASURES:
- Adult Attachment Interview.
- Demographic Questionnaire.
- Psychiatric Symptomatology Questionnaire.
- CIDI-SF for Alcohol/Drug Abuse/Dependence.
- Marital/Relationship Quality and Social Support.
- History of Trauma & Loss Questionnaire.
- Parenting Stress Index.
- Family History Questionnaire.
- Strange Situation.
- Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment.
- Bayley Scales of Infant Development II.
- Rothbart Infant Behavior Questionnaire.
PUBLICATIONS:
N/A.
