Mary Main's contribution to our attachment research in Bielefeld and Regensburg: personal and professional memories.

Abstract

Our memories reflect professional meetings and our private relationship with Mary Main for over more than 50 years, working, travelling jointly, and celebrating together. Klaus met Mary Main at Mary Ainsworth's lab in 1973 in Baltimore. Mary Main's and our own longitudinal studies both started at the same time in which attachment research became a focus of several research groups. Still unpublished research results were eagerly shared. Mary supported our wider view of attachment by emphasizing the importance of exploratory play, enthusiasm, expression, and quality of communication. She also explored infants' unexpected avoidance of their mothers. Some infant's resisted traditional classification and were described as disorganized/ disoriented by her. Later in Regensburg, Mary trained our research group in assessing memories of attachment experiences of young adults. When Klaus retired in 2003, Mary gave a warm review of a long time of mutual devotion in the service of attachment development.