Finding a secure base: Exploring children’s attachment behaviors with professional caregivers during the first months of daycare

Recent decades have seen a major rise in demand for daycare services for children aged 0 to 3 years, and this has increased research interest in the child-professional caregiver relationship at daycare centers: How does the relationship between children and their new caregivers develop over time? How long does it take for children to settle in at daycare? What variables can influence the settling-in process? These questions are all of the utmost salience and bear crucial implications for children, parents, and daycare practitioners. In this study, we set out to explore the relationship between infants and their new caregivers over the first two months in daycare, using the Professional Caregiver Attachment Diary. The study involved seven Italian daycare centres and 55 professional caregivers, who observed 148 children (M=17.8 months). The children’s attachment behaviors were assessed at three time-points: when the children started attending daycare (T1), one month later (T2), and two months later (T3). We found that positive attachment behaviors (Secure and Non-Distressed) increased over time, whereas insecure behaviors (Avoidant and Resistant) decreased. Most of the change took place during the first month. Furthermore, children who had attended more daycare more regularly (with fewer days of absence) displayed fewer avoidant behaviors and a more rapid decrease in resistant behaviors than did children who were absent more frequently. The findings suggest that the PCAD may be usefully deployed to observe and analyze children while they are settling into a new daycare setting, especially in relation to their exploratory behaviors.