Relationship duration in infant care: Time with a high-ability teacher and infant-teacher attachment

This study investigated the role of time with a high-ability teacher on infant-teacher attachment in an infant care setting. Sixty-one relationship dyads involving infants from 10 to 38 months were assessed using the Waters and Deane Attachment Q-Sort. Relationships were classified as secure or insecure. Time with teacher was measured at low (5–8 months); medium (9–12 months) and high levels (over 1 year). Analyses of covariance, controlling for age of infant and age of entry in center, showed a significant main effect for time with the teacher. Ninety-one percent of infants who had been with their teacher for more than 1 year had secure attachments as compared to 67% at the middle level of time and 50% at the lowest level of time. The high level of time was significantly different from medium and low, but medium and low were not significantly different from each other. This study offers implications for indicators of quality research as well as for infant programming.