Effects of brief separation from parent on 1-2-year olds

What is it about?

This study is about the effects of a single brief separation on young children's willingness, after a delay of 1 week, to separate themselves from a parent to explore into an unfamiliar room. Infants in a control group stayed with their parent for 9 min during a first observation session. Those in an experimental group experienced a separation of 3 min midway in this session. Parents returned with their children 1 week later. This time the children were free to explore into an adjoining room while the parent stayed back.

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Why is it important?

The work suggests that even a very brief separation in an unfamiliar setting may make infants behavioraly insecure one week later. Observation showed that infants who one week earler had suffered a very brief separation waited longer before moving alone into an unfamiliar adjoining room, visited the new room fewer times, spent less total time there and were less adventurous as compared with the controls.

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