Attachment and Temperament in the Early Life Course: A Meta-Analytic Review

This meta-analytic review examines the association between early attachment (assessed at 1-5 years) and child temperament (assessed at birth-12 years), and compares the strength of this association with recently documented meta-analytic associations between early attachment and social competence, externalizing behavior, and internalizing symptoms. Based on 109 independent samples (N = 11,440) of diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, temperament was weakly associated with attachment (in) security (d =.14, CI [0.08, 0.19]) but modestly associated with resistant attachment (d =.30, CI [0.21, 0.40]). Temperament was not significantly associated with avoidant (d =.10, CI [-0.02, 0.19]) or disorganized (d =.11, CI [-0.03, 0.25]) attachment. Across developmental domains, early attachment security was more strongly associated with social competence and externalizing behaviors than internalizing symptoms and temperament.