Persistent Infant Comfort Habits and Their Sequelae at 11 and 16 Years

Abstract

This paper examines whether relationships can be demonstrated between specific infantile comfort habits and later personality development. Indications of aspects of personality at 11 and 16 yr were derived from structured, but open-ended, interviews with the children's mothers. Some reliable statistical associations are shown, and these are maintained even when allowance is made for sex, social class and family size differences in the two samples. They suggest that children with a persistent oral habit at 4 yr may later be less 'well-adjusted' emotionally and more difficult for their parents to influence and control than other children. Possible interpretations are discussed.

Picasso Paintings, Moon Rocks, and Hand-Written Beatles Lyrics: Adults' Evaluations of Authentic Objects

“…So far, there is no consistent explanation for why some children and not others develop significant emotional attachments to objects, other than that the behavior appears to be related to whether mothers are continuously available, especially at night (Gaddini & Gaddini, 1970). In fact, a longitudinal study of 260 children revealed that there was very little difference on a 40-item battery of personality and emotional measures rated by the mothers of children as teenagers who either had or did not have attachment objects as infants (Newson, Newson, & Mahalski, 1982). In short, children who become emotionally attached to security objects are not more insecure (Passman, 1987).…”

Soft Object and Pacifier Attachments in Young Children: The Role of Security of Attachment to the Mother*

“…It has also been demonstrated that they serve some of the same soothing functions as other kinds of attachments for 1-year-old children who are attached to them (Halonen & Passman, 1978). Nevertheless, Newson, Newson and Mahalski's (1982) finding that, unlike blanket attachments, persistent sucking habits in 4-year-olds (i.e. to pacifiers, thumbs and bottles) were predictive of later maladjustment suggests that children with attachments to pacifiers may show a different pattern of attachment to the mother.…”

Sensory processing relates to attachment to childhood comfort objects of college students

“…Boniface and Graham (1978) found that attachment to comfort objects among three-year-olds was related to independence and going to bed easily. Longitudinal results from Newson et al (1982) indicated that children who insisted on sleeping with a special object at age 4 were more likely to show affection and empathy in their social relationships at age 16 than children without this habit. The children with a comfort object were also not different in temperamental difficulty and emotional adjustment (Newson et al, 1982).…”

“…Longitudinal results from Newson et al (1982) indicated that children who insisted on sleeping with a special object at age 4 were more likely to show affection and empathy in their social relationships at age 16 than children without this habit. The children with a comfort object were also not different in temperamental difficulty and emotional adjustment (Newson et al, 1982). Moreover, Lehman, Holtz, and Aikey (1995) found that having a comfort object was related to a preference for low-intensity pleasurable activities such as looking at a book.…”

“…Researchers examined differences in maternal attachment speculating that securely attached children use their comfort objects as a substitute for the caregiver (Lehman, Denham, Moser, & Reeves, 1992;Newson, Newson, & Mahalski, 1982;Winnicott, 1953). However, there is contradictory evidence from four-and eight-year-olds who failed to report that their favourite object reminded them of their caregiver (Lehman, Arnold, & Reeves, 1995).…”