Testing the limits: Extending attachment-based intervention effects to infant cognitive outcome and parental stress

This small randomized trial tested a brief attachment-based video-feedback intervention for parents of infants and toddlers who had been neglected or were at serious risk of neglect. Compared with the control group, mothers in the intervention became more sensitive, and their children showed better mental and psychomotor development. The intervention had no clear effect on parents’ self-reported stress. The results need to be replicated, but they support the early attachment relationship as an important influence on child development.