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How can I make notes with bullet points in this paragraph? To test these three possible explanations, researchers in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development examined relations between early attachment to mother and social competence during preschool and early elementary school under conditions of declining, stable, or improving maternal care (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1997b). They found that links between attachment and later outcomes were mediated by the quality of parenting, supporting the "mediating experiences" explanation. When parenting quality improved over time, children's outcomes were better; when parenting quality declined, children had poorer outcomes. The researchers also found support for the "dynamic interactive process" explanation: Children who had insecure attachments in infancy did better (had fewer externalizing problems) when parenting quality improved over time and did worse (had more externalizing problems) when parenting quality declined. However, securely attached children were protected from changes in paenting quality: Their social outcomes were not altered by declines or improvements in parenting. Changes in family relationships and experiences clearly mattered for some children in this study, but the nature of children's prior attachments was an important modifier of how they reacted to fluctuations in their social worlds. The message is clear: Both early attachment history and contemporary social conditions must. Need Assignment Help?