Mary Main

Mary Main is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the developer of the Adult attachment interview. Mary Main is a researcher at University of California, Berkeley who with colleagues identified and empiricized a fourth attachment style in children, namely an insecure disorganized attachment style. It can be characterized by a lack of a coherent 'organized' behavioral strategy for dealing with the stresses during the Strange Situation Protocol.

There is a growing body of research on the links between abnormal parenting, disorganized attachment and risks for later psychopathologies. Abuse is associated with disorganized attachment. The disorganized style is a risk factor for a range of psychological disorders although it is not in itself considered an attachment disorder under the current classification.

Relevant Publications
Main, M., Hesse, E., & Kaplan, N. (2005). Predictability of attachment behaviour and representational processes at 1, 6, and 18 years of age: The Berkeley Longitudinal Study. In K.E. Grossmann, K. Grossmann & E. Waters (Eds.), Attachment from Infancy to Adulthood. pp. 245-304. New York: Guilford Press.

Main, M. (1999). Mary D. Salter Ainsworth: Tribute and Portrait. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 19, 682-736.

George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1996). The Attachment Interview for Adults. Unpublished Manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley (3rd Edition).

Main, M. (1994). Attachment and psychoanalysis: The phenomena. Presented as the annual research lecture to the British Psycho-Analytical Society: London.

Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M.T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti & E.M. Cummings, Attachment during the preschool years: Theory, research and intervention. pp. 121-160. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M.T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti & E.M. Cummings, Attachment during the preschool years: Theory, research and intervention. pp. 161-182. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1986). Discovery of an insecure disorganized / disoriented attachment pattern: procedures, findings and implications for classification of behaviour. In M.W. Yogman & T.B. Brazelton, Affective development in infancy. pp. 95-124. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). The Attachment Interview for Adults. Unpublished Manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.

Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Assessments of child-parent attachment at six years of age. Unpublished scoring manual.

Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1985). Adult attachment classification system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.

Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, ?.

Main, M., & Weston, D.R. (1981). The quality of the toddler's relationship to mother and father: related to conflict behaviour and readiness to establish new relationships. Child Development, 52, 932-940.

Main, M., Tomasini, L., & Tolan, W. (1979). Differences among mothers of infants judged to differ in security. Developmental Psychology, 15, 472-3.

Ainsworth, M.D.S., Bell, S.M., Blehar, M.C., & Main, M. (1971). Physical contact: A study of infant responsiveness and its relation to maternal handling. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.