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Attachment theorists have suggested the significance of early secure attachment for later mental health, and indeed, empirical studies seem to support this proposition [for a review, see Thompson, 1999]. On the contrary, highly insecure, disorganized attachment in infancy has been repeatedly associated with subsequent behavior problems and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence [Carlson, 1998; Lyons-Ruth and Jacobvitz, 1999; van IJzendoorn et al., 1999]. Specific aspects of parenting, such as ‘frightening/frightened’behavior [Main and Hesse, 1990; Schuengel et al., 1999], affective errors and disrupted communication [Lyons-Ruth et al., 1999; Goldberg et al., 2003] are related to disorganized infant attachment. Psychophysiological studies comparing securely attached and disorganized infants point to a more reactive hypothalamic-pituitary–adrenal axis in these children [Spangler and Grossmann …