These effects influence the child's
neuro -
endocrine response to threat, resulting (among other things) in infants who are «insecurely attached» to their caregivers and at increased risk of problems with peer and intimate relationships (Sroufe, 1995), of future mental illness and of abnormalities of cardiovascular and immune functioning (Repetti et al., 2002; Surtees et al., 2003; Luecken and Lemery, 2004; Bell and Belsky, 2007; Weich et al., 2009).