Dunbar utilizes a Mahlerian model to consider the issue of separation from the mother's perspective rather than from the infant's. Focusing on the period between sixteen and twenty-four months of age—which Mahler called the “rapprochement sub-phase”—Dunbar interviewed eight women about this developmental stage in their child's life. Dunbar selected rapprochement because Mahlerians consider it a critical period in character formation, and because she is interested in the negotiation of ambivalence—in both toddlers and mothers—that characterizes the period.

Dunbar notes that at this stage, toddlers become increasingly aware of the separateness from their mother and, in response, manifest patterns of alternate clinging and assertion of independence. Beset by wishes for reunion and fears of re-engulfment, the toddler expresses his conflict in an increase of aggression and tantrums. The author cites Mahler, Pine, and Bergman, who believed that as the toddler gradually finds optimal distance from the mother, he is able to move into the next