ABSTRACT
Associations between attachment security, assessed as a secure base script (SBS), and teachers' social competence ratings were examined in two samples (one from the Midwest region and the other from the Southern region of the United States). Consistent with previous reports, significant associations between domains were obtained in both samples and after combining the two samples, r = .33, p < .001. The associations remained significant when child sex, age, and verbal intelligence were controlled. Findings are discussed with reference to relations between SBS scores and the covariates. Regarding sex differences, an existing literature suggests that girls, compared with boys, may be advantaged with respect to skills that could support higher scores on the task used to assess secure base scripts. In both samples, teachers rated girls as somewhat higher on scales of social competence and controlling for sex reduced the magnitude of associations between SBS and social competence, but the results remained significant in all tests.
Subject(s)
Mother-Child Relations/psychology , Object Attachment , School Teachers , Social Skills , Child, Preschool , Female , Forecasting , Humans , Interview, Psychological , NarrationABSTRACT
This article investigated two central questions about mother-child attachment relationships during early childhood: (1) the association between maternal sensitivity and child attachment behavior (Study 1) and (2) the link between child attachment behavior and representations (Study 2). In Study 1, maternal sensitivity and child security were assessed in naturalistic contexts among 74 middle-class dyads, when children were about 3.5 and again 5.5 years of age, using the Maternal Behavior with Preschoolers Q-set (MBPQS) and the Attachment Q-set (AQS), respectively. Sensitivity and security were significantly related at each point in time and stable from 3.5 to 5.5 years of age. Furthermore, changes in sensitivity predicted changes in child security. In Study 2, the relationship between the organization of preschoolers' attachment behavior and the structure of attachment representations (secure base script knowledge) was assessed. Participants were 158 preschoolers between 3 and 5.5 years. Children's secure base behavior was described with the AQS, whereas their attachment script knowledge was assessed with the MacArthur Attachment Story Completion Task. The organization of children's secure base behavior was significantly, if modestly, associated with their knowledge of the secure base script.
Subject(s)
Maternal Behavior , Mother-Child Relations/psychology , Narration , Object Attachment , Adult , Behavior Observation Techniques , Child Behavior , Child Development , Child, Preschool , Emotions , Female , Humans , Male , ResearchABSTRACT
The evolutionary rationale offered by Bowlby implies that secure base relationships are common in child-caregiver dyads and thus, child secure behavior observable across diverse social contexts and cultures. This study offers a test of the universality hypothesis. Trained observers in nine countries used the Attachment Q-set to describe the organization of children's behavior in naturalistic settings. Children (N = 547) were 10-72 months old. Child development experts (N = 81) from all countries provided definitions of optimal child secure base use. Findings indicate that children from all countries use their mother as a secure base. Children's organization of secure base behavior was modestly related to each other both within and across countries. Experts' descriptions of the optimally attached child were highly similar across cultures.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior/physiology , Child Development/physiology , Mother-Child Relations/psychology , Object Attachment , Adolescent , Adult , Attitude of Health Personnel , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Observer Variation , Pediatrics , Young AdultABSTRACT
Bowlby and Ainsworth's theory of attachment poses that concurrent caregiving behavior is a key factor in influencing and maintaining a child's organization of secure-base behavior, and ultimately, security throughout childhood. Empirical demonstrations of the relation between the constructs after infancy are relatively scant and research is needed to examine the relation between the variables across a wide range of contexts, over longer observational periods, and in developmentally appropriate ways. Two studies of preschoolers and their mothers were conducted in naturalistic settings. Fifty child-mother middle-class dyads, predominantly Caucasian, participated in Study 1 and 40 in Study 2. The mean age for children was 52 months (Study 1) and 36 months (Study 2). In Study 1, a home and a playground visits were conducted. In Study 2, two home and a playground visits were conducted. Observers used the Maternal Behavior for Preschoolers Q-Set to provide age-relevant descriptions of maternal behavior, and the Attachment Q-Set to provide descriptions of child behavior. Overall, findings indicated that maternal secure base support was significantly related to the organization of child secure base behavior (r = .31 and .49 for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively). Results are discussed in terms of the importance of specifying caregiving domains and contexts of assessments, and their implications for attachment theory.