Preschool children's mental representations of attachment: Antecedents in their secure base behaviors and maternal attachment scripts

Attachment and Human Development

Volumn 13, Issue 5, 2011, Pages 489-502

  Wong, Maria ^a   Bost, Kelly K ^a   Shin, Nana ^b   Veríssomo, Manuela ^c   Maia, Joana ^c   Monteiro, Ligia ^c   Silva, Filipa ^c   Coppola, Gabrielle ^d   Costantini, Alessandro ^e   Vaughn, Brian E ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

^b AUBURN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c Instituto Superior Psicologia Aplicada   (United States)

^d Department of Neuroscience and Imaging   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF BARI   (Italy)

Author keywords

Attachment; Culture; Mental representations; Secure base behaviors

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; CHILD BEHAVIOR; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MOTHER CHILD RELATION; OBJECT RELATION; OBSERVATION; PORTUGAL; PRESCHOOL CHILD; RECORDING; UNITED STATES; VERBAL COMMUNICATION;

ADULT; CHILD BEHAVIOR; CHILD, PRESCHOOL; CULTURE; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES; MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONS; NARRATION; OBJECT ATTACHMENT; OBSERVATION; PORTUGAL; TAPE RECORDING;

EID: 80051704398     PISSN: 14616734     EISSN: 14692988     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2011.602256     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Ainsworth, M.D., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
2. nd ed., pp. 295-316). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
3. Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B.A., Brown, G.L., Vaughn, B.E., Coppola, G., et al. (2006). Maternal secure base scripts, children's attachment security, and mother-child narrative styles. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 241-260.
4. Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)
5. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss. Vol. 2. Separation, anxiety and anger. London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute.
6. Bretherton, I., & Munholland, K.A. (2008). Internal working models in attachment relationships: Elaborating a central construct in attachment theory. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 102-127). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
7. Bretherton, I., & Ridgeway, D. (1990). Story completion task to assess children's internal working models of child and parent in the attachment relationship. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E.M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 300-305). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8. Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: An Attachment Story Completion Task for 3-year-olds. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E.M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 273-308). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9. Coppola, G., Vaughn, B.E., Cassibba, R., & Costantini, A. (2006). The attachment script representation procedure in an Italian sample: Associations with Adult Attachment Interview scales and with maternal sensitivity. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 209-219.
10. De Wolff, M.S., & van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1997). Sensitivity and attachment: A meta-analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment. Child Development, 68, 571-591.
11. Dunn, L.M., & Dunn, D.M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (4th ed.). Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson, Inc.
12. Dykas, M.J., Woodhouse, S.S., Cassidy, J., & Waters, H.S. (2006). Narrative assessment of attachment representations: Links between secure base scripts and adolescent attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 221-240.
13. Fivush, R., Haden, C.A., & Reese, E. (2006). Elaborating on elaborations: Role of maternal reminiscing style in cognitive and socioemotional development. Child Development, 77, 1568-1588.
14. Fivush, R., & Sales, J.M. (2006). Coping, attachment, and mother-child narratives of stressful events. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 125-150.
15. Hesse, E. (2008). The Adult Attachment Interview: Protocol, method of analysis, and empirical studies. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 552-598). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
16. Hu, L., & Bentler, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria to fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55.
17. Laible, D. (2004). Mother-child discourse in two contexts: Links with child temperament, attachment security, and socioemotional competence. Developmental Psychology, 40, 979-992.
18. Loehlin, J.C. (1998). Latent variable models: An introduction to factor, path, and structural analysis (3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
19. Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1998). Adult attachment scoring and classification system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.
20. Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points in attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1-2, Serial No. 209), 66-104.
21. Monteiro, L., Verissimo, M., Vaughn, B.E., Santos, A.J., & Bost, K.K. (2008). Secure base representations for both fathers and mothers predict children's secure base behavior in a sample of Portuguese families. Attachment & Human Development, 10, 189-206.
22. Nelson, K. (1986). Event knowledge: Structure and function in development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
23. Nelson, K., & Hudson, J. (1988). Scripts and memory: Functional relationships in development. In F.E. Weinert & M. Perlmutter (Eds.), Memory development: Universal changes and individual differences (pp. 87-105). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
24. Oppenheim, D. (1997). The attachment doll-play interview for preschoolers. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 681-697.
25. Oppenheim, D., Koren-Karie, N., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2007). Emotion dialogues between mothers and children at 4.5 and 7.5 years: Relations with children's attachment at 1 year. Child Development, 78, 38-52.
26. Posada, G., Waters, E., Crowell, J.A., & Lay, K.-L. (1995).Is it easier to use a secure mother as a secure base? Attachment Q-sort correlates of the adult attachment interview. In E. Waters, B.E. Vaughn, G. Posada, & K. Kondo-Ikemura (Eds.), Caregiving, cultural, and cognitive perspectives on secure-base behavior and working models. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 60(2-3, Serial No. 244), 133-145.
27. Preacher, K.J., & Hayes, A.F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior research methods, instruments, and computers, 36, 717-731.
28. Rodrigues-Doolabh, L., Zevallos, A., Turan, B., & Green, K. (2003). Attachment scripts across cultures: Further evidence for a universal secure-base script. In H. Waters & E. Waters (Chairs), Script-like representations of secure base experience: Evidence of crossage, cross-cultural, and behavioral links. Poster symposium presented at the Biennial Meetings of Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
29. Schafer, J.L. (2000). NORM: Multiple imputation of incomplete multivariate data under a normal model (Version 2.03) [Computer software]. Retrieved from: http://www.stat.psu.edu/*jls/misoftwa.html.
30. Schafer, J.L., & Graham, J.W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 2, 147-177.
31. Seabra-Santos, M.J., Simões, M.R., Albuquerque, C.P., Pereira, M.M., Almeida, L.S., Ferreira, C., et al. (2003). Escala de Inteligência de Wechsler para a Idade Pré-Escolar e Primária - Forma Revista (W.P.P.S.I.-R.). In M.M. Gonçalves, M.R. Simões, L.S. Almeida & C. Machado (Coords.), Avaliação psicológica: Instrumentos validados para a população (Vol. 1, pp. 197-219). Coimbra: Quarteto.
32. Smeekens, S., Riksen-Walraven, J.M., & van Bakel, H.J.A. (2009). The predictive value of different infant attachment measures for socioemotional development at age 5 years. Infant Mental Health Journal, 30, 366-383.
33. Solomon, J., & George, C. (2008). The measure of attachment security and related constructs in infancy and early childhood. In J. Cassidy & P.R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 383-416). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
34. Sroufe, L.A. (1996). Emotional development: The organization of emotional life in the early years. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
35. Steele, H., Steele, M., & Fonagy, P. (1996). Associations among Attachment Classifications of Mothers, Fathers, and Their Infants. Child Development, 67, 541-555.
36. Tini, M., Corcoran, D., Rodrigues-Doolabh, L., & Waters, E. (2003). Maternal attachment scripts and infant secure-base behavior. In H. Waters & E. Waters (Chairs), Script-like representations of secure base experience: Evidence of cross-age, cross-cultural, and behavioral links. Poster symposium presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
37. van IJzendoorn, M.H. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment interview. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 387-403.
38. van IJzendoorn, M.H., & De Wolff, M.S. (1997). In search of the absent father - metaanalyses of infant-father attachment: A rejoinder to our discussants. Child Development, 68, 604-609.
39. van IJzendoorn, M.H., Vereijken, C.M.J.L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Riksen-Walraven, J.M. (2004). Assessing attachment security with the attachment Q-sort: Metaanalytic evidence for the validity of the observer AQS. Child Development, 75, 1188-1213.
40. Vaughn, B.E., Coppola, G., Verissimo, M., Monteiro, L., Santos, A.J., Posada, G., et al. (2007). The quality of maternal secure-base scripts predicts children's secure-base behavior at home in three sociocultural groups. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 65-76.
41. Vaughn, B.E., Veríssimo, M., Coppola, G., Bost, K.K., Shin, N., McBride, B., et al. (2006). Maternal attachment script representations: Longitudinal stability and associations with stylistic features of maternal narratives. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 199-208.
42. Verissimo, M., & Salvaterra, F. (2006). Maternal secure-base scripts and children's attachment security in an adopted sample. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 261-273.
43. Verschueren, K., & Marcoen, A. (1999). Representation of self and socioemotional competence in kindergarteners: Differential and combined effects of attachment to mother and to father. Child Development, 70, 183-201.
44. Waters, E. (1995). The Attachment Q-Set. In E. Waters, B.E. Vaughn, G. Posada, & K. Kondo-Ikemura (Eds.), Caregiving, cultural, and cognitive perspectives on secure-base 5 behavior and working models: New growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 60 (serial No. 244), 234-246.
45. Waters, H.S., & Rodrigues-Doolabh, L. (2001). Are attachment scripts the building blocks of attachment representations? Narrative assessment of representations and the AAI. In H. Waters & E. Waters (Chairs), Narrative measures of attachment for adults. Poster symposium presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
46. Waters, H.S., & Rodrigues-Doolabh, L. (2004). Manual for decoding secure base narratives. Unpublished manuscript, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
47. Waters, H.S., & Waters, E. (2006). The attachment working models concept: Among other things, we build script-like representations of secure base experiences. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 185-197.
48. Williams, J., & MacKinnon, D.P. (2008). Resampling and distribution of the product methods for testing indirect effects in complex models. Structural Equation Modeling, 15, 23-51.