The concurrent association between security of attachment and adaptive functioning at school in middle childhood was examined. A sample of 113 children of 4th and 5th grade ” lled out a self-report measure of attachment security (Kerns, Klepac, & Cole, 1996) and were administered the Doll Story Completion task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990b) modi” ed for use with children in middle childhood to assess the quality and the security of attachment-related representations of the relationship with the mother. According to the latter measure children were classi” ed as secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganised with regard to attachment. Their teachers completed several questionnaires assessing each child’s academic achievement, emotional and social adjustment, and frequency of behavioural problems. In addition, each participating class underwent a sociometric procedure. Findings based on correlations and comparisons of attachment groups indicated that secure children showed better adjustment to school as reflected in teachers’ reports of scholastic, emotional, social, and behavioural adjustment, as well as in peer-rated social status. Avoidant and disorganised children showed the poorest adjustment. Findings indicated the usefulness of attachment theory in understanding adjustment to the school environment in middle childhood.
We examined the concurrent associations between early adolescents’ representations of mother-child attachment relationships and how they process social information in their peer relationships. Attachment representations were examined in a normative sample of 97 males and 88 females (mean age = 10.35 years), using an adaptation of the Attachment Doll Story Completion Task. Structural Equation Modeling was used to assess general latent structures of social-information processing (SIP) orientations across the different SIP steps. As expected, secure mother-child attachment representations were positively associated with prosocial SIP orientation and negatively with antisocial SIP orientation. Avoidant attachment was associated negatively with prosocial and distress expression SIP orientations. Ambivalent attachment was positively associated with distress expression SIP orientation. Disorganized attachment was positively associated with SIP distress expression orientation and with antisocial SIP orientation. Results are discussed as reflecting a generalization of social knowledge and regulation strategies from the attachment system to the affiliative system.
Over the past 25 years, numerous studies have sought to explore the ways in which the quality of teacher-student relationship develops. Such relationships are considered particularly significant in the case of students diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study involved 65 dyads of Israeli homeroom teachers and their students (mean age = 10.9) with disabilities (LD, ADHD, and LD/ADHD comorbidity) in regular educational settings, receiving special assistance from "integration teachers."The study examined the effect of student-teacher attachment features on day-to-day student-teacher "attachmentlike" relationships. Students reported on their felt security with their mother using a maternal attachment security scale. Appraisal of the teacher as a secure base was conducted using availability/acceptance and rejection scales. Teachers completed the attachment style (secure, avoidant, and ambivalent) questionnaire and the teacher-student relationship scale concerning emotional closeness, conflict, and student dependency. Findings show that elementary and junior high school teachers and their students develop relational perceptions of secure and insecure attachmentlike relationships. The teachers' caregiver perception of the relationship was explained strictly by the students' reports of day-to-day security in the teacher-student relationship. Student care receiver perception of the actual teacher-student relationship was explained with greater sensitivity by maternal attachment security, teacher attachment style, and teacher-reported day-to-day security in the teacher-student relationship. Finally, the teachers' attachment level of security was found to moderate the association between student maternal attachment security and the students' appraisal of teacher as a secure base. Students of teachers with a mid-to-high level of attachment security exhibited a positive association, whereas students of teachers with mid-to-low level of attachment security exhibited no association. Implications for teacher education and research are discussed.
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