In this study, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was applied in The Netherlands, to test certain aspects of its validity, and to provide information about its relation to toddlers' socio-emotional adaptation. In the second year of life, a sample of 80 infants were seen with their father, mother, and Professional caregiver in the Strange Situation procedure, and in a free-play Situation to assess caregivers' sensitivity. Two years later, 68 children participated in a follow-up study, involving mothers, fathers, and Professional caregivers. Parents were interviewed with the A AI, and completed the Parental Bonding Instrument that measures attachment experiences in childhood. Parents also completed the Nijmegen-California Q-sort, to measure their children's ego-resilience and ego-control. Professional caregivers rated children's sociability in pre-school using the Pre-School Behavior Inventory.As predicted the A AI and the Parental Bonding Instrument were related. Only the AAI, however, yielded classifications that corresponded with the quality of infant-parent attachment. Furthermore, AAI classifications for mothers were related to maternal sensitivity: Secure mothers are more sensitive to their daughters than insecure mothers, but for boys this was not true. In addition, AAI classifications for parents were related to their children's socio-emotional development in the pre-school years. Secure mothers have children with more ego-resilience and less ego-undercontrol. Dismissing fathers have children who are rated äs more aggressive, less social, and less timid than secure or preoccupied fathers. The A AI appears to be a promising Instrument for measuring parental state of mind with respect to attachment relationships in a variety of natural settings.
Theoretical speculations and empirical data on the relation between attachment and moral reasoning are presented. An autonomous attachment representation was hypothesized to be an important personality dimension facilitating higher levels of moral (Type B) reasoning in adolescence. A sample of 47 U.S. college students (mean age 19.5 years) completed the Adult Attachment Interview (Main & Goldwyn, 1985-1993) and the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (Gibbs, Basinger, & Fuller, 1992). Although the overall score for sociomoral reflection was not associated with attachment representation, moral Type B reasoning was more prevalent in respondents with an autonomous attachment representation; thus, autonomous attachment may be at the core of mature moral reasoning.
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