AAI coherence predicts caregiving and care seeking behavior: Secure base script knowledge helps explain why

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated significant links between the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and secure base use and support in marital interactions. The mechanisms underlying such findings have not been examined in detail. This paper examines the hypothesis that script-like attachment representations shape both attachment narratives and attachment-related caregiving behavior and thus helps explain the correlation between them. Crowell et al. ( 2002 ) reported that AAI transcript coherence is significantly related to adults' caregiving and care seeking in couple problem solving interactions. In a random selection of 60 cases from that study, we assessed the extent to which interviewees conceptualized their early attachment experiences in terms of a secure base script. A series of regression analyses demonstrated that approximately 80% of the correlation between AAI coherence and laboratory caregiving and care seeking reported by Crowell et al. ( 2002 ) is accounted for by secure base script knowledge. Scoring secure base script knowledge from AAI transcripts is a useful step toward understanding links between early experience, adult attachment representations, and adults' ability to provide and seek support in close relationships.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Children and Adolescents: Can Attachment Theory Contribute to Its Efficacy?

“…Waters and Waters (2006) demonstrated that individuals who have a SBS are more inclined to tell a SBS-like story using these words compared to individuals who do not have a SBS. Evidence that sensitive and responsive care-related experiences are stored in a SBSlike fashion has been found across the lifespan: in toddlers (Waters et al 1998), middle childhood (Waters et al 2015a, b), adolescence (Dykas et al 2006), and adulthood (Waters et al 2013). Eventually, research suggests that this script becomes the blue print of other (care-related) relationships (Waters et al 2015a, b).…”

“…Individuals who experience consistent secure base support throughout development have more knowledge about the script and can more easily access the script during distress to motivate them to seek proximity and support (e.g. Waters et al 2013;Waters and Waters 2006). This can be measured using a prompt word assessment procedure.…”

Research Methods for Studying Narrative Identity: A Primer

“…For example, Singer's (Blagov & Singer, 2004) self-defining memory prompt provides an alternative prototype that has been widely used in research on autobiographical memory and narrative identity (e.g., Singer, et al, 2013). Likewise, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; Main, George, & Kaplan, 1985) has been used to elicit narratives that tap the narrative organization of personal experiences with attachment figures (e.g., Waters, Brockmeyer, & Crowell, 2013). Critically, working with such narratives requires an Narrative Methods Primer 11 understanding of how the prompt derives from the research question.…”

“…, family processes (McLean, 2015), emotion regulation , ethnic identity development (Syed & Azmita, 2010), meaning-making (McLean & Thorne, 2003), adult attachment (Waters, Brockmeyer, & Crowell, 2013), physical and mental health (Adler et al, 2015), political orientation , and self-regulation (McAdams, Hanek, & Dadabo, 2013). Personality psychologists have made especially strong contributions to this methodological approach in work on narrative identity, the story of the self that weaves together the reconstructed past, the perceived present, and the imagined future, providing the individual with a sense of unity and meaning (e.g., McAdams, 1995;McAdams & McLean, 2013;McAdams & Pals, 2006;Singer, 2004).…”

Factores sociodemográficos explicativos del guion de base segura materno

“…Al respecto, hay evidencias de que la sensibilidad, tanto materna como paterna, son precedentes importantes para un guion de base segura en la adultez (Hesse & Main, 2000;Steele et al, 2014;Waters et al, 2013;Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh, 1998;Waters & Cummings, 2000). Estudios previos han demostrado niveles bajos de sensibilidad materna en diversos grupos socioeconómicos del contexto peruano (Nóblega, 2012; Nóblega, Bárrig, Núñez del Prado & Conde, investigación en curso).…”