Assessing parental empathy: a role for empathy in child attachment

Stern, Jessica; Borelli, Jessica L.; Smiley, Patricia A.

doi:10.1080/14616734.2014.969749

Cited by 117 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Therefore, it is unclear the extent to which parents’ attachment avoidance and anxiety in the context of romantic relationships translates to their mental representations of their relationships with their children or their parenting behavior. Further, though preliminary evidence suggests that parents’ romantic attachment style is associated with caregiving-related constructs (e.g., Jones et al, 2015), including parental empathy and child attachment security on the CAI (Stern et al, 2015), in this sample ECR was not associated with narrative coherence on the CAI or parental RF. In future work, it will be important to evaluate the association between parental RF and parents’ AAI-derived attachment.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children.

Borelli

John

Cho

et al. 2016

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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Parental reflective functioning (RF) has garnered tremendous support as a predictor of secure attachment in infancy, though little work has examined RF among parents of older children. In this study, we used a high-risk community sample of parent–child dyads (N = 117) to explore whether parental RF comprises self- and child-focused factors, whether parental RF is associated with parent and child attachment security, and whether parental RF mediates the association between parent and child attachment security. Results suggested that parental RF can be characterized as having both self- and child-focused components, and that child-focused parental RF is associated with child but not parent attachment security. Further, child-focused parental RF indirectly mediates the association between parent attachment avoidance and child attachment security. These findings extend previous work on parental RF to parents of school-age children and, in so doing, inform developmental models of attachment relationships in middle childhood. Discussion focuses on the importance of these findings in informing theory, prevention, clinical practice, and policy.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children.

Borelli

John

Cho

et al. 2016

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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“…Findings showed that primary caregivers of dismissing children reported the lowest RF, and that only child-focused RF (not parental self-focused RF) was significantly associated with the child's attachment security, as dimensionally assessed by the CAI Coherence scale. An earlier study (Stern et al, 2015) focused on the role of parental empathy in the transmission of attachment security. According to Stern et al, empathy differs from RF in that it refers to a parent's in-the-moment experiences of emotional attunement with the child during which the parent's emotional experience reverberates the child's emotions, focusing specifically on the child's experiences of distress or need.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Child Attachment Interview: A Narrative Review

Privizzini¹

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Attachment theory promoted an impressive body of research on the psychic developmental processes, resulting in studies on both typical and atypical development. Much of the diffusion of the attachment theory in the clinical field was related to the design of reliable instruments to evaluate the organization of attachment in infancy as well as in adulthood. Until recently, the lack of a suitable instrument to assess attachment in middle childhood as well as in adolescence hindered the expansion of research in these developmental phases during which the parent-child relationship takes on a different, albeit still crucial, role. The Child Attachment Interview (CAI), a measure that was recently designed to assess attachment at a representational level in middle childhood and adolescence, filled the measurement gap. The aim of the current review was to summarize previous empirical investigations concerning CAI in order to (a) provide an overview of the state of current research, (b) identify unanswered questions, and (c) propose future research directions. A narrative review was conducted to map the current research findings by searching for the term “Child Attachment Interview” in the Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsychINFO databases, followed by a search in Mendeley. Limits were set to exclude dissertations, chapters in books, and qualitative or theoretical papers, while empirical studies were included if they used the CAI and were published in English language, peer-reviewed journals by July, 2016. The review, which ultimately included 39 studies meeting the criteria, showed that the CAI is a reliable instrument to assess attachment organization in clinical and non-clinical samples, thus providing a worthwhile contribution to the investigation of the influence of the parent-child relationship beyond infancy and early childhood. Nevertheless, the review pointed out a number of relevant open issues, the most critical of which concerned the CAI coding and classification system. In particular, some relevant questions arose about (a) how opportune it would be to maintain a distinct classification for mother and father, (b) coding challenges regarding both the father and the Preoccupied and Disorganized classification, and finally (c) the advantage of a dimensional vs. a categorical approach.

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“…Supportive parenting is also associated with positive forms of discipline and contributes to the development of children’s prosocial behaviours, fostering emotional sensitivity and the ability to help others (Barber et al, 2005). Parental monitoring as well as empathy (Stern, Borelli, & Smiley, 2015) have been shown to affect attachment and risk-taking behaviour in youth and adulthood (Dessie, Berhane, & Worku, 2014). Attachment history has been shown to be clearly related to the growth of self-reliance, capacity for emotional regulation, and social competence (Sroufe, 2005), with harsh or coercive parenting styles associated with childhood and later conduct problems (Sitnick et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parenting, the other oldest profession in the world – a cross-sectional study of parenting and child outcomes in South Africa and Malawi

Macedo

Cluver

Meinck

et al. 2017

Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine

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Background Parenting quality is important in child development. In the presence of HIV poverty and life stress, parenting may be challenged and child development affected. Methods This study examines cross-sectional associations of situational factors such as poverty, mental health, HIV status, living with a biological parent, and stigma with good parenting and child outcomes (n=989; age=4–13 years) within the Child Community Care study (South Africa and Malawi). A parenting measure was created from 10 variables comprising 6 child and 4 parent ratings. These were highly correlated. Total parenting score was generated on a 10 point continuous scale, with a good parenting cut off then defined as >=8 out of a possible 10. Results Five factors were associated with good parenting. Positively associated with good parenting were being the biological parent of the child, parental mental health and dwelling in households with multiple adults. Poverty and stigma were negatively associated with good parenting. Using multiple mediation analysis, a positive direct effect of good parenting was found on child self-esteem, child behaviour and educational risks with a partial mediation via child depression and trauma. Conclusions These data highlight possible intervention points. Influences on parenting could be seen through being the biological parent, parental mental health, poverty and stigma. In these challenging environments, health, nutrition, mental health, education, and treatment to keep parents alive are all clearly identified as potential pathways to ensure child well-being.

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Assessing parental empathy: a role for empathy in child attachment

Cited by 117 publications

References 81 publications

Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children.

Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children.

The Child Attachment Interview: A Narrative Review

Parenting, the other oldest profession in the world – a cross-sectional study of parenting and child outcomes in South Africa and Malawi

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