Associations Among Maternal Positivity, Negativity and Child Attachment in the Netherlands, Poland, and Turkey

Abstract

This study addresses how maternal positivity and negativity toward a child in three countries, separately and in combination are related to attachment in middle childhood. We first developed an ecologically valid emic measure of the Maternal Positivity-Negativity Scale through an interview-based study (90 mothers) and then tested our hypotheses in a separate study. The child’s attachment security (where the child uses the mother as a safe haven and secure base) and insecurity (attachment anxiety and avoidance) were assessed using standard measures. Equal numbers of mothers and their children between 8 and 12 years of age from Poland, Turkey, and the Netherlands participated in the main study (756 dyads). Results revealed that: (1) maternal positivity was more strongly associated, than maternal negativity, with child security; (2) maternal negativity was more strongly associated, than maternal positivity, with child anxiety, and its relation was stronger when maternal positivity was low; (3) maternal negativity was more strongly associated with child anxiety than with child avoidance; (4) the maternal positivity-over-negativity prevalence index was related to child attachment security and insecurity; (5) relations between maternal positivity and child attachment were moderated by culture. Results are discussed considering attachment in middle childhood and culture-related perspectives.

Linking school‐ and classroom‐level characteristics to child adjustment: A representative study of children from Hong Kong, China

“…Research on marital relationships, for example, has shown that it may take up to five acts of spousal love to counteract the impact of one act of spousal hostility (Bertoni & Bodenmann, 2010). Similarly, research on parent–child relationships has highlighted the importance of maintaining a high ratio between positive versus negative parent–child interactions (Lubiewska et al., 2022). Another plausible reason was that relational conflict may play a particularly important role in understanding child behavioural adjustment.…”