Attachment in middle childhood: predictors, correlates, and implications for adaptation

Abstract

Middle childhood is a relative lacuna in behavioral attachment research. We examined antecedents, correlates, and implications of parent-child attachment at age 10 in a longitudinal study of community families from a Midwestern US state (N=102, mothers, fathers, and children). Dimensions of security, avoidance, ambivalence, and disorganization of children’s attachment to each parent were observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions and assessed using Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding (IABC). IABC scores were meaningfully associated with history of parental responsiveness (7–80 months) and with earlier and concurrent attachment security, assessed with other established instruments (parent- and observer-rated Attachment Q-Set at 25 months, children’s reports at age 8 and 10). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the overall history of responsive care was meaningfully associated with Security, Avoidance, and Disorganization at age 10, in both mother-child and father-child relationships, and that most recent care uniquely predicted Security. IABC scores were also meaningfully related to a broad range of measures of child adaptation at ages 10–12. Cumulative history of children’s security from infancy to middle childhood, integrating measures across relationships and methodologies, also predicted child adaptation at ages 10–12.

A Comparison of Attachment representations to Mother and Father using the MCAST

“…Within the context of disorganization of attachment, reversal reflects fuzzy boundaries and roles, intrusiveness, over-protectiveness, and enmeshment (Jacobvitz, Morgan, Kretchmar & Morgan, 1991). However, role reversal could also be seen as an organized strategy, reflecting the child's efforts to use an adaptive strategy to accomplish his/her attachment needs and closeness to the caregiver (Boldt, Kochanska, Grekin & Brock, 2016). Notably, previous research has demonstrated that while role reversal in the form of caregiving behavior in the child is associated with more helpless and passive parenting (Lyons-Ruth, Yellin, Melnick & Atwood, 2005;Moss, Bureau, Beliveau, Zdebik & Lepine, 2009), punitive behavior is more common when the child experiences parental hostility and intrusiveness (Solomon & George, 2008).…”

Factor structure of the Friends and Family interview

“…The issue of measurement of attachment in middle childhood remains more unsettled, as the upsurge of attention towards attachment in middle childhood from researchers and clinicians during the last decade has led to the development of several different measures, with varying focus and underlying assumptions, and few studies have scrutinized whether and how these different measures converge (e.g., Di Folco, Messina, Zavattini & Psouni, ; Psouni & Apetroaia, ). While attachment questionnaires elicit descriptions of behaviors with parents (e.g., the Security Scale: Kerns, Aspelmeier, Gentzler & Grabill, ), behavioral measures follow the paradigm used for attachment assessment in infancy and early childhood and observe the child’s behavior towards a specific caregiver, in situations likely to activate the attachment system (see Boldt, Kochanska, Grekin & Brock, ; Brumariu et al ., ; Bureau, Easterbrooks & Lyons‐Ruth, ). Adopting a representational focus, narrative‐based measures use carefully selected word‐probes and attachment‐related story themes to access children’s (implicit) attachment scripts as components of their attachment representations (e.g., the Secure Base Script Test: Psouni & Apetroaia, ).…”

Unraveling middle childhood attachment-related behavior sequences using a micro-coding approach

“…The scarce observational studies on attachment in middle childhood (and adolescence) use macro-coding approaches in which certain aspects of the behavior of mother and/or child during an interaction are rated. The rating scales measure attachment-relevant dimensions, such as the amount of parental sensitivity and child responsiveness (Emotional Availability Scale) [9], security, avoidance, ambivalence and disorganization of the child (Iowa Attachment Behavior Coding) [10], parent’s or adolescent’s punitive or role-confusing behavior (Goal‐Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding System) [11,12], secure, ambivalent and disorganized attachment behavior of the child (Middle Childhood Attachment Strategies) [5]. Clearly, such macro-coding approaches provide detailed and rich scores.…”