Emotional availability and attachment representations in kibbutz infants and their mothers.

Abstract

Three components of the attachment transmission model were examined in 48 kibbutz dyads from 2 kibbutz sleeping arrangements: communal and home-based. Concurrent assessments used the Strange Situation procedure (M. D. Ainsworth, M. C. Blehar, E. Waters, & S. Wall, 1978) for infants' attachment relations, the Adult Attachment Interview (C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1985) for mothers' attachment representations, and the Emotional Availability Scales (Z. Biringen, J. L. Robinson, & R. N. Emde, 1993) for emotional availability in the dyads. Security of infants' attachment relations as well as autonomy of mothers' attachment representations were associated with higher emotional availability scores. In addition, significantly poorer emotional availability was found in dyads in which infants were insecurely attached and mothers were nonautonomous. Results also indicate that in the ecology of collective sleeping, the associations between the experience of emotional availability in the dyads and infants' and mothers' attachment may have been disrupted.

Physiological reactions of preschoolers to fear‐inducing film clips: Effects of temperamental fearfulness and quality of the parent–child relationship

“…Quality of the parent-child relationship was assessed with the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS, third edition, Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1998). The EAS are related to the security of the parentchild attachment relationship, as well as to other aspects of the parent-child relationship, like maternal affect and the mother's representations of the child (Aviezer, Sagi, Joels, & Ziv, 1999;Biringen, 2000). Various studies demonstrated construct validity for this measure (Biringen, 2000), and the EAS is proven to be highly stable (Riksen-Walraven, Smeekens, & Stapert, 1999).…”

Play and emotional availability in young children with Down syndrome

“…As a consequence, parent-child interaction not only serves as a key determinant for children's socioemotional adaptation (Emde & Easterbrooks, 1985), it also represents a principal setting for the acquisition of language and for the expansion of other cognitive abilities (Greenspan, 1997;Rogoff & Gardner;Vygotsky, 1978). Among the prominent factors that lead to effective parent-child interaction, emotional availability is crucial (Aviezer, Sagi, Joels, & Ziv, 1999;Biringen & Robinson, 1991;Bretherton, 2000). Emotional availability (EA; Biringen, 2000) is a relationship construct that refers to the quality of emotional exchanges between parents and their children, focusing on the two partners' accessibility to each other and their ability to read and respond appropriately to one another's communications (Biringen & Robinson).…”

Maternal Emotional Availability and Its Association with Maternal Psychopathology, Attachment Style Insecurity and Theory of Mind

“…Based on the attachment theoretical assumption that the quality of a child's experiences with his caregiver affects his development [2,3], maternal EA has been shown to be related to diverse domains of child development. In particular, maternal EA has been linked to child attachment security [4,5,6]. Moreover, longitudinal studies have shown that high EA predicts better emotion regulation [7], lower rates of psychopathological symptoms [6,8], higher social competence [9], better language skills and general mental development [10], and better theory of mind (ToM) skills in children [11].…”