Secure base scripts are associated with maternal parenting behavior across contexts and reflective functioning among trauma-exposed mothers

Abstract

There is growing evidence that ‘secure-base scripts’ (Waters & Waters, 2006) are an important part of the cognitive underpinnings of internal working models of attachment. Recent research in middle class samples has shown that secure-base scripts are linked to maternal attachment-oriented behavior and child outcomes. However, little is known about the correlates of secure base scripts in higher-risk samples. Participants in the current study included 115 mothers who were oversampled for childhood maltreatment and their infants. Results revealed that a higher level of secure base scriptedness was significantly related to more positive and less negative maternal parenting in both unstructured free play and structured teaching contexts, and to higher reflective functioning scores on the Parent Development Interview-Revised Short Form (Slade, Aber, Berger, Bresgi, & Kaplan, 2003). Associations with parent-child secure base scripts, specifically, indicate some level of relationship-specificity in attachment scripts. Many, but not all, significant associations remained after controlling for family income and maternal age. Findings suggest that assessing secure base scripts among mothers known to be at risk for parenting difficulties may be important for interventions aimed at altering problematic parental representations and caregiving behavior.

Mentalizing Makes Parenting Work: A Review about Parental Reflective Functioning and Clinical Interventions to Improve It

“…They hypothesized that maternal RF might not be directly correlated with the quality of maternal behavior in mothers affected by psychopathology. Nevertheless, further studies found a significant relationship between maternal RF and quality of caregiving even in clinical samples (Borelli et al, 2012; Huth-Bocks et al, 2014; Stacks et al, 2014). …”

“…In a low risk sample, Rosenblum et al (2008) found that parental WMCI-RF predicted maternal mind-minded comments and behavioral sensitivity beyond the contributions of education and depressive symptoms. A more recent study (Huth-Bocks et al, 2014) found that secure mothers (assessed by the Attachment Script Assessment, ASA; Waters and Rodrigues-Doolabh, 2004, Unpublished) from a high risk sample demonstrated higher PDI-RF, and that it was in turn significantly associated with positive parental interactive behavior during play and teaching tasks with 7-month-old children. These findings were replicated in a recent study (Smaling et al, 2016a) that found that mothers with higher parental reflective functioning, as measured during pregnancy, exhibited more positive behavior during free-play, teaching tasks, and the Still Face Paradigm (Tronick et al, 1978) with their 6-month-old children.…”

“…In their next paper, Fonagy et al (1994) reported that all the mothers in the London Parent-Child Project with past experiences of trauma and deprivation who showed good reflective functioning had children that were classified as securely attached. A few empirical studies (Schechter et al, 2005; Huth-Bocks et al, 2014; Stacks et al, 2014) supported the notion that neither the severity of the traumatic events nor the severity of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) symptoms predicted the levels of maternal reflective functioning about the child. Several authors (for a review Allen, 2013) theorized that the ability to mentalize the experiences of abuse and neglect is the most important factor in the resilience process.…”

Examining Parents’ Romantic Attachment Styles and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms as Predictors of Caregiving Experiences

“…In essence, SBS involves the parent recognizing his or her role as both a secure base from which the child can explore (i.e., supporting autonomy) and a safe haven to return to when the child is distressed (i.e., providing protection; Bowlby, ). Low narrative SBS content may represent a risk factor for insensitive parenting, given that recent studies have linked SBS knowledge to positive and negative parenting behavior (Coppola, Vaughn, Cassibba, & Costantini, ; Huth‐Bocks, Muzik, Beeghly, Earls, & Stacks, ; Waters & Waters, ). Notably, evidence has suggested that adult attachment insecurity is linked to low SBS, but most of this research has measured adult attachment state of mind rather than attachment style (Waters & Waters, ; Steele et al., ).…”

Factores sociodemográficos explicativos del guion de base segura materno

“…La pobreza conlleva a la existencia de eventos estresantes y disruptivos que pueden afectar las condiciones psicológicas de los individuos y específicamente la capacidad para que una madre se vincule sensiblemente con su hijo(a) (Belsky, 1984;van Ijzerdoorn & Bakermans, 1996). Así, los adultos que han vivido en estas condiciones siendo niños, tenderían a tener guiones menos seguros (Huth-Bocks et al, 2014).…”