scholarly journals Using Photo Elicitation to Introduce a Network Perspective on Attachment During Middle Childhood

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 160940691879701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Daphne Becke ◽  
Stephan Bongard

In this article, we develop a child-centered network approach to attachment during middle childhood. Following monotropic ideas, current attachment research focuses on parental attachment figures despite the expansion of the children’s social environment during middle childhood, failing to generate a comprehensive and structured overview of all individuals who ensure the children’s feeling of safety. Relying on quantitative methods, these studies are also dominated by an adult perspective, limiting the children’s contributions. While there have been theoretical drafts of attachment networks during childhood, this article constitutes the first practical implementation. Using photo elicitation interviews and participant observations, we developed an innovative assessment strategy that allows children to exhaustively identify and characterize all their attachment figures on sociostructural and functional dimensions, thus positioning the children at the center of their comprehensive attachment networks that collectively contribute to their feeling of security. We combine qualitative and quantitative data to assess the children’s own understanding of their feeling of security and to locate the individual attachment figure on context-specific social dimensions, thus making the research setting, a clan in Cameroon, an inherent part of the methodological development. The data are translated into multidimensional network diagrams to visualize the children’s perception of their attachment environment and the emerging patterns of their selection. We present an exemplary network, supplementing it with observational data to discuss the ecological validity of our approach.

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 369-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm West ◽  
Adreenne Sheldon ◽  
Linda Redtfer

Recent advances in attachment research provide a framework for defining the content and process of brief psychotherapy with adults. Attachment theory emphasizes a number of issues crucial to therapeutic work. Specifically, attachment relationships are enduring components of a individual's pattern of interpersonal behaviours. Functionally, attachment relationships address security needs. Insecure attachment arises from a representational model based on feared loss of the attachment figure, which predisposes the individual to have little confidence in the attachment figure's availability, responsiveness, and permanence. Behavioural responses to insecure attachment can lead to specific patterns of interpersonal relationships which, in turn, strengthen the representational model. Thus, a relatively stable, self-reinforcing system evolves and results in a consistent inability to experience security within attachment relationships. In this article, the authors describe the current framework for understanding adult attachment relationships and present clinical vignettes illustrating the saliency of attachment theory to common clinical presentations. The goal of the clinical intervention is defined as increasing the “permeability” of the individual's working model of attachment through affective and cognitive re-assessment of attachment experiences and expectations. Finally, the utility of this approach in evaluating the outcome and effectiveness of psychotherapy is highlighted.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kamza

Abstract Background Middle childhood is a significant period of change both for a child’s cognition and social functioning. Considering that the primary developmental theme of attachment in middle childhood is the balance between child’s growing autonomy and the constant need of relatedness, cultural differences in developmental trends in the attachment might be considered as a function of individualism and collectivism orientations. However, little is known about whether the findings on predictors of individual differences in the attachment in middle childhood found in Western cultures, hold within the non-Western ones. Moreover, still little is known about differences between attachment to mothers and fathers in middle childhood. Hence, one goal of the present study was to investigate the role of a child’s age, sex, and emotionality in a middle-childhood attachment to mothers and fathers in the Polish sample. The second aim was to compare obtained results to the attachment research that focused on Western cultures. Methods The sample consisted of 132 children aged 8–12 years (51% boys). They completed the Kern’s Security Scale and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Mothers completed a child’s EAS-C and short sociodemographic questionnaire. Pearson’s correlations were conducted to test relationships between a child’s age, sex, emotionality, SES, and attachment-related variables. A paired-samples t-test was used to compare the intensity of preoccupied and avoidant coping strategies with parents in the whole sample. The effects of a child’s age, sex, temperament, and attachment figure were tested with separate repeated-measures ANOVA. Results Some of the results replicated prior studies conducted in Western cultures. Similarly to the individualistic cultures, older Polish children reported less preoccupied and more avoidant coping strategies with their parents than younger children. Second, older girls reported higher felt-security with their fathers than with mothers, which suggests some significant changes in attachment relationships regarding the child’s sex. However, as opposed to Western cultures, there were no links between the child’s sex and preoccupied and avoidant coping. Polish children also reported higher rates of preoccupied coping than the avoidant one. Finally, children with relatively lower emotionality reported higher attachment security with both parents than children with relatively higher emotionality. Conclusions The current study extends previous work on attachment in middle childhood, the area of rather sparse research, as compared to other developmental periods. The findings reveal the existence of both some specificity in the middle-child attachment in the Polish sample, as well as some culture-universal developmental trends. However, as many questions remain unanswered, they also highlight the strong need for future cross-cultural and comparative studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-219
Author(s):  
Sophia Daphne Becke ◽  
Stephan Bongard ◽  
Heidi Keller

Attachment theory is commonly used to investigate children’s psychosocial development. To demonstrate cultural variability and to advance the idea of attachment as a collective resource, we assessed children’s attachment networks during middle childhood among the Nseh, a Cameroonian clan with distinct concepts of family and childhood. Using photo elicitation interviews, we used an exploratory approach to investigate the structural and functional composition of these networks and to generate a comprehensive overview. Participants were 11 children (six girls and five boys), aged 6 to 10 years. Children took photos of individuals who were important to them and with whom they felt safe, comfortable, and at ease. Then, in follow-up interviews they were asked to characterize their attachment figures on sociostructural dimensions and to elaborate how those individuals made them feel comfortable and safe. Transcripts of the interviews were coded using ethnographic strategies. Initial descriptive codes were analyzed concerning key terms, semantic relationships, and their context of meaning, before assigning higher level codes to generate distinct main categories of functionality. Children described attachment networks that were structurally adapted to concepts of social ties and interactional norms of the clan. Concerning their functionality, children differentiated between peers, responsible for overt emotional needs, and adults, providing nutritional care. We conclude that this pattern reflects sources of security and concepts of care of the distinct developmental environment. We discuss the importance of context-specific and comprehensive approaches to attachment, moving beyond Eurocentric monotropic concepts, with the goal of developing a complex understanding of childhood across ecocultural settings.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elo ◽  
Leo-Paul Dana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneurship traditions evolve in diaspora. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative multiple case study examining the role of diaspora embeddedness, extended family, ethno-religious-, cultural- and social ties and relevant structures shaping diaspora entrepreneurship. Findings The authors found that social ties and diaspora embeddedness create dynamism fostering entrepreneurial identity as a part of the Bukharian culture, and as a preferred career option in the context of Bukharian Jews in diaspora. Diasporic family businesses are products of culture and tradition that migrate to new locations with families and communities, not as disconnected business entities. Research limitations/implications The ways in which families nurture a highly entrepreneurial culture that transfers across generations and contexts are context-specific and not per se generalizable to other diasporas. Practical implications Diasporans often continue their traditions and become again entrepreneurs after their settlement, or they may generate hybrid, circular solutions that allow them to employ their competences in the new contexts or connecting various contexts. This calls for transnational entrepreneurship-policymaking. Social implications Time changes diasporas. A long-term commitment to the business environment evolves and reduces the mobility of the individual diasporan; typically the children of these migrants become more integrated and develop divergent career paths. Hence, their plans are not necessarily including family entrepreneurship creating a challenge for continuation of the original culture of entrepreneurship. Originality/value Despite a notable tradition in Jewish studies, there is limited research on Jewish entrepreneurial diaspora and its contemporary entrepreneurial identity and tradition. Furthermore, the population of Bukharian Jews is an unknown and under-explored highly entrepreneurial group that may offer instrumental views to larger diasporic audiences being concerned about maintaining notions of ethnic heritage and identity.


Author(s):  
Duane Cottrell

One of the primary endeavors of choral conductors is the facilitation of good choral tone, which is largely dependent upon the vocal technique of the individual singers. This chapter examines principles of historical vocal pedagogy, discussing their correlation with modern scientific research, and present suggestions for practical implementation of specific techniques in choral rehearsals. The chapter discusses four primary areas of vocal pedagogy in choral rehearsals: first, the significance of laryngeal position in choral singing; second, principles of resonance in singing and their impact on the choral sound; third, a discussion of breath support in choral singing; and fourth, principles of phonation and vocal production for singers in a choral setting. Each of these four discussions contain practical suggestions for the application of specific practices and exercises that will strengthen the vocal technique of choral singers.


2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Kokko ◽  
Lars R. Bergman ◽  
Lea Pulkkinen

The main aim of the present study was to test a model of selection into long-term unemployment obtained for a sample of 36-year-old Finns (Kokko, Pulkkinen, & Puustinen, 2000) to see whether it similarly explained long-term unemployment among 26- to 27-year-old Finns and Swedes. The participants were drawn from two ongoing longitudinal studies: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (conducted in Finland) and the Individual Development and Adaptation study (conducted in Sweden). At both ages, that is 36 and 26–27, low education was related to long-term unemployment, and explained by personality characteristics in middle childhood, such as low self-control of emotions or conduct problems, and behavioural inhibition or timidity. However, while low self-control of emotions additionally explained long-term unemployment among the 36-year-olds directly, in both the young samples personality characteristics showed only indirect effects through poor educational attainment. At age 26–27, childhood personality characteristics explained selection onto an educational track rather than selection into long-term unemployment, and length of education explained duration of unemployment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas Abudaqa ◽  
Seena Al Nuaimi ◽  
Hayfa Buhazzaa ◽  
Sumaya Al Hosani

Abstract Objective Scope: ADNOC group of companies introduced the Fursa platform which is an internal online website where HR acquisition partners among the 13 companies can post vacancies and employees from any of the 13 companies can apply to those vacancies. The aim of this initiative is to move ADNOC's employees internally to reskill, fill department gaps, and cross-collaborate to get a project done or hit an organizational goal with minimizing hiring cost and accelerate recruitment process. This study considers the above stated program as an explanatory factor to determine the individual's as well as organizational outcomes in ADNOC group of companies. Methods, Procedure, Process: To address the study objectives, qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted. More specifically, for quantitative approach, structural questionnaire was developed through adopting different items from the literature. Whereas qualitative analysis are conducted while using the information from structured interviews. Results, Observations, Conclusions: The study findings indicates that both individual and organizational outcomes are positively and significantly determined by internal mobility program. Similarly, analyses through qualitative approach confirms that internal mobility program helps to provide learning and development of the employees, productivity and performance in terms of individual outcomes, and sales and growth to reflect the concept of organizational outcomes. It is stated current program Enabled employees to find their next position, project, or mentor internally, and maximized ADNOC workforce potential and unlock the capacity to meet the corporate objectives. Other interesting outcomes are It takes less time and money to source (and saves money on relocation costs and as known during pandemic situation there is a restriction on international movement between countries); it enables faster onboarding and ramping up. Additionally, during internal mobility the company is confident that the candidate shares your mission and vision, and It also implies that you are aware of a candidate's most recent performance. Novel/Additive information: the study is unique in the sense that it is done in one of the giant oil and gas companies which employees working in different aspects of the business; upstream, downstream, and mid-stream. The study introduces modern ways of work in a speedy, natural manner, and the use of MS Teams to do virtual interviews. Fursa platform allows companies to act quickly. It only takes a few seconds to determine where talent should be directed, and a few more seconds to deploy it.


Author(s):  
Oleh Turenko ◽  

The Foucault’s interpretation of the police, its theoretical substantiation, the range of powers and managerial tasks in modernist discourses. The French philosopher emphasized it should the modern concept of “police” does not coincide with its original theories of modern times. The doctrines of modern political scientists idealized the vocation of the police and identified it with the entire government, providing it with universal means of implementing the state interest. Considering the police from the perspective of “history of thought” Foucault notes that it is the unlimited nature of police functions gave the modern government to approve a disciplinary society, a new form of government - bio-power. This form of power totally controlled the individual, “took care of him” at all levels of biological life and, above all, the depths of consciousness - artificially created his authenticity. At the same time, in the theories of political scientists, the police received the status of a self-regulatory body, whose activities were not strictly controlled by state laws. In this case, the police, in the imaginary sense, is the living embodiment of state interest, morality and integrity, the formative and corrective body of state power. In order to form a disciplined and productive life, the police must direct individuals to regulation, to their temporal and hierarchical repetition. The a priori qualities of the police and its all-encompassing powers form the basis for the assertion of the idea of a “police state” and its radical form of panopticon. It is thanks to the idea of panopticon, its practical implementation by the police in modern society - the formation of disciplinary practice of continuous control in the social institutions of modernism.


Author(s):  
Heidi Keller ◽  
Nandita Chaudhary

Attachment theory is predicated on the assumption of dyadic relationships between a child and one or a few significant others. Despite its recognition of alloparenting in some cultural environments, current attachment research is heavily biased toward the mother as the major attachment figure in the life of the developing child. This chapter presents evidence that diverse childcare arrangements exist in cultures that differ from Western norms and shows how these are equally normative in their respective cultural contexts. In these settings, alloparenting is neither chaotic nor unstable; it is the norm, not the exception. In all environments, infant care is far more than just an isolated, biopsychological phenomenon: it is an activity deeply imbued with cultural meanings, values, and practices. To account for these multiple levels, the construct of attachment must shift its emphasis away from an individual child toward the network of relationships surrounding a child. Overwhelming evidence on diverse childcare arrangements in non-Western cultures calls the putatively universal model of attachment (derived from the Bowlby-Ainsworth paradigm and still widely applied today) into question. In support of future research, this chapter proposes an inclusive reconceptualization of attachment, informed by research from non-Western cultural settings.


Author(s):  
Nhan Phan-Thien ◽  
Sangtae Kim

Analytical solutions to a set of boundary integral equations are rare, even with simple geometries and boundary conditions. To make any reasonable progress, a numerical technique must be used. There are basically four issues that must be discussed in any numerical scheme dealing with integral equations. The first and most basic one is how numerical integration can be effected, together with an effective way of dealing with singular kernels of the type encountered in elastostatics. Numerical integration is usually termed numerical quadrature, meaning mathematical formulae for numerical integration. The second issue is the boundary discretization: when integration over the whole boundary is replaced by a sum of the integrations over the individual patches on the boundary. Each patch would be a finite element, or in our case, a boundary element on the surface. Obviously a high-order integration scheme can be devised for the whole domain, thus eliminating the need for boundary discretization. Such a scheme would be problem dependent and therefore would not be very useful to us. The third issue has to do with the fact that we are constrained by the very nature of the numerical approximation process to search for solutions within a certain subspace of L2, say the space of piecewise constant functions in which the unknowns are considered to be constant over a boundary element. It is the order of this subspace, together with the order and the nature of the interpolation of the geometry, that gives rise to the names of various boundary element schemes. Finally, one is faced with the task of solving a set of linear algebraic equations, which is usually dense (the system matrix is fully populated) and potentially ill-conditioned. A direct solver such as Gauss elimination may be very efficient for small- to medium-sized problems but will become stuck in a large-scale simulation, where the only feasible solution strategy is an iterative method. In fact, iterative solution strategies lead naturally to a parallel algorithm under a suitable parallel computing environment. This chapter will review various issues involved in the practical implementation of the CDL-BIEM on a serial computer and on a distributed computing environment.


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