scholarly journals Maternal Reflective Functioning and Attachment Security in Girls and Boys: A Closer Look into the Middle Childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 11261
Author(s):  
Danguolė Čekuolienė ◽  
Lina Gervinskaitė-Paulaitienė ◽  
Izabelė Grauslienė ◽  
Asta Adler ◽  
Rasa Barkauskienė
Keyword(s):  
Gender Role ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Reflective Functioning ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Parent Development ◽  
Maternal Reflective Functioning

Child attachment undergoes major changes during middle childhood. Maternal reflective functioning (RF) is hypothesized to be an important correlate of a child’s attachment security during this period; however, the child’s gender role in this association has not been examined yet. In the present study, we used 64 mother-child (6–11 years old) dyads from a community sample to analyze the association between maternal RF and child attachment security and whether this link is moderated by gender. Maternal RF was assessed on the Parent Development Interview Revised (PDI-R2) and child attachment classifications were examined by the Child Attachment Interview (CAI). Results revealed the positive and statistically significant association between maternal RF and child attachment security in the whole sample. Further evaluations of this link in the groups of girls and boys separately indicated its significance for girls only. Finally, moderation analysis demonstrated the relation between child attachment security and maternal RF to be moderated by gender. These findings provide a new knowledge on gender role in attachment security in relation to maternal RF as well as suggest possible differentiation in the correlates on the pathway of secure attachment between girls and boys during middle childhood.

Testing the Incremental Value of a Separate Measure for Secure Attachment Relative to a Measure for Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrijn Brenning ◽  
Bart Soenens ◽  
Caroline Braet
Keyword(s):  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Avoidant Attachment ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Incremental Value ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract. Research on attachment in middle childhood and early adolescence has typically relied on either unidimensional measures of attachment security (vs. insecurity) or on differentiated measures of attachment anxiety and avoidance. This study addressed the question whether there is a need to add an explicit measure of security when operationalizing parent-child attachment in terms of anxiety and avoidance. Both dimensional (i.e., regression analyses) and person-centered analyses (i.e., cluster analysis) are used in this study (N = 276, 53% boys, mean age = 10.66) to examine the incremental value of a scale for attachment security (in this study, the Security Scale) in addition to a scale for attachment anxiety and avoidance (in this study, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised – Child version; ECR-RC). The present results suggest that an assessment of anxious and avoidant attachment (using the ECR-RC) may suffice to capture the quality of parent-child attachment in middle childhood and early adolescence.

Child attachment security in gay father surrogacy families: Parents as safe havens and secure bases during middle childhood

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Carone ◽  
Roberto Baiocco ◽  
Vittorio Lingiardi ◽  
Kathryn Kerns
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Child Attachment

Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Attachment Security in Japan: A Longitudinal Study

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolus M.J.L. Vereijken ◽  
J. Marianne Riksen-Walraven ◽  
Kiyomi Kondo-Ikemura
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Attachment Relationship ◽  
The Core ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Japanese Sample ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Q Sort

In this study we examined the relation between maternal sensitivity and child attachment security, one of the core propositions of attachment theory, in a Japanese sample. Attachment security was assessed with the Attachment Q-Sort at the ages of 14 and 24 months. At the same ages, ratings were obtained for the mothers’ sensitivity in interactions with their children. The expected significant relationship between maternal sensitivity and child security was found both at 14 and 24 months. Maternal sensitivity showed moderate stability between the two ages. LISREL analysis showed that the correlation between maternal sensitivity and infant security at 24 months is not fully explained by the correlation between sensitivity and security 10 months earlier. This indicates that maternal sensitivity continues to play a significant role in the development of a secure attachment relationship in the second year of life.

Attachment and maternal sensitivity in middle childhood

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1031-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Borelli ◽  
Lauren Vazquez ◽  
Hannah F. Rasmussen ◽  
Lisa Teachanarong ◽  
Patricia Smiley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Maternal Attachment ◽  
Attachment Avoidance ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Parental Empathy

According to theory, maternal sensitivity should be associated with attachment security in middle childhood. We measure two aspects of maternal sensitivity— affective understanding, a component of parental mentalization, and affective synchrony, a component of parental empathy. We tested our hypotheses within a diverse sample of school-aged children (48.6% female, Mage = 10.27, SDage = 1.09) and their mothers ( N = 112 dyads) at baseline and after a standardized laboratory-based stressor in which children worked on unsolvable puzzles while their mothers watched. Results revealed no significant associations at baseline, but lower maternal attachment avoidance and greater child attachment security were associated with greater affective understanding and greater affective synchrony after the stressor task.

Feminine gender role behavior and academic achievement: Their relation in a community sample of middle childhood boys

Sex Roles ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
David E. Sandberg ◽  
Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg ◽  
Thomas J. Yager
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Gender Role ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Role Behavior ◽  
Gender Role Behavior

Parent Development Interview-Reflective Functioning Scale

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Sleed ◽  
Arietta Slade ◽  
Peter Fonagy
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Functioning ◽  
Parent Development

scholarly journals The role of environmental sensitivity in the development of rumination and depressive symptoms in childhood: a longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Lionetti ◽  
Daniel N. Klein ◽  
Massimiliano Pastore ◽  
Elaine N. Aron ◽  
Arthur Aron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Parenting Style ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Internalizing Problems ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Environmental Sensitivity ◽  
Permissive Parenting

AbstractSome children are more affected than others by their upbringing due to their increased sensitivity to the environment. More sensitive children are at heightened risk for the development of internalizing problems, particularly when experiencing unsupportive parenting. However, little is known about how the interplay between children’s sensitivity and parenting leads to higher levels of depressive symptoms. In the current study, we investigated the interaction between early parenting and children’s sensitivity on levels of depressive symptomatology in middle childhood, exploring the role of rumination as a possible mediator in a community sample. Participants included 196 USA resident families, from a middle class and mostly European–American background, and their healthy children, followed up from age 3 until 9 and 12 years. Environmental sensitivity was assessed observationally when children were 3 years old. Parenting style was based on parent-report at the age of 3 years. When children were nine, they completed questionnaires on rumination and depressive symptoms (repeated at 12 years). Analyses were run applying a Bayesian approach. Children’s sensitivity interacted with permissive parenting in predicting rumination at age 9. Rumination, in turn, was associated with depressive symptoms at age 9 and, to a lesser extent, at age 12. No relevant interactions emerged for authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Sensitive children may be at heightened risk for internalizing problems when exposed to a permissive parenting style. Permissive parenting was associated with increased ruminative coping strategies in sensitive children which, in turn, predicted higher levels of depression. Hence, rumination emerged as an important cognitive risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in sensitive children.

scholarly journals Trajectories of childhood internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and psychotic-like experiences in adolescence: A prospective population-based cohort study

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 527-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin S. Lancefield ◽  
Alessandra Raudino ◽  
Johnny M. Downs ◽  
Kristin R. Laurens
Keyword(s):  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
Primary Caregivers ◽  
Sampling Bias ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Prospective Data ◽  
Externalizing Psychopathology ◽  
Internalizing And Externalizing

AbstractAdolescent internalizing and externalizing psychopathology is strongly associated with adult psychiatric morbidity, including psychotic disorders. This study examined whether internalizing or externalizing trajectories (continuity/discontinuity of symptoms) from middle childhood were associated with adolescent psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Prospective data were collected from a community sample of 553 children (mean age = 10.4 years; 50% male) and their primary caregivers. Participants completed questionnaire reports of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and PLEs at baseline, and again approximately 2 years later. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of adolescent PLEs with four trajectories of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology (persistent, incident, remitting, and none), controlling for a range of potential confounders and sampling bias. Significant associations were identified between adolescent PLEs and the incident internalizing (adjusted odds ratio [adj. OR] = 2.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.60–5.49) and externalizing psychopathology (adj. OR = 2.14; 95% CI = 1.11–4.14) trajectories, as well as the persistent internalizing (adj. OR = 1.90; 95% CI = 1.13–3.18) and externalizing (adj. OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.02–3.19) trajectories. Children with remitting psychopathology trajectories were no more likely to present later PLEs than those who never experienced psychopathology. While for many individuals symptoms and illness remit during development without intervention, this study provides important insights regarding potential targets and timing for delivery of early intervention and prevention programs.

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