The Internal Working Model of the Self, Attachment, and Competence in Five-Year-Olds

The present studies examine some of the correlates of the self in the lives of young children. In Study 1, the connection is tested between young children's internal working model of self and their competence, social acceptance, behavioral adjustment, and behavioral manifestations of self-esteem. Ninety-five kindergartners aged between 51 and 76 months ( M _age= 5 years, 3 months) participated in the study. An adapted version of the Puppet Interview was used to assess the representation of self. Affective quality (positiveness) of self and openness to admit imperfections were rated independently. Results show significant and positive relations of the positiveness of self with competence and social acceptance, with behavioral adjustment to school, and with behavioral manifestations of self-esteem, all rated by the teacher. In Study 2, Bowlby's assumption was tested that the working model of self is closely intertwined with the working model of attachment to mother. Subjects were 50 children aged between 55 months and 75 months ( M _age= 5 years, 5 months). The working model of child-mother attachment was assessed through an Attachment Story Completion Task. The working model of self was measured via the Puppet Interview. Results show a positive and strong connection between the security of the child-mother attachment representation and the positiveness of self. The results of the two studies contribute to the validation of the adapted Puppet Interview. The Puppet Interview seems to be a promising instrument for assessing the representation of self in young children.     

Child-mother attachment and the self in six-year-olds

Bowlby has proposed that child-parent attachment is important in the child's representation of self. In this study, the child's representation of self was examined in connection with child-mother attachment in a sample of 52 white, middle-class 6-year-olds. Children were seen in 2 play sessions, 1 month apart. Quality of attachment was assessed in each session based on the child's behavior on reunion following a laboratory separation of approximately 1 hour, using a system devised by Main and Cassidy. Aggregated attachment ratings and classifications were assigned based on the child's behavior in both reunions. Assessments of the self consisted of (a) assessment of the self within the relationship with the attachment figure (an incomplete doll stories procedure), (b) assessment of the child's perceptions of how an unspecified "other" views him or her (a puppet interview), (c) direct assessment of global self-esteem independent of the attachment relationship (the subscale of global self-esteem from Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children), (d) a second direct assessment of global self-esteem (an interview with the child), and (e) assessment of feelings of competence and acceptance in specific domains that may be precursors of self-esteem (Harter's Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children). Significant, albeit modest, connections between attachment and the self were established; furthermore, specific patterns of self-perceptions were related to particular patterns of attachment.     

Attachment in late adolescence: working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others

The purpose of this study was to examine the coherence of attachment organization during late adolescence. In a sample of 53 first-year college students, 3 kinds of working models of attachment were assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview: Dismissing of Attachment, Secure, and Preoccupied with Attachment. Affect regulation was evaluated with peer Q-sort ratings of Ego-Resiliency, Ego-Undercontrol, Hostility, and Anxiety, and representations of self and others were assessed with self-report measures of distress, perceived competence, and social support. The Secure group was rated as more ego-resilient, less anxious, and less hostile by peers and reported little distress and high levels of social support. The Dismissing group was rated low on ego-resilience and higher on hostility by peers and reported more distant relationships in terms of more loneliness and low levels of social support from family. The Preoccupied group was viewed as less ego-resilient and more anxious by peers and reported high levels of personal distress, while viewing their family as more supportive than the Dismissing group. These findings are interpreted in terms of different styles of affect regulation and representational bias associated with particular working models of attachment.     

Q-Sort Assessment of Child-Teacher Attachment Relationships and Social Competence in the Preschool

The implications of the attachment relationship between children and their preschool teachers was investigated. Sixty-two preschool-age children and their teachers were studied to assess relations between the quality of attachment relationships and social competence. Results indicate that attachment security with teacher is related to prosocial behavior and teacher-rated social competence in the preschool. In addition, evidence suggests that when the child-mother attachment relationship is insecure, a secure attachment relationship with a preschool teacher may partially compensate for the insecure relationship. Children who were insecurely attached to mother but securely attached to teacher had higher teacher-rated social competence, were more prosocial, and were more positive emotionally than children who were insecurely attached to both mother and teacher.     

The Past Is Present: Representations of Parents,Friends, and Romantic Partners Predict Subsequent Romantic Representations

This study examined how representations of parent–child relationships, friendships, and past romantic relationships are related to subsequent romantic representations. Two‐hundred 10th graders (100 female; M_age = 15.87 years) from diverse neighborhoods in a Western U.S. city were administered questionnaires and were interviewed to assess avoidant and anxious representations of their relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Participants then completed similar questionnaires and interviews about their romantic representations six more times over the next 7.5 years. Growth curve analyses revealed that representations of relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners each uniquely predicted subsequent romantic representations across development. Consistent with attachment and behavioral systems theory, representations of romantic relationships are revised by representations and experiences in other relationships.     

Continuity in Parent-Child Relationships from Infancy to Middle Childhood and Relations with Friendship Competence

This cross-cultural study examined continuity in parent-child relationships from infancy to middle childhood in a sample of German families. Connections were traced between individual differences in a composite of markers of the parent-child attachment relationship system (including classification of the infant via the Strange Situation and parent via the Adult Attachment Interview and for mothers' ratings of sensitivity) and later parent-child communications. Fundings within the mother-child relationship revealed modest links between the composite and communications and were taken to suggest that the divergent fields of attachment and family communication research are addressing similar underlying relationship processes involving the interplay between relatedness and autonomy. Further findings revealed that the composite modestly predicted variability in children's competence in forming friendships and that differences in concurrent child-mother communications significantly added to and possibly mediated these effects. Results were interpreted as supporting a process model of development, whereby adaptation is influenced by both current and past relationship status.     

Infant Care: Evaluation of Pre-Care Differences Hypotheses

189 infants/toddlers and their parents were visited in their homes 2 weeks before starting an out-of-home care arrangement and followed every two weeks until 6 months after care had begun (or its equivalent for parent care groups). At the beginning of the study infant/toddlers ranged in age from 2 to 30 months. In this report, hypotheses examining the role of pre-care family characteristics in determining child care use and later child adjustment were evaluated. Discriminant function analyses reliably separated care type and age of entry groups using pre-care family and infant characteristics as predictors. There were no significant differences in child behavior problems (externalizing and internalizing behavior) as a function of care arrangement type experienced. Mother's pre-care parent stress (PSI parent domain subscale: attachment to child) predicted anxious/withdrawn behavior 6 months later. Aggressive/destructive behavior was related independently to mother's health status and parent stress (PSI parent domain subscale: sense of competence) as measured before out-of- home care was begun. Difficult temperament infants had more behavior problems of all types.     

Infant Care: Evaluation of Pre-Care Differences Hypotheses

189 infants/toddlers and their parents were visited in their homes 2 weeks before starting an out-of-home care arrangement and followed every two weeks until 6 months after care had begun (or its equivalent for parent care groups). At the beginning of the study infant/toddlers ranged in age from 2 to 30 months. In this report, hypotheses examining the role of pre-care family characteristics in determining child care use and later child adjustment were evaluated. Discriminant function analyses reliably separated care type and age of entry groups using pre-care family and infant characteristics as predictors. There were no significant differences in child behavior problems (externalizing and internalizing behavior) as a function of care arrangement type experienced. Mother's pre-care parent stress (PSI parent domain subscale: attachment to child) predicted anxious/withdrawn behavior 6 months later. Aggressive/destructive behavior was related independently to mother's health status and parent stress (PSI parent domain subscale: sense of competence) as measured before out-of- home care was begun. Difficult temperament infants had more behavior problems of all types.     

Anxious Solitude and Self‐Compassion and Self‐Criticism Trajectories in Early Adolescence: Attachment Security as a Moderator

Youths’ attachment representations with their parents were tested as moderators of the relation between peer‐reported anxious solitude and self‐compassion and self‐criticism trajectories from fifth to seventh grades. Participants were 213 youth, 57% girls, M = 10.65 years of age. Growth curves revealed that attachment representations with both parents moderated the relation between AS and self‐processes such that AS youth with (a) dual secure attachments demonstrated the most adaptive self‐processes, (b) one secure attachment demonstrated intermediately adaptive self‐processes, and (c) dual insecure attachments demonstrated the least adaptive self‐processes over time. AS youth with dual insecure attachments are of most concern because they demonstrated elevated and increasing self‐criticism over time, given evidence for relations between self‐criticism and internalizing psychopathology.     

Maternal Depression, Children's Attachment Security, and Representational Development: An Organizational Perspective

Relations among maternal depression, child attachment, and children's representations of parents and self were examined. Participants included toddlers and their mothers with a history of major depressive disorder ( n = 63) or no history of mental disorder ( n = 68). Attachment was assessed at 20 and 36 months and representations of parents and self were assessed at 36 and 48 months. Depressive symptoms were assessed at all 3 time points. While early-occurring maternal depression had a negative impact on children's negative and positive representations of parents, attachment security mediated the relation between depressive symptoms and negative representations. Attachment security served as an intervening variable between maternal depression and changes in children's negative representations of self. Implications for prevention are highlighted.     

Preschool Antecedents of Internalizing Problems in Children Beginning School: The Role of Social Maladaptation

The quality of children's social adaptation in preschool was related to levels of internalizing problem behavior following transition to kindergarten. Measures of peer acceptance, social skills, and social problem-solving ability were assessed in 79 4-5 year old children, and related to teacher's ratings of anxious/withdrawn behavior assessed concurrently and one year later. Boys and girls did not differ in mean levels of symptoms, but girls tended to show higher levels of stability in internalizing problem behavior than boys. As predicted, preschool-age children with relatively high rates of internalizing problem behavior tended to manifest lower levels of social competence than others. Moreover, low levels of social competence in preschool were robust predictors of persistently high levels of internalizing problems across the two time periods.     

A randomized controlled trial of a home-visiting intervention aimed at preventing relationship problems in depressed mothers and their infants

This study examined the effect of a mother–baby intervention on the quality of mother–child interaction, infant–mother attachment security, and infant socioemotional functioning in a group of depressed mothers with infants aged 1–12 months. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group ( n = 35) receiving the intervention (8–10 home visits) with a control group ( n = 36) receiving parenting support by telephone. There were assessments pre, post, and follow-up after 6 months. The intervention had positive effects on the quality of mother–infant interaction. Infants in the experimental group had higher scores for attachment security and for one aspect of socioemotional functioning, namely, competence. The intervention proved successful in preventing deterioration of the quality of mother–child interaction.     

Preschool Antecedents of Internalizing Problems in Children Beginning School: The Role of Social Maladaptation

The quality of children's social adaptation in preschool was related to levels of internalizing problem behavior following transition to kindergarten. Measures of peer acceptance, social skills, and social problem-solving ability were assessed in 79 4–5 year old children, and related to teacher's ratings of anxious/withdrawn behavior assessed concurrently and one year later. Boys and girls did not differ in mean levels of symptoms, but girls tended to show higher levels of stability in internalizing problem behavior than boys. As predicted, preschool-age children with relatively high rates of internalizing problem behavior tended to manifest lower levels of social competence than others. Moreover, low levels of social competence in preschool were robust predictors of persistently high levels of internalizing problems across the two time periods.     

How Schoolchildren Propose to Negotiate: The Role of Social Withdrawal, Social Anxiety, and Locus of Control

The role of social anxiety, social withdrawal, and locus of control in the developmental level of interpersonal negotiation strategies (INS) when resolving hypothetical conflicts was examined in a short-term longitudinal study (fall and spring). Applying a balanced design, 96 children aged 8 and 11 from 8 classes participated in the study. At both assessments, results indicated that sociable children were more likely to exhibit greater competence in INS than socially withdrawn children. However, both concurrent and longitudinal analyses indicated that degree of social anxiety tended to influence this relation. Among less socially anxious children, the sociable children did exhibit greater INS competence than those more socially withdrawn, but this relation was not revealed among the more socially anxious children. Finally, on the whole, children who showed internal locus of control were more competent at INS than children with external locus of control.     

Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: two studies in construct validation.

2 studies were undertaken to assess the positive affective correlates of secure attachment in infancy and to assess the relation between secure attachment in infancy and competence in the peer group at age 3 1/2 years. In study 1, smiling and smiling combined with vocalizing and/or showing toys distinguished securely from anxiously attached infants during free play at age 18 months. Rated quality of affective sharing distinguished securely from anxiously attached infants during free play at 18 months and 24 months. Thus, secure attachment involves more than the absence of negative or maladaptive behavior directed toward a caregiver. Study 2 assessed cross-age, cross-situational, and cross-behavioral consistency in quality of social adaptation. Quality of infant-mother attachment relationships at age 15 months was related to Q-sort assessments of personal and interpersonal competence in the preschool play-group at age 3 1/2 years. The results contribute to the validation of attachment as an important developmental construct. They also suggest that age appropriate assessment of developmental social competence constructs can be a useful alternative to the study of homotypic behavioral continuity.     

Adolescent Mothers and Their Children's Early School Performance

This study examined differences in child-mother interaction, classroom adjustment during kindergarten, and retention in kindergarten between 41 first-born children of adolescent mothers (18 years old or younger at the time of the child's birth) and 88 first-born children of adult mothers (20 to 24 years old at the time of the child's birth). Maternal education was included as a covariate in comparisons. The children of adolescent and adult mothers were generally indistinguishable in areas of classroom adjustment, retention in kindergarten, and child-mother interaction when mothers' education was considered. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research and policy.     

Biological Sensitivity to Context: The Interactive Effects of Stress Reactivity and Family Adversity on Socioemotional Behavior and School Readiness

This study examined the direct and interactive effects of stress reactivity and family adversity on socioemotional and cognitive development in three hundred and thirty-eight 5- to 6-year-old children. Neurobiological stress reactivity was measured as respiratory sinus arrhythmia and salivary cortisol responses to social, cognitive, sensory, and emotional challenges. Adaptation was assessed using child, parent, and teacher reports of externalizing symptoms, prosocial behaviors, school engagement, and academic competence. Results revealed significant interactions between reactivity and adversity. High stress reactivity was associated with more maladaptive outcomes in the context of high adversity but with better adaption in the context of low adversity. The findings corroborate a reconceptualization of stress reactivity as biological sensitivity to context by showing that high reactivity can both hinder and promote adaptive functioning.     

Attachment and child care: Relationships with mother and caregiver

Two studies examined the influences of concordant and nonconcordant attachment relationships to mothers and to child care caregivers on children's behavior in child care. In both studies, attachment security with the caregiver was assessed within child care, using the Waters and Deane Q-sort for attachment security. In the first study, 40 infants were seen in the Strange Situation at 12 months and observed in child care when they averaged 21.5 months. In the second study, 60 infants were observed in child care when they averaged 18.5 months; maternal attachment security was assessed, using the Q-sort, during child care arrivals and departures. In both studies, the child's level of competence in play with the adult caregiver and engagement with peers was a function of attachment security with both mother and caregiver.     

Gender Differences in Social Mastery Motivation and Its Relationships to Vocabulary Knowledge,Behavioral Self-Regulation,and Socioemotional Skills

The present study investigated gender differences in social mastery motivation, vocabulary knowledge, behavioral self-regulation, and socioemotional skills and examined the relationships among this knowledge and these skills by gender. Participants were 134 Chinese children (68 boys, M age = 3.80; 66 girls, M age = 3.89) and their parents recruited through local kindergartens’ parent groups. The children were administered measures of social mastery motivation, vocabulary knowledge, behavioral self-regulation, and nonverbal intelligence. Parents reported their education level and children’s socioemotional skills. Research Findings: Results revealed that boys exhibited more social mastery interactions than girls, and girls showed better behavioral self-regulation and socioemotional skills than boys. Girls with higher social mastery interaction frequency demonstrated better vocabulary knowledge and socioemotional skills, whereas boys with higher social mastery interaction frequency showed lower behavioral self-regulation. Boys, who showed more positive affect during social mastery interactions, tended to have better expressive vocabulary, which facilitated their behavioral self-regulation. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight social mastery motivation as a potential factor that facilitates children’s early development, but it may contribute to boys and girls in different ways.     

Attachment Quality in Very Low-Birthweight Premature Infants in Relation to Maternal Attachment Representations and Neurological Development

Objective. To study the development of attachment in very low-birthweight preterm infants with respect to neurological development and maternal attachment representations. Design. Emotional development in a high-risk sample (N = 79) of very low-birthweight preterm infants (≤ 1,500 g) is reported. The quality of attachment in preterm infants was classified using the Strange Situation Procedure at 14 postnatal months (corrected for prematurity) and was associated with maternal attachment representation assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview at 6 postnatal months. Neurological development at 14 months was taken into account. Results. The distribution of the quality of attachment in preterm infants (60.3% secure, 23.5% insecure - avoidant, 2.9% insecure - ambivalent, 10.3% insecure - disorganized, and 2.9% not classifiable) was comparable with results of studies of term infants. There was no correspondence between maternal representations of attachment and infant quality of attachment. However, neurologically impaired infants were more often insecurely than securely attached. Conclusions. Very low-birthweight preterm infants more often develop an insecure quality of attachment if their neurological outcome is impaired. Therefore, minimizing risk factors for the development of neurological deficits may have a preventive effect both on the somatic and on the emotional development of high-risk infants.