Associations between secure base script knowledge in early childhood and perceived quality of attachment in middle childhood

Carla Fernandes, Marilia Fernandes, Marta Antunes, António J. Santos, Brian Vaughn, Manuela Verissimo

Abstract


Previous studies suggest that mental representations of attachment can show moderate stability across childhood but none of these considered the child’s use of the Secure Base Script (SBS). This study tested the longitudinal stability of attachment representations from early to middle childhood, providing data that will allow us to determine whether the SBS score behaves like other attachment measures for early childhood in this regard. A sample of 70 Portuguese preschool children (36 girls) was assessed regarding their access to and use of the SBS when producing narratives relevant to attachment themes (e.g., separation, fear of ambiguous threat) at age 5 years using the Attachment Story Completion Task. Follow-up assessments were obtained at 8 and 9 years of age using the Kerns Security Scale. Security scores for both parents were obtained from the child in both years. All cross-time correlations were positive and significant. Subsequent tests on correlation magnitudes for mothers vs. fathers were not significant. Finally, correlations for mother/father security scores were significant at both age levels. Our findings indicate that children’s access to and use of the SBS in early childhood does predict their perceived quality of attachment with parents in middle childhood. Overall, our results indicate that access to and use of SBS in young children’s attachment-relevant narratives is a valid and potentially productive measure.


Keywords


Secure Base script, Preschool children, Midle childhood.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ammaniti, M., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Speranza, A. M., & Tambelli, R. (2000). Internal working models of attachment during late childhood and early adolescence: An exploration of stability and change. Attachment & Human Development, 2(3) 328-346. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730010001587

Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Separation (Vol. 2). Basic Books.

Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss. Attachment (Vol. 1, 2nd ed.,). Basic Books. [Original work published in 1969]

Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: An attachment story completion task for 3-year-olds. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the pre-school years: Theory, research and intervention (pp. 273-308). The University of Chicago Press.

Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In H. C. Triandis & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Methodology (pp. 389-444). Allyn & Bacon.

Brumariu, L. E., Madigan, S., Giuseppone, K. R., Abtahi, M. M., & Kerns, K. A. (2018). The security scale as a measure of attachment: Meta-analytic evidence of validity. Attachment & Human Development, 20, 600-625. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2018.1433217

Dubois-Comtois, K., Cyr, C., & Moss, E. (2011). Attachment behavior and mother-child conversations as predictors of attachment representations in middle childhood: A longitudinal study. Attachment & Human Development, 13, 335-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2011.584455

Dykas, M. J., Woodhouse, S. S., Cassidy, J., & Waters, H. S. (2006). Narrative assessment of attachment representations: Links between secure base scripts and adolescent attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 221-240. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730600856099

Fernandes, M., Veríssimo, M., Santos, A. J., Fernandes, C., Antunes, M., & Vaughn, B. E. (2019). Preschoolers’ secure base script representations predict teachers’ ratings of social competence and externalizing behavior. Attachment & Human Development, 21, 265. https://doi.org/274.10.1080/14616734.2019.1575549

Harter, S. (1982). Perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87-97. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129640

Kerns, K. A., Klepac, L., & Cole, A. (1996). Peer relationships and preadolescents’ perceptions of security in the child-mother relationship. Developmental Psychology, 32, 457-466. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.32.3.457

König, L., Gloger-Tippelt, G., & Zweyer, K. (2007). Bindungsverhalten zu Mutter und Vater undBindungsrepräsentation bei Kindern im Alter von fünf und sieben Jahren. Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie, 56, 445-462. https://doi.org/10.25656/01:3053

Pinquart, M., Feußner, C., & Anhert, L. (2013). Meta-analytic evidence for stability of attachments from infancy to early adulthood. Attachment & Human Development, 15, 189-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2013.746257

Posada, G., Vaughn, B., Veríssimo, M., Lu, T., Nichols, O., El-Sheikh, M., Trumbell, J., Anaya, L., & Kaloustian, G. (2019). Preschoolers’ secure base script representations predict teachers’ ratings of social competence in two independent samples. Attachment & Human Development, 21, 238-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1575547

Posada, G., & Waters, H. S. (Issue Eds.). (2018). Co-constructing a secure base partnership: Mother-child interactions, communication, and script representational processes. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 83(4), 1-185. https://doi.org/10.1111/mono.12388

Psouni, E., & Apetroaia, A. (2014). Measuring scripted attachment-related knowledge in middle childhood: The Secure Base Script Test. Attachment & Human Development, 16, 22-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2013.804329

Schoenmaker, C., Juffer, F., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Lintinga, M., van der Voorta, A., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2015). From maternal sensitivity in infancy to adult attachment representations: A longitudinal adoption study with secure base scripts. Attachment & Human Development, 17, 241-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2015.1037315

Steele, R. D., Waters, T. E. A., Bost, K. K., Vaughn, B. E., Truitt, W., Waters, H. S., Booth-LaForce, C., & Roisman, G. I. (2014). Caregiving antecedents of secure base script knowledge: A comparative analysis of young adult attachment representations. Developmental Psychology, 50, 2526-2538. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037992

van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2010). Invariance of adult attachment across gender, age, culture, and socioeconomic status?. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27(2), 200-208. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407509360908

van IJzendoorn, M. H., Sagi, A., & Lambermon, M. W. E. (1992). The multiple caretaker paradox: Data from Holland and Israel. New Directions in Child Development, 37, 5-24.

Vaughn, B. E., Posada, G., & Veríssimo, M. (2019). Scripted knowledge about attachment and social competence in preschoolers: Overview. Attachment & Human Development, 21, 219-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1575545

Vaughn, B. E., Posada, G., Veríssimo, M., Lu, T., & Nichols, O. I. (2019). Assessing and quantifying the secure base script from narratives produced by preschool age children: Justification and validation tests. Attachment & Human Development, 21, 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1575546

Vaughn, B. E., Veríssimo, M., Coppola, G., Bost, K. K., Shin, N., McBride, B., Krzysik, L., & Korth, B. (2006). Maternal attachment script representations: Longitudinal stability and associations with stylistic features of maternal narratives. Attachment & Human Development, 8, 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730600856024

Vaughn, B. E., Waters, T. E. A., Steele, R. D., Roisman, G. I., Bost, K. K., Truitt, W., Waters, H. S., & Booth-LaForce, C. (2016). Multiple domains of parental secure base support during childhood and adolescence contribute to adolescents’ representations of attachment as a Secure Base Script. Attachment & Human Development, 18, 317-336. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2016.1162180

Waters, T. E. A., Bosmans, G., Vandevivere, E., Dujardin, A., & Waters, H. S. (2015). Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1013-1025. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039375

Waters, T. E. A., Brockmeyer, S. L., & Crowell, J. A. (2013). AAI coherence predicts caregiving and care seeking behavior: Secure base script knowledge helps explain why. Attachment & Human Development, 15(3), 316-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2013.782657

Waters, H. S., Rodrigues, L. M., & Ridgeway, D. (1998). Cognitive underpinnings of narrative attachment assessment. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 71, 211-234. https://doi.org/10.1006/jecp.1998.2473

Waters, T. E. A., Ruiz, S. K., & Roisman, G. I. (2017). Origins of secure base script knowledge and the developmental construction of attachment representations. Child Development, 88, 198-209. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12571

Waters, H. S., & Waters, E. (2006). The attachment working models concept: Among other things, we build script-like representations of secure base experiences. Attachment & Human Development, 8(3), 185-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730600856016




DOI: https://doi.org/10.14417/ap.1869

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Nº ERC: 107494 | ISSN (in print): 0870-8231 | ISSN (online): 1646-6020 | Copyright © ISPA - CRL, 2012 | Rua Jardim do Tabaco, 34, 1149-041 Lisboa | NIF: 501313672 | The portal and metadata are licensed under the license Creative Commons CC BY-NC