TY - JOUR
T1 - Attachment in middle childhood
T2 - Predictors, correlates, and implications for adaptation
AU - Boldt, Lea J.
AU - Kochanska, Grazyna
AU - Grekin, Rebecca
AU - Brock, Rebecca L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant number R01 HD069171-11];National Institute of Mental Health [grant number K02 MH01446, R01 MH63096]
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - Middle childhood is a relative lacuna in behavioral attachment research. We examined antecedents, correlates, and implications of parent–child attachment at age 10 in a longitudinal study of community families from a Midwestern US state (N = 102, mothers, fathers, and children). Dimensions of security, avoidance, ambivalence, and disorganization of children’s attachment to each parent were observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions and assessed using Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding (IABC). IABC scores were meaningfully associated with history of parental responsiveness (7–80 months) and with earlier and concurrent attachment security, assessed with other established instruments (parent- and observer-rated Attachment Q-Set at 25 months, children’s reports at age 8 and 10). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the overall history of responsive care was meaningfully associated with Security, Avoidance, and Disorganization at age 10, in both mother–child and father–child relationships, and that most recent care uniquely predicted Security. IABC scores were also meaningfully related to a broad range of measures of child adaptation at ages 10–12. Cumulative history of children’s security from infancy to middle childhood, integrating measures across relationships and methodologies, also predicted child adaptation at ages 10–12.
AB - Middle childhood is a relative lacuna in behavioral attachment research. We examined antecedents, correlates, and implications of parent–child attachment at age 10 in a longitudinal study of community families from a Midwestern US state (N = 102, mothers, fathers, and children). Dimensions of security, avoidance, ambivalence, and disorganization of children’s attachment to each parent were observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions and assessed using Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding (IABC). IABC scores were meaningfully associated with history of parental responsiveness (7–80 months) and with earlier and concurrent attachment security, assessed with other established instruments (parent- and observer-rated Attachment Q-Set at 25 months, children’s reports at age 8 and 10). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the overall history of responsive care was meaningfully associated with Security, Avoidance, and Disorganization at age 10, in both mother–child and father–child relationships, and that most recent care uniquely predicted Security. IABC scores were also meaningfully related to a broad range of measures of child adaptation at ages 10–12. Cumulative history of children’s security from infancy to middle childhood, integrating measures across relationships and methodologies, also predicted child adaptation at ages 10–12.
KW - Attachment
KW - Child adaptive outcomes
KW - Child maladaptive outcomes
KW - Middle childhood
KW - Parenting
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U2 - 10.1080/14616734.2015.1120334
DO - 10.1080/14616734.2015.1120334
M3 - Article
C2 - 26673686
AN - SCOPUS:84949809490
SN - 1461-6734
VL - 18
SP - 115
EP - 140
JO - Attachment and Human Development
JF - Attachment and Human Development
IS - 2
ER -