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About this paper symposium
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Panel 14. Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships |
Paper #1 | |
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Attachment Security and Social Competence in a Sample of Colombian Preschoolers | |
Author information | Role |
Sandra J. Plata, Pontifica Universidad Javeriana, Colombia | Presenting author |
Muqing Liu, Purdue University, China | Non-presenting author |
German Posada, Purdue University, USA | Non-presenting author |
Abstract | |
This paper investigates the notion that children’s attachment security with mother is related to their social competence in a preschool setting. Attachment theory and research (Bowlby, 1982; Groh et al., 2014; Vaughn et al., 2019) suggest that parent-child attachment relationships play an important role in how children navigate later social relationship with others. It is argued that by virtue of participating in relationships with primary caregivers, children acquire knowledge and behavioral strategies that they use in social interactions outside the family. The hypothesis about the link between child attachment security and social competence has been studied in samples from Western industrialized countries for the most part, which has raised questions about its generalizability to other (cultural) contexts. We investigated the hypothesis in a Colombian sample of preschoolers. Sixty-five child-mother dyads from Bogota participated in a study with assessments of child security in naturalistic settings, when children were about 3.5 years old, and social competence in preschool settings, when children were about 5 years. Family demographic information is presented in Table 1. Information on attachment security was derived from observations of child-mother interactions in a playground (60-75’) and at home (120-150’). Child behavior was described with the 90-item Attachment Q-set (Waters, 1995). All playground visits and 56% of home visits were conducted by two independent trained observers; all other home visits had one observer. After each visit, observers independently completed their q-sort descriptions. Interobserver reliability was .84 (SD = .06; Range: .64–.95). A composite description was created by combining home and playground descriptions. Attachment security scores were calculated by correlating composite descriptions to a criterion sort that describes theoretically optimal secure base behavior. The correlation coefficient between a child’s composite description and the criterion sort is that child’s security score. Those scores were used in analyses. Children’s social competence was reported by preschool teachers with the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation, scale (SCBE, LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996). The SCBE is a well-validated 30-item questionnaire that describes preschoolers’ interactions with peers and includes three scales: social competence, withdrawal, and aggression. Teachers’ responses were averaged by scale to obtain scores that were used in analyses. Child competence in interactions with teachers was assessed with a subscale (17 items) of the Child Interactions at School questionnaire (Posada et al., 2006). Items were rated on a scale from 1-Very Uncharacteristic-to- 7-Very Characteristic. Cronbach’s alpha’s internal consistency was .86. Teachers’ responses were averaged to create a competence in interactions with teachers score, which was used in analyses. Results indicate that child security with mother at age 3.5 was significantly associated with teacher reported social competence with peers (r = .30, p = .015) and with teachers (r = .35, p = .005) at a school setting 1.5 years later. Security was not significantly associated with social withdrawal or aggression at age 5. The moderate correlations between early parent-child attachment and later child social competence at school among Colombian preschoolers support the notion that child-parent relationships are implicated in children’s socialization outcomes. |
Paper #2 | |
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Child Attachment Security and Associations with Emotion Regulation and Social Development: An Exploratory Longitudinal Study | |
Author information | Role |
Magaly Noblega, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Peru, Peru | Presenting author |
Gabriela Conde, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Peru, Peru | Non-presenting author |
Ramon Bartra, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Peru, Peru | Non-presenting author |
Abstract | |
Attachment theory highlights the importance of early childhood attachment security for children’s social development, particularly during the school years (Weinfield et al., 2008). Studies have linked attachment security to emotion regulation (Thompson, 2016), improved social skills, and reduced behavioral problems (Groh et al., 2014; Kochanska & Kim, 2013). However, there is limited longitudinal research on low-income populations, even more so in Latin-American countries. This study addresses this gap by examining the associations between attachment security in the preschool years and socioemotional outcomes (i.e., emotion regulation, social competence, and antisocial behavior) in school-age children. We expected that attachment security during the preschool years would be positively associated with child emotional regulation and social competence, and inversely associated with child antisocial behavior three years later when children were in primary school. The study followed 21 children from low-income families in Lima, Peru. Data were collected at two timepoints: at time 1 (T1), children attended preschool, and at time (T2), three years later, they had transitioned into primary school. There were 11 boys and 10 girls, aged 36–59 months at T1 (M = 44.10, DE = 6.49) and 71–94 months at T2 (M = 78.62, DE = 6.37). Observers described child attachment behavior at T1. Mothers and teachers reported on several domains of children’s socioemotional development at T2. Attachment security was assessed at T1 using the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS; Waters, 1995). At T2, mothers reported on emotional regulation using the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC; Shields & Cicchetti, 1997), and mothers and teachers rated children’s social competence and antisocial behavior using the School Social Behavior Scales-Second Edition (SSBS-2; Merrell, 2002) and the Home and Community Social Behavior Scale (HCSBS; Merrell & Caldarella, 2002). Non-parametric correlations were calculated to test the association between attachment security (T1) and both mother-reported and teacher-reported child outcomes. Results show that attachment security assessed at T1 was associated with child emotional regulation reported by mothers at T2 (r = .658, p = .001). Also, findings showed that security was significantly related to teacher-reported child social competence at school at T2 (r = .440, p = .046) but was not associated with maternal reports (r = -.023, p = .922). Finally, attachment security was significantly associated with child antisocial behavior at T2 as reported by mothers (r = -.541, p = .011), and marginally associated with teacher reports (r = -.430, p = .052), suggesting that secure attachments contribute to lower later antisocial behaviors as perceived by mothers and teachers. These exploratory findings highlight the role that attachment security plays in socio-emotional development outcomes (i.e., child emotional regulation and social competence) and underscore the importance of interventions that support positive social outcomes during the pre-school years, particularly in socioeconomically vulnerable populations. Results will be discussed in consideration of the sample size and its social and cultural context. |
Paper #3 | |
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Preschoolers’ Secure Base Behavior During Child-Parent Interactions in a Children’s Museum: Links to Social-Emotional Development | |
Author information | Role |
Dr. Jill M. Trumbell, Ph.D., University of New Hampshire, United States | Presenting author |
Kimberly Nesbitt, University of New Hampshire, United States | Non-presenting author |
Jill C. Thorson, University of New Hampshire, United States | Non-presenting author |
Abstract | |
Theoretical (Bowlby, 1969/1982) and empirical (Posada et al., 2016) work highlight the relevance of child-parent attachment security across early childhood. Importantly, significant associations have been found between young children’s attachment security and other social-emotional outcomes, including their prosociality (Deneault et al., 2023), social competence (Groh et al., 2014), and emotion regulation (Cooke et al., 2019). Extant research has relied primarily on laboratory or home-based assessments of attachment. The extent to which children demonstrate secure base behavior (from which security is inferred) in other ecologically salient contexts relevant to early childhood, and associated relations with social-emotional functioning, remain to be investigated. To fill this gap, the current study uses attachment theory to explore relations between preschool children’s social-emotional development and their secure base use during child-parent interactions in a children’s museum. Sixty-seven preschooler-parent dyads participated in the study at a local children’s museum. See Table 1 for demographic information. Child-parent interactions (15 minutes freeplay; 5 minutes clean-up) were videorecorded in two museum exhibits (a palace- and river-themed) and coded for child attachment security. Secure base behavior in each exhibit was rated by two observers using a 50-item modification of the Attachment Behavior Q-set (Waters, 1995). Security scores (-1.00 to 1.00) were generated for each exhibit by averaging observer descriptions and correlating with the criterion sort for the ideally secure child in the museum context. A global security composite was also created by averaging all four observers’ descriptions across the two exhibits and comparing to the criterion sort. Mean inter-rater reliability was .82 (SD = .06), .81 (SD = .06) and .85 (SD = .06), for the palace, river, and global security outcomes, respectively. Parents also completed three subscales from the Devereaux Student Strengths Assessment (DSSA; LeBuffe et al., 2009) to describe their children’s social-emotional development: relationship skills (10 items assessing prosocial behaviors; ⍺ = .81), social-awareness (9 items assessing social competence; ⍺ = .75); and self-management (11 items assessing emotion regulation; ⍺ = .79). Items were rated from never (0) to very frequently (4) and summed to form subscale scores. An overall social-emotional composite was also generated by summing all 30 items across the three subscales (⍺ = .88). Descriptives and partial correlations are presented in Table 2. After controlling for child age, security was marginally associated with children’s social-emotional development, r = .16, p = .10. Examining associations with the three DSSA subscales, no significant associations were found between global security scores and relationship skills or social awareness. However, the association between security and self-management was significant (r = .25, p = .03). Similar results were found when exploring data from the individual exhibits. Findings are somewhat consistent with work in other research settings and suggest that in a children’s museum context, preschoolers’ use of their parent as a secure base may be modestly correlated to their global social-emotional functioning and significantly related with their emotion regulation skills. The use of the children’s museum as a context of assessment will be discussed to highlight unique contributions to the attachment field. |
Paper #4 | |
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The Correspondence of Preschoolers’ Attachment Behavior, Secure Base Scripts, and Social Competence at School | |
Author information | Role |
Muqing Liu, Purdue University, China | Presenting author |
German Posada, Purdue University, United States | Non-presenting author |
Abstract | |
Both attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982) and research (e.g., Groh et al., 2014) suggest young children’s early interactive experiences with their attachment figures have enduring influences on their social interactions with others. It is expected that children who are secure in their relationship with their primary caregiver internalize a model of supportive dyadic interaction as a secure base script (Waters & Waters, 2006) that they use as a blueprint to guide their interactive behavior with others in socially competent ways. To test this assertion, the current study examines the relations between children’s attachment behavior (i.e., security), secure base script knowledge, and social competence during the preschool years, a developmental period marked by increased social engagement outside the family. Seventy mother-preschooler dyads from the US Midwest participated in this study. Demographic information is presented in Table 1. Child secure base behavior with mother was observed and described by independent observers at home and at a playground using the Attachment Behavior Q-set (AQS; Waters, 1995). A global security score (-1.00 – 1.00) was created by averaging observers’ AQS descriptions across both contexts and correlating that average to the criterion sort of the ideally securely attached child. Children’s secure base script knowledge was assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT; Bretherton et al., 1990), rated by two independent coders using a 5-point Likert-scale with higher scores indicating greater secure base script knowledge. Inter-coder agreement was higher than 95% as measured by between-coder discrepancies smaller than 1 point. Children’s social competence with peers was reported by teachers using three subscales from the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation questionnaire (SCBE-30; LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996): social competence, aggression, and social withdrawal. Additionally, teachers completed a new questionnaire Child Interactions at School (CIS; Posada et al., 2006) that included a scale about child interaction with teachers (17 items; i.e., child initiates interactions with teachers). Internal consistency reliability, Cronbach’s alpha was .90. Items were rated on a scale from 1-Very Uncharacteristic to 7-Very Characteristic. A score on this subscale was obtained by averaging its items. After controlling for child age, results indicated that children’s secure base behavior was positively associated with their secure base script knowledge (r = .25, p = .04; see Table 2). Moreover, children’s secure base behavior was positively associated with their social competence (r = .41, p = .001), negatively associated with their aggression (r = -.37, p = .004), and marginally associated with competent behaviors with teachers (CIS; r = .25, p = .057). Similarly, children’s secure base script knowledge was positively associated with teachers’ report of social competence (r = .36, p = .009). The association between secure base script knowledge and competent behaviors with teacher (CIS) was also marginally significant, r = .24, p = .052. In general, findings highlight that child secure base behavior and secure base script knowledge are moderately related to preschoolers’ social competence in school settings. This provides support for the role that child-mother attachment relationships play in helping children navigate their broader social environments. |
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Preschoolers’ Attachment Security and Socio-Emotional Outcomes in Different Countries and Settings: Are They Related?
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Session Title | Preschoolers’ Attachment Security and Socio-Emotional Outcomes in Different Countries and Settings: Are They Related? |