Attachment to Mother and Father at Transition to Middle Childhood

The present study investigated concordance between representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father, and convergence between two narrative-based methods addressing these representations in middle childhood: the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) and the Secure Base Script...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child and family studies 2017-03, Vol.26 (3), p.721-733
Main Authors: Di Folco, Simona, Messina, Serena, Zavattini, Giulio Cesare, Psouni, Elia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Attachment
Attachment Behavior
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bonding
Child and School Psychology
Child development
Childhood
Classification
Convergence
Fathers
Mothers
Original Paper
Parent-child relations
Parents & parenting
Psychology
Security
Social Sciences
Sociology
Young Children
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Summary:The present study investigated concordance between representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father, and convergence between two narrative-based methods addressing these representations in middle childhood: the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) and the Secure Base Script Test (SBST). One hundred and twenty 6-year-old children were assessed by separate administrations of the MCAST for mother and father, respectively, and results showed concordance of representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father at age 6.5 years. 75 children were additionally tested about 12 months later, with the SBST, which assesses scripted knowledge of secure base (and safe haven), not differentiating between mother and father attachment relationships. Concerning attachment to father, dichotomous classifications (MCAST) and a continuous dimension capturing scripted secure base knowledge (MCAST) converged with secure base scriptedness (SBST), yet we could not show the same pattern of convergence concerning attachment to mother. Results suggest some convergence between the two narrative methods of assessment of secure base script but also highlight complications when using the MCAST for measuring attachment to father in middle childhood.
ISSN:1062-1024
1573-2843
DOI:10.1007/s10826-016-0602-7