Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, attachment, intra-individual variation, parent-child, middle childhood, state attachment, EARLY MALADAPTIVE SCHEMAS, WORKING MODELS, INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION, LEARNING-THEORY, FOSTER-CARE, INFANCY, STABILITY, SECURITY, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, REPRESENTATIONS, parent–child, Humans, Child, Object Attachment, Parent-Child Relations, C14/19/054#55213456, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Developmental & Child Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5202 Biological psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology

Abstract:

The current study explored dynamics of secure state attachment expectations in everyday life in middle childhood, specifically state attachment carry-over and reactivity to experiences of caregiver support in the context of stress. In two independent samples (one community sample, N = 123; one adoption sample, N = 69), children (8-12 years) daily reported on their state attachment for respectively 14 and 7 consecutive days. Additionally, they reported daily on their experiences of distress and subsequent experiences of caregiver support. Results in both samples indicated that secure state attachment on a day-to-day basis is characterized by a significant positive carry-over effect, suggesting that state attachment fluctuations are (partially) self-predictive. In Study 1, experiencing no support following distress significantly related to intraindividual decreases in secure state attachment; in Study 2, experiencing effective support during distress related to intra-individual increases in secure state attachment. Taken together, the current studies provide novel and important insights into how state attachment temporally evolves on a day-to-day basis in middle childhood.