The objectives of the proposed study are threefold. (1) Recent advances in attachment theory and research suggest that secure and insecure parent-child attachment relationships differ a) in the communication patterns of both partners within the relationship and b) in how both partners communicate about attachment issues with third persons. one hypothesis to emerge from this work is that mental representations of self and other in insecure relationships are not optimally organized. Rather, in such dyads, both partners' representations or internal working models seem to be contradictory and fragmented. To test this hypothesis we are planning to study 80 middle-class divorced mother-headed families. We expect that the expected links between communication within and about attachment (relations may be stronger in families where the child's interactions with the second parent are limited. (2) A second objective of the study is to understand what factors potentiate secure attachments in divorced single-parent families (such as parental beliefs/ personality, child temperament/ personality, social support/stress, life events, and so forth). (3) The third objective of the study is methodological. Two of the representational measures of attachment to be used in this project (a parent interview and a story completion task for preschoolers) have yielded promising correlations with laboratory-based observations of attachment quality in prior exploratory studies, but further validation of these instruments against home and laboratory observations of parent-child interactions is required. In addition, the study will also permit the validation of classification procedures (as opposed to rating scales) for the representational measures which are currently under development. We expect that the study will augment the repertoire of procedures available to investigators and clinicians interested in attachment beyond infancy.
| Bretherton, Inge; Gullon-Rivera, Angel L; Page, Timothy F et al. (2013) Children's attachment-related self-worth: a multi-method investigation of postdivorce preschoolers' relationships with their mothers and peers. Attach Hum Dev 15:25-49 |
