From parent–child mutuality to security to socialization outcomes: developmental cascade toward positive adaptation in preadolescence

Abstract

A developmental cascade from positive early parent-child relationship to child security with the parent to adaptive socialization outcomes, proposed in attachment theory and often implicitly accepted but rarely formally tested, was examined in 100 mothers, fathers, and children followed from toddler age to preadolescence. Parent-child Mutually Responsive Orientation (MRO) was observed in lengthy interactions at 38, 52, 67, and 80 months; children reported their security with parents at age 8. Socialization outcomes (parent- and child-reported cooperation with parental monitoring and teacher-reported school competence) were assessed at age 10. Mediation was tested with PROCESS (Hayes, 2013). The parent-child history of MRO significantly predicted both mother-child and father-child security. For mother-child dyads, security mediated links between history of MRO and cooperation with maternal monitoring and school competence, controlling for developmental continuity of the studied constructs. For father-child dyads, the mediation effect was not evident.

Early caregiving predicts attachment representations in adolescence: findings from two longitudinal studies

“…One is that we did not have attachment classification measures at the early childhood assessment, and so are unable to contrast stability in caregiving with stability in attachment classifications. Second, although attachment research is largely influenced by interview and narrative assessments (Allen, Moore, Kuperminc, & Bell, ; Joseph, O'Connor, Briskman, Maughan, & Scott, ; Kobak & Sceery, ), other kinds of measures exist (Kim, Boldt, & Kochanska, ) and need to be incorporated in longitudinal research linking caregiving and attachment across multiple periods in the life course. Additionally, our assessment of caregiving did not incorporate all of the many aspects that may be related to attachment quality (Allen et al., ; Dozier, Albus, Fisher, & Sepulveda, ; Karavasilis et al., ); our reliance on a semistructured play and tidy‐up task may not have optimized the early assessment of caregiver sensitivity.…”

Improving social–emotional competence in internationally adopted children with the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up intervention

“…Sensitive parents help to promote children's social–emotional abilities by serving as co-regulators of emotions and behaviors (Eisenberg et al, 2003), promoting feelings of social reciprocity and responsibility (Davidov & Grusec, 2006), and encouraging positive expectations about relationships (Sroufe, Egeland, & Carlson, 1999). Thus, children who experience more sensitive, responsive parenting display more socially competent and prosocial behavior compared with children who experience less sensitive, responsive parenting (Kim, Boldt, & Kochanska, 2015; Lindsey, Mize, & Pettit, 1997; Zhou et al, 2002).…”

Attachment and Effortful Control in Toddlerhood Predict Academic Achievement Over a Decade Later

“…The quality of children’s relationships with caregivers is one key consideration in early childhood (Bowlby, 1969). A child’s attachment to his or her caregiver is a vital process and has widespread implications for a range of socioemotional outcomes (e.g., Kim, Boldt, & Kochanska, 2015; Laible, Carlo, Davis, & Karahuta, 2016). Thus, it is not surprising that attachment security has implications for such achievement-relevant variables as preacademic reading skills in preschool years (e.g., Bus, Belsky, van IJzendoorn, & Crnic, 1997) and mastery motivation and cognitive engagement in early school years (e.g., Moss & St-Laurent, 2001).…”