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Reactive attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: the role of Secure Base Script knowledge.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Children with attachment disorder show prosocial behavior problems. Children with a reactive attachment disorder show inhibited and emotionally withdrawn behavior. Consequently, these children typically display prosocial behavior problems. However, the underlying mechanism between reactive attachment disorder and prosocial behavior problems is still unclear and findings in literature are mixed. METHODS:The current study investigated the role of children's attachment representations in this association. Attachment representations reflect knowledge about a cognitive script regarding the attachment figure as a source for support (Secure Base Script). We tested whether secure base script knowledge 1) mediates or 2) moderates the link between reactive attachment disorder and prosocial behavior problems in 83 children (6-11?years; 83.1% boys) recruited from special education schools for children with behavioral problems. Children completed a pictorial Secure Base Script Test. Their reactive attachment disorder symptoms were assessed during an interview with the primary caregivers. Primary caregivers and teachers filled out a prosocial behavior questionnaire about the child. RESULTS:Results did not support the mediation hypothesis, but evidence for the moderation hypothesis was found. Secure base script knowledge attenuated the negative association between attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS:These findings contribute to the discussion about the link between attachment representations and attachment disorders.

SUBMITTER: Cuyvers B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7641862 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Reactive attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: the role of Secure Base Script knowledge.

Cuyvers Bien B Vervoort Eleonora E Bosmans Guy G

BMC psychiatry 20201104 1

<h4>Background</h4>Children with attachment disorder show prosocial behavior problems. Children with a reactive attachment disorder show inhibited and emotionally withdrawn behavior. Consequently, these children typically display prosocial behavior problems. However, the underlying mechanism between reactive attachment disorder and prosocial behavior problems is still unclear and findings in literature are mixed.<h4>Methods</h4>The current study investigated the role of children's attachment rep ...[more]

PMID: 33148195

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Project description:Cultural psychology assumes that the ecocultural conditions of a particular setting shape children's pathways, resulting in multiple adaptive solutions to universal developmental tasks. While the adaptivity of attachment and children's psychosocial development during the early years has been thoroughly investigated, attachment research during middle childhood continues to reflect Western ideals of family. Adhering to ideas of monotropy, most studies only focus on parental attachment figures. However, this restricted empirical perspective does not only result in a Eurocentric bias, it also neglects theoretical reflections on the growing complexity of attachment during middle childhood, thus only considering a limited selection of all individuals contributing to the children's feeling of security, even in Western settings. To investigate the variability and adaptivity of attachment during middle childhood, this study assessed children's attachment figures in two extreme settings of development, introducing an exhaustive network perspective on attachment during this developmental stage. Children of the Cameroonian Nseh (N = 11) and German children from Bad Nauheim (N = 11) identified and differentiated all individuals contributing to their attachment need in an exploratory and transdisciplinary approach. The socio-structural composition of children's attachment networks follows the context-specific systems of care and concepts of interconnectedness and the ecological features of each setting, resulting in marked differences between both contexts. The functional composition, however, reflects children's preoccupation with similar developmental challenges across settings. Same-aged peers contribute to the children's feeling of safety in both settings, thereby deviating from previous reflections on their subordinate relevance during middle childhood. Overall, these results support the adaptiveness of children's attachment patterns while also demonstrating universal trends across contexts. They highlight the collective nature of attachment during middle childhood that exceeds the impact of individual dyads. Thus, broad and context-sensitive research strategies become a necessary addition to attachment research in order to generate an exhaustive understanding for children's development across cultural contexts.

Dataset Information

Reactive attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: the role of Secure Base Script knowledge.

Publications

Reactive attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: the role of Secure Base Script knowledge.

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