Beyond the dyad: do family interactions influence children's attachment representations in middle childhood?

Abstract

This study examines the influence of mother–child and family interactions on the development of child attachment representations in middle childhood for a sample of 49 families. Mother–child interactions were observed during a snacktime in a lab setting (Moss, Rousseau, Parent, St-Laurent, & Saintonge, 1998) when children were 5–6 years old. Three years later, children's attachment representations were assessed using a doll play narrative procedure (Solomon, George, & DeJong, 1995) in the lab setting. Within 6 months of the second lab visit, family interactions were filmed during mealtime and coded using the Mealtime Interaction Coding System (MICS; Dickstein, Hayden, Schiller, Seifer, & San Antonio, 1994). Results showed clear differences between attachment groups on quality of mother–child and family interaction with the secure/confident group showing highest and the disorganized/frightened group showing lowest quality interactions. Family interactions predicted children's attachment representations, after controlling variance explained by prior mother–child interactions.

Keywords:

• attachment representations
• family relationships
• home observation
• mother–child interaction
• middle childhood

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Quebecois pour la Recherche Sociale to E. Moss and by doctoral fellowships from CQRS to K. Dubois-Comtois. We thank Chantal Cyr, Jean-François Bureau, and Jean Bégin for their assistance in the research project.