Does secure base script knowledge mediate associations between observed parental caregiving during childhood and adult romantic relationship quality and health?

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, attachment representations are being assessed via secure base script knowledge – the degree to which individuals show awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes the basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers during times of need. Limited research has assessed the links between secure base script knowledge and aspects of adult functioning and the role that secure base script knowledge may play in accounting for associations between early caregiving quality and adulthood functioning. We used follow-up assessments of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development cohort (N = 585) to examine whether secure base script knowledge at age 18 years: (a) is associated with later romantic relationship quality, depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) at age 26 years, and (b) mediates expected associations between the quality of maternal and paternal sensitivity across the first 15 years of life and age-26 outcomes. More access to, and elaborated knowledge of the secure base script predicted less extreme hostility with romantic partners, and better emotional and physical health. Moreover, secure base script knowledge mediated the links between early maternal and paternal sensitivity and both later romantic partner hostility and depressive symptoms, but not BMI.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental sensitivity
• secure base script knowledge
• romantic relationships
• depressive symptoms
• physical health

Author note

A cooperative agreement (5 U10 HD027040) between the study investigators that included Cathryn Booth-LaForce, Deborah Lowe Vandell, and Glenn I. Roisman and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) supported the design and data collection of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) from birth through age 15 years. The age 18-year follow-up data collection was supported by the NICHD under Award Number R01 HD054822 to Cathryn Booth-LaForce and a grant from the NICHD under Award Number R01 HD069442 to Glenn I. Roisman supported the coding of the Attachment Script Assessments. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation supported data collection at age 26 years under Award Number G-2017-00786 to Deborah Lowe Vandell. Current assessments of the SECCYD with a focus on adult health are supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute under Award Number R01 HL130103 to Maria Bleil and by the NICHD under Award Number R01 HD091132 to Maria Bleil and Glenn I. Roisman. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I am reporting that the authors of this manuscript have no interests to disclose.