Attachment in middle childhood: predictors, correlates, and implications for adaptation

ABSTRACT

Middle childhood is a relative lacuna in behavioral attachment research. We examined antecedents, correlates, and implications of parent–child attachment at age 10 in a longitudinal study of community families from a Midwestern US state (N = 102, mothers, fathers, and children). Dimensions of security, avoidance, ambivalence, and disorganization of children’s attachment to each parent were observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions and assessed using Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding (IABC). IABC scores were meaningfully associated with history of parental responsiveness (7–80 months) and with earlier and concurrent attachment security, assessed with other established instruments (parent- and observer-rated Attachment Q-Set at 25 months, children’s reports at age 8 and 10). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the overall history of responsive care was meaningfully associated with Security, Avoidance, and Disorganization at age 10, in both mother–child and father–child relationships, and that most recent care uniquely predicted Security. IABC scores were also meaningfully related to a broad range of measures of child adaptation at ages 10–12. Cumulative history of children’s security from infancy to middle childhood, integrating measures across relationships and methodologies, also predicted child adaptation at ages 10–12.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment
• middle childhood
• parenting
• child adaptive outcomes
• child maladaptive outcomes

Acknowledgements

This study has been funded by the grants from National Institute of Mental Health [grant number R01 MH63096, K02 MH01446] and from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant number R01 HD069171-11], and by Stuit Professorship to Grazyna Kochanska. We thank Molly Nikolas and Kristian E. Markon for their helpful input, and Joseph P. Allen, W. Andrew Collins, Mark T. Greenberg, Kathryn A. Kerns, and L. Alan Sroufe for their generous sharing of measures and advice. We also thank many team members, including Sanghag Kim, Jarilyn Akabogu, Emma Bulzoni, Megan Carlson, Ann Ingebritson, and Jessica O’Bleness for their help with data collection, coding, and file management, and all of the parents and children in Family Study for their commitment to this research over the years.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant number R01 HD069171-11];National Institute of Mental Health [grant number K02 MH01446, R01 MH63096].