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Correlates of Attachment at School Age: Maternal Reported Stress, Mother‐Child Interaction, and Behavior Problems
Author(s) -
Moss Ellen,
Rousseau Denise,
Parent Sophie,
StLaurent Diane,
Saintonge Julie
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06219.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , maternal sensitivity , social relation , strange situation , attachment measures , attachment theory , social psychology
The contribution of attachment, maternal reported stress, and mother‐child interaction to the prediction of teacher‐reported behavior problems was examined for a French‐Canadian sample of 121 school‐age children. Attachment classifications were assigned on the basis of reunion behavior with mother when the children were between 5 and 7 years of age. Maternal reported stress and mother‐child interaction patterns were assessed concurrent to the attachment measure, whereas behavior problems were evaluated both at ages 5 to 7 and 7 to 9 years. Security of attachment significantly predicted the likelihood of school‐age behavior problems: Controlling/other children were most at risk for both externalizing and internalizing problems across both age periods. Younger ambivalent children presented clinical cut‐off levels of externalizing problems, and older avoidant boys had higher internalizing scores. Patterns of maternal‐reported stress and mother‐child interaction differed across attachment groups and contributed to prediction of school‐age behavior problems, partially mediating the relation between attachment and adaptation. Results support the importance of attachment in explaining school‐age adaptation and validity of attachment coding for children of this age.