Development of Attachment Representations and Maternal Sensitivity
Subject Areas : Clinical psychologyShayesteh Shokoufefard 1 , Mohamad Ali Mazaheri, Mazaheri 2 , Mahmoud Heidari 3 , Parisa Seyed Mousavi 4
1 - PhD Candidate Shahid Beheshti University
2 - PhD Shahid Beheshti University
3 - PhD Shahid Beheshti University
4 - PhD Shahid Beheshti University
Keywords: maternal sensitivity, development, attachment security, maternal representation,
Abstract :
T his aimed to examine maternal representation and sensitivity changes as key elements of caregiving system during development. Sixty mothers and their children, aged between 18 and 60 months, were assessed using the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), the Working Model of the Child Interview (Zeanah, Benoit, Hirshberg, Barton & Regan, 1994), the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (Pederson., Moran & Bento, 1999), and the Attachment Q-set (Waters & Deane, 1985) . The results of Chi-Square test indicated significant differences between observed and expected values among the variables in different ages. Mothers of 36-40 month children, in comparison with younger and older children’s mothers, were more likely to show "non-balanced" representation and low sensitivity. This result may be due to emerging negativity and independency during this age period and the mother's difficulty to adjust herself with these behavioral alterations. So caregiver may not be able to maintain her role as a sensitive and secure base as before. These findings suggested the impact of mother-child communication on child attachment security during development and the need to provide mothers with age-appropriate educational interventions.
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