Attachment representations and representations of the self in relation to others: a study of preschool children in inner-city London

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between attachment representations and representations of the self in relation to others in a sample of 42 children aged between 4 and 5.9 years. The relationship between children's attachment representations and parents' style of regulating negative affect was also explored. The families were using local authority day-care facilities in a deprived inner-city area of London. The quality of attachment representations was assessed using a modified version of the Separation Anxiety Test. Assessments of the representation of the self in relation to others consisted of (a) assessment of the child's view of self within the relationship with the attachment figure, using an incomplete doll story procedure; and (b) assessment of the child's perceptions of the way others view them using a puppet interview. Significant connections between attachment representations, representations of self in relation to others, and parents' negative affect regulation were found. Children with secure attachment representations had a significantly more positive view of the self in the relationship with the attachment figure than children with disorganized attachment representations, and a significantly more positive perception of the way others view them than children with avoidant attachment representations. Children with secure attachment representations had parents with more adaptive ways of regulating their own negative affect than children with ambivalent or disorganized attachment representations.