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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

Child-care and family predictors of preschool attachment and stability from infancy

    Developmental Psychology
    |November 9, 2001
    PubMed

    This study used multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between child-care experience (in the context of overall family functioning) and preschool attachment. Attachment behavior was assessed at 36 months with the Strange Situation, and A, B, C, and D attachment classifications were assigned using the MacArthur coding system. Maternal sensitivity was the strongest predictor of preschool attachment classification. With respect to child-care effects, as at 15 months, no child-care factors (quantity, quality, or type) predicted. in and of themselves, attachment security at 36 months. However, 1 of 3 interactions involving child care that were detected at 15 months reemerged at 36 months: When maternal sensitivity was low, more hours per week in care somewhat increased the risk of the insecure-ambivalent (C) classification. There was significant but modest stability of attachment classifications from 15 to 36 months, especially for children with A and C classifications.

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