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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
Narrative assessment of attachment representations: links between secure base scripts and adolescent attachment
Matthew J Dykas1, Susan S Woodhouse, Jude Cassidy
1University of Maryland, USA. Matt.Dykas@unh.edu
Attachment & Human Development
|August 30, 2006
Summary
Adolescents have mental scripts for parents, linked to attachment security. Secure attachment enhances access to these scripts, influencing relationship views.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Attachment Theory
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Adolescence is a critical period for developing internal working models of attachment.
- Secure base scripts represent organized knowledge structures for attachment-related interactions.
- Previous research has not empirically investigated the existence or function of these scripts in adolescents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether adolescents possess mental secure base scripts for attachment figures (mother, father).
- To examine the link between these scripts and adolescent attachment security.
- To explore the relationship between script characteristics and attachment-related avoidance and anxiety.
Main Methods:
- Adolescents' mental secure base scripts for mother and father were assessed.
- Attachment security was measured using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI).
- Romantic attachment avoidance and anxiety were assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationship Inventory (ECRI).
Main Results:
- Adolescents demonstrated general scripts for mother and father, utilized across contexts.
- Greater attachment security (AAI) correlated with better access to and knowledge of secure base scripts.
- Mother scripts uniquely predicted AAI coherence of mind; both mother and nonspecific other scripts related negatively to romantic attachment avoidance and anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Adolescents possess and utilize mental secure base scripts for parental attachment figures.
- Secure attachment in adolescence is associated with more accessible and elaborated secure base scripts.
- These findings highlight the role of cognitive script structures in adolescent attachment and relationship experiences.
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