Maternal secure base scripts predict child attachment security in an at-risk sample

Accumulating evidence indicates that individuals possess attachment, or secure base, scripts based on experiences with attachment figures, and these attachment scripts predict important outcomes such as caregiving behaviors and offspring social-emotional adjustment. However, less is known about the association between parents' secure base scripts and child attachment security within at-risk samples, i.e., those known to be at greater risk for insecurity. The current study examined the relation between maternal secure base script representations and child attachment security by extending the use of the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA; Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh, 2004) to an at-risk sample. One-hundred mother-child pairs from a larger longitudinal study participated; the larger study focused on psychosocial risks related to parenting in a primarily low-income sample. In the present study, overall ASA script scores were first compared with two independent middle-class samples, one from a U.S. study, the other an international study. Scores and statistical patterns were comparable across all samples, indicating that the ASA was successful in tapping into maternal secure base script knowledge in our at-risk sample. The relation between maternal script scores and children's Attachment Q-Set (AQS; Waters, 1995) security scores were examined at ages 1 and 2 years. Dependency scores from the AQS were also included to establish discriminant validity for the script scores. Results indicated that maternal script knowledge predicted child security, while showing no relation to dependency scores. Findings indicate that the ASA can be an important and viable measure for assessing attachment representations in at-risk samples of caregivers.