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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 13, 2026

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

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Published on: September 19, 2019

Environmental sensitivity, supportive parenting, and the development of attachment and internalizing problems.

Guy Bosmans¹, Melisse Houbrechts¹, Sofie Weyn^2,3,4

¹Clinical psychology Research Group, KU Leuvenhttps://ror.org/05f950310, Leuven, Belgium.

Development and Psychopathology

|October 28, 2025

Summary

Children

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Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Child Psychology
Attachment Theory

Background:

Supportive parenting is linked to secure attachment and children's emotional well-being.
The moderating role of child-specific factors, such as environmental sensitivity, in these associations is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether children's environmental sensitivity moderates the relationship between supportive parenting and secure attachment.
To examine if environmental sensitivity moderates the association between secure attachment and the development of internalizing problems.

Main Methods:

Longitudinal study with 614 children over two years and three data waves.
Attachment assessed using the Secure Base Script (SBS) narrative task.
Self-report questionnaires for supportive parenting, environmental sensitivity, and depressive symptoms; parent-report for internalizing problems.

Main Results:

Environmental sensitivity moderated the link between supportive parenting and attachment; less supportive parenting was associated with lower SBS knowledge in more sensitive children.
Environmental sensitivity also moderated the link between SBS knowledge and internalizing problems; less SBS knowledge was associated with more internalizing problems in more sensitive children.

Conclusions:

Children's environmental sensitivity plays a crucial role in how parenting influences attachment.
Environmental sensitivity impacts the link between secure attachment and the development of internalizing problems.
Future attachment research should consider individual differences in environmental sensitivity.