Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 13, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
07:56

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

Published on: September 19, 2019

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

Guy Bosmans1, Melisse Houbrechts1, Sofie Weyn2,3,4

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

Development and Psychopathology
|October 28, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Children

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.

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