Attachment-related expectations and mother-referent memory bias in middle childhood

Understanding the cognitive processing of attachment-relevant information has become a major focus of attachment research. Previous research demonstrated links between attachment and memory for attachment-related information, but results were contradictory and did not control for mood-effects. The current study aimed to provide a conceptual framework to capture inconsistencies. A straightforward memory bias hypothesis was derived and tested. Fifty children (aged 10-12) completed questionnaires assessing confidence in maternal support and depressive symptoms, and a memory task in which they recalled positive and negative words that referred to previous interactions with mother. Less confidence in maternal support and more depressive symptoms were linked to a more negative mother-related memory bias. The effect of confidence in maternal support remained marginally significant when controlling for depressive symptoms, explaining the initial effect of depressive symptoms. These findings support attachment theory's hypothesis that attachment-relevant information is processed in an attachment expectation-congruent way

State trust in middle childhood: an experimental manipulation of maternal support

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Attachment and emotion-regulation in middle childhood : the role of mother-related information processing, support-seeking towards mother, and maternal secure base support

In middle childhood, maternal inadequacy to help children regulate negative emotions in times of stress is found to increase the risk for developing psychopathology. Nevertheless, little is known about stress-regulation within middle childhood mother-child relationships. Attachment theory is an interesting framework for understanding these stress-regulatoryprocesses. It predicts that, based on experiences with parental supportin times of stress, children develop expectations regarding parental availability and support. These expectations influence their social information processing, which, in turn, influences their interpersonal behavior in times of stress, namely whether or not they seek parental support, and explore challenging stimuli. Finally, support-seeking is thought to increase children’s chances for successful stress-regulation, decreasingthe risk to develop psychopathology. These predictions from attachment theory have, however, not been validated in middle childhood. The current dissertation aimed to gain more insight in stress-regulatory processesin middle childhood mother-child relationships.The first study demonstrated that less trust in maternal support was related to a more negative memory bias for mother-referent information, supporting the hypothesis that children’s memory processing is biased in congruence with their attachment expectations.The second study demonstrated that children with less trust in maternal support had a stronger attentional focus towards mother-pictures versus simultaneouslypresented threatening stimuli, compared to children with more trust. This finding supported the hypothesis that an increased attentional focus towards mother in children with less trust, impairs these children’s exploration.The third study manipulated proximity-seeking towards versus avoidance of mother, and demonstrated that avoiding mother was less effective for regulating negative emotions in children withhigher scores on anxious attachment and children with higher scores on avoidant attachment. Moreover, for avoidant attachment, similar effects were found for the regulation of physiological stress assessed with skinconductance. For more secure children, stress- and emotion-regulation was independent of whether children approached or avoided mother.The fourth study demonstrated that higher scores on anxious attachment and avoidant attachment were related to slower support-seekingduring stress, and that slower support-seeking was related to more depressive symptoms at approximately 21months follow-up if children encountered a high amount of life-events.The fifth study investigated the emotion-regulatory effect of maternal secure base support, maternal presence, and maternal absence. In the latter design, emotion-regulation was independent of maternal behavior and children’s attachmentexpectations. Taken together, these results of the studies in this doctoral project suggest that (1) children’s expectations regarding maternal support influence children’s cognitive processing of attachment-related information, and that (2) support-seeking towards mother is an important stress-regulating strategy in middle childhood, but thatlinks with individual differences in attachment depend on the intensityof the stressor. Finally, (3) results regarding the emotion-regulatory effect of maternal secure base support are inconclusive, but the applieddesign might be a useful base for future research..status: publishe

The specificity of autobiographical attachment memories in early adolescence: The role of mother-child communication and attachment-related beliefs

Although autobiographical memory specificity is an important developmental feature fostering adaptation throughout life, little is known about factors related to interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity. The current study investigated associations with early adolescents' communication with mother about their experiences and their trust in her support. For this reason, 80 general population children (ages ranging from 10 to 13) were asked to retrieve specific memories of interactions with mother. Communication and trust in maternal support were measured using questionnaires. Results showed that specificity of autobiographical memories was directly linked with communication, but not with trust in maternal support. Moreover, evidence was found in favor of an indirect effect of trust on autobiographical memory specificity through communication. This study suggests that trust-related mother-child communication is important to understand interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity. © The Author(s) 2012.status: publishe

The specificity of autobiographical memories in early adolescence: the role of mother-child communication and attachment-related beliefs

Although autobiographical memory specificity is an important developmental feature fostering adaptation throughout life, little is known about factors related to interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity. The current study investigated associations with early adolescents' communication with mother about their experiences and their trust in her support. For this reason, 80 general population children (ages ranging from 10 to 13) were asked to retrieve specific memories of interactions with mother. Communication and trust in maternal support were measured using questionnaires. Results showed that specificity of autobiographical memories was directly linked with communication, but not with trust in maternal support. Moreover, evidence was found in favor of an indirect effect of trust on autobiographical memory specificity through communication. This study suggests that trust-related mother-child communication is important to understand interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity

Attachment-related Expectations and Mother-referent Memory Bias in Middle Childhood

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The specificity of autobiographical attachment memories in children: The role of attachment relationships and links with depression

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Attachment-related Memory Biases: The Role of Attachment Expectations

status: publishe