Within secure attachment relationships, caregivers function as primary sources of self-regulation and foster empathy. Affective empathy refers to the direct sharing of others' emotional states, whereas cognitive empathy involves understanding the meaning of others' affective displays. Although robust evidence links secure attachment to empathy, research examining the mediating role of emotion regulation (ER) during middle childhood remains limited. Participants were 214 children (108 girls) aged 8-12 years (M = 9.28 ± 1.09) and their parents (86.3% mothers). Children completed the Security Scale (SS), assessing Safe Haven (SH) and Secure Base (SB), as well the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Children (QACE). Primary caregivers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist assessing children's ER and lability/negativity. Results indicated that global ER was positively associated with cognitive (rCEcog = 0.17, p < 0.05) but not affective empathy. Mediation analyses revealed that attachment was significantly associated with children's empathy (β = 0.40-0.53, p < 0.001); however, ER did not mediate this association. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that maternal SH and paternal SB were strongly associated with cognitive and global empathy, whereas only maternal SH was strongly associated with affective empathy. These results underscore the robustness of attachment theory as an organising framework for socioemotional development regarding the processes during middle childhood.

Preschool teachers' perceptions about relationships with students (teacher-child relationships [TCRs]) predict children's subsequent social competence (SC) and academic progress. Why this is so remains unclear. Do TCRs shape children's development, or do child attributes influence both TCRs and subsequent development? Relations between TCRs and other measures were examined for 185 preschoolers (107 girls, 89 longitudinal, and ~75% European American). Teachers rated TCRs and child social/affective behaviors. Teacher-child interactions (TCIs) and children's affect expressiveness were observed. Child SC and receptive vocabulary were assessed. TCRs were significantly correlated with each type of outcome. TCIs, SC, expressed affect, and teacher-rated behaviors also predicted TCRs longitudinally. Results suggest that TCR ratings predict subsequent adaptation because they summarize children's behavioral profiles rather than on TCR quality per se.

Previous studies suggest that mental representations of attachment can show moderate stability across childhood but none of these considered the child’s use of the Secure Base Script (SBS). This study tested the longitudinal stability of attachment representations from early to middle childhood, providing data that will allow us to determine whether the SBS score behaves like other attachment measures for early childhood in this regard. A sample of 70 Portuguese preschool children (36 girls) was assessed regarding their access to and use of the SBS when producing narratives relevant to attachment themes (e.g., separation, fear of ambiguous threat) at age 5 years using the Attachment Story Completion Task. Follow-up assessments were obtained at 8 and 9 years of age using the Kerns Security Scale. Security scores for both parents were obtained from the child in both years. All cross-time correlations were positive and significant. Subsequent tests on correlation magnitudes for mothers vs. fathers were not significant. Finally, correlations for mother/father security scores were significant at both age levels. Our findings indicate that children’s access to and use of the SBS in early childhood does predict their perceived quality of attachment with parents in middle childhood. Overall, our results indicate that access to and use of SBS in young children’s attachment-relevant narratives is a valid and potentially productive measure.

BACKGROUNDOxytocin (OXT) has attracted research interest for its potential involvement in many of the behavioural problems observed in childhood. Due to its logistical advantages, saliva is an attractive fluid to quantify neuropeptides in children. Salivary OXT has been suggested as a potential biomarker for psychopathology during childhood. However, several questions still remain about the extent to which, and under what conditions, concentrations of OXT in saliva can be reliably measured and are related to behavioural problems in preschool age children.METHODSSeven samples of saliva from 30 preschool children (17 girls) were collected in five different days at their homes. Three of the samples were collected by the children's parents at baseline daily routine conditions, and four of the samples were collected by researchers during two home-visits: before and after two 15-minute dyadic play sessions (one with mothers and one fathers) between each individual parent and the child. Oxytocin concentrations were quantified by Radioimmunoassay with prior extraction. Children's behavioural problems were assessed by the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF) questionnaire, completed by the child's' preschool teacher.RESULTSSalivary OXT measured in baseline samples could not predict any of the behavioural problems measured by the C-TRF. However, when measured after playing with parents salivary OXT showed a stronger pattern of negative correlations, specially with the depression and opposition scales of the C-TRF. Furthermore, salivary OXT was unlikely to be reliably measured using single sampling, but acceptable reliabilities were achieved when averaging several samples. Finally, the single measures of salivary OXT evoked after an episode of play with parents showed better reliabilities than collected at baseline.CONCLUSIONMeasurements of OXT evoked after positive affect interactions with parents seem to capture aspects of the OXT system in young children that might be relevant for understanding the role of this system in children's social behaviour.

We examine the factorial structure of the Security Scale Questionnaire (SSQ), exploring measurement invariance across mother-father-child attachment relationships, child sex, and country. We used the new 21-item SSQ version that integrates both safe haven and secure base behaviors in a two factors structure. Participants were 457 children (224 girls and 233 boys), ranging from 9 to 14 years old (M = 10.84, SD = 1.02) from Portuguese and USA samples. We confirmed the SSQ's two-factor structure, although four items were unrelated to the latent structure and excluded from the final model. Results showed that SSQ can be used to study both mother/child and father/child attachment relationships. Multi-group analyses suggested measurement invariance between boys and girls and between Portuguese and USA samples. Our findings suggest that the SSQ can be considered a valid and cost-effective tool to measure perceived attachment security in middle childhood for both mother/child and father/child relationships.

Children acquire and develop emotional regulatory skills in the context of parent-child attachment relationships, nonetheless empirical studies have focused mainly on mother and less information is available regarding the role of both parent-child attachment relationships. Furthermore, despite its importance, there is no information regarding preschool years. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the potential influences of both mother-child and father-child attachments on preschooler's later emotion regulation observed in the peer group. Fifty-three Portuguese nuclear families (mother, father and focal child) participated in the study; 47% of the children were boys and 53% were girls. Attachment Security was assessed at home using the Attachment Behavior Q-set when children were 3 years of age, and emotion regulation was observed in the preschool classrooms attended by the children at age 5, using the California child Q-sort to derive an Emotion Regulation Q-Scale. Results showed that the combined influence of both parent-child attachment security predicted better emotion regulation results, than did the specific contributions of each parent per se . Findings are consistent with integrative approaches that highlight the value of including both mother- and father-child attachment relationships, as well as their combined effect, when studying emotion regulation.

Early temperamental reactivity and attachment security are key predictors of children's social competence with peers. Leveraging meta-analytic evaluation of the significance of early attachment for social competence already available (Groh et al., 2014), this quantitative review examined the significance of early temperamental reactivity for social competence with peers and compared the strength of this association with that for attachment. Based on 140 independent samples (u = 382; N = 49,891), the meta-analytic association between early difficult temperament and (lower) social competence was significant (r = 0.13, z = 0.13; 95% CI [0.11, 0.16]), but decreased as time between assessments increased. Findings were similar for negative and positive emotionality. Greater negative emotionality was associated with lower social competence (r = 0.14, z = 0.14; 95% CI [0.11, 0.17], k = 93, u = 172), and greater positive emotionality was associated with better social competence (r = 0.18, z = 0.18; 95% CI [0.12, 0.24], k = 43, u = 54). Meta-analytic associations were reduced when overlapping informants and overlapping items in temperament and social competence assessments were excluded (difficult temperament: r = 0.10, z = 0.10; 95% CI [0.06, 0.13]; negative emotionality: r = 0.10, z = 0.10; 95% CI [0.05, 0.15]; positive emotionality: r = 0.10, z = 0.10; 95% CI [0.06, 0.14]). Meta-analytic associations between these broadband temperament dimensions and social competence were smaller than the meta-analytic association between attachment security and social competence. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of early temperament for social competence and ways to reconcile literatures on early temperament and attachment in future research on the developmental antecedents of children's social competence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of care in the first 54 months of life and the content of adolescents' attachment representations around age 18 years (N = 857; 51% female; 78% White, non-Hispanic; M income-to-needs ratio = 4.13), leveraging data from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). We identified a small positive association between the observed quality of early child care (but not quantity or type of care) and secure attachment states of mind as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (but not the Attachment Script Assessment) at age 18 years that was robust to demographic covariates and observations of maternal and paternal sensitivity during childhood. We observed no significant interactions among child care variables. Associations between early child care experiences and indicators of adolescent attachment were likewise not moderated by maternal sensitivity from infancy to mid-adolescence or by maternal reports of child temperament in early childhood.

Although peer conflict is a common experience in preschool classrooms, few studies have examined relations between coping with peer conflict and social competence (SC) in preschool samples. In this study, 166 preschoolers (95 male) were observed during dyadic play episodes designed to induce a resource-based conflict. Coping tactics were coded using Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner's framework, and their relations with indicators of SC, assessed using direct observations and sociometric interviews, were tested. On average, dyadic play episodes produced 4.19 conflict events per partner, with children's most common tactics being verbal and/or physical assertions (29% and 17% of all conflict events, respectively). Coping tactics showed moderate correspondence with current taxonomies, and regression analyses with SC demonstrated partial correspondence to studies of older children. Cooperative tactics reflected higher levels of SC, particularly for boys, and failure to cope with the dilemma (i.e., perseveration) reflected lower levels of SC. The use of disengaged tactics was not associated with SC, and only few differences in coping tactic use were associated with the dyad gender composition. Results suggest that coping tactics during resource-based conflicts among preschoolers are associated with measures of SC and, with slight adjustments, map onto existing frameworks.

Increasingly, attachment representations are being assessed via secure base script knowledge—the degree to which individuals show awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes the basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers during times of need. Limited research has assessed the links between secure base script knowledge and aspects of adult functioning or the role that secure base script knowledge may play in accounting for associations between early caregiving quality and adulthood functioning. We used follow-up assessments of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development cohort (N = 585) to examine whether secure base script knowledge as measured by the adolescent version of the Attachment Script Assessment at age 18 years: (a) is associated with later romantic relationship quality (assessed via perceived partner’s warmth and hostility), depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) at age 26 years, and (b) mediates expected associations between the quality of maternal and paternal sensitivity across the first 15 years of life and age-26 outcomes. More access to and elaborated knowledge of the secure base script predicted less extreme hostility with romantic partners, and better emotional and physical health (i.e., fewer depressive symptoms and lower BMI). Moreover, secure base script knowledge mediated links between early maternal and paternal sensitivity and both later romantic partner hostility and depressive symptoms, but not BMI.

Using a sample of Portuguese preschool-age children, we aimed to identify different play profiles based on teachers’ descriptions of social and non-social behaviors, as well as characterize them in terms of children’s characteristics (sex and temperament) and fathers’ parenting styles (e.g., warmth and involvement or punitive strategies). The 243 children were distributed across four profiles (identified through a two-stage cluster analysis): Solitary/Reticent, Social Rough, Social, and Social Solitary. A univariate effect was found between play profiles and children’s effortful control, as well as fathers’ punitive strategies. In addition, a significant multivariate interaction was found between child’s sex and the Solitary/Reticent and Social Rough profiles for father’s punitive strategies. In this sample, children with social play profiles seem to use diverse types of behaviors during their interactions with peers and in being adjusted within the group. As children’s early experiences with peers are a central context for healthy development, a better understating of the diversity of play profiles and its predictors is important for early interventions.

Correlated trait-correlated method minus one was used to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity of Social Competence Behavior Evaluation questionnaire (Social Competence, Anger-Aggression, Anxiety-Withdrawal) between multiple raters. A total of 369 children (173 boys and 196 girls; M age = 55.85, SD age = 11.54) were rated by their mothers, fathers, and teachers. Results showed more convergence between parents than parent-teacher ratings. Mother-teacher share a common view of child behavior that is not shared with father. Parents had more difficulty distinguishing internalizing and externalizing behaviors (especially fathers). Measurement invariance across child sex was explored, results imply that differences between boys and girls were not due to measure. Girls (compare to boys) were described as more social competent by their fathers and teachers, while boys as more aggressive by mothers and teachers.

As associações entre a segurança da vinculação e múltiplos aspetos do desenvolvimento emocional têm sido estudadas durante várias décadas. Embora estes estudos sejam válidos, algumas respostas relacionadas com as representações de vinculação e o conhecimento emocional continuam em aberto. Participaram neste estudo crianças de idade pré-escolar (N=40). Utilizámos o Attachment Story Completion Task como medida de vinculação das crianças, com as representações a serem avaliadas enquanto acesso e uso do script de base segura (SBS) para organizar as narrativas de vinculação das crianças. O conhecimento emocional foi avaliado com recurso ao Teste do Conhecimento das Emoções. O nosso principal objetivo era demonstrar que o SBS se comporta como uma típica medida das representações de vinculação, no que diz respeito à sua associação com a compreensão das emoções por parte das crianças. Os resultados sugerem que as crianças com histórias de vinculação segura tendem a ter uma maior base de conhecimento emocional. A medida de SBS comportou-se de forma semelhante a outras medidas de segurança de vinculação, sugerindo a sua validade enquanto medida de representações de vinculação durante a infância.

Building on aframework presented by Bretherton and associates, Waters and associates argued that interaction sequences relevant to children's access to and use of asecure base for exploration during infancy/toddlerhood become internalized as script-like representations. For adults, these scripted representations are readily assessed using word-prompt lists d to elicit attachment relevant narratives. However, this method is not appropriate during early childhood. Waters and associates used stories from Bretherton's Attachment Story Completion Task for this purpose. However, the method they used to score secure base script use is not efficient for larger samples (e.g. over 50), and new approaches for scoring have been designed. We describe two approaches to story selection and scoring for access to and use of the secure base script. The two scoring methods show substantial and significant overlap and also have significant associations with other methods of measuring attachment security during early childhood.

Recent meta-analyses have reported significant effects of attachment quality on social competence, mostly using observational assessments of attachment behavior to assess security. We analyze the associations between attachment security - assessed as a secure base script, and social competence with peers - measured by teachers' ratings on two self-report instruments, in a Portuguese sample of 82 preschool children (34 boys and 48 girls). We also tested the association between children's secure base script scores and teacher ratings for externalizing and internalizing symptomatology. Results show significant sex differences. Girls had higher scores on secure base script and were rated by teachers as more socially competent, while boys received higher ratings for aggressive/externalizing behaviors. Nonetheless, when the effect of child sex was controlled, attachment representations were positively associated with child social competence and negatively associated with ratings of externalizing behaviors.

This study investigated the network dynamics of affiliative ties in Portuguese preschool children, over three consecutive school years, using stochastic actor-based models. Our first goal was to test the extent to which different criteria to identify ties from observational data lead to different theoretical interpretations of model estimates. Contrary to past observational studies the data we use here takes into account the identities of children responsible for initiating social interactions. The second goal was to test the influence of two interaction effects involving reciprocity to analyze if reciprocity is constrained by the presence of transitive ties and if it constrains the creation and maintenance of new unreciprocated ties. Results showed that most effects were robust to changes in criteria to operationalize ties, supporting previous descriptions of preschool network dynamics. Also, contrary to recent findings in older samples, being embedded in a transitive triad did not make an unreciprocated dyad more likely to be maintained. Finally, results showed that the existence of reciprocal ties decreased preschool children's tendency to create new ties.

The papers in this special issue of Attachment & Human Development address questions concerning relations between attachment representations and social competence during early childhood in samples from five different countries. All studies examined these questions using the concept of the "secure base script" that has been widely studied in samples of adults, adolescents, and school-age children. In all samples, the secure base script was scored from attachment-relevant narratives elicited from children in a doll-play task. Consistent with existing literatures, the secure base script score had positive and significant associations with adult ratings of child social competence, even in the presence of potential confounding covariates.

The links between attachment security and multiple aspects of emotional development have been studied for several decades. Although these studies are valuable insofar some answers related to representations of attachment and emotion knowledge are still open. Preschool aged children (N=40) participated in this study. We used the Attachment Story Completion Task as their attachment measure, with representations measured as access to and use of the Secure Base Script (SBS) to organize children’s attachment relevant narratives. Emotional knowledge was assessed using the Affect Knowledge Test. Our main goal was to demonstrate that the SBS behaves like a typical measure of attachment representations with respect to its relations with children’s emotion understanding. Results suggested that children with secure attachment histories tend to have a larger fund of emotion knowledge. The SBS measure behaved similarly to other measures of attachment security suggesting its validity as a measure of attachment representations during early childhood.