Narrative assessment of attachment representations: links between secure base scripts and adolescent attachment.
We explored the notion that adolescents possess mental secure base scripts of attachment-related events and examined, for the first time, whether these scripts were linked to adolescent attachment security. Results indicated that adolescents possessed a general script for mother and for father, and that they drew upon these scripts across different contexts. Adolescents' scripts for mother and for father were related, but only the scripts for mother predicted unique variance in adolescents' scripts for nonspecific others. Moreover, greater attachment security (as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview; AAI) was linked to greater access to and knowledge of secure base scripts for mothers, fathers, and nonspecific others. Only mother scripts, however, predicted unique variance in adolescents' AAI coherence of mind scores. Adolescents' romantic-attachment avoidance and anxiety scores (as assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationship Inventory) were linked negatively to scripts for mothers and nonspecific others, respectively.
Dykas
Matthew J
MJ
University of Maryland, USA. Matt.Dykas@unh.edu
Woodhouse
Susan S
SS
Cassidy
Jude
J
Waters
Harriet S
HS
D000293:Adolescent; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent