title: Moving beyond the mother-child dyad: exploring the link between maternal sensitivity and siblings' attachment styles.
abstract: Attachment theory asserts that secure attachment representations are developed through sensitive and consistent caregiving. If sensitive caregiving is a constant characteristic of the parent, then siblings should have concordant attachment classifications. The authors explored maternal attachment quality assessed by the Attachment Q-Set, maternal sensitivity, and specific mother-child interactions between siblings. Hour-long observations took place in the homes of 9 preschool sibling pairs and their immediate caregivers. The interactions were analyzed using a modified version of Bales' Small Group Analysis. The results reveal attachment discordance in a third of sibling pairs. While maternal sensitivity was higher with older siblings and mothers displayed more positive emotions when interacting with their younger siblings, attachment quality was not associated with birth order. Therefore, a shift toward a more contextual, family-based perspective of attachment is recommended to further understand how attachment strategies are created and maintained within the child's everyday context.
authors.affiliation: a University of Southampton , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Lucy R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Betts
authors.forename: Jean D M
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Underwood
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attachment; maternal sensitivity; mother–child relationship; siblings