Attachment organization and the early development of internal state language: A longitudinal perspective

Abstract

There are many postulates of a relation between quality of attachment with theory of mind and language functions (e.g., de Rosnay & Hughes, 2006). The current study examined in longitudinal design how different patterns of attachment are associated with usage of internal state language at ages 17, 23, 30 and 36 months. Transcripts of mother—child play situations were coded for eleven categories of internal state language: positive emotion, negative emotion, valence reversal, physiology, ability, volition, obligation, moral, cognition, emotion-modulatory particles and cognitive-contrast particles. Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed that securely attached children exhibit more frequent utterances of positive emotion, valence reversal, physiology, ability, cognition, emotion-modulatory, and cognitive-contrast particles at relatively earlier times. Negative emotion terms were more frequently uttered by avoidant-insecure children at 30 months and by disorganized children at 36 months.