Abstract
Attachment theory proposes that children's representations of interactions with caregivers guide information-processing about others, bridging interpersonal domains. In a longitudinal study (N=165), preschoolers (Mage =5.19years) completed the MacArthur Story Stem Battery to assess parent representations. At school-age (Mage =8.42years), children played a virtual ballgame with peers who eventually excluded them to track event-related cardiac slowing, a physiological correlate of rejection, especially when unexpected. At both ages, parents and teachers reported on peer and emotional problems. During exclusion versus inclusion-related events, cardiac slowing was associated with greater positive parent representations and fewer emerging peer problems. Cardiac slowing served as a mediator between positive parent representations and peer problems, supporting a potential psychophysiological mechanism underlying the generalization of attachment-related representations to peer relationships.
Highlights
Attachment theory proposes that children’s representations of interactions with caregivers guide informationprocessing about others, bridging interpersonal domains
This study aims to begin closing these fundamental gaps by testing an indirect pathway emanating from preschoolers’ parent representations through physiological reactivity during social exclusion to school-age peer relationships
Using Crayen’s (2010) Chi-square Difference Calculator (CDC) we found that the models
Summary
Attachment theory proposes that children’s representations of interactions with caregivers guide informationprocessing about others, bridging interpersonal domains. At schoolage (Mage = 8.42 years), children played a virtual ballgame with peers who eventually excluded them to track event-related cardiac slowing, a physiological correlate of rejection, especially when unexpected. At both ages, parents and teachers reported on peer and emotional problems. Klein (Grants KL 2315/1-1, KL2315/1-2 and KL 2338/1-2) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to Kai von Klitzing, Lars O. Many theories assume that children internalize repeated interactions with caregivers, forming representations or internal working models helping them to make sense and predict the future course of interpersonal exchanges (e.g., Bowlby, 1973; Stern, 1985). Looking time studies suggest that infants already possess representations of relationships to their caregivers, showing that insecurely attached infants look longer at displays of responsive versus unresponsive parenting, indicating greater expectancy violation, whereas securely attached infants show the reverse pattern (e.g., Johnson, Dweck, & Chen, 2007)
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