Story Completion Task Research Articles

Thou Shalt Not Covet Another Man? Exploring Constructions of Same‐Sex and Different‐Sex Infidelity Using Story Completion

AbstractThis study explores conceptualisations of same‐ versus different‐sex infidelity in the context of a heterosexual marriage using story completion. A convenience sample of 57 female and male participants completed one of four versions of a story stem featuring a husband who is either emotionally or sexually unfaithful with a woman or a man. A social constructionist thematic analysis found that same‐sex infidelity was conceptualised as the ‘worst case scenario’ and was underpinned by a heteronormative framing of repressed homosexuality. By contrast, heterosexual infidelity was understood in terms of relational deficits and the wife assuming responsibility for these. Overall, the analysis shows that in making sense of same‐sex and heterosexual infidelity, the participants drew on familiar discourses of sexuality and gender, suggesting that despite social psychological theorising related to sexual fluidity, essentialist ideas remain firmly in place. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the usefulness of a rarely used tool—the story completion task—for accessing socio‐cultural discourses and dominant meanings surrounding a particular topic. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Emotion regulation strategies in preschool children.

This study investigated the development of emotion regulation strategies as reflected in the narratives of children between the ages of 3 and 6years. An experimental procedure based on story completion tasks was devised to elicit the emotion-related narratives of 69 preschool children. Coding of the narratives led to the observation of different emotion regulation strategies: Behavioural strategies, social support, and cognitive reappraisal. Several significant gender and age differences were identified in the use of these strategies. In addition, verbal skills, non-verbal intelligence, and emotion comprehension were found to be associated with use of the observed emotion regulation strategies, although only at specific ages.

Stability of young children's attachment representations: Influence of children's and caregiver's characteristics

This research explores the stability of attachment representations, assessed by the Attachment Story Completion Task, within early childhood. Hypotheses were also formed about the influence of parenting, externalizing behavior and intelligence quotient (IQ) on the developmental course of children's attachment representations. Data were collected from 358 French-speaking Belgian children. Security and disorganization showed a linear improvement with age. The effect of time on the two growth curves was influenced by the child's externalizing behavior. When language abilities were controlled for in a subsample of referred children for externalizing behavior, the growth in security was found to be influenced by reasoning IQ, but the effects for disorganization were unchanged. The implications of the results for both research and clinical purposes are discussed.

Associations Between Attachment Security and Social Competence in Preschool Children

Attachment theorists suggest that attachment security with parents supports the quality of social adaptation in peer groups during early childhood, and numerous studies supporting this conjecture have been published. Most of these studies used enacted representations rather than mental representations of attachment security, and most studies examining mental representations used adult (parent or teacher) ratings of peer-group adaptation. Our study tested relations between preschool children's (N = 147; age 48-69 months) mental representations of attachment by using the Attachment Story Completion Task and child-level indicators of social competence based on direct observations and sociometric interviews. General intelligence tests were administered to control for effects of developmental level on child narrative production. Analyses revealed positive, significant associations between attachment measures and all social competence composites. Children with more secure attachment representations were more socially engaged and more likely to exhibit social, emotional, and cognitive skills that contribute to peer acceptance. Results support the hypothesis that attachment security is a foundational support for peer social competence.

Associations Between Attachment Security and Social Competence in Preschool Children

Attachment theorists suggest that attachment security with parents supports the quality of social adaptation in peer groups during early childhood, and numerous studies supporting this conjecture have been published. Most of these studies used enacted representations rather than mental representations of attachment security, and most studies examining mental representations used adult (parent or teacher) ratings of peer-group adaptation. Our study tested relations between preschool children's ( N = 147; age 48-69 months) mental representations of attachment by using the Attachment Story Completion Task and child-level indicators of social competence based on direct observations and sociometric interviews. General intelligence tests were administered to control for effects of developmental level on child narrative production. Analyses revealed positive, significant associations between attachment measures and all social competence composites. Children with more secure attachment representations were more socially engaged and more likely to exhibit social, emotional, and cognitive skills that contribute to peer acceptance. Results support the hypothesis that attachment security is a foundational support for peer social competence.

Concordance of Attachment Representations in Preschool Siblings Assessed by the Attachment Story Completion Task

Several studies have indicated only a modest concordance of attachment security in siblings in infancy. Until now, very little was known about the concordance of siblings’ attachment security beyond infancy, as assessed by the attachment story completion task. This cross-sectional study aims to examine the concordance of attachment representations of 38 first-born (4–7 years) and 38 second-born (3–5 years) siblings living in middle-class two-parent families. Personality factors and the level of parenting stress of the biological mothers (30–43 years) were analysed in relation to children’s attachment security. The results indicate a 43 % secure-insecure concordance rate between siblings’ attachment representations. Sibling’s gender correspondence, age differences and differences in parenting stress were not related to attachment concordance whereas gender of the first-born child was related to attachment concordance. The results also indicate that older children more frequently had secure attachment representations compared to younger children and that attachment insecurity was associated with greater negative impacts of life events, lower maternal life satisfaction and higher parenting stress. Our study indicates that siblings’ attachment representations may lack concordance even when siblings are assessed by the same method at the same time. If maternal and environmental factors are able to explain a substantial amount of variance in the attachment security of individual children, non-shared environmental factors might be underestimated when studying siblings’ attachment representations. The significant effect of age on children’s attachment representations found in this study suggests the need for future research on the stability of attachment representations during the preschool years.

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial characteristics in Santiago, Chile

The present research examines how preschoolers' attachment representations relate to maternal psychosocial problems, differentiating by gender. One hundred and thirty-seven mothers along with their 36–49 month old children (51 female) who attend child-care centers were evaluated. Trained researchers administered interviews and collected self-reported measures of family risk factors, depressive symptoms and parenting stress from each mother. The children were assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task and the CCH Q-sort coding system. Results show that children of both genders scored higher in security than in other dimensions and girls showed higher security and lower insecurity levels than boys. General maternal stress levels relate directly to girls' and indirectly to boys' insecurity levels. Regarding family risk factors, it seems that environment instability, along with the lack of routines, low parental caregiving capacities and conflictive family interactions interfere negatively with the development of a secure internal working model in both girls and boys.

VINCULAÇÃO E MODELO INTERNO DINÂMICO DO SELF EM CRIANÇAS DE IDADE PRÉ-ESCOLAR

Attachment theory suggests that notions about the self and representations of the attachment relationships become internalized over the time within a matching mode, with early interactions performing a crucial role on this process. Nevertheless, few studies looked at the associations between self-concept and attachment quality during the preschool period, as this study aims to do. Participants were 70 Portuguese children, aged between 4 and 5 years. Quality of attachment representations was assessed through the Attachment Story Completion Task ASCT (Bretherton et al., 1990). All the 5 stories were videotaped and rated, by three blinded trained coders, on a 8-point scale for Coherence and Security (Bretherton, Ridgeway & Cassidy, 1990). Inter-rater agreement reached, respectively, 0,81 and 0,85. Self representations were assessed using the Puppet Interview (Cassidy, 1986) to evaluate the internal working model of the self. Results show the relation between attachment relationship and the organization of the child self  Manuela Verissimo ISPA-IUL Rua Jardim do Tabaco, no34, 1149-041 Lisboa. Email: mverissimo@ispa.pt Alexandra Pinto, Ana Gatinho, Filipa Silva, Manuela Verissimo & Antonio J. Santos 516 internal working model. Children with a secure attachment model showed a more positive internal model of the self. Our results support the presence of connections between the quality of the attachment representations and the global representation of the self. In the future it would also be important to diversify our sample, presently a non-risk one, so that different patterns of association between self-concept and attachment representations can

Concordance of Attachment Representations in Mother-/Father-Child Dyads and between Siblings

This study focuses on the concordance of attachment representations in twoparent, two-child families as an original contribution to the current attachment literature. It uses both categorical attachment patterns and continuous scores. Data was collected on 92 native French-speaking Belgian families. In order to disentangle conceptual and methodological interpretations, each hypothesis was tested in two complementary ways: first in a sample where the parent completed the Cartes pour les Modeles Internes de Relation (CaMir) and their young children (four- to seven-year-olds) the French version of the Attachment Story Completion Task (Fr-ASCT) and second, in a sample where both parents and their teenage to young-adult children (15- to 34-year-olds) completed the CaMir. Our results indicated very little if any concordance of attachment representations, either when using categorical scores or when using continuous scores. The implications of these results for both theoretical and research purposes are discussed.

Contribution of attachment security to the prediction of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in preschoolers victims of sexual abuse

ObjectivesThis study pursued three objectives: provide a descriptive behavioral profile of preschool-aged children having disclosed sexual abuse (SA); assess their attachment representations; and explore whether SA characteristics and child attachment security can predict children's symptomatology, while controlling for parental psychological distress. MethodParents consulting a specialized medical clinic in Montreal following the child's disclosure of sexual abuse (n=116) completed measures regarding parental psychological distress (Échelle de Détresse Psychologique de l’Enquête de Santé Québec; Préville, Boyer, Potvin, Perrault, & Légaré, 1992) and behavioral and psychological problems concerning their preschool-aged children (3 to 6 years) (Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 11/2–5 (CBCL) (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000a). Children responded to a semi-structured interview assessing their attachment representations (Attachment Story Completion Task; Bretherton, Oppenheim, Buchsbaum, & Emde, 1990). Data concerning SA characteristics were provided by medical records (History of Victimization Form; Wolfe, Gentile, & Boudreau, 1987). ResultsSecure attachment was observed in 58.6% of the children evaluated, and 73.3% of the children had experienced a very severe SA. Parental psychological distress, the intra-familial nature of the sexual abuse experienced, and disorganised/disoriented child attachment were found to predict clinical levels of internalizing behavior problems. Clinical levels of externalizing behavior problems were predicted by child age, avoidant attachment and disorganized/disoriented attachment. ConclusionsDisorganised/disoriented attachment brings a unique contribution to the prediction of sexually abused preschoolers’ clinical internalizing and externalizing difficulties, beyond SA characteristics (type and severity) and parental psychological distress. This underscores the importance of attachment representations in the prediction of emotional and behavioural difficulties in sexually abused children. Practice implications: clinical intervention for sexually abused preschoolers should focus on personal and familial variables, namely attachment security and the quality of parent–child relationships.

유아-부모 애착이 유아의 상호 우정과 상호 반감관계에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the child-mother attachment and the child-father attachment (secure attachment, insecure avoidant and insecure disorganized attachment) on children`s mutual friendships and mutual antipathy relations. The subjects consisted of 116 5-6 year old kindergarteners (64 boys & 52 girls) and they were asked to respond to the Attachment Story Completion Task by Bretherton & Cassidy (1990), based on the sociometric popularity postulated by Coie & Dodge (1988). Data were analyzed by the logistic regression analysis and the one-way ANOVA method and the Scheffe test in multiple comparisons analysis. The results concluded that 1)There were differences in terms of child-mother attachment and child-father attachment when it came to a child`s mutual friendship. The secure child-mother and child-father attachment groups had more mutual friendships than the insecure attachment groups. 2)There were no differences in terms of child-mother attachment and child-father attachment when it came to child`s mutual antipathy. 3) 78.0% of the mutual friendships were accurately classified as existence with respect to child-mother and child-father attachment.

Maternal interactive behaviour as a predictor of preschoolers' attachment representations among full term and premature samples

BackgroundAssociations between maternal sensitivity and child attachment have been established in many samples, but the strength of the association varies across populations. The sensitivity–attachment link has never been examined at the level of representations nor among premature samples. ObjectiveThe present study is aimed at exploring associations between maternal interactive behaviour and children's attachment representations in a population of preterm and full-term infants. MethodMaternal interactive behaviour was assessed at 6 and 18months (Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale & Care Index) and children's attachment representations were measured at 42months (Attachment Story Completion Task) in a sample of preterm (N=48) and full-term (N=23) infants. ResultsMaternal unresponsiveness at 6months and sensitivity at 18months explained 54% of the variance of disorganized attachment representations in the full-term group but was not significantly related to attachment patterns in the preterm group. ConclusionThese results corroborate previous work on the causes of disorganized attachment and also point to the need to consider the development of attachment differently for children evolving in specific developmental contexts. They especially stress the importance of distinguishing between risk factors associated with the mother as opposed to the child.

Children's attachment-related self-worth: a multi-method investigation of postdivorce preschoolers’ relationships with their mothers and peers

Three related hypotheses derived from attachment theory were examined in this multi-informant and multi-method study of 71 postdivorce mothers and their preschool children (40 boys, 31 girls): (1) mother–child interactions observed at home will be related to attachment-related representations by children (Attachment Story Completion Task or ASCT) and mothers (Parent Attachment Interview or PAI); and (2) these variables will be inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms and positively with social support (from mother's parents and the child's father); and (3) mother–child observations and representations will predict teacher-rated peer behavior. Where appropriate, child gender, maternal income, and child receptive language were statistically controlled. More harmonious observed mother–child interactions were associated with children's sense of self-worth in family relationships (ASCT) and maternal accounts of sensitive-effective guidance (PAI). Observational and representational variables were inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers' satisfaction with social support from their parents was indirectly linked to the family variables while social support from the child's father had no measurable effect on the mother–child variables. Mother–child variables and teacher ratings were uncorrelated but explained independent variance in ASCT self-worth scores.

Puerto Rican kindergartners' self-worth as coded from the Attachment Story Completion Task: correlated with other self-evaluation measures and ratings of child behavior toward mothers and peers

This multi-method multi-informant study assessed 105 Puerto Rican kindergartners' sense of self-worth in family relationships as coded from their responses to the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). The ASCT scores were compared with responses to two other age-appropriate self-evaluation measures (the Cassidy Puppet Interview and the Pictorial Scales of Social Acceptance). Correlations of children's scores on the three self-measures with maternal ratings of the mother–child relationship and teacher ratings of the child's prosocial behavior with peers were then compared. ASCT self-worth and Puppet Interview scores were strongly correlated with each other and both were modestly related to the pictorial social acceptance scales. All three measures were significantly associated with maternal and teacher reports of child behavior, but the strongest correlations were obtained with the ASCT. Coding the ASCT in terms of self-worth appears to be a promising approach for evaluating young children's (vicariously expressed) self-worth in family relationships.

Troubles réactionnels de l’attachement et compétences émotionnelles chez l’enfant âgé de cinq à huit ans

BackgroundThe quality of interactions experienced with primary attachment figures influences the development of emotional skills. On the other hand, we know how emotions fill a critical adaptive role for the social adjustment, in that they assume both a communicative function and an informative value. In this paper, we were particularly interested in how children's patterns of attachment were expressed in terms of ability to understand other's emotions. According to Laible & Thompson's observations (1998), we tested the following hypothesis: insecure attachment representations are associated with a poverty of skills in decoding emotional signals. They especially would affect the perception of negative emotional expressions, because of their threatening nature. MethodWe tested this hypothesis by the meeting of four children of primary school age (5 to 8years old) with a reactive attachment disorder, and four peer controls, matched for gender and age. At first, the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton et al., 1990) allowed us to specify the type of attachment disorder for each child of the clinical group. Secondly, inspired by Pollak et al.’s study, we proposed to all subjects a recognition task of facial emotional expressions. ResultsWe observed in the clinical group low average rates of identification of basic and primary negative emotions. But if the accuracy of judgments is a function of emotion's valence, it actually seems more especially dependent of the child's attachment pattern. More specifically, whereas some of them tend to avoid dealing with negative emotions (desactivation of attachment strategy), others fit into an opposite pattern of hypersensitivity to these emotions (hyperactivation). Particular ways of emotional perception finally appear typical of specific patterns of attachment. Moreover, the finding of specific patterns of errors, and particularly the central role of sadness in these confusions would demonstrate an immaturity of empathic and symbolic skills in children suffering from this kind of disorder. ConclusionThese results, although obtained from a small sample of children, nevertheless open interesting perspectives for research, both theoretical and methodological level. They especially concern difficulties experienced by these children to consider emotion to a symbolic level and the various defenses set up in front of emotional life, prevent their access to others’ point of view. This seems causing many social dysregulations tending to increase, in turn, their deficiencies in the affective area.

L’attachement chez les enfants abandonnés en institution résidentielle à Kinshasa

This study examines the quality of attachment in a group of 42 abandoned children living in residential institutions and 42 children living in their family of origin in Kinshasa, all aged four to seven years. The objective of this paper is to determine the effect of institutional care on the quality of attachment of abandoned children. The method involves analysis of children's reports through the stories collected by the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT), the main instrument that enabled the collection of data. Our results show that the rate of attachment of children in the two groups are different: 47.6 % living in institutions have a disorganized attachment against only 11.9 % for the group of children living in family; 33.3 % of children living in institutions showed a secure attachment compared to 66.7 % for those living in family. Despite the gap of difference in attachment representations of the two groups, the study shows that the abandoned children in institutions in Kinshasa have achieved a security rate higher than what is revealed by similar studies in population elsewhere. This index has revealed the existence of a resilient force to be tapped in order to promote more secure attachment in abandoned children in Kinshasa. It was pointed out the importance for the institutions staff for abandoned children, to havemore attention to the history and experiences of each child, having in mind the consequences of trauma caused by abandonment.

Intergenerational transmission of attachment representations in the context of single parenthood in France.

Despite a dramatic increase of single parenthood during the past decades, parent-child transmission of attachment has almost always been examined in intact families. A first objective of the current study was to examine child attachment in the context of single parenthood, both maternal and paternal. A second objective was to investigate intergenerational transmission of attachment in single parent-child dyads, compared with that observed in two-parent families. The samples consisted of 50 married couples and 43 single parents (22 mothers and 21 fathers), along with their 3- to 6-year-old children. Parental and child attachment representations were measured, respectively, with the Adult Attachment Interview and the Attachment Story Completion Task. Findings suggested that single parenthood per se was not linked to more insecure or disorganized child attachment representations. However, when the father was the sole caregiver, children exhibited more disorganized representations. Different patterns of mother-child associations were found according to family structure: associations were significant among married families but not among single-mother families. Results also replicated those of previous studies in finding a nonsignificant father-child association in two-parent families and a significant one in single-father families, specifically with respect to hyperactivation. Further research is needed to clarify whether the differences found are attributable to different circumstances leading to single parenthood for men and women, or to parental gender itself.

The interaction of social risk factors and HPA axis dysregulation in predicting emotional symptoms of five- and six-year-old children

ObjectiveWe examined the links of social relational (family environment and peer victimization) and neuroendocrinological (HPA axis dysregulation) risk factors to children’s emotional symptoms. We placed special emphasis on the joint effects of these risk factors with respect to the emergence and course of the emotional symptoms. MethodsOne hundred and sixty-six children were interviewed (Berkeley Puppet Interview) at age 5 and 6. Teachers and parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Parents completed the Family Environment Scales. Peer victimization was assessed by teacher and child reports. Children’s saliva cortisol was measured before and after a highly structured story completion task which targeted their cognitive emotional representations of family conflicts. ResultsIn the cross-sectional analyses, negative family environment, peer victimization, and cortisol increase during the story completion task independently contributed to the variance of emotional symptoms. There was a significant interaction effect between family environment and cortisol increase: those six-year-olds who had experienced an unfavorable family environment only showed high levels of emotional symptoms if they exhibited a cortisol increase during the story completion task. In the longitudinal analysis, peer victimization at age 5 predicted an increase of emotional symptoms at age 6, but only for those children who exhibited a blunted cortisol response a year earlier. ConclusionsNegative family environment and peer victimization proved to be independently associated with emotional symptoms. HPA axis reactivity differentially moderated these associations. Therapeutic strategies should take the interaction between negative relational experiences and biological susceptibility to stress into account.

Examining Mexican-Heritage Children's Representations of Relationships With Mothers and Teachers in Preschool

Using narrative story-completion tasks with a sample of 97 preschool-age Mexican-heritage children from a large urban area, the authors examined differences in children's representations about their mothers and teachers. The authors also looked at teachers' perceptions to determine whether teachers viewed children in the same way as children viewed them. Results indicate that children do sometimes portray different attachment relationships when it comes to their mothers and teachers. Stories about teachers have higher scores on the deactivation dimension and lower scores on the hyperactivation dimension than stories about mothers, suggesting a cultural element of the teacher as an authority figure to be respected coming into play with this population. Findings for child-teacher representations were corroborated by teacher self-reports of their relationships with children; higher levels of hyperactivation were associated with higher levels of teacher-reported conflict. Given the supportive and/or compensatory role that the nonmaternal caregiver might provide for young children, a better understanding of this relationship may aid in understanding children's development in the out-of-home context.

Differing emotional sensitivities in the two factors of personal need for structure

The current project examines dispositional orientations toward positive or negative stimuli based on individual differences in personal need for structure (PNS). Although Neuberg and Newsom (1993) describe PNS as stemming from two sources of simple structure, desire for structure (DFS) and response to lack of structure (RLS), the two subscales are commonly combined. The current study found that high DFS (but not high RLS) was associated with a tendency to create more positive words in a word-fragment-completion task, generate more positive content in a story-completion task, and remember more positive words in a free-recall memory task. High-RLS (but not high-DFS) was associated with the opposite tendency (i.e., oriented toward negatives). Possible revisions to previous conclusions involving PNS are discussed.