Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2007):

The invisible bonds: does the secure base script of attachment influence children's attention toward their mother?

Full Abstract

The internal working model of attachment can be conceptualized as a cognitive schema to provide testable hypotheses. Thus, this study predicts a relationship between attachment and attentional bias toward the mother using an emotional modification of the exogenous cueing task. The content of the cues (mother vs. unknown women) and the duration of the presentation of the cues (200 msec vs. 1,000 msec) were varied. The test was administered to 40 nonreferred children (9 to 13 years of age), divided into high- and low-secure attachment groups. As predicted, low-secure children directed their attention more quickly toward mother than toward unknown women at later stages of attentional processing (long presentation), Furthermore, low-secure children showed more maintained attention toward mother compared to unknown women and showed significantly more maintained attention toward mother compared with high-secure children.

Author information

Author/s: Bosmans, Guy (G); De Raedt, Rudi (R); Braet, Caroline (C);

Affiliation: Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology Ghent University, Gent, Belgium. guy.bosmans(-atsign-)ugent.be

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 (J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2007 Oct-Dec; vol 36 (issue 4) : pp 557-67

Dates: Created 2007/12/19; Completed 2008/02/25;

PMID: 18088214, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Attention Child Child Behavior - psychology Cues Emotions Female Humans

Interpersonal Relations Maternal Behavior - psychology Models, Psychological Mother-Child Relations Mothers - psychology Object Attachment Parenting - psychology Task Performance and Analysis

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