Cognitive development and socio-emotional competencies in premature children with different attachment representations

The effects of quality of attachment on cognitive and socio-emotional skills among preterm and term preschool children were examined. In total, n = 29 children aged 5 - 6 years participated in this study, which was based on a two-factor design with the independent factors "birthtime" (prematurely born children < 2000 g vs. term children > 2600 g) and "styles of attachment" (secure vs. insecure attachment). The styles of attachment were assessed by the German Attachment Story Completion Task (GEV-B). Cognitive performance and socio-emotional skills were assessed by the developmental test ET 6-6 for children aged from 6 months to 6 years; emotional competence was measured by the "photo album" subtest of the Vienna Developmental Test (WET). Preterm children scored significantly lower on dimensions of cognitive performance (planning, categorization). Moreover, they achieved poorer results in the "digit span" and "drawing" subtests compared to term children. Finally, social behavior of prematurely born children was rated marginally lower by their care givers compared with term children. With regard to attachment, compared with secure children, insecure children had a marginally lower performance in interpreting facial expressions. The results underline the important impact of prematurity especially on cognitive performance.