Representations of Attachment Relationships, the Self, and Significant Others in Middle Childhood

Introduction: This research examines the interrelations of attachment security, feelings towards the self, and attributions about others in middle childhood. Methods: Five-to nine-year-old children (n= 176) completed the Separation Anxiety Test, which provided a measure of attachment security and a puppet interview was used to assess feelings towards the self. A subset of 89 participants received vignettes of social situations with ambiguous outcomes to assess the emotional valence of children's attributions. Results: Secure children saw themselves more positively than insecure children. Children who were secure made more positive attributions about the intentions of others, regardless of whether the protagonist was a peer, parent, or teacher. Conclusion: The results suggest that attachment style is related to feelings about the self and attributions about the social behavior of others, and thus may provide a foundation for generalized social expectations that underlie working models of social behavior of significant others.