LE3 .A278 2016

2016

Symons, Doug

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

The present study examined various relationship measures in a high-risk sample. There were 24 parent-child pairs, with children between the ages of two and eight. Assessments included home-based measures of attachment security and parental sensitivity and lab-based measures of child-parent attachment using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and emotional availability (EA) coded from the free play. Hypothesis one was that all indices would be positively related, and was only partially supported. There was a positive but non-significant trend between all relationship measures. The disorganized scale from the SSP had a strong negative correlation with the child dimensions of EA, but the other relationship measures were not significantly related. Hypothesis two was also only partially supported. There was a non-significant trend for secure children. They showed higher EA scores on child dimensions of EA, and had fewer disorganized behaviours than insecure children. Additionally, attachment security, parental sensitivity, and parental dimensions of EA showed a positive but non-significant trend for secure children. These findings support past research and add concurrent validity to EA dimensions in high-risk populations.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:1412