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A Road Map for Navigating Next Steps in the Study of Attachment in Middle Childhood

A Road Map for Navigating Next Steps in the Study of Attachment in Middle Childhood Gastelle and Kerns (2022) in their target article narrative review of 67 papers measuring attachment in middle childhood is a sizable contribution to the literature, and, of clear use to developmental researchers and clinicians, trying to decide on the most useful measure(s) of attachment for 9- to 12-year-old children. Three topics are addressed in this commentary. First, while Gastelle and Kerns (2022) apply the relevant psychometric criteria of convergent, construct, and discriminant validity, this comment will focus on the need for future research to also address predictive validity, as studies linking infancy and early childhood to attachment in middle childhood appear to have been the focus in only 3 of the 67 papers reviewed by Gastelle and Kerns (2022) (i.e., Miller et al., 2019; O’Connor et al., 2019; Steele & Steele, 2005). Furthermore, only one study has looked prospectively at how attachment in middle childhood may foreshadow later patterns of attachment in adolescence (Vaughn et al., 2016), and one study has considered young adult romantic relationships as related to prior peer-related attachment in middle childhood (Grossman et al., 2005). Second, this commentary will also argue that self-report, questionnaire measures of attachment (e.g., the Kerns Security Scale) may be most http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Human Development Karger

A Road Map for Navigating Next Steps in the Study of Attachment in Middle Childhood

Human Development , Volume 66 (1): 4 – Apr 1, 2022

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References (22)

Publisher
Karger
Copyright
© 2021 S. Karger AG, Basel
ISSN
0018-716X
eISSN
1423-0054
DOI
10.1159/000521528
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Gastelle and Kerns (2022) in their target article narrative review of 67 papers measuring attachment in middle childhood is a sizable contribution to the literature, and, of clear use to developmental researchers and clinicians, trying to decide on the most useful measure(s) of attachment for 9- to 12-year-old children. Three topics are addressed in this commentary. First, while Gastelle and Kerns (2022) apply the relevant psychometric criteria of convergent, construct, and discriminant validity, this comment will focus on the need for future research to also address predictive validity, as studies linking infancy and early childhood to attachment in middle childhood appear to have been the focus in only 3 of the 67 papers reviewed by Gastelle and Kerns (2022) (i.e., Miller et al., 2019; O’Connor et al., 2019; Steele & Steele, 2005). Furthermore, only one study has looked prospectively at how attachment in middle childhood may foreshadow later patterns of attachment in adolescence (Vaughn et al., 2016), and one study has considered young adult romantic relationships as related to prior peer-related attachment in middle childhood (Grossman et al., 2005). Second, this commentary will also argue that self-report, questionnaire measures of attachment (e.g., the Kerns Security Scale) may be most

Journal

Human DevelopmentKarger

Published: Apr 1, 2022

Keywords: Attachment in middle childhood; Predictive validity; Clinical versus community samples; Defensiveness and biased responding; Categorical versus dimensional scores

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