Poster #89 - Stability of Attachment Patterns of Japanese Children From Preschooler to Teen

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Since longitudinal studies on attachment are very important to understand child development, studies which investigate the stability of attachment patterns have been conducted in the western countries. In Japan, however, such studies are very scarce. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study to examine the stability of attachment patterns from young childhood to early youth.
We assessed attachment patterns of 29 young children who lived in three different children’s homes in 2010 (Time 1). Seventeen of which were still in the same children’s home in 2018 (Time 2) and participated in the present study. The average age of the participants at Time 1 was 6.14 (SD = 1.58) years old and 15.07 (SD = 1.58) years old at Time 2.
To assess the participants’ attachment patterns, we used the Attachment Doll Play Assessment (ADPA; George & Solomon, 1990, 1996, 2000) at Time 1 and the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP; George, West, & Pettem, 1997) at Time 2. The ADPA is developed to measure young children’s (from 4 to 9 years old) attachment representation and consist of four story stems (Hurt Knee, Monster in the Bedroom, and Separation-Reunion). Using a doll house set, each child is asked to make up a story to continue the provided story stems. The children’s stories were coded by a certified coder and the reliability with another certified coder was 84% agreement for four-group classification. The AAP is developed to assess adult attachment representation and consists of 8 pictures depicting one or two people. Participants are asked to think about the situation of each picture and make up a story what will happen next. The Japanese verbatim transcript was translated into English and was coded by Carol George who developed this measurement. We also asked care-workers in the children’s homes who have seen the children’s development about children’s background situation from Time1 to Time 2. Those are about contact of their family members, loss of people close to them, positive and negative life events, etc.
Table 1 shows the cross tabulation of attachment patterns of Time 1 and Time 2.
Eight participants (BB=2, AA=3, DD=3; 47%) demonstrated continuity, which is statistically significant (χ2 = 21.07, df = 9, p < .01; Fisher’s exact test, p < .05). We also examined whether these 3 groups of continuity and one discontinuity group were different in their backgrounds. The results indicated that the AA group had a higher incidence of negative life events (Cramer V = .789, p < .05) and who could not take the course they wanted after graduation (Cramer V = .797, p < .05) compared to other three groups (see Table 2).
It is thought that the life in children’s homes is quite stable, which would contribute the continuity of attachment patterns in this sample. Also, the result that the children demonstrating an Avoidant pattern continuously had more difficult life compared to other children may suggest that this pattern would not be suitable for group life like in a children’s home.

Authors

• Emiko Katsurada, Kwansei Gakuin University
  Presenting Author

• Mitsue Tanimukai, Kansai University of Welfare Science

• Junko Akazawa, Fukuyama University