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The Effects of Attachment on Emotions in Middle Childhood
Kayleigh Turner
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
PSYC 525: Developmental Psychology
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Abstract
Attachment portrays a significant role in emotions among children in the middle childhood stage.
Middle childhood is the most influential time a child goes through throughout their life. During
middle childhood, children begin to expand their roles and environments. A child’s attachment
figure, whether it be a mother or father, plays a substantial part in how a child in middle
childhood expresses and regulates emotion. Examining the relation between attachment and
children in middle childhood is a new topic in the psychological world. The exploration of this
relation enlightens researchers on the importance of these matters within children in the middle
childhood stage of life.
Keywords: Attachment, Middle Childhood, Emotion
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The Effects of Attachment on Emotions in Middle Childhood
Attachment in middle childhood has a significant effect on how a child handles and
regulates their emotions. Attachment occurs between a parental figure and a child within this
stage of life. Middle Childhood is a crucial period in time when children are experiencing
changes each and every day. While some may believe that attachment is nonexistent when it
comes to middle childhood emotions, middle childhood is a critical developmental period where
several changes occur in the relationship between a child and their parent because emotions play
a significant role in guiding behavior in middle childhood, children attached to their attachment
figures in middle childhood tend to have more control and more aware of their emotions, and the
quality of children’s attachments is thought to provide a particular context for their development
and organization of those emotions.
Study 1
Participants
In the first study, participants were made up of children who were between the ages of
eight and twelve years old. Concerning the family composition, 76.8% of the children
participants came from a nuclear family situation living with both parents (Fabiola et al., 2020).
Measures
Measures in the first study consisted of a Child Attachment Interview which was used to
assess a child’s attachment representations for both parents (Fabiola et al., 2020). This interview
consisted of nineteen questions which lasted about 45 minutes. The interview contained a series
of questions tapping into a child’s self-representations of his or her primary caregivers, the time
of conflict, distress, hurt, separation, as well as loss (Fabiola et al., 2020). The answers from this
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interview were then coded into the child’s attachment classifications of secure, insecure-
dismissing, insecure-preoccupied, and disorganized with their caregiver.
Another measure regarding the first study was the Child and Adolescent Reflective
Functioning Scale which assessed the child’s ability to mentalize regarding themselves along
with their attachment relationships (Fabiola et al., 2020). The Child Behavior Checklist was also
used for this study. This checklist was ultimately used to examine internalizing and externalizing
problems for the child participant. The last measure for the first study was the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children which was used to assess verbal comprehension when using
similarities, vocabulary, and comprehension (Fabiola et al., 2020). Measures allow for findings
in order to understand what the study is truly saying.
Findings/Interpretations
One of the findings within this study was that RF could potentially allow children to
understand their emotions which in turn, allows them to understand their own emotional
experiences throughout life (Fabiola et al., 2020). This means that it takes RF for a child to be
able to make sense of these emotions and experiences that contain emotion. Going along with
that, children who end up mentalizing may also be able to understand their attachment
experiences and have an overall complex conversation with their attachment figure about these
experiences (Fabiola, et al., 2020).
Study 2
Participants
Participants were made up of one hundred ninety-nine children from ages six to twelve
years old along with their parents. Regarding this study, the mothers and the fathers of the
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children were compensated with sixty dollars while the children also received a ten-dollar toy
(Elhusseini et al., 2023).
Measures
The measures assessed attachment by having the child complete the Inventory of Parent
and Peer Attachment. This assessment included nine items which assessed the mother or father
as a safe person for the child to share their thoughts and feelings (Elhusseini et al., 2023). Along
with this, six items were used to evaluate the IWMs of the parent as rejecting, shaming, hostile,
or unsupportive to the child. On the other hand, there were ten items evaluating the IWMs of the
parent as respectful, accepting, supportive, dependable, and understanding (Elhusseini et al.,
2023).
Another measure in this study was the Emotion Regulation Checklist completed by the
mothers and fathers of the children. This checklist was essentially used to judge the child’s
ability to understand and control their emotions and liability. Fifteen items were used to
determine the child’s emotional reactivity, the intensity of their negative emotions, and their
emotional dysregulation (Elhusseini et al., 2023). Lastly, the prosocial behavior of children was
gauged by the number of stickers that a child ended up donating during the donation task
(Elhusseini et al., 2023). These measures allow researchers to gain findings to help answer their
overall questions.
Findings/Interpretations
One finding provided by this study is that ultimately, mother and father attachments have
a direct effect on a child’s emotion regulation as well as their emotional lability (Elhusseini et al.,
2023). This is important to note due to the fact that it proves how attachment to a caregiver has a
real and true effect on a person and how they are going to be or turn out. Another finding within
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this study is that children who have an insecure attachment to their fathers tend to have a greater
emotion dysregulation, which in turn, can potentially reduce their prosocial behavior (Elhusseini
et al., 2023).
Study 3
Participants
Participants were children between the ages of ten and fourteen years only. There were
fifty-eight male participants and thirty-four female participants, all primarily
caucasian with some of the children having a racial or ethnic background (Obeldobel & Kerns,
2019).
Measures
One of the measures for this study was the Parent-Child Attachment Security: Friends
and Family Interview which focused specifically on the parent-child attachment (Obeldobel &
Kerns, 2019). The Experiences of Positive Emotions: Values in Action Inventory for Youth was
a ninety-six-question assessment that examined a variety of strengths in youth from ages ten to
seventeen while focusing specifically on positive emotions (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019). The
Verbal IQ: Picture Vocabulary Test is presented to the child participant with audio-recorded
word paired with four different pictures in which they needed to choose the picture that matches
the word that was spoken (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019). The last measure for this experiment was
the School-Age Temperament Inventory which was a parent report questionnaire which included
items rated on a five-point scale to measure negative reactivity and behavioral inhibition within
their children (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019). The findings that followed were results from these
measures that were tested within this study.
Findings/Interpretations
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One of the most important findings within this study is that attachment security with a
child is related to zest, hope, love, and gratitude (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019). Following this,
concerning a parent-child attachment, the ability to feel love and gratitude within relations may
foster closeness in other relationships (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019). This finding allows for an
understanding of what can make a parent-child relationship stronger than most other
relationships. Overall, positive emotions may help explain the relation between the parent-child
attachment and other important outcomes in this relationship (Obeldobel & Kerns, 2019).
Study 4
Participants
This study recruited eighty-seven mother-child dyads. Of these participants, thirty-nine of
them were males while forty-eight of them were female. These participants were selected from
local schools or mental health clinics within the area (Brumariu, 2021). For this study in
particular, children received twenty dollars for participating in the study while their mothers
received ten dollars.
Measures
The measures with the fourth study were the MCAS Coding System assessed
disorganized and controlling attachment behaviors and provided an opportunity to examine how
a child relates to their parents in an emotionally challenging context (Brumariu, 2021). There are
a few measures within this study regarding emotion regulation. One is the emotion monitoring in
which the children completed the Poor Awareness subscale which assessed whether or not
children report that they are able to identify and label their emotions (Brumariu, 2021). The
Emotion Regulation Checklist followed which ultimately assessed affective liability, lack of
flexibility, and dysregulated negative affect. There are a few measures within this study
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regarding emotional communication to assess the child’s emotional communication with their
mothers (Brumariu, 2021). The findings that followed these measures answered the researchers'
hypotheses at the beginning of the study.
Findings/Interpretations
An important finding from this study is that children in the middle childhood stage of
their life are more emotionally sensitive are easier to adopt a caregiving role as well as that the
caregiving/role confused children could also gain more emotional skills in order to make efforts
to manage their parent’s emotions (Brumariu, 2021). This means that in middle childhood,
adaptive social interactions become key assets in regard to emotional communication skills.
Children with more disorganized and controlling attachments within families that experience a
transformation could encounter caregivers who inevitably struggle more to protect the child
compared to intact families (Brumariu, 2021).
Study 5
Participants
Lastly, this study included one hundred ninety-one children between the ages of seven
and eleven years of age. The children for this study were recruited from four different private
schools that primarily middle-class residents attended (Saija et al., 2022).
Measures
The Sadness Interview was a measure within this study where children were interviewed
on different events that made them feel sad (Saija et al., 2022). This was a way to allow each
child a chance to express sadness while writing it down for review. The Security Scale assessed
the children’s perception regarding communication with their mothers and fathers (Saija, et al.,
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2022). Children were able to express the sentence that pertained to them the most within this
measure.
Findings/Interpretations
A finding that came from this study is that children who are in a secure attachment
relationship tend to experience frustration within a shorter time period compared to children who
are in an insecure attachment relationship (Saija et al., 2022). When a person or child is secure
within themselves and who they are attached to it ultimately makes it easier to overcome
situations or events that happen within their life. Children in secure attachment develop an ability
to self-regulate their emotions, become self-confident, participate in ways to cope with
difficulties in their lives, and are more trustful with their caregivers compared to children in an
insecure attachment style (Saija et al., 2022).
Conclusion
Each one of these studies has a significant way of relating a child’s emotions in middle
childhood to their attachment. Middle childhood is a pivotal moment in life for children and their
attachment to their mother and fathers helps shape who they become. Attachment is a remarkable
key asset when it comes to middle childhood and emotions. Children who are easily attached and
secure within themselves or their attachment figure tend to have an overall understanding of his
or her emotions. Understanding these emotions enables a way for children to regulate them in
middle childhood and even into adulthood. While the exploration of these topics is fairly new,
the studies explored above shed new light on understanding the relation between attachment and
emotions in middle childhood.
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References
Brumariu, L. E., Kerns, K. A., Giuseppone, K. R., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2021).
Disorganized/controlling attachments, emotion regulation, and emotion communication
in later middle childhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 76, 101324.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101324
Elhusseini, S., Rawn, K., El-Sheikh, M., & Keller, P. S. (2023). Attachment and prosocial
behavior in middle childhood: The role of Emotion Regulation. Journal of Experimental
Child Psychology, 225, 105534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105534
Fabiola, B., Simone, C. M., Karin, E., Donatella, C., & Jessica, B. (2020). Does children’s
mentalizing mediate the role of attachment and psychological maladjustment in Middle
Childhood? Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(7), 1793–1803.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01701-9
Obeldobel, C. A., & Kerns, K. A. (2019). Attachment security is associated with the experience
of specific positive emotions in middle childhood. Attachment & Human
Development, 22(5), 555–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1604775
Saija, E., Ioverno, S., Baiocco, R., & Pallini, S. (2022). Children experiencing sadness: Coping
strategies and Attachment Relationships. Current Psychology, 42(17), 14474–14483.
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