Vacaru V S, Sterkenburg P S, Schuengel C
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Child Care Health Dev. 2018 May;44(3):476-484. doi: 10.1111/cch.12521. Epub 2017 Sep 11.
Self-concept is seen as both an outcome of sociocognitive and emotional development, and a factor in social and mental health outcomes. Although the contribution of attachment experiences to self-concept has been limited to quality of primary attachment relationships, little is known of the effects of disturbed attachment on self-concept in institutionalized children. Thus, the current study examined associations between disturbed attachment behaviours in institutionalized children and self-concept, testing limited exploration as an explanatory factor.
Thirty-three institutionalized children, aged 4-12, participated in a multimethod and multi-informant assessment of disturbed attachment behaviours (i.e., Disturbances of Attachment Interview and Behavioral Signs of Disturbed Attachment in Young Children), self-concept (i.e., Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children), and exploratory behaviours (i.e., Student Exploratory Behaviours Observation Scale). Analyses were conducted using bootstrapping techniques.
Global self-concept converged with teacher-rated children's self-concept, except for physical competence domain. Disturbed attachment behaviours were identified in 62.5% of the children, and this was associated with lower levels of exploration and lower scores on self-concept, compared with children without disturbed attachment behaviours. Furthermore, exploratory behaviours mediated the effects of disturbed attachment behaviours on self-concept.
Institution-reared children with disturbed attachment behaviours were likely to have a negative perception of self and one's own competences. Limited exploratory behaviours explained this linkage. Targeting disordered attachment in children reared in institutions and their caregivers should become a high priority as a means for preventing socioemotional development issues.
自我概念被视为社会认知和情感发展的结果，也是社会和心理健康结果的一个因素。尽管依恋经历对自我概念的影响仅限于主要依恋关系的质量，但对于机构养育儿童中紊乱依恋对自我概念的影响却知之甚少。因此，本研究考察了机构养育儿童中紊乱依恋行为与自我概念之间的关联，并将有限探索作为一个解释因素进行了检验。
33名4至12岁的机构养育儿童参与了一项多方法、多 informant 的评估，内容包括紊乱依恋行为（即《依恋障碍访谈》和《幼儿紊乱依恋行为迹象》）、自我概念（即《幼儿感知能力和社会接纳图片量表》）以及探索行为（即《学生探索行为观察量表》）。分析采用了自抽样技术。
除身体能力领域外，整体自我概念与教师评定的儿童自我概念一致。62.5%的儿童存在紊乱依恋行为，与无紊乱依恋行为的儿童相比，这与较低水平的探索以及自我概念得分较低相关。此外，探索行为介导了紊乱依恋行为对自我概念的影响。
有紊乱依恋行为的机构养育儿童可能对自我和自身能力有负面认知。有限的探索行为解释了这种联系。将机构养育儿童及其照料者的紊乱依恋作为目标，应成为预防社会情感发展问题的高度优先事项。
