Department of Clinical, Neuro- & Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Science, Vrije Universiteit, van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Education & Pedagogy, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 25;19(15):9053. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159053.
Middle childhood is one of the most understudied periods of development and lacks a gold standard for measuring attachment representations. We investigated the reliability and validity of a Dutch version of the Story-Stem Battery coded using the Little Piggy Narrative (LPN) Coding System in a clinical ( = 162) and a nonclinical group ( = 98) of 4-10-year-old children. Their attachment stories were furthermore coded using the coherence scale. Factor analyses showed that the items of the LPN system formed four attachment scales and a separate scale reflecting distress/anxiety, with sufficient internal consistency for the scales and high interrater reliability ( = 20). Furthermore, we studied construct and discriminatory validity. The attachment scores correlated with coherence and child behavioral problems in the expected direction. Results showed age and gender differences, indicating that separate norm groups are necessary. In particular, disorganized attachment, coherence and distress/anxiety differ between clinical and nonclinical children across age and gender. Results for the other three organized attachment scales were more complex. For instance, older boys from the nonclinical group had higher scores on secure attachment than their clinical peers, while girls from the clinical and nonclinical groups did not differ, even though girls in the nonclinical group had higher secure attachment scores than boys. Results are discussed in light of attachment theory and developmental pathways in middle childhood, as well as their clinical implications.
儿童中期是发展研究最少的阶段之一，缺乏衡量依恋表现的金标准。我们调查了使用小猪叙事（LPN）编码系统编码的荷兰版故事-茎电池在 4-10 岁儿童的临床组（=162）和非临床组（=98）中的可靠性和有效性。他们的依恋故事还使用连贯性量表进行了编码。因素分析表明，LPN 系统的项目形成了四个依恋量表和一个单独的反映痛苦/焦虑的量表，各量表的内部一致性充足，评分者间信度高（=20）。此外，我们还研究了结构和区分效度。依恋评分与连贯性和儿童行为问题呈预期方向相关。结果表明存在年龄和性别差异，表明需要单独的正态群体。特别是，组织混乱的依恋、连贯性和痛苦/焦虑在年龄和性别上存在临床和非临床儿童之间的差异。其他三个有组织的依恋量表的结果则更加复杂。例如，非临床组的年龄较大的男孩在安全依恋方面的得分高于其临床同龄人，而临床组和非临床组的女孩则没有差异，尽管非临床组的女孩在安全依恋方面的得分高于男孩。结果从依恋理论和儿童中期的发展途径以及它们的临床意义方面进行了讨论。
