Representation of self and socioemotional competence in kindergartners: Differential and combined effects of attachment to mother and to father

In the present study, we examined the differential predictive power and the joint or compensatory effects of representations of child-mother and child -father attachment for children's representation of self and their socioemo tional competence. The representations of attachment were assessed by an at tachment story completion task, completed once for mother and once for fath er (in counterbalanced order). Eighty participants (40 boys and 40 girls), aged between 55 and 77 months (M = 5 years 3 months), took place in the stu dy. The socioemotional competence (peer social competence, disruptive behav ior, anxious/withdrawn behavior, and school adjustment) and behavioral mani festations of self-esteem were evaluated by the kindergarten teacher. The i nner representation of self (positiveness of self, perceived competence, an d social acceptance) was assessed in a subgroup of 50 children. Results sho wed that the relative predictive power of child-mother and child-father att achments differed according to the domain of child functioning that was ass essed. More specifically, it was found that the child's positiveness of sel f was better predicted by the quality of the child-mother attachment repres entation than by the quality of the child-father attachment representation. In contrast, the child's anxious/withdrawn behavioral problems were better predicted by the quality of the child-father attachment representation tha n by the quality of the child-mother attachment representation. With regard to the joint effects of child-mother and child-father attachment, it was f ound that a secure attachment to one parent can compensate for or buffer ag ainst an insecure attachment to the other parent. However, the buffering ef fect was not complete.