Does attachment security predict children’s thinking-about-thinking and thinking-about-feeling? A meta-analytic review

Publication date: December 2019Source: Developmental Review, Volume 54Author(s): Moniek A.J. Zeegers, Elizabeth Meins, Geert-Jan J.M. Stams, Susan M. Bögels, Cristina ColonnesiAbstractPrevious research presents no clear picture of the association between caregiver–child attachment and the two hallmarks of children’s mentalizing abilities: false-belief understanding (FBU) and emotion understanding (EU). The present meta-analytic study investigated four questions: (a) what is the pooled correlation between attachment and children’s mentalizing abilities, as indicated by FBU and EU?; (b) are there differences in the magnitude of correlations between attachment and FBU on the one hand, and attachment and EU on the other hand?; (c) does children’s verbal ability mediate the relation between attachment and children’s FBU and EU?; (d) is the relation between attachment and children’s mentalization moderated by the attachment assessment approach (behavioral vs. representational) and/or instrument? A total of 64 effect sizes (N = 1734 children) were subjected to multilevel analyses. The results showed that the association between attachment and EU, r = 0.31, was significantly larger than the association between attachment and FBU, r = 19. Language ability partially mediated the association between attachment and FBU, but not attachment and EU. Studies using behavioral measures of attachment reported lower correlations compared to studies using representational...
Source: Developmental Review - Category: Child Development Source Type: research