Mental Health & Prevention (2013) 1, 3343

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

characteristics in Santiago, Chile$

Francisca Prez C.a,n, Ma. Pa Santelices A.b, Claudia Rivera M.b, Chamarrita
Farkas K.b

aPostgraduate School, Medicine Faculty, Universidad de Chile, Av. Salvador

486, Providencia, Santiago, Chile

bPsychology School, Ponticia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Santiago,

Chile

Received 14 March 2013; received in revised form 8 October 2013; accepted 9

October 2013

Available online 20 October 2013

KEYWORDS Preschoolers; Attachment represen- tations;

Psychosocial risk; Maternal depressive symptoms;

Maternal distress

Abstract

The present research examines how preschoolers' attachment

representations relate to maternal psychosocial problems, differentiating by
gender. One hundred and thirty-seven mothers along with their 3649
month old children (51 female) who attend child-care centers were evaluated.
Trained researchers administered interviews and collected self-reported
measures of family risk factors, depressive symptoms and parenting stress
from each mother. The children were assessed using the Attachment Story
Completion Task and the CCH Q-sort coding system. Results show that
children of both genders scored higher in security than in other dimensions
and girls showed higher security and lower insecurity levels than boys.
General maternal stress levels relate directly to girls' and indirectly to boys'
insecurity levels. Regarding family risk factors, it seems that environment
instability, along with the lack of routines, low parental caregiving
capacities and conictive family interactions interfere negatively with the
development of a secure internal working model in both girls and boys.
& 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Researchers from around the world are making important efforts to better
understand the variables that inuence

This article was made possible by the nancial support of the National
Fund for Scientic and Technological Developments, FONDECYT, No.
1100721 and from with the support of the Millen- nium Scientic Initiative
of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, Project NS100018.

nCorresponding author. Tel.: + 56 2 2274 88 55.

E-mail address: fsperezcortes@ug.uchile.cl (Francisca Prez C.).

child socio-emotional development and mental health. The Attachment

theory (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991) has demonstrated to be crucial to the
lifetime socio-emotional, cognitive and behavioral development of people,
dealing mainly with the formation, organization and development of
emotional bonds, from birth to adulthood (Hughes, 2004). On this respect
Bowlby (1969) stated that the need to establish stable bonds with the
progenitors (or substitutes) is a basic need, not learned, intrinsic to the
humans.

To understand the development of an attachment bond, it is important to

consider that the child attachment behavioral system and the adult
care behavior are

2212-6570/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2013.10.002

34
F. Prez C. et al.

permanently interrelated, that is to say, there is a perma- nent interaction and

affect regulation between the child and its primary caregiver. In these
exchange process, during the rst 12 months of life the construction of an
attachment relationship emerges, which later children internalize as
Internal Working Models (IWMs) of attachment. These attachment
representations or IWMs inuence how children adapt emotionally and socially
to other relationship settings. The development of a secure attachment
relationship and representation is dependent on whether the child can rely on
in emotionally stressful situations on the support of his primary caregivers.
Mothers, who are facing different psychosocial problems (depressive
symptoms, dysfunctional marital relationships, parenting and socioeconomic
stress, etc.), feel usually overwhelmed, so their reciprocity in the mother
child subsystem and their capacity to support and co-regulate their child
affects tend to decrease (Feldman, 2007). Research has shown that
having nonre- sponsive, insensitive and rejecting care during the rst
years of life is consistently linked to an insecure attachment style (De Wolff &
van Ijzendoorn, 1997), which together with additional contextual risk
factors raises the risk of psychopathology (Kobak, Cassidy, Lyons-Ruth, &
Ziv, 2006; Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, Collins, & Grossmann, 2005;

Soares & Dias, 2007).

Attachment research has focused mainly into the rst years of life,
considering the importance of the rst infancy. Thus, the ndings of other
stages of childhood, as the preschool period, are still isolated and
piecemeal. The following study explores possible links between preschoo-
lers attachment representations and maternal psychosocial problems, in a
nonclinical, middle/low-income, urban Chi- lean population. Its important to
count with solid empirical foundation when studying the socio-emotional
development of children in general populations to support the decisions made
in children and family mental health programs.

Preschoolers' attachment representations

During the preschool years, the development of motor, sensitive and

language skills allows the child a growing comprehension of its world and
relationships. The attach- ment representations or IWM's, which during the
preverbal period was procedural and implicit, are becoming more
complex and exible and organize in a conceptual and explicit way, so
that they become accessible through the language. This new organization of
the attachment repre- sentations gives the child a level of self-awareness
and allows him or her to predict and interact with the surround- ings, enabling
successful development (Bowlby, 1988).

The evaluation of this representational construct can be assessed through

symbolic media and play narratives, where children are able to evaluate the
situation through his or her own IWM (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy,
1990; Bretherton & Munholland, 1999). Children with secure representations
(B) will create uid narratives in which attachment issues are confront and
positive and negative aspects are integrated. When a distressing situation is
presented, the child enacts stories in which the protagonist re-establishes
proximity with or gains security from its parental gures. Children who
receive high scores on the

deactivation (A) dimension are reluctant to engage in play, avoid completing

the story stems and when they do complete them, their stories and
descriptions of parental gures are poor, affectless and conventional and
protagonist scarcely engage in relationships. Children with hyperacti- vated
attachment representations (C) are aroused by the task, are unable to present a
constructive completion of the story stem and to focus on or emphasize
the negative aspects of the story. Children with disorganized IWM's (D)
create stories marked by loss of control, with cata- strophic endings or
protagonists depicted as totally helpless and unprotected. Narratives are
disorganized and incoher- ent. Alternatively, the children may be totally
silent, inhib- ited and anxious (Miljkovitch, Pierrehumbert, Bretherton,

& Halfon, 2004).

Research has shown that secure attachment representa- tions promote an early
and adequate cognitive development (Meins, Fernyhough, Russell, & Clark-
Carter, 1998), as well as it relates with prosocial behaviors and less
behavioral problems. On the other side, children with insecure IWM's show
more difculties to establish and maintain friendships (Sroufe, Carlson, &
Shulman, 1993), to get support from peers and caregivers (Kerns, 1994),
show less self-regulation strategies and more vulnerability to suffer anxiety
disorders (Stams, Juffer, & Van IJzendoorn, 2002; Verschueren, Marcoen, &
Schoefs, 1996; Brumariu & Kerns, 2010). Also higher levels of insecurity or
disorganization would relate strongly to internalizing and externalizing
behavior pro- blems (Green & Goldwyn, 2002; Lyons-Ruth, Easterbrooks, &
Cibelli, 1997; Main & Cassidy, 1988; Van IJzendoorn, Schuengel, &
Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999).

Some studies suggest that during the preschool period children tend to
become more insecure, which could be explained by the challenge of
dealing with new environ- ments and relationships with unfamiliar people.
During this stage children begin to reorganize their attachment repre-
sentations, which sometimes imply a distortion in their affect
manifestation, exaggerating or inhibiting some of their feelings
(Crittenden, 2000). Thus emotional support from the attachment gures is
essential, so that children dare to explore, interact and negotiate with
others (Barnett, Kidwell, & Ho Leung, 1998). However, if the development
context is limited, for example, by lack of emotional support, it is more
difcult for children to build solid adaptation strategies and secure
attachment representations.

Although the attachment theory makes no reference to gender differences,

there are some studies that showed different gender distribution between the
different attach- ment dimensions. In a longitudinal study carried out in
London, content analyses of the stories from 5 year old children, showed
that girl's narratives tend to be more prosocial and boy's stories tend to
related more with aggressive and violent topics (Steele et al., 2003).
Bretherton and Page (2004) found that girls tend to show more secure
attachment representations which is related to their caring attitude, while
boys due to their escalating violent attitude tend to show more
disorganized strategies. A study carried out in ve different countries with
more than 500 preschoolers showed that girls' narratives appeared
systematically more secure than those of boys of the same age. The
dominant insecure dimension for boys

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

characteristics 35

(and for girls the less-dominant insecure) was disorganiza- tion

(Pierrehumbert et al., 2009).
If family interactions have remained relatively stable, without breaks,
separations or losses of the attachment gures, the IWM's tend to serve as
a secure base from which the own and the others behavior are predictable.
However, if the relationship with attachment gures has been incon- sistent
or rejecting, the IWM's will tend to stabilize in a hyperactivated or
deactivating way respectively. Conse- quently, less stability and support in
family life and parental functioning are hallmarks of developmental risk for
children and have clearly been associated with discontinuity in attachment
classications over time (Vondra, Swearingen, Cohen, & Owens, 2001).
Therefore, when aspects of family ecology and maternal psychosocial states are
disturbed, the possibility that the mother responds in an appropriate
manner to her childs needs decreases and the risk that the child will
develop an insecure or disorganized attach- ment increases (Moss, Cyr, &
Dubois-Comtois, 2004).

Maternal psychosocial problems

Previous research shows that maternal depressive symptoms inuence the

mothers' interactions with her infant, which is directly related to infant
attachment security (Belsky, Fish,

& Isabella, 1991; Belsky & Rovine, 1990).

In the presence of maternal depressive symptoms, the risk of developing an

insecure attachment increases because the mother's capacity to respond in an
appropriate manner to signals from her child decreases, and the child often
experiences a lack of physical and psychological availability from the mother
(Teti, Gelfand, Messinger, & Isabella, 1995; Cicchetti et al., 1999; Coyl,
Roggman, & Newland, 2002). Maternal depressive symptoms decrease levels
of recipro- city, synchronicity and coordination between mother and child
and hinders their ability to read and respond to their child's signals,
interfering with the ability of dyadic mutual regulation of affective states
(Gianino & Tronick, 1988; Cicchetti et al., 1999; Coyl, Roggman, &
Newland, 2002).

Parental stress has a similar impact on the way a mother behaves towards her
child. Mothers who feel high levels of stress are perceived not to have
the internal capability necessary to respond to their children's demands,
feeling unprepared to handle behaviors that result from their children's
needs. Consequently, the required parental co-regulation capacities
decrease and so dysfunctional communication pattern arises. A permanent
overload of the parents, coupled with vain relief efforts, increases the
probability of impulse breakthroughs and thus represents a risk for emotional
and psychological abuse. Overwhelmed mothers may employ inappropriate
disciplinary strategies, such as those characterized by physical
punishment or hostility, use negative verbal commands and engage in hostile
behavior toward their children more often than mothers who are not distressed
(Forehand, Lautenschlager, Faust, & Graziano, 1986). Meanwhile, the
chronicity of dysfunctional interaction patterns may negatively affect the
overall devel- opment of the child, because the resulting inexibility
hinders the possibility of attend the child developmental steps in an
adequate way.

Although mothers experiencing depressive symptoms and parental stress are

sometimes able to recognize the signs of their children, interpret them and
respond properly to them, that means, to be sensitive, other times they show
an intrusive or rejecting behavior, which makes them unpredictable for their
children. In this way a common consequence is that a negative affective core
mainly characterized by anger and sadness, defensiveness and lack of
condence in the mother is installed in the child (Weinberg & Tronick,
1997), which affects the organization of the attachment representations.

Depressive and stress symptoms are inuenced by con- textual factors, such
as a low socioeconomic level and high contextual stress, and mothers who live
in these conditions will probably develop negative family interactions and tend
to use more hostile and authoritarian disciplinary strategies (Coyl et al., 2002;
Lyons-Ruth, Wolfe, & Lyubchik, 2000; Coyl, Newland, & Freeman, 2010).
Lower levels of education and income also relate to higher affective disorders
and lower parental capabilities (Tamis-LeMonda, Shannon, Cabrera,

& Lamb, 2004) in the female population (Rojas, Araya,

& Lewis, 2005).

Considering the background above, the purpose of this research is (1) to

evaluate preschoolers' attachment repre- sentations and explore the potential
effects of gender on attachment security levels, and (2) to explore the relation-
ship between the preschool-aged attachment security levels and maternal
psychosocial problems. We expect to nd more secure attachment scores
among girls, and that the preschoolers' attachment security levels will be
negatively related to maternal depressive symptoms and parental stress
levels, as well as to family risk factors. That is to say, we expect to nd
more insecure attachment strategies, considering secondary strategies, in boys
and also in chil- dren whose mothers show higher psychosocial risk levels.

Method

Design

The present study was based on a non-experimental, cross- sectional,

descriptive and correlational design.

Participants

The participants were 137 Chilean preschoolers (51 female)

and their mothers. The children were between the ages of

37 and 49 months old (M = 42.18; SD = 2.10) and the mothers were between
18 and 49 years old (M = 30.22; SD = 7.20).

Of the mothers, 63.5% have secondary education, 16.1%

have primary education, and 20.1% have technical or university

education. In regards to their occupational sta- tus, 59.1% work outside of
home, 35.8% are unemployed and

5.1% study. In 75.2% of the cases, the mother is the primary caregiver,
followed by other members of the family (14.2%), such as the grandparents,
older brothers and sisters or the father. Thirty-six percent of the children are
only child,
32.4% have one sibling, 26.5% have two siblings and 5.1%

have three siblings.

36
F. Prez C. et al.

To participate in the study, the child must attend the public preschool
system, and the mothers must not be diagnosed with a somatic or psychiatric
disorder.

Procedure

Twenty-four child-care centers located in Santiago de Chile were chosen

randomly. Once contact with the child-care centers was established and
the informed consent was accepted by their directors, children were
chosen in a simple probabilistic way according to their age. Then
mothers were contacted via telephone and invited volunta- rily to participate.
During the evaluation they signed the informed consent. Two evaluators, each
with 12 h of train- ing, conducted the assessments at the child-care centers.
The training consisted of expositive and participative lessons carried out
by an expert in adult and child instruments. The evaluation involved the
assessment of the mothers using four questionnaires (Socio-demographic
Question- naire, Beck Depression Inventory, Parenting Stress Index, and
North Carolina Family Assessment General Scale) and the assessment of
the preschoolers' attachment representa- tions through the Attachment Story
Completion Task (ASCT). These were given separately to the mothers and
to the

children at the child-care centers.

Two trained coders evaluated videos of the attachment stories using the
Cartes pour le complment dhistoires (CCH) Q-sort coding system
(Miljkovitch, Pierrehumbert, Karmaniola, & Halfon, 2003).
Measures

Preschoolers' attachment representation

The Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999) is a

semi-structured procedure that evaluates attachment representations through
means of an attachment story completion task using doll play. The
introduction of several attachment relevant stories (or story stems) is enacted
to the child with small doll gures. A child doll of the same sex is the main
character of the story which is intended to serve as a gure of
identication for the child. The attachment system is activated through the
attachment specic contents of the story stems. The attachment
representations of the children are inferred from the play actions and the
structure of the narrative with the help of dened codings for each story.

The coding and classication were developed by

Miljkovitch et al. (2004). The CCH (Miljkovitch et al.,

2004) is a Q-sort systematic coding system based on a set of 65 items. After

viewing the videotaped ASCT, six external coders (four blind) sort cards
into seven piles according to how well the items match the characteristics
of the child's story; 7 indicates the highest match while 1 indicates the
lowest match. The sorted cards are then forced into a bell- shaped
distribution with 5, 8, 12, 15, 12, 8 and 5 items in each pile
correspondingly. Proximity scores (Spearman Cor- relations) between the
participants' scores and those of the prototypes yield scores for attachment
dimensions. Q scores near to 1 indicate high presence of an attachment
dimen- sion and Q scores near to 0 indicate low presence. In the case of
secure attachment representations the child is

collaborative and acknowledges feelings such as sadness or anger;

protagonists display a wide range of affective states, and adults are presented
as supportive. In the case of de- activates strategy the child is reluctant to
engage in play, stories tend to be poor, conventional, or affectless, and
protagonists scarcely engage in relationships. Hyperacti- vated child are
aroused by the task and are unable to constructively complete the story stems
and are more likely to focus on or emphasize the negative aspects of the stories.
Children with disorganized attachment strategies create stories marked by
a loss of control with catastrophic, violent, or destructive themes;
protagonists may be depicted as helpless and unprotected, and parent and
child roles may be reversed (Miljkovitch et al., 2004).

Interjudge reliability was computed on n = 68 (Swiss sample) and n =

30 (Spanish sample) randomly selected cases, with a total of 10 judges.
For the Swiss sample, intraclass coefcients were 0.94, 0.94, 0.85, 0.90 for
the four Q-scores and 0.92, 0.92, 0.82 for the three scales. For the
Spanish sample, intraclass coefcients were 0.81,

0.74, 0.69, 0.81 and 0.76, 0.77, 0.76 for the four Q-scores and the three
scales respectively.

Family socio-demographic characteristics

A specic questionnaire was created to assess childbirth, health and scholar

antecedents, as well as family demo- graphic data (including family
constitution, parental educa- tion level and occupation).

Maternal depressive symptoms

The presence of depressive symptoms in the mothers was evaluated with the
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) devel- oped by Beck, Steer, and Brown
(1996). BDI-II is a Likert scale consisting of 21 self-reported items, each
scored from

0 to 3 points. The maximum score is 63 points. Higher scores indicate the

presence of more symptoms.

The cut-off score guidelines for the BDI-II recommends

that thresholds be adjusted based on the characteristics of the sample and the
purpose of use of the BDI-II. A total score of 013 is considered to be in the
minimal range, 1419 is considered mild, 2028 is considered moderate, and
2963 is considered severe (Beck et al., 1996).
This questionnaire has been widely used, and shows good reliability and
validity levels (alpha = 0.92) (Beck et al., 1996). In a study carried out with
a sample of Chilean teenagers, good intern reliability levels (0.91) and test
retest measure- ments (0.66) were observed (Melipilln, Cova, Rincn, &
Valdivia, 2008).

Parental distress

Parental distress is evaluated through the Parenting Stress Index Short form
(PSI-SF) developed by Abidin (1995)). This questionnaire consists of 36
items derived from the PSI, which is comprised of three scales:
Parental Distress, Difcult Child Characteristics, and Dysfunctional
Parent Child Interactions. Cut-off scores are as follows: 020 indicates
low levels of distress; 2184 indicates normal levels of distress; 85 and
above indicate high levels of distress according to US standards (Farkas &
Valds, 2011). The use of the short form was chosen due to time
limitations. Additionally, a study has found that the internal Preschoolers'
attachment representations and maternal psychosocial characteristics
37

consistency of the PSI-SF and its subscales are comparable to the full scale
(Roggman, Moe, Hart, & Forthun, 1994) with coefcients of 0.780.90 in a
sample of 103 parents. Reliability studies carried out by Abidin (1995) in a
sample of 800 cases showed good testretest coefcients (0.68

0.85) and internal consistency (0.800.90). External validity was established

with the full scale, obtaining correlation coefcients of 0.730.95 (Abidin,
1995). A Chilean study with 137 mothers of low socioeconomic income
resulted in a Cronbachs alpha of 0.943 (Farkas & Valds, 2011).

Family risk factors

In order to evaluate family factors related to family functioning, economic

autonomy, and the health and mental health of the family members, we
assessed the mothers using the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale-
General (NCFAS-G) (Reed, 1998). This scale was developed for use with
vulnerable families and children, where different risk factors could affect
general family functioning, economic autonomy, or the health/mental
health of the family members.

In its Spanish version 2.0, the scale consists of 36 items

5 global items and 31 specic items which are distributed into ve

dimensions: environment, parental capabilities, family interactions, family
safety and child well-being. The current level of family functioning is
assessed using these dimensions and sub-dimensions on a 6 point
continuum:

+ 2 = Clear strength, + 1 = Mild Strength, 0 = Baseline/Ade- quate, 1 = Mild

Problem, 2 = Moderate Problem, and

3 = Serious Problem. Each item has its own operational denition,

describing the item's extreme scores ( 3, + 2) and its baseline (0). For our
analysis, we converted these scores into positive numbers while maintaining
the scale (from 0 = clear strength to 5 = serious problems). Here higher scores
indicate high risk in family functioning.

The NCFAS-G has been eld tested with over 100 families and 250 children
participating in a differential response program. Test results are encouraging
and the psychometric properties indicate a high degree of reliability.

This scale was validated in Chile with 591 low-income families, showing
an internal consistency similar to the original version (with a Cronbach's
alpha between 0.782 and 0.868). Exploratory factor analysis showed
evidence of dimensionality and supported the original structure of ve
factors (Environment, Parental Competency, Family interactions, Family
Safety and Child Health) (Valencia Gmez, 2010).

Data analysis

In the rst phase, descriptive analyses were carried out, followed by

correlational analyses, relating children attach- ment dimensions with
maternal variables. Fifty percent of the videotaped ASCT were coded by two
trained coders and the inter-rater reliability for the CCH Q-sort coding system
was evaluated through the intra-class coefcients. Then t-tests were
conducted to compare attachment Q scores by gender. Finally, hierarchical
regression analyses were per- formed for each attachment dimension. For
each regression the Bonferroni correction was calculated.

Results

Descriptive analyses

Preschoolers' attachment representation

From a total of 137 preschoolers, the highest score was obtained in the
security dimension (M = 0.11; SD = 0.45) ranging between 0.72 and
0.86, followed by deactivation (M = 0.012; SD = 0.48) in a range between
0.80 and 0.91, hyperactivation (M = 0.19; SD = 0.28) ranging between

0.72 and 0.53 and disorganization (M = 0.30; SD = 0.363)

Qscores-Secure DistributionFigure 1 Q scores-secure distributionin

Figure 2 Q scores deactivation distribution.

38
F. Prez C. et al.

Qscores Hyperactivation Distributioin

Figure 3 Q scores hyperactivation distribution.

Qscores Disorganization Distribution

Figure 4 Q scores disorganization distribution.

ranging between 0.89 and 0.62. (see Figures 14). The instrument had a
Cronbachs alpha of 0.90 for security, 0.79 for desactivation, 0.41 for
hyperactivation and 0.74 for disorganization and the strength of the intra-
class coef- cients was good (0.72, 0.70, 0.69, 0. 78).

Analyzing by gender, girls showed higher security levels than boys (t = 2.41,
p = 0.02) and boys showed more hyper- activated and disorganized strategies
than girls (t = 2.48, p = 0.01; t = 3.1, p = 0.00) (see Table 1).

Maternal depressive symptoms

According to the results obtained by the BDI-II (Cronbach's alpha of 0.91),

the average score was 13.37 points (SD = 10.5) in a range of 0 and 43
points, which is right at the category boundary between minimal and mild
depres- sion. 61.3% of mothers showed minimal depression symp- toms,
while 12.4% showed mild depressive symptoms, 16.1% showed moderate
symptoms and 10.2% showed severe depressive symptoms.

Parental distress

The mean score obtained in the Parenting Stress Index (SF) (Cronbach's
alpha of 0.90) was 78.77 points (SD = 21.75) in a range between 44 and
157, which represents moderate levels of stress. 49.6% of mothers showed
moderate levels of stress, 33.6% had high levels of stress and 16.8% showed
low levels of stress. In terms of the subscales, the following results were
found: the Parental Distress subscale had a mean score of 29.64 (SD =
10.34) in a range of 1355; the ParentChild Dysfunctional Interaction
subscale had a mean score of 20.74 (SD = 6.94) in a range of 1154;
and the Difcult Child subscale had a mean of 28.39 (SD = 9.12) in a range
of 1353. All scores indicate moderate levels of stress.

Family functioning
The subscales assessed by the NCFAS-G (Cronbach's alpha of

0.85) are family environment (M = 1.74; SD = 0.88), parental capabilities

(M = 1.65; SD = 1.04), family interactions (M = 1.61; SD = 0.92),
family safety (M = 1.52; SD = 0.97) and child well-being (M = 1.38; SD =
1.0). These results are all found in their general levels below the risk
threshold (less than 2 points) (see Table 2).

Correlational analysis between variables in the study

The analysis showed that the security dimension correlated positively with
maternal occupation (r = 0.226; p = 0.04) and negatively with parental distress
(r = 0.19; p = 0.02), risk

Table 1 Gender attachment scores.

Q scores Security Deactivation

Hyperactivation Disorganization

M F M F M
F M F

Mean 0.04 0.23 0.03 0.08

0.14 0.27 0.23 0.43

SD 0.43 0.46 0.47 0.48

0.27 0.29 0.36 0.33
N 86 51 86 51
86 51 86 51

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

characteristics 39

Table 2 Pyschosocial risk assessment: mean and standard deviation.

Family environment Parental capabilitity Family interactions

Family safety Child well being

Mean 1.74 1.65 1.61

1.52 1.38

SD 0.885 1.045 0.925

0.976 1.004

Range 07 05 04
06 04

Table 3 Correlations between attachment strategies and maternal variables.

Maternal variables Security Deactivation

Hyperactivation Disorganization
Mother's occupation 0.22n 0.25n
0.10 0.05

Maternal distress 0.16 0.12

0.15 0.15

PD subscale 0.19n 0.15

0.19 0.16

PC-DI subscale 0.19n 0.15

0.19n 0.16

Family environment in general 0.09 0.08

0.07 0.09

Parental capabilities in general 0.19n 0.18n

0.09 0.14

Access to media material 0.15 0.17n

0.04 0.01

Family routines and rituals 0.17n 0.18n

0.13 0.07

Domestic violence 0.12 0.11

0.18n 0.07

Child well being in general 0.18 0.10

0.01 0.01

Sibling relationships 0.11 0.05

0.19n 0.24n

nThe correlation is signicant at the 0.05 level.

in parental capabilities (r = 0.19; p = 0.02) and risk in family interactions (r

= 0.176; p = 0.03). Deactivation correlated negatively with maternal
occupation (r = 0.25; p = 0.04) and positively with risk in parental
capabilities and risk in family interactions (r = 0.19; p = 0.03; r = 0.19; p =
0.03). Hyperactiva- tion had a positive correlation with parental distress (r =
0.19; p = 0.02) and risk in child well-being, specically with sibling
relationships (r = 0.24; p = 0.00), and had a negative correlation with risk in
family safety (r = 0.18; p = 0.03). Finally, disorga- nization was positively
correlated with risk in environment (r = 0.21; p = 0.01) and risk in sibling
relationships (r = 0.24; p = 0.00) (see Table 3).

Analyzing by gender, girls' security scores had a negative correlation with

parental distress (r = 0.34; p = 0.01) and risk in family interactions (r =
0.29; p = 0.03). Deactivation scores were positively correlated with
parental distress (r = 0.30; p = 0.02). Hyperactivation scores had positive
cor- relations with parental distress (r = 0.38; p = 0.00) and risk in family
interactions, specically with parental (r = 0.30; p = 0.02) and sibling
relationships (r = 0.33; p = 0.01). Finally, disorganization scores were
positively correlated with par- ental distress (r = 0.43; p = 0.01), environmental
risk (r = 0.32; p = 0.02), risk in parental relationships (r = 0.33; p = 0.01) and
risk in child well-being (r = 0.35; p = 0.01).

In boys, security dimension was positively correlated with maternal education

levels (r = 0.22; p = 0.04) and negatively correlated with risk in parental
capabilities (r = 0.22; p = 0.03). Deactivation scores correlated positively
with risk in parental capabilities (r = 0.22; p = 0.03), and hyperactivation
scores correlated negatively with risk in family interactions (r = 0.21; p =
0.04). There were no signicant correlations between disorganization scores
and other variables.

Regarding maternal variables, depressive symptoms had a positive correlation

with parental stress (r = 0.51; p = 0.00),

and parental stress had a negative correlation with mater- nal education level
(r = 0.24; p = 0.00) and occupation (r = 0.35; p = 0.00).

Regression analysis

Regression analyses were performed for each attachment dimension,

differencing by gender. Gender accounts for only
3% of the variance for the security dimension as well as for the hyperactive
dimension, and only 6% of the variance for the disorganized dimension. Each
regression had a Bonfer- roni adjust of 0.001.

In the case of girls, maternal distress and parental relationship explained

16% of the variance of the secure dimension; maternal distress and family
safety explained

12% of the variance for deactivation; maternal distress, parental

relationship and sibling relationships explained 22% of the variance for
hyperactivation; and nally maternal distress and parental relationship
explained 25% of the variance of disorganization (see Table 4).

In the case of boys, maternal occupation, parental capabilities and family

safety explained 18% of the variance of security; parental capabilities
and family safety explained 11% of the variance for deactivation; parental
capabilities, family interactions and family safety explained

19% of the variance of hyperactivation (19%); family safety, child well-being

and environment explained 23% of the variance of disorganization (see
Table 5).

Discussion

The results above suggest that children of both genders show more secure
than insecure attachment representations,

40
F. Prez C. et al.

Table 4 Stepwise regressions analysis of girls' attach- ment strategies.

 F R2

VD: security

Model 1: 6.73nn 0.10

Parental distress 0.008

Model 2: 5.67nn 0.16

Parental distress 0.008

Parent's relationship 0.060

VD: deactivation

nn

children are already aware of cultural-gender stereotypic preferences, so they

assume a sex-typical socialization role (Hannover & Schmidthals, 2007).
Considering this back- ground, it is possible to infer some attachment-related
interpretations: mothers speak more with their daughters about emotions
and interpersonal relationships than with their sons, which relates to
caregiving issues (Steele & Steele, 2005). The different narrative contents,
aggressive- ness in boys and caregiving in girls, could also be understood as
different stress coping strategies, as the results from children with divorced
parents show (Page & Bretherton,

2003). Another possible explanation is that girls at this stage

have achieved a higher general level of development, which

Model 1: 5.11

Parental distress 0.008

Model 2: 5.35nn

Parental distress 0.008

Family safety 0.121

VD: hyperactivation

0.08

0.15

allows them to express themselves better and construct more coherent

stories, as well as adapt better to the evaluation context.

Regarding children attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

variables, there is a negative corre- lation between the girls security levels
and the mothers'

Model 1: 8.34nn 0.13

Parental distress 0.006

Model 2: 5.65nn 0.22

Parental distress 0.005

Parent's relationship 0.034

Sibling relationships 0.026

Model 3: 6.91nn 0.15

Genre 0.116

Parental distress subscale 0.007

Physical abuse 0.027

Sibling relationships 0.027

VD: disorganization

Model 1: 11.69nn 0.18

Parental distress 0.008

Model 2: 9.45nn 0.25

Parental distress 0.007

Parent's relationship 0.049

nThe correlation is signicant at the 0.05 level; nn the correlation is

signicant at the 0.01 level.

scoring higher in the security dimension than in all others. This means that in
general, they tend to collaborate and acknowledge a wide range of affective
states and have supportive adult representations. Nevertheless, the data
corroborated the formulated hypothesis and previous nd- ings, showing that
girls have higher security and lower insecurity representations than boys.
One implication of this is that girls have an easier access to emotions related
to attachment experiences and are able to articulate these emotions more
coherently.

Boys, on the other hand, present more insecure attach- ment narratives than
girls, obtaining higher scores in the hyperactivation and disorganization
dimensions. They demonstrate more arousal, greater difculties in complet- ing
the stories, heavier emphasis on the negative aspects of the stories, more
loss of control, additional catastrophic outcomes, increased vulnerability, etc.
These results also concur with previous ndings (Pierrehumbert et al., 2009;
Leaper, 2002), which posed the existence of a greater likelihood of
negative emotionality among boys during childhood. A possible explanation
is that by age four

general levels of parental stress. It is worth noting that

although there is no direct relationship between a boy's representation and

parental stress, there is a positive relationship between it and maternal
education levels. Because maternal education levels relate negatively to
parental stress, it is possible that there exists an indirect link between
parental stress and boys' security levels. Future research should look for
possible variables that inuence this relation. The David and Lyons-Ruth
(2005) ndings offer a possible explanation to why attachment representations
relate differently to maternal psychosocial variables (specically to parental
stress) in different genders. They observed that in a sample of motherinfant
dyads, boys and girls react differently to frightening mater- nal behavior:
female infants tend to approach their mothers more than male infants do.
Extrapolating these ndings to our results, it is possible that in the presence
of parental stress, girls remain closer to their mothers than boys do, such
that they stay more in touch with maternal hostility. Because a third of the
mothers show high levels of parental stress and because parental stress
correlates with depres- sive symptoms, it seems necessary to promote
psychiatric and social support for the mothers to prevent the appear- ance of
maltreatment, insecure representations and future psychopathology, especially
in girls.

Regarding family risk factors, it seems that environmental instability, the lack
of routines, decit in parental caregiv- ing capacities and problematic family
interactions inter- fered negatively with the development of the IWMs in both
girls and boys. The presence of these variables increases the probability for
children to develop insecure attachment representations, especially the
disorganized internal mod- els. When analyzing by gender, interactional risks
tend to have greater effects on the representations of girls, espe- cially when
it comes to their relationship to their parents and/or siblings. The security
levels of boys, on the other hand, relate more to their mother's parental
capabilities, specically to the supervision, discipline and stimulation they
receive.

Higher maternal education and occupation levels act as a protective factor

against insecure representations. It may be hypothesized that these variables are
protective because they are associated with higher cognitive resources (to
face

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

characteristics 41

Table 5 Stepwise regressions analysis of boys' attachment strategies

 F R2

DV: security

Model 1:
2.52n 0.18

Maternal occupation 0.14

Parental capabilities, parental stimulation 0.01

Family safety 0.02

DV: deactivation

Model 1:
3.06n 0.10

Parental capabilities 0.22

Family safety, emotional abuse 0.60

Family safety, neglect 0.65

Model 2:
2.64n 0.11

Parental capabilities 0.18

Family safety, neglect 0.73

DV: hyperactivation

Model 1:
3.27nn 0.19

Family safety, physical abuse 0.98

Family safety, emotional abuse 0.57

Family interactions 0.21

Model 2:
4.44nn 0.13

Family safety, physical abuse 0.86

Family safety, emotional abuse 0.78

DV: disorganization

Model 1:
4.21nn 0.0.23

Family safety, physical abuse 0.65

Family safety, emotional abuse 0.57

Child well-being, sibling relationships 0.21

Environment, community safety 0.28

Environment, housing stability 0.23

difcult situations and conicts) and with better social and

nancial support.

Finally, these results highlight the importance of imple- menting prevention

programs due to the large number of mothers who are suffering from
parental stress, which relates directly to maternal depressive symptoms and
girls insecurity representations, and indirectly to boys' insecurity
representations. Therefore, we recommend promoting an ecological and
systemic approach to implementing preven- tion programs, given that both
maternal variables and family risk dimensions are involved in the
development of the children's attachment representations.
Study limitations and future directions

Certain limitations in this study may have interfered with our results, and
regrettably we acknowledged this too late. Firstly, the use of the BDI-II was
not the best choice for evaluating maternal depressive symptoms because
this instrument does not accurately discern depressive symp- toms in a non-
clinical sample.

Secondly, the mothers completed the NCFAS-G at the child-care center,

thereby decreasing objectivity regarding the reporting of family risks. A better
way to assess family

risk factors in the future is to make home visits to get perspectives from
additional family members.

Another limitation was that the coders were not com-

pletely blind to the research questions. They knew the general aims of the
study, which decreased objectivity.

Given that our regression models only succeeded in

explaining 18% of the variance in security, 21% in deactiva- tion, 34% in

hyperactivation and 25% in disorganization, it is a future challenge to
determine with greater accuracy which variables should be considered in
explaining children attachment security and the differences between genders.
Further research should incorporate transgenerational considerations and
include more maternal variables, such as the mothers' attachment
representations. It is also necessary to incorporate paternal psychosocial
variables, given that for children of this age, the father has a
determining role in their separation and individuation processes, as well
as in encouraging the children's explora- tory behavior (Crittenden &
Dynamic-Maturational, 2000). Future research should also take into account
the perspec- tives of other family members who participate in the daily family
routine and who affect the family functioning. Furthermore, the
perspectives of the caregivers from the child-care centers should be taken into
account because the children evaluated spend a large amount of time at the
42
F. Prez C. et al.

centers. We also think it is important to conduct more longitudinal

research, considering that chronic stressors may have more profound and
determining consequences on the child and family mental health.

References

Abidin, R. R. (1995). Parenting stress index: Professional manual (3rd ed.).

Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. Ainsworth, M. S., &
Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to

personality development. American Psychologist, 46, 333341.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.4.333.

Barnett, D., Kidwell, S. L., & Ho Leung, K. (1998). Parenting and preschooler
attachment among low-income urban African Amer- ican families. Child
Development, 69, 16571671. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-
8624.1998.tb06183.x.

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the beck
depression inventory (2nd ed.). San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.

Belsky, J., Fish, M., & Isabella, R. A. (1991). Continuity and

discontinuity in infant negative and positive emotionality: Family

antecedents and attachment consequences. Develop- mental Psychology, 27,
421431. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/

0012-1649.27.3.421.

Belsky, J., & Rovine, M. (1990). Patterns of marital change across the
transition to parenthood: Pregnancy to three years post- partum. Journal of
Marriage and Family, 52, 519. (Available
from:)http://www.jstor.org/stable/352833.
Bowlby, J. (1969). El vnculo afectivo. Buenos Aires: Paids. Bowlby, J.
(1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attach-

ment theory. London: Routledge.

Bretherton, I., & Munholland, K. (1999). Internal working models in

attachment relationship: A construct revisited. In: J. Cassidy, & P. R. Shaver
(Eds.), Handbook of attachment. Theory, research and clinical applications
(pp. 520554). New York, London: The Guilford Press.

Bretherton, I., & Page, T. F. (2004). Shared or conicting working models ?

Relationships in postdivorce families seen through the eyes of mothers and
their preschool children. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 551575.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ S0954579404004663.

Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing

internal working models of the attachment relationship. An attachment

story completion task for 3-years-olds. In: D. Greenberg, E. M.
Cicchetti, & Cummings (Eds.), Attachment during the preschool years (pp.
273308). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K.A (2010). Parentchild attachment and

internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical
directions. Development and Psychopathology, 22,

177203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579409990344. Cicchetti, D., Toth,

S. L., & Rogosch, F. A. (1999). The efcacy

of toddlerparent psychotherapy to increase attachment

security in offspring of depressed mothers. Attachment Human

Development, 1, 3466. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/146167

39900134021.

Coyl, D., Roggman, L., & Newland, L. (2002). Stress, maternal

depression, and negative motherinfant interactions in relation to infant
attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 23,

145163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/imhj.10009.
Coyl, D. D., Roggman, L. A., & Newland, L. A. (2002). Stress, maternal
depression, and negative motherinfant interactions in relation to infant
attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 23,

145163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/imhj.10009.

Coyl, D. D., Newland, L. A., & Freeman, H. (2010). Predicting

preschoolers' attachment security from parenting behaviours, parents'
attachment relationships and their use of social

support. Early Child Development and Care, 180, 499512.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430802090463.

Crittenden, P. M. (2000). A dynamic-maturational approach to continuity

and change in pattern of attachment. In: P. M. Crittenden, & A. H.
Claussen (Eds.), The organization of attachment relationships. maturation,
culture and context (pp.

343357). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

David, D. H., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2005). Differential attachment responses

of male and female infants to frightening maternal behavior: Tend or
befriend versus ght or ight?. Infant Mental Health Journal, 26, 118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ imhj.2003.

De Wolff, M. S., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1997). Sensitivity and

attachment: A meta-analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment. Child

Development, 68, 571591. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/1467-
8624.ep9710021672.

Farkas, Ch., & Valds, N. (2011). Maternal stress and perceptions of self-
efcacy in socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers: An explicative model.
Infant Behavior and Development, 33,

654662. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2010.09.001.

Feldman, R. (2007). Maternal versus child's risk and the develop- ment of
parentinfant and family relationships in ve high-risk populations.
Development and Psychopathology, 19, 293312.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579407070150.

Forehand, R., Lautenschlager, G., Faust, J., & Graziano, W. (1986).

Parent perceptions and parent-child interaction in clinic- referred
children: A preliminary investigation of the effects of maternal depressive
moods. Behaviour Research and Therapy,

24, 7375. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(86)90152-X. Gianino, A., &

Tronick, E. (1988). The mutual regulation model: The

infant's self and interactive regulation. Coping and defense

capacities. In: T. Field, P. McCabe, & N. Schneiderman (Eds.), Stress and

coping (pp. 4768). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Green, J., & Goldwyn, R. (2002). Attachment disorganization and

psychopathology: New ndings in attachment research and their potential

implications for developmental psychopathology in childhood. Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43,

835846. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00102.

Hannover, B., & Schmidthals, K. (2007). Geschlechtsdifferenzen in der

Entwicklung. In: M. Hasselhorn, & W. Schneider (Eds.), Handbuch der
Entwicklungspsychologie (pp. 419428). Gttin- gen: Hogrefe.

Hughes, D. (2004). An attachment-based treatment of maltreated children and

young. Attachment and Human Development, 6,

263278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616730412331281539.

Kerns, K. A. (1994). A developmental model of the relations between

mother-child attachment and friendship. In: R. Erber,

& R. Gilmour (Eds.), Theoretical frameworks for personal relationships (pp.

129156). Hillsdale, England: Lawrence Erl- baum Associates.

Kobak, R., Cassidy, J., Lyons-Ruth, K., & Ziv, Y. (2006). Attachment, stress,
and psychopathology: A developmental pathways model. In: D. Cicchetti, & D.
J. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of develop- mental psychopathology. Theory
and method (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley & Sons.

Leaper, C. (2002). Parenting girls and boys. In: M. H. Bornstein

(Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 1. Children and parenting

(pp. 189225). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Easterbrooks, M. A., & Cibelli, C. E. (1997).

Disorganized attachment strategies and mental lag in infancy: Prediction of

externalizing problems at age seven. Developmen- tal Psychology, 33, 681
692. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-

1649.33.4.681.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Wolfe, R., & Lyubchik, A. (2000). Depression and the
parenting of young children: Making the case for early preven- tive mental
health services. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 8,

148153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/hrp_8.3.148.

Preschoolers' attachment representations and maternal psychosocial

characteristics 43

Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the
parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classications and stable
over a 1-month period. Developmental Psychology, 24, 415426.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-

1649.24.3.415.

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Russell, J., & Clark-Carter, D. (1998).

Security of attachment as a predictor of symbolic and mentalis- ing abilities: A

longitudinal study. Social Development, 7, 124.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00047.

Melipilln, R., Cova, F., Rincn, P., & Valdivia, M. (2008). Propie- dades
psicomtricas del Inventario de Depresin de Beck-II en adolescentes
chilenos. Terapia Psicologica, 26, 5969. http:

//dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-48082008000100005.
Miljkovitch, R., Pierrehumbert, B., Bretherton, I., & Halfon, O. (2004).
Associations between parental and child attachment representations.
Attachment and Human Development, 6,

305325. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616730412331281557. Miljkovitch, R.,

Pierrehumbert, B., Karmaniola, A., & Halfon, O.

(2003). Les reprsentations dattachement du jeune enfant. Dveloppement

dun systme de codage pour les histoires complter. Devenir, 15, 143
177. http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/ dev.032.0143.

Moss, E., Cyr, Ch., & Dubois-Comtois, K. (2004). Attachment at early

school age and developmental risk: examining family contexts and
behavior problems of controlling-caregiving, con- trolling-punitive, and
behaviorally disorganized children. Devel- opmental Psychology, 40, 519532.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/

0012-1649.40.4.519.

Page, T., & Bretherton, I. (2003). Gender differences in stories of violence

and caring by preschool children in post-divorce families: implications
for social competence. Child and Adoles- cent Social Work Journal, 20,
485508. http://dx.doi.org/

10.1023/B:CASW.0000003140.44020.ba.

Pierrehumbert, B., Santelices, M. P., Ibaez, M., Alberdi, M., Ongari., B.,
& Roskam, I., et al. (2009).Gender representations in the preschool years:
Comparison between ve countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,
40, 543566. http://dx. doi.org/10.1177/0022022109335181.

Reed, K. B. (1998). The reliability and validity of the North

Carolina Family Assessment Scale. Chapel Hill, NC: The Uni- versity of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Roggman, L., Moe, S., Hart, A., & Forthun, L. (1994). Family leisure

and social support: Relations with parenting stress and psycho- logical
well-being in head start parents. Early Childhood Research Quarterly,
9, 463480. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/

0885-2006(94)90020-5.
Rojas, G., Araya, R., & Lewis, G. (2005). Comparing sex inequalities in
common affective disorders across countries: Great Britain and Chile. Social
Science and Medicine, 60, 16931703. http:

//dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.030.

Soares, I., & Dias, P. (2007). Apego y psicopatologa en jvenes y adultos:

contribuciones recientes de la investigacin. Interna- tional Journal of
Clinical Health Psychology, 7, 177195. (Avail- able
from:)http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/pdf/337/33770112.pdf.

Sroufe, L., Egeland, B., Carlson, E., Collins, W. A., & Grossmann, K.

E. (2005). Placing early attachment experiences in develop- mental

context: The Minnesota Longitudinal Study. In: K. Grossmann, & E.
Waters (Eds.), Attachment from infancy to

adulthood: The major longitudinal studies (pp. 4870). New

York: Guilford Publications.

Sroufe, L. A., Carlson, E., & Shulman, S. (1993). Individuals in

relationships: Development from infancy through adolescence. In: D. C.
Funder, R. D. Parke, C. Tomlinson-Keasey, & K. Widaman (Eds.),
Studying lives through time: Personality and development (pp. 315342).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Stams, G. J., Juffer, F., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2002). Maternal

sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early child- hood predict

adjustment in middle childhood: The case of adopted children and their
biologically unrelated parents. Development Psychology, 38, 806821.
http://dx.doi.org/

10.1037/0012-1649.38.5.806.

Steele, H., & Steele, M. (2005). The construct of coherence as an indicator of

attachment security in middle childhood. The friends and family
interview. In: K. A. Kerns, & R. A. Richardson (Eds.), Attachment
in middle childhood (pp.

137188). New York: Guilford Press.

Steele, M., Steele, H., Woolgar, M., Yabsley, S., Fonagy, P., & Johnsn, D.,
et al. (2003).An attachment perspective on chil- drens emotion narratives:
Links across generations. In: R. N. Emde, D. P. Wolf, & D. Oppenheim
(Eds.), Revealing the inner world of young children. The MacArthur
story-stem- battery and parentchild narratives (pp. 1632000). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Tamis-LeMonda, C., Shannon, J., Cabrera, N., & Lamb, M. (2004).

Fathers and mothers at play with their 2- and 3-year-olds: Contributions to

language and cognitive development. Child Development, 75, 18061820.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ j.1467-8624.2004.00818.x.

Teti, D. M., Gelfand, D. M., Messinger, D. S., & Isabella, R. (1995).

Maternal depression and the quality of early attachment: An examination

of infants, preschoolers, and their mothers. Devel- opmental Psychology, 31,
364376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/

0012-1649.31.3.364.

Valencia, E., & Gmez, E. (2010). Una escala de evaluacin familiar eco-
sistmica para programas sociales: conabilidad y validez de la NCFAS en
poblacin de alto riesgo psicosocial. Psykhe, 19,

89103. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-22282010000100007. Van

IJzendoorn, M. H., Schuengel, C., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.

J. (1999). Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Metaa-

nalysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae. Development and

Psychopathology, 11, 225249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/
S0954579499002035.

Verschueren, K., Marcoen, A., & Schoefs, V. (1996). The internal

working model of the self, attachment, and competence in ve- year olds.
Child Development, 67, 24932511. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-
8624.1996.tb01870.x.

Vondra, JI., Swearingen, L., Cohen, M., & Owens, EB. (2001).
Attachment stability and emotional and behavioral regulation from infancy to
preschool age. Development and Psychopathol- ogy, 13, 1333. (Available
from:)http://journals.cambridge. org/article_S095457940100102X.

Weinberg, M.K, & Tronick, E. Z. (1997). Depressed mothers and infants:

Failure to form dyadic states of consciousness. In: Lynne Murray, & Peter
J. Cooper (Eds.), Postpartum depression and child development (pp. 5481).
New York, US: Guilford Press.