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ERIC Number: EJ1050075
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Nov
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Stories of Parents and Self: Relations to Adolescent Attachment
Zaman, Widaad; Fivush, Robyn
Developmental Psychology, v49 n11 p2047-2056 Nov 2013
How individuals construct narratives involving attachment figures (e.g., parents) should reflect their representation of those individuals as either comforting or unsupportive (Bowlby, 1969). Similarly, how individuals talk about parents' childhood experiences may also reflect their attachment representation. Sixty-five 13- to 16-year-old middle-class, diverse adolescents narrated 2 stories each from mother's and father's childhood, and 2 positive and negative personal experiences, all coded for coherence and emotions. As a measure of attachment, adolescents completed the Attachment Script Assessment, coded for attachment security (H. S. Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh, 2001). Pearson's correlations indicate secure adolescents told coherent and emotionally expressive narratives about mothers' childhood but not fathers'; narratives about mothers' experiences appear important for adolescents' attachment. Secure adolescents also told thematically coherent negative but not positive personal narratives. Thus, secure adolescents do not tell all narratives coherently and emotionally; in this study, the relation between narratives and attachment is specific to intergenerational narratives.
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A