AUTHOR=George Carol , Solomon Judith 

TITLE=The Attachment Doll Play Assessment: Predictive Validity with Concurrent Mother-Child Interaction and Maternal Caregiving Representations

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01594

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01594

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Attachment is central to the development of children’s regulatory processes. It has been associated with developmental and psychiatric health across the life span, especially emotional and behavioral regulation of negative affect when stressed (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B59">Schore, 2001</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B60">Schore and Schore, 2008</xref>). Assessment of attachment patterns provides a critical frame for understanding emerging developmental competencies and formulating treatment and intervention. Play-based attachment assessments provide access to representational models of attachment, which are regarded in attachment theory as the central organizing mechanisms associated with stability or change (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">Bowlby, 1969/1982</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">Bretherton and Munholland, 2008</xref>). The Attachment Doll Play Assessment (ADPA, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">George and Solomon, 1990–2016</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B68">Solomon et al., 1995</xref>) is a prominent established representational attachment measure for children aged early latency through childhood. This study examines the predictive validity of the ADPA to caregiving accessibility and responsiveness assessed from mother-child interaction and maternal representation. Sixty nine mothers and their 5–7-year-old children participated in this study. Mother-child interaction was observed during a pre-separation dyadic interaction task. Caregiving representations were rated from the Caregiving Interview (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">George and Solomon, 1988/1993/2005/2007</xref>). Child security with mother was associated with positive dyadic interaction and flexibly integrated maternal caregiving representations. Child controlling/disorganized attachments were significantly associated with problematic dyadic interaction and dysregulated-helpless maternal caregiving representations. The clinical implications and the use of the ADPA in clinical and educational settings are discussed.</p>