The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task: relationship with parental AAI, SAT and child behaviour

• Published in: Attachment & human development Vol. 2; no. 1; pp. 71 - 84
• Main Authors: Goldwyn, Ruth, Stanley, Charlie, Smith, Vicky, Green, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01.04.2000; Taylor and Francis
• Subjects: Adult Attachment Interview Child Attachment Representation Separation Anxiety Test; Anxiety, Separation - diagnosis; Anxiety, Separation - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Developmental psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Male; Maternal Behavior; Object Attachment; Parent-Child Relations; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Personality Development; Personality. Affectivity; Play and Playthings; Projective Techniques - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Temperament; Human; Separation Anxiety Test Hansburg; Mental representation; Evaluation scale; Psychometrics; Cognition; Personality; Parent child relation; School age; Affective attachment; Correlation analysis; Doll play; Child
• ISSN: 1461-6734; 1469-2988
• DOI: 10.1080/146167300361327

The Manchester Attachment Story Task (MCAST) is a new method for eliciting the internal working model (IWM) of attachment representations in children between 5 and 7 years. The instrument is described in the companion paper, 'A New Method of Evaluating Attachment Representations'. This paper reports initial findings on a non-clinical sample comparing the MCAST with concurrent maternal attachment representation, measures of child temperament and behaviour, and concurrent ratings on the Separation Anxiety Test (SAT). Ratings of disorganized attachment on the MCAST show association with Unresolved status on concurrent maternal Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and with independent teacher ratings of classroom behaviour. Child temperament shows an effect on the style of engagement with the interview but not the attachment ratings. Possible alternative explanations for the phenomena seen are discussed, along with potential applications of the instrument and directions for future research.