The Attachment Story Completion Task for Czech Pre-schoolers and Younger School-Age Children
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The Attachment Story Completion Task for Czech Pre-schoolers and Younger School-Age Children Abstract: Measuring attachment security in pre-schoolers and children in early middle childhood often involves narrative story completion tasks (Farnfield, 2014), where a child's responses and interactions with dolls, if utilized, are believed to reflect their mental representations of self, attachment figures, and attachment strategies. While various story stems and scoring systems exist (Kerns & Seibert, 2021), there is a notable absence of guidelines for their creation and scoring. Our study aims to address this gap with two primary objectives. Firstly, we seek to develop a comprehensive battery of story stems capable of effectively distinguishing between secure, avoidant, and anxious attachment styles. Secondly, we endeavour to devise two integrated scoring systems— categorical and dimensional—to enhance assessment accuracy. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks and key criteria, we crafted multiple facets to guide the selection and refinement of existing story stems or the creation of new ones. Emphasis was placed on designing scenarios eliciting responses indicative of a child's need for a safe haven, a secure base, or experiences of separation distress. Additionally, we sought to incorporate story stems with discriminative potential across attachment styles, resulting in a total of 14 carefully curated story stems. These stems will be organized into two sets of 7 stories for the pilot study. To address questions regarding concurrent validity, participating children will undergo the Attachment Story Completion Task, the Child Puppet Interview assessing attachment security, and the newly developed method capturing the attachment hierarchy. Preliminary findings from data collection, scheduled for spring 2024, will be presented. Additionally, mothers whose toddlers participated in the Strange Situation Procedure 5/6 years ago will be invited to involve their children in the upcoming research. We anticipate an estimated sample size of 100 children aged 4 to 8 years. |
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