Title
Attachment theory’s core hypotheses in rural Andean Peru
Date Issued
01 January 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Routledge
Abstract
This is the first study aiming to test two universality claims of attachment theory within a rural Andean sample from Cusco, Peru. A total of 69 mothers and their children (6 to 36 months) participated. Child attachment security was assessed with the Attachment Q-set (AQS), maternal sensitivity was measured during three naturalistic episodes (free interaction, bathing, and feeding) with the Ainsworth sensitivity scale and the Maternal Behavior Q-sort (MBQS), and a cumulative maternal risk variable was calculated. Results revealed that most children displayed less characteristic secure base behaviors in the interactions with their mothers, compared to other reference samples. Furthermore, an association between maternal sensitivity and child attachment security was found, and a negative relation between maternal sensitivity and the cumulative risk variable. These results support some of the attachment theory’s universality claims, and suggest new avenues for research on assessment issues in rural samples in the Global South.
Start page
605
End page
623
Volume
24
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Geografía social, Geografía económica
Historia
Subjects
Publication version
Version of Record
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85129154189
PubMed ID
Source
Attachment and Human Development
ISSN of the container
1461-6734
Sponsor(s)
Authors would like to thank the participating families for allowing us to film in their homes. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the work of the research assistants who did a great job under the guidance of the first author. Finally, we would like to thank Pontifical Catholic University of Peru for the research funding awarded to the authors which made this study possible.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus