| The present study explored the relations between fifth grade children's self-reported perceptions of mother-child attachment security, social information processing, and mother and teacher reports of prosocial behavior. As anticipated, children with higher security scores were less likely to attribute hostile intentions to mothers and peers, to favorably evaluate overtly and relationally aggressive responses to maternal and peer provocation, and to prefer the obtainment of instrumental to relational goals. Contrary to expectations, however, children's prosocial behavior was largely unrelated to attachment security or social information processing; only the tendency to attribute hostile intentions toward mother was significantly associated with mother-oriented prosocial behavior. Neither social partner (i.e., mother versus peer) nor provocation type (overt versus relational) moderated the strength of the associations observed between attachment security, information processing, and prosocial behavior. Thus, while the present findings provide support for a connection between attachment security and the processing of social information, the role that these biases may play in children's social adjustment is unclear and should be explored through further research. |
