The child mirror paradigm and the adult attachment interview: Intergeneration influences of the mother's attachment pattern

The objective of the present investigation is to understand the possible influence of mothers' thoughts, feelings, and representations concerning her childhood attachment experiences and how they are associated with their toddlers' emerging sense of self. Toddlers' sense of self was measured in terms of their engagement with the Child Mirror Paradigm, while mothers' attachment representations were measured with the Adult Attachment Interview. Data was collected from a community sample of fifty-three parent-child dyads. Toddlers ranged from two to three years of age. Toddlers' behavior in the mirror paradigm was scored on nine scales. These scales were reduced to a single reliable dimension of "child involvement with the mirror". Heightened child involvement in the mirror task was associated with mothers Adult Attachment Interview three-way classifications, F=3.52 (2,50) p=.037. Pair-wise comparisons revealed that child's involvement in the mirror was lowest when their mothers' AAIs were classified insecure-dismissing and highest when their mothers AAIs were classified insecure-preoccupied. Children whose mothers' AAIs were classified autonomous-secure demonstrated moderate involvement with the mirror. These indicate a mid range model where child mirror behavior may be seen as a function of maternal attachment security and as a reflection of differing patterns of emotion- and attention-regulation. In particular, a hierarchical regression model demonstrated that interval ratings of passive speech and involving anger in the mother's AAI contributed significantly to the heightened child mirror scores, p=.048. Furthermore, heightened child involvement in the mirror was associated with the mothers Adult Attachment Interview four-way classifications. Mothers, who were rated unresolved on the AAI, had toddlers with the highest scores on the child aggregate code. Similarly, post hoc pair-wise comparisons revealed significant mean differences between toddlers of mothers' rated as unresolved with those who have mothers rated secure or dismissing on the AAI, F=2.83 (3,49) p = .048. Interestingly, mother's reflective functioning rating on her AAI had a significant correlation with the aggregate mother code, Mother's Facilitation of the Child's Involvement in the Task, r=.275, p=.033. This code likely assesses mother's ability to regulate affect with her toddler.