Year of Award

2006

Document Type

Professional Paper - Campus Access Only

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Developmental Psychology

Department or School/College

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Paul S. Silverman

Commitee Members

Christine Fiore, John Sommers-Flanagan

Keywords

attachment security, middle childhood, social competence

Abstract

Spangler, Brooke, R. M.A., Autumn 2006 Psychology Social Competence, Social Support, and Attachment During Middle Childhood Chairperson: Paul S. Silverman, Ph.D. The attachment style of children throughout their early years has been found to relate to social competence and social support (Marcus & Kramer, 2001). This investigation attempts to determine whether the relationship is evident during middle childhood. Thirty 8-13-year-old children and their mothers participated. A correlational design was used. Attachment style was assessed with the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory (Marcus, 2001), social competence was assessed with the Social Competence Inventory (Rydell, Hagekull, & Bohlin, 1997), and social support was measured with the Social Support Appraisals Scale (Dubow & Ullman, 1989). A measure of social desirability, the Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Short Form (Reynolds, 1982), was used to assess the participants’ likelihood of responding favorably. Correlations were conducted to determine if there was a significant relationship between attachment security, social competence and social support, but results were nonsignificant. Results show that attachment security was not an adequate predictor of either social support or social competence. A significant correlation was found regarding high scores on the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Short Form, suggesting that mothers may have responded in an unrealistically favorable way to questions concerning their relationship with their child.

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© Copyright 2006 Brooke Rose Spangler