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A total of 14 kindergarten children participated in a story completion task in which they used doll play to enact a series of stories about family events. The children's mothers completed the Adult Attachment Interview, which measures adults' perceptions of their childhood family relationships. Doll play and interviews were rated for rejection and supportive partnership. The analysis first focused on intergenerational continuity. No correlation was found between children's representations of family interaction in doll play and their mothers' memories of family interaction. However, when mothers were divided into groups of those who had and had not received therapy, correlations were found for mothers in the nontherapy group and their children. The second analysis considered differentiation of relationships. Results indicated that children and mothers failed to differentiate between the quality of parent-child and spousal relationships. Results also indicated that, in general, children of mothers who had received therapy displayed in their doll play relationships more supportive relationships than those their mothers reported having in their childhoods. This was true for parent-child and spousal relationships, and for children who were classified as secure, avoidant, and ambivalent in attachment. (BC)

Findings of a study on the relation between 6-year-olds' attachment security and their mental representations of attachment relationships are reported. It was expected that infants whose attachment behavior seemed disorganized would be fearful of their attachment figures and experience themselves as helpless, and that these conditions would be clearly reflected in children's symbolic representation of themselves and their relationships at a later age. To test the hypothesis, children's representations of their relationship to their mothers were assessed by means of a semistructured doll play situation in which an adult companion introduced a neutral story and then moved the child through a series of four stories related to attachment. Children's relationships were classified as secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or controlling. Differences between attachment groups' responses to the story themes of separation and reunion are discussed. The doll play of controlling children confirmed predictions based on the conflict behavior of disorganized infants. Secure children expressed separation fears that originated outside the family. These children appeared to have fairly sophisticated cognitive strategies for integrating fears of separation with a successful resolution. Avoidant and ambivalent children seemed to exclude separation fears from their play and consciousness. Fears of controlling children were expressed in a primitive and chaotic way. (RH)

A study concerning the mother's mental representation of herself as a caregiver focused on: (1) a conceptual framework developed for the purpose of describing and explaining internal working models of caregiving; and (2) efforts to define caregivers' representations of content and process that seem to be associated with attachment insecurity. Specific attention was given to the dimensions of control and disorganization in attachment. It was postulated that mothers would positively evaluate their willingness to respond to their children, their ability to read and understand their children's signals, and the effectiveness of their caregiving strategies. The mother would view her child as one who wants and deserves her care, who clearly signals what is needed, and who needs and will respond to her care. In a central relationship postulate, the mother would assert that she and her child are autonomous individuals in a relationship. The study collected data from 32 mothers and their kindergarten children by means of three home observations, a laboratory session, a caregiving interview, and 7-point helplessness and secure base scales. Results included findings that the mother's representations of herself as helpless and the child as beyond control are related to the child's control and disorganization. (RH)