1. Associations of the EA-CS with the
Emotional Attachment & Emotional Availability Clinical Screener (EA & EA-CS): A Dyadic Assessment in the Context of Center-Based Child Care Megan Baker, M.S. and Zeynep Biringen, Ph.D.
Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Background
Methods
Results
EA Training
38 infants/toddler-child care provider pairings from a study that examined the EA Intervention (Biringen, 2008) in the child care context (Biringen et al., 2012).
2 coders observed for 2 hours to score the measures relevant to attachment (AQS) and general emotional climate of the classroom (CIS; see Measures section)
30 minutes of caregiver-child interactions were videotaped for coding the EA-relevant measures (EA Scales & EA-CS) by 2 observers naïve to other information
The data were analyzed using zero-order correlations (2-tailed) for relations between the EA-CS and other measures (inter-rater reliability at .80) at 2 time points (Time 1 = preintervention; Time 2 = postintervention).
Secure relationships with professional caregivers are associated with a range of positive developmental outcomes.
But only 50% of U.S. children experience security in child care (Howes & Smith, 1995) compared to 70% of parent-child relationships (Ahnert, Pinquart, & Lamb, ).
Thus, it is important to understand the overall quality of the emotional infant/toddler-provider relationship and especially in child care centers (Belsky et al., 2007).
Emotional Availability (EA), as a construct, is the capacity of a dyad to share an emotional connection and a mutually healthy relationship (Biringen, 2000) and is related to secure attachment (Biringen et al., 2012).
Emotional attachment is a new construct based on EA that represents the dyadic emotionally-based attachment of a caregiver-child relationship (Biringen, ).
The study was aimed at validating the Emotional Attachment & EA Clinical Screener (EA-CS; Biringen, 2008) as a dyadic assessment of relationships.
Associations of the EA-CS with the
EA Scales, AQS, and CIS at
Time 1 and Time 2
EA training is quite feasible and affordable.
Certification in the EA Scales and EA-CS requires 32 hours of training either in vivo or online.
Attachment and EA principles are taught during sessions, and real life examples of caregiver-child videos are used.
Reliability of the EA Scales and EA-CS is obtained through coding 8 separate caregiver-child interaction videos which are then compared against master codes.
Once reliable and certified, the EA Scales and EA-CS can be used in either research or practice.
Use of the EA-CS as an intervention tool by mental health consultants and providers will increase secure provider-child relationships in center-based care.
Securing health y provider-child relationships may reduce other problems in (e.g., aggression) n the classroom.
The EA-CS has the potential to better inform policy to include more emphasis on provider-child relationships in provider trainings and licensure.
EA-CS
Measure
Time 1
Time 2
EA Scales
Sensitivity
.26
.39**
Structuring
.34*
.36*
Nonintrusiveness
.04
.08
Nonhostility
.35*
.11
Responsiveness
Involving
.48**
.27
AQS
Security
.29*
Dependency
.33*
.19
CIS
Supportiveness
.31*
Hostility
-.15
-.05
Detachment
-.32*
.01
Application
Measures
*p < .05, **p < .001
EA-CS (Biringen, 2008)
Measures observed caregiver-child emotional attachment
Scale of (4 zones): 1 – 40 = Problematic zone; 41 – 60 = Detachment zone; 61 – 80 = Complicated EA zone; 81 – 100 = Dyadic EA zone.
EA Scales (4th ed.; Biringen, 2008)
Measures observed caregiver-child EA
Four caregiver scales: Sensitivity, Structuring, Nonintrusiveness, and Nonhostility
Two child scales: Responsiveness and Involving of the caregiver
Attachment Q Sort (AQS; Waters & Deane, 1985)
Measures observed child attachment behaviors utilizing a Q-sort methodology with 90 descriptors
Subscales: Security and Dependency
Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS; Arnett, 1989)
Measures the overall observed emotional climate of the classroom via 26 items
Subscales: Supportiveness, Hostility, and Detachment.
The EA-CS was moderately associated with the EA Scales at both time points
The EA-CS was moderately associated with AQS Security and Dependency at Time 1
The EA-CS was moderately (and negatively) associated with CIS Detachment at Time 1 and moderately associated with CIS Supportiveness at Time 2
Objectives
Conclusion
References
Describe the need to understand and assess secure attachment relationships between professional caregivers and infants/toddlers in center-based care
Validate the Emotional Attachment and Emotional Availability Clinical Screener (EA-CS) in this context, against other measures of attachment and emotional climate in the classroom.
Describe how training to learn this evidence-based tool can be helpful for practitioners and policymakers.
Discuss how this assessment tool can then be used by professional caregivers and mental health consultants as an intervention tool to train professional caregivers.
The EA-CS was associated with measures of EA, attachment, and classroom emotional climate measures that are commonly used in research to examine relationships in child care centers.
Moderate associations of the EA-CS with these measures show that the EA-CS is tapping into unique information not currently measured by other EA, attachment, and classroom emotional climate assessments.
The associations between the EA-CS, AQS, EA Scales, and CIS provide evidence of the validity of the EA-CS as an assessment of emotional attachment in the context of child care.
1. Ahnert, L., Pinquart, M., & Lamb, M. E. (2006). Security of children’s relationships with non-parental care providers: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 77, 664–679.
2. Arnett, J. (1989). Caregivers in day-care centers: Does training matter? Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 10, 541–552.
3. Belsky, J., Vandell, D., Burchinal, M., Clarke-Stewart, K. A., McCartney, K.,Owen, M., & the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2007).Are there long-term effects of early child care? Child Development, 78, 681–701.
4. Biringen, Z. (2008). The Emotional Availability Scales Manual (4th ed.). Retrieved from
5. Howes, C., & Smith, E. W. (1995). Children and their child care caregivers: Profiles of relationships. Social Development, 4, 44–61.
6. Waters, E., & Deane, K. (1985). Defining and assessing individual differences in attachment relationships: Q-methodology and the organization of behavior in infancy and early childhood. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, 41–65.
7. Biringen, Z., Altenhofen, S., Aberle, J., Baker, M., Brosal, A., Bennett, S., & ... Swaim, R. (2012). Emotional availability, attachment, and intervention in center-based child care for infants and toddlers. Development and Psychopathology, 24,