TY - JOUR
T1 - Early maternal sensitivity, attachment security in young adulthood, and cardiometabolic risk at midlife
AU - Farrell, Allison K.
AU - Waters, Theodore E.A.
AU - Young, Ethan S.
AU - Englund, Michelle M.
AU - Carlson, Elizabeth E.
AU - Roisman, Glenn I.
AU - Simpson, Jeffry A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by a National Institutes of Aging [5R01AG039453-04] grant to Jeffry A. Simpson. The authors would like to thank Greg Miller for his advice regarding this project.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by a National Institutes of Aging [5R01AG039453-04] grant to Jeffry A. Simpson.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - Children who experience high-quality early parenting tend to have better physical health, but limited research has tested whether this association extends into adulthood using prospective, observational assessments. Likewise, mechanisms that may explain such links have not yet been illuminated. In this study, we test whether the quality of early maternal sensitivity experienced during the first 3½ years of life predicts cardiometabolic risk at midlife (ages 37 and 39 years) via attachment representations measured in young adulthood (ages 19 and 26 years). We do so by comparing the predictive significance of two different forms of attachment representations coded from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI): (a) secure base script knowledge and (b) coherence of mind. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, we find that early maternal sensitivity is negatively associated with cardiometabolic risk at midlife. Secure base script knowledge (but not coherence of mind) partially mediated this link. These findings are consistent with the possibility that early parenting has lasting significance for physical health in part by promoting higher levels of secure base script knowledge.
AB - Children who experience high-quality early parenting tend to have better physical health, but limited research has tested whether this association extends into adulthood using prospective, observational assessments. Likewise, mechanisms that may explain such links have not yet been illuminated. In this study, we test whether the quality of early maternal sensitivity experienced during the first 3½ years of life predicts cardiometabolic risk at midlife (ages 37 and 39 years) via attachment representations measured in young adulthood (ages 19 and 26 years). We do so by comparing the predictive significance of two different forms of attachment representations coded from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI): (a) secure base script knowledge and (b) coherence of mind. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, we find that early maternal sensitivity is negatively associated with cardiometabolic risk at midlife. Secure base script knowledge (but not coherence of mind) partially mediated this link. These findings are consistent with the possibility that early parenting has lasting significance for physical health in part by promoting higher levels of secure base script knowledge.
KW - Parenting
KW - attachment
KW - cardiometabolic risk
KW - coherence of mind
KW - secure base script
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U2 - 10.1080/14616734.2018.1541517
DO - 10.1080/14616734.2018.1541517
M3 - Article
C2 - 30428778
AN - SCOPUS:85057244809
SN - 1461-6734
VL - 21
SP - 70
EP - 86
JO - Attachment and Human Development
JF - Attachment and Human Development
IS - 1
ER -