ABSTRACT

Examining degrees of stability in attachment throughout early childhood is important for understanding developmental pathways and for informing intervention. Updating and building upon all prior meta-analyses, this study aimed to determine levels of stability in all forms of attachment classifications across early childhood. Attachment stability was assessed between three developmental epochs within early childhood: infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool/early school. To ensure data homogeneity, only studies that assessed attachment with methods based on the strange situation procedure were included. Results indicate moderate levels of stability at both the four-way (secure, avoidant, resistant, and disorganised; κ = 0.23) and secure/insecure (r = 0.28) levels of assessment. Meta-regression analysis indicated security to be the most stable attachment organisation. This study also found evidence for publication bias, highlighting a preference for the publication of significant findings.

 抽象的

检查整个幼儿期依恋的稳定性程度对于理解发展路径和为干预提供信息非常重要。这项研究更新并建立在所有先前的荟萃分析的基础上，旨在确定幼儿时期所有形式的依恋分类的稳定性水平。依恋稳定性在幼儿期的三个发展时期进行评估：婴儿期、幼儿期和学前/早期学校。为了确保数据的同质性​​，仅纳入使用基于奇怪情况程序的方法评估依恋的研究。结果表明，在四向（安全、回避、抵抗和混乱； κ = 0.23）和安全/不安全（ r = 0.28）评估级别上，稳定性处于中等水平。元回归分析表明安全性是最稳定的依恋组织。这项研究还发现了发表偏倚的证据，凸显了人们对发表重大发现的偏好。