ABSTRACT

Researchers returned to the home of Mary Ainsworth’s original attachment study to explore the contributions of Ugandan children’s representations of attachment interactions with their caregivers to their perceptions about gender. Researchers administered the Attachment Story-Completion Task (ASCT) and applied three attachment narrative coding systems and a gender stereotypes typology to the ASCT stories of 51 Ugandan children ages 5–7. Nine attachment narrative variables were applied to the children’s responses to a series of five attachment story stems told using a family of dolls. The narratives emerging from the children’s responses to these story stems were also coded independently for 14 masculine and 14 feminine gender stereotypes. Empathic relations among the dolls and narrative coherence were positively correlated with counterstereotypical gender representations only in girls. Attachment representations of a rejecting father were positively correlated with stereotypical gender representations only in boys. Representations of attachment avoidance were negatively correlated with counterstereotypical gender representations in both boys and girls. The findings suggested two different trajectories for the development of gender representation flexibility in boys and girls. This study contextualizes these findings against the backdrop of a country with rigid sex roles and a fast-growing child population.

摘要

研究人员回到 Mary Ainsworth 最初的依恋研究的家，以探索乌干达儿童与其照料者的依恋互动表现对他们对性别的看法的贡献。研究人员执行了依恋故事-完成任务 (ASCT)，并将三种依恋叙事编码系统和一种性别刻板印象类型学应用于 51 名 5-7 岁乌干达儿童的 ASCT 故事。九个依恋叙事变量被应用到孩子们对使用娃娃家族讲述的一系列五个依恋故事词干的反应中。孩子们对这些故事梗的反应所产生的叙事也被独立编码为 14 种男性和 14 种女性性别刻板印象。娃娃之间的移情关系和叙事连贯性仅与女孩的反刻板性别表征呈正相关。拒绝父亲的依恋表现仅与男孩的刻板性别表现呈正相关。男孩和女孩的依恋回避表现与反刻板印象的性别表现呈负相关。研究结果为男孩和女孩的性别代表灵活性的发展提出了两种不同的轨迹。本研究将这些发现置于一个性别角色僵化且儿童人口快速增长的国家的背景下。男孩和女孩的依恋回避表现与反刻板印象的性别表现呈负相关。研究结果为男孩和女孩的性别代表灵活性的发展提出了两种不同的轨迹。本研究将这些发现置于一个性别角色僵化且儿童人口快速增长的国家的背景下。男孩和女孩的依恋回避表现与反刻板印象的性别表现呈负相关。研究结果为男孩和女孩的性别代表灵活性的发展提出了两种不同的轨迹。本研究将这些发现置于一个性别角色僵化且儿童人口快速增长的国家的背景下。