Q-sort assessment of attachment security during the preschool years: links from home to school

This study investigated relations among preschoolers' secure-base behavior with mother at home, stressful family conditions, and qualities of developing relationships with peers and teachers in preschool. Preschool-age children (N = 94; 51 boys and 43 girls) and their mothers were observed during multiple home visits, and their security of attachment was assessed with the Attachment Q-Set. Children in families with lower levels of stress had more secure attachment relationships with mothers. Both boys and girls who were less securely attached to their mothers expressed significantly more anger-aggression in preschool. For boys, higher levels of family stress were also significantly related to anger-aggression and to social competence in preschool. In addition, boys who were more securely attached to their mothers were more securely attached to their preschool teachers and were more popular with peers in preschool.     

Expressive writing disorders: an analysis of theoretical views

Three prominent theories of writing were found in a literature review of Psychlit, educational journals and Medline, and a fourth global theory relating writing to intact cerebral integrity was also hypothesized. These theories were then tested by attempting to predict writing scores among a sample of 44 individuals with academic difficulties. Significant support was found for a memory and attention model, the dysgraphia model, and an abstract sequential analysis model. Surprisingly, measures of the overall cortical integrity were not significantly related to writing behavior in this sample, but this finding may reflect excluding brain damaged subjects in this study. Also, the abstract sequential analysis model appeared to function differently than expected. The results indicate it is important to assess the cognitive contributions of writing difficulties to guide remediation. Larger scale research on the sources of writing disorders is also recommended.