Security of attachment and maternal tutoring strategies: Interaction within the zone of proximal development

The study investigated the relationship between children's security of attachment and mothers' ability to tutor their children within the ‘region of sensitivity to instruction’ (Wood & Middleton, 1975). Thirty-seven mothers and their 3-year-olds who had been classified as securely or insecurely attached in infancy participated on a box construction task. Compared with mothers in the insecure group, mothers of securely attached children used proportionately more positive feedback, less negative feedback and tended to use physical intervention only if the child requested their help. Mothers whose children were securely attached were also more likely to use feedback from their children's performance in gauging the level of specificity of their succeeding instructions. Although the differences in the use of positive and negative feedback between the secure and insecure group mothers may be explained in terms of socio-economic status (SES), there were no SES-based differences on the measures of physical intervention or sensitivity to feedback. The results are discussed with reference to the securely attached child's posited greater autonomy, and the possibility that mothers of securely attached children are better able to recognize their child's level of competence resulting in them pitching their interventions at an appropriate level.