Young Children's Representation of People Who Are Elsewhere--Or Dead

Autor/in	Harris, Paul L.
Titel	Young Children's Representation of People Who Are Elsewhere--Or Dead
Quelle	In: International Journal of Behavioral Development, 47 (2023) 3, S.265-274 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Harris, Paul L.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0165-0254
DOI	10.1177/01650254221144268
Schlagwörter	Young Children; Death; Attachment Behavior; Concept Formation; Emotional Response; Parent Child Relationship; Family Relationship; Language Usage; Interpersonal Communication; Child Development; Grief + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Frühe Kindheit; Sterbefall; Tod; Todesfall; Attachment; Bindungsverhalten; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Emotionales Verhalten; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Sprachgebrauch; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Kindesentwicklung; Trauer
Abstract	Given the legacy of John Bowlby, Attachment theory has often portrayed separation from a caregiver as likely to provoke protest, despair, and ultimately detachment in infants and young children. Indeed, the emotional challenge of separation is built into a key measurement tool of Attachment theory, the Strange Situation. However, James Robertson, one of Bowlby's leading collaborators, voiced dissent. He argued that young children can cope with separations--even when they last for several days or weeks. They are able to keep the absent person in mind provided an alternative, familiar caregiver remains available. Observational and experimental findings lend support to Robertson's claim. Recent analyses of natural language provide further support. Although young toddlers (ranging from 20 to 26 months) often make contact- or attachment-related comments about absent caregivers, such comments become less frequent with age whereas reflective references to absent caregivers--comments that do not express contact-related concerns about their absence--are often produced by young toddlers and remain frequent throughout early childhood. Children's early-emerging ability to keep an absent attachment figure in mind raises intriguing questions about their responses to the permanent absence of an attachment figure--as in the case of death. Consistent with contemporary research showing that many grieving adults report continuing bonds to a deceased attachment figure--rather than a gradual process of emotional detachment--children also report such continuing bonds. By implication, children and adults are prone to construe the death of a loved one not just as a biological endpoint that terminates the possibility of any continuing relationship but instead as a departure that can be bridged by a continuation of the earlier bond in an altered form. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01