Childrens’ attachment story-completions and their theory of mind in three Turkish contexts: Seasonal migrant agricultural worker communities, residential group homes, and rural villages

ABSTRACT

This study examines the association between attachment story-completions, as evaluated by a representational attachment measure, and theory of mind (ToM) among 204 socioeconomically disadvantaged children aged four to six years living in three distinct Turkish contexts: Seasonal migrant agricultural worker (SMAW) communities, residential group homes (RGHs), and rural villages. Attachment story-completions and ToM were found to be related to the distinct contexts children were living in. In the SMAW communities, higher number of children showed insecure dominant attachment, with only one in four having secure dominant attachment. About half of the children in the RGHs had insecure dominant attachment. However, the majority of village children exhibited secure dominant attachment. Furthermore, irrespective of the context, secure dominant attachment was found to have a substantial positive influence on children’s ToM. Findings suggest that early intervention programs tailored to address emotional needs and support cognitive skills may be the most effective in helping children in these contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment story-completions
• theory of mind
• early childhood
• low- and middle-income countries
• seasonal migrant agricultural workers
• residential group homes

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank all the children and caregivers whose invaluable cooperation and participation made this research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by Çukurova University Research Fund under Grant [EF2009D6].