| Abstract: | The study investigated the relationship between patterns of attachment and emotional competence at the beginning of middle childhood in a sample of 122 seven‐year‐olds. A new battery of tasks was developed in order to assess two facets of emotional competence (emotion recognition and knowledge of regulation strategies). Attachment was related to the choice of emotion regulation strategies in hypothetical situations; secure children produced the highest frequency of cognitive engagement strategies (e.g., reappraisal), and disorganized children the lowest. Insecure children produced more behavioral engagement strategies and fewer behavioral diversion ones. There was a minor effect of attachment on emotion recognition, with disorganized children scoring lower in the discrimination of facial expression. Consistent sex differences were also apparent in the direction of a female advantage in emotional competence: Girls scored higher in emotion recognition than boys, and in the regulation knowledge task, they produced fewer helpless answers and more cognitive engagement strategies. |
