Question 1
Which is a strategy used by children in order to gather emotional information from a trusted person in an uncertain situation?Emotion-centeredcopingInternal working modelProblem-centered copingSocialreferencingI don’t knowOneattemptSubmitanswerYou answered 0 out of 0 correctly. Asking up to 1.

Case Study
Analyzing research studies in the area of emotional development can assist in understanding of key concepts of emotions. The first case study illustrates the effects of early and later maternal sensitivity on children’s social development. The second case study examines the relationship between identity status and romantic attachment style in adolescence, including developmental differences between younger and older adolescents.
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• STUDY 1
A Longitudinal Study of Maternal Sensitivity and Adopted Children’s Social Development
Sensitive caregiving is moderately related in attachment security in both biological and adoptive mother–infant pairs and in diverse cultures and SES groups. To examine the effects of early and later maternal sensitivity on children’s social development, Jaffari-Bimmel and colleagues (2006) followed 160 internationally adopted children from infancy to age 14. All of the children were placed in adoptive families by age six months, and the families were predominantly middle- or upper-middle class.
The researchers collected the following information:

o When the children were five months old, their adoptive mothers rated their health condition on arrival (that is, at the time of adoption)—birth weight, incidence of prematurity, and health problems.
o When the children were 12 months old, attachment security was assessed using Ainsworth’s Strange Situation.
o At ages 12, 18, and 30 months, maternal sensitivity was assessed at home and in the laboratory. While the children and their mothers completed age-appropriate tasks like putting together puzzles and building with blocks, trained researchers coded for emotional support, respect for the child’s autonomy, structure and limit setting, hostility, and quality of instruction.
o At ages seven and 14 years, maternal sensitivity was again assessed in the home. While the children and their mothers worked on a difficult, age-appropriate puzzle, trained researchers coded for supportive presence, intrusiveness, and sensitivity, timing, and clarity of instruction.
o When the children were ages 12, 18, and 30 months and ages seven and 14 years, their adoptive mothers completed an attachment questionnaire. In infancy, the researchers were primarily interested in mood and resistance. In middle childhood and adolescence, the researchers focused on aggression, reactivity, and restlessness.
o When children were ages seven and 14 years, adoptive mothers and teachers completed a measure of social development. The questionnaire focused on social acceptance, social rejection, pro-social competence, friendliness, and social esteem.
o When the children were ages seven and 14 years, their adoptive mothers reported on the degree to which the family had experienced stressful life events during the past two years. The instrument included physical health problems of relatives, bereavement, unemployment, divorce, financial problems, marital problems, problems at work, and conflict with relatives and/or neighbors.
o Results
Findings indicated that developmental history and sensitive caregiving in infancy and middle childhood predicted social development at age 14. That is, participants who were healthy at the time of adoption and experienced few stressful life events and received sensitive caregiving in both infancy and middle childhood were rated higher in social development (by adoptive mothers and teachers) than peers who were unhealthy at the time of adoption, experienced a large number of stressful life events, and received less-sensitive caregiving in infancy and middle childhood. Another important finding was that maternal sensitivity in middle childhood and adolescence helped buffer against the negative effects of a difficult temperament. Children with a difficult temperament who experienced high levels of maternal sensitivity in middle childhood and adolescence had more favorable social development at age 14 than children with a difficult temperament who experienced insensitive caregiving. Finally, consistent with previous studies, attachment security in infancy was moderately related to social development at ages seven and 14. Compared to their insecurely attached counterparts, secure children scored higher in social acceptance, pro-social competence, friendliness, and social esteem. Taken together, these findings show that both early and later maternal sensitivity is important for children’s social development.