Brief Report
Japanese Children’s Reactions to
Family Photographs: Associations
with Mothers’ Attachment Status
Kazuko Y. Behrensa,
* and Tomo Umemurab
a
State University of New York Institute of Technology, Utica, NY, USA
b
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
This study examined differences in children’s responses to their family
photographs within a sample of Japanese 6-year-olds (N=44),
exploring associations with their mothers’ attachment status. The
differences in children’s photo reactions were captured by a 5-point
continuous scale to rate how engaged children were and how positively
they responded to the photographs taken earlier with their
mothers. Mothers’ attachment security was assessed by the Adult
Attachment Interview. The findings revealed that children of mothers
with secure attachment status were significantly more engaged/
positive in their photo reactions than were children of mothers with
insecure attachment status. Implications of the findings and future
research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.
Key words: attachment; family photograph; AAI; Japanese children
A breakthrough in the field of attachment came in 1985 when Main, Kaplan and
Cassidy introduced several new attachment measures, which included measures
for 6-year-olds (e.g. Main-Cassidy 6th-year system, 1988; Kaplan-Main’s Family
Drawing system, 1986), and the now widely used Adult Attachment Interview
(AAI: protocol, George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996; scoring and classification system,
Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 2002). Six-year-olds’ attachment security, assessed on the
basis of these new measures, was found to be highly correlated with early attachment,
assessed by the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP: Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters,
& Wall, 1978). Mothers’ attachment status, assessed by the AAI, was also strongly
correlated with their children’s attachment security as judged by the SSP. The work
of Main et al. advanced the field in that attachment patterns in populations beyond
infancy could now be assessed through measures of mental representations. Their
study was the first to give empirical support to Bowlby’s (1973) concept of internal
*Correspondence to: Kazuko Y. Behrens, State University of New York Institute of Technology,
Utica, NY, USA. E-mail: kazuko.behrens@sunyit.edu
Infant and Child Development
Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
Published online 8 November 2012 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/icd.1784
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
working models, which are believed to reflect a history of the relationships between
the child and his or her attachment figure(s).
In the course of their investigations, Main et al. (1985) also tested the idea that
children might exhibit varied reactions to their family photographs, according to
the differing quality of attachment relationships. Main et al. reported that children’s
reactions to their family photograph did vary, and the differences were
meaningfully related to attachment security as assessed by the SSP 5 years earlier.
This part of the study, however, has not gained much attention, possibly because
of the exploratory nature of the procedure, thus being less structured, extremely
brief and with limited information. In the present study, we attempt to partly
replicate the 1985 procedures with a new focus on children’s reactions to photographs
taken with their mothers.
The special meanings and unique properties associated with family photographs
have long been recognized and used in various assessments across disciplines.
For example, photographs are used in psychotherapy, with a claim that
‘these emotions are recreated in present tense each time the photo is reviewed’
(Weiser, 1984, p. 3). Blinn (1988) presented a pilot study in which family photographs
were used to examine family social identities, comparing Japanese and
American families. Blinn, based on extensive interviews about the practice of
family photography, found meaningful cultural differences, for example, in the
family roles played by husbands and wives and the dimension of expressiveness,
when comparing Japanese and American families. Twine (2006) used photographs
to conduct an ethnographic study of the experiences of interracial families. In
psychiatry research, photographs of mixed valence (pleasant, unpleasant and
neutral) have been shown to schizotypy and control groups (Najolia, Cohen, &
Minor, 2011). Najolia et al. found group differences in the ratings (i.e. the schizotypy
group giving less positive ratings for the positive stimuli than the control
group) and associated words provided for the visual stimuli (i.e. the schizotypy
group giving more negative words than the control group during the pleasant
stimuli condition), indicating the schizotypy group’s affective dysfunction specifically
in response to pleasant conditions.
To our knowledge, no study since 1985 has specifically investigated children’s
reactions to their family photographs, exploring associations with attachment.
Main et al. believed that using children’s family photographs in the absence of
their family members might be particularly useful to estimate their representations
of relationships. They argued, ‘Since the photograph could not respond to or
control the child’s response, the child’s response to the photograph could not be
simply an example of an interaction pattern being maintained over several years
between child and parent’ (p. 78). Given the clarity of the idea and the simplicity
of the procedure that Main et al. (1985) described in their original study, it is somewhat
surprising that no researcher has tested the replicability of their findings or
the utility of their measure.
Recently, however, the idea of Main et al. (1985) was explored in a preliminary
study in which mothers’ electroencephalographic (EEG) activation patterns in response
to a series of picture stimuli were examined against their AAI status (Behrens,
Li, Gribneau Bahm, & O’Boyle, 2011). The visual stimuli consisted of photographs of
mixed valence (pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral) as in the study of Najolia et al.
(2011) and additionally participants’ own family photographs. Although the findings
were preliminary in nature, Behrens et al. (2011) were able to discriminate the
mothers’ EEG responses by their AAI status. For example, EEG activation patterns
in response to viewing their own child’s photographs were similar to the patterns
recorded while viewing positive images (by mothers with a secure status) or negative
290 Brief Report
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
images (by mothers with an insecure status) at statistically significant levels. This
indicates that family photographs do elicit reactions that systematically vary by
AAI status at the neurological level, and that family photographs may evoke different
emotional reactions depending on the quality of family interactive histories.
The current study explores whether we find differences in the way children
react to photographs taken with their mothers and whether these differences can
be discriminated on the basis of the mothers’ attachment status. Specifically, we
examine whether we can partly replicate what was reported in the study of Main
et al. (1985), largely following their procedure, in a sample of Japanese 6-year-olds.
However, this is the first study to examine links between patterns of 6-year-olds’
photo reactions and their mothers’ attachment status. We predict that children of
mothers with secure AAI status show more engaged/positive reactions to their
photographs with their mothers.
METHOD
Participants
Japanese mother–child dyads from Sapporo, Japan, participated as a part of a larger
social development project (Behrens, Hesse, & Main, 2007). From the original sample
(N=49), one child was removed because of a developmental delay, and four cases
were removed because of technical/procedural errors, leaving the final sample of
N=44. The sample included 22 first-born children and 16 boys (M =69.7months,
range 61–81, SD = 4.8). Mothers were all married and none worked full time
(M=35.3years, range 29–46; SD=3.7). Thirty-five per cent were high school graduates,
10% had completed vocational training after high school, 40% had completed junior
college, and 15% had completed a four-year college. This sample, with an average
annual household income of approximately $50 K, was considered middle class.
Procedures
Mother–child dyads came to a university laboratory converted to a playroom, and
the dyad was asked by an examiner to pose for two Polaroid photo shots. As soon
as the child seemed comfortable with the surrounding as judged by the mother,
she left the room for the AAI. The child engaged in a number of tasks before the
Polaroid photographs were presented to the child. The examiner suggested to
the child, ‘You know what? The photos might be ready now, let’s take a look,’
and retrieved the photographs that were kept by the examiner. The examiner
placed one Polaroid photograph on the table, facing the child, saying ‘Here we
go’ but without any specific comments or instructions to allow the child to freely
examine it. The examiner then brought out the other photograph and simply asked
the child to choose the one that he or she would like to take home.
Measures
Adult Attachment Interview
The standard AAI was administered to Japanese mothers in Japanese and transcripts
were coded according to the classification manual (Main et al., 2002). Mothers
were judged secure when they coherently discussed their childhood attachment
experiences while demonstrating that they clearly value attachment relationships.
Mothers were judged insecure if their discourse was characterized by overall
Brief Report 291
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
incoherence, marked by, for example, dismissing of attachment through idealization
or derogation, or preoccupation by often extensive angry passages discussing attachment
experiences. Mothers were also judged insecure when their discourse showed
disorientation via a lapse in monitoring or reasoning regarding their experiences of
loss or trauma, termed Unresolved (U), and/or evidence of contrasting discourse
strategies or globally anomalous responses, termed Cannot Classify (CC). U/CC
cases were combined together to be included in the insecure group.
The AAI is a well-validated measure, showing robust predictability of intergenerational
transmission of attachment security (van IJzendoorn, 1995) with strong
evidence of discriminant validity (e.g. Bakermans-Kranenburg & van IJzendoorn,
1993; Crowell et al., 1996; Sagi et al., 1994). Japanese transcripts were coded by a
certified AAI coder (the first author). Agreement with another certified AAI coder,
across 10 interviews, was 90%, kappa = .78, p = .01, for secure–insecure two-way
analysis. Disagreements were discussed and resolved.
Photo reaction
Main et al. (1985) measured children’s reactions to family photographs utilizing
9-point rating scales and discussed features of secure versus insecure reactions descriptively.
We also utilized a rating scale. In developing our own coding system,
we mainly considered the following three features: (1) physical response—
whether or not children touch and/or hold a photograph; (2) affect—how positively/excitedly
or negatively/unenthusiastically children engage in viewing the
photographs; and (3) duration—how long (in seconds) children engage in the particular
responses (e.g. touching and/or holding a photograph, exhibiting a particular
affect). Some children’s responses included enthusiasm, either physically (e.g.
picking up a photograph, holding it for a while, or looking at it closely often with
a smile), or verbally (e.g. making non-negative comments, often excitedly),
whereas some children’s responses failed to show any interests or were somewhat
aversive (e.g. simply pointing to the photograph, flipping the photograph, or
trying to hide the photograph). Some children also made negative comments
about the photograph or failed to comply with the examiner’s request to view
and choose the photograph to take home.
Rating scale. A 5-point continuous rating scale was developed to capture the degree
of how engaged or positive children’s photo reactions are. Children who received 5
reacted to the photograph with apparent positive affect or excitement. Some examined
the photograph closely and held it for a long period, engaging in active or elaborated
conversations with the examiner about the photograph. Children who received
3 reacted to the photograph with some interest but with neutral affect. If these children
touched or held the photograph, they did so only for a brief moment. Children who
received 1 reacted to the photograph with notable negativity or were either entirely
disengaged or uncooperative in viewing the photograph.
Convergent validity. To establish convergent validity for the photo reaction rating scale,
we examined specific behavioural features (i.e. touch and/or hold) of children’s photo
reactions. Children who touched the photograph had significantly higher scores
(M = 3.86; SD= 1.22) than children who did not (M = 1.00; SD = 0.00), t(42) = 3.27,
p = .002. Children who held the photograph had significantly higher scores (M = 4.00;
SD = 0.95) than children who did not (M = 2.69; SD = 1.44), t(41) = 6.46, p < .001.
Furthermore, the longer the children held onto the photograph, the higher the
rating they scored, r = .35, p = .02.
Inter-rater reliability. The second author, who was blind to any other information
regarding the participating children, coded the entire sample. The first author
292 Brief Report
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
also independently coded the entire sample and was blind to any information
about the children because of the randomization and renumbering of the sample
identification numbers. The inter-rater reliability for 5-point scale was a = .92, and
the Person’s correlation coefficient was r = .85, p < .001. We assigned the same scores
on 28 cases (or 64%) and differed by a point on 15 cases (or 34%). We only had
one case (or 2%) where we differed by 2 points. Disagreed cases were conferenced
and resolved.
RESULTS
Table 1 shows descriptive analyses with the result of the independent samples t-test
analysis. Scores based on the 5-point rating system were not significantly related to
family demographic information, including child’s gender, child’s age, mother’s
age and maternal education level. Thus, demographic information was not considered
in the analysis. The analysis showed that children whose mothers were judged
secure by the AAI had significantly higher (more engaged/positive) photo reaction
scores than did children whose mothers’ AAI status was insecure.
DISCUSSION
The current study investigated whether children’s reactions to their family photographs
can be distinguished, considering a physical component (touch, hold, etc.),
an affect component (positivity, excitement, etc.) and the duration of a particular
response. Specifically, we examined children’s responses to photographs taken
earlier with their mothers, in a sample of Japanese 6-year-olds. We found that
children’s reactions to the photographs did vary and that the differences were
reliably captured by a rating scale we devised for this study.
We also replicated the findings of Main et al. (1985) at least partly in the current
sample of Japanese children—more than two decades later—with some important differences.
Whereas Main et al. reported that the children’s reactions to the photographs
were associated with their SSP security, we found that the children’s reactions to the
photographs were associated with their mothers’ AAI status. Specifically, children of
mothers with a secure status scored significantly higher (i.e. more engaged/positive
reaction) than children of mothers with an insecure status, supporting our hypothesis.
Because of a relatively high proportion of mothers with the U/CC status in the current
Table 1. Mothers’ attachment security versus insecurity measured by AAI and their
children’s photo reaction rating scores
Categories Photo reaction rating scale
N % M SD
Two-way AAI group
Secure 27 62 4.19 0.96
Insecure 17 38 3.00 1.54
Total/t-values 44 100 t = 3.15**
AAI, Adult Attachment Interview.
**p < .01.
Brief Report 293
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
sample (12 out of 17 insecure mothers were given a primary U/CC placement),1
we also
conducted a follow-up analysis examining the contribution of the U/CC status to the
photo reaction. We found that the U/CC status was significantly related to lower photo
reaction scores, as we expected (t=2.32, p< .05). This finding suggests that mothers’ U/
CC status may be particularly important among insecure categories to differentiate their
children’s photo reactions.
This study is important because the idea that the representation of an attachment
relationship might affect the way children react to their family photographs,
originally proposed by Main et al. (1985), was supported, across time and culture.
However, we did not examine links with the SSP as Main et al. did. Instead,
we examined how the maternal security status might affect the way children
respond to the photographs taken with their mothers because the AAI’s high
predictability of intergenerational transmission of attachment security to Japanese
6-year-olds has been recently reported (Behrens et al., 2007, Behrens & Kaplan,
2011). This study appears to further validate the versatility of the AAI being
informative of children’s immediate inner representations about the relationship
in varied contexts.
It should be noted, however, that our coding system was never intended to serve
as a new measure of child attachment security. Our theorization of this system being
somewhat different from an attachment measure can be depicted in the following
example. Main et al. judged children secure if they willingly accepted the photograph
with a smile and interest but ‘let go of the photograph casually following an inspection
of a few seconds’ (p. 90), even though they did not further discuss the point that
children who examined the photograph longer were judged insecure. We gave a high
rating score for children who spent a long time (i.e. longer than a few seconds) examining
the photograph (often with non-negative comments), as an indication that
the child is highly interested in the photograph that represents the mother–
child relationship.
Still, some observations made by Main et al. were remarkably similar to what we
observed. For example, we too found children who refused to accept the photographs
or tried to avoid viewing them by flipping the photograph upside down or placing
some object to cover the photograph. Some children also became notably agitated or
distressed by showing stereotypical behaviours such as ear-pulling or hair twisting
upon seeing the photographs. Overall, it is fascinating that we found such variations
in the way that contemporary Japanese children responded to the photographs taken
with their mothers, considering the sheer volume of photographs to which these
children have been exposed.
Limitations in this study include, first of all, our sample size being small. Second,
our coding system of photo reactions was newly developed for this sample and had
not been tested in other samples; thus, the validity for this system has not yet been
fully established. Therefore, the current findings should be considered preliminary.
It will be illuminating to observe child’s reactions if a photograph of the child alone
and the mother alone are presented separately from that of the dyad to explore
possible differences.
In sum, this is the first study that has attempted to replicate part of the procedure
and findings originally presented in the mid-1980s. We introduced a new coding
system of the photo reaction as a potential additional measure to complement
concurrent measures of attachment. For researchers who may employ behavioural
and/or representational measures of attachment for children in middle childhood,
this measure can be easily added without any procedural complications. The classic
Polaroid camera used in the original 1985 study can be easily replaced with a digital
camera with instant photo printing capability. It is our hope that this study will
294 Brief Report
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
encourage researchers to consider utilizing family photographs as an informative
tool not only for the attachment field but also across disciplines and fields.
Note
1. Even though the current middle class sample had a relatively high proportion
of U/CC (23%), it does not differ significantly from a worldwide proportion
of 19% that van IJzendoorn and Bakermans-Kranenburg (1996) have reported.
REFERENCES
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological
study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1993). A psychometric study of the
Adult Attachment Interview: Reliability and discriminant validity. Developmental Psychology,
29, 870–879. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.29.5.870
Behrens, K. Y., Hesse, E., & Main, M. (2007). Mothers’ attachment status as determined by the
Adult Attachment Interview predicts their 6-year-olds’ reunion responses: A study conducted
in Japan. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1553–1567. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1553
Behrens, K. Y., & Kaplan, N. (2011). Japanese children’s family drawings and their link to attachment.
Attachment & Human Development, 13, 437–450. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2011.602252
Behrens, K. Y., Li, Y., Gribneau Bahm, N. I., & O’Boyle, M. W. (2011). Electroencephalographic
responses to photographs: A case study of three women with distinct adult attachment
interview classifications. Psychological Reports, 108, 993–1010. doi: 10.2466/02.07.09.21.
PR0.108.3.993-1010
Blinn, Y. (1988). The family photo assessment process (FPAP): A method for validating
cross-cultural comparisons of family social identities. Journal of Comparative Family Studies,
19, 17–35.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic.
Crowell, J. A., Waters, E., Treboux, D., O’Connor, E., Colon-Downs, C., Feider, O., . . . Posada,
G. (1996). Discriminant validity of the Adult Attachment Interview. Child Development, 67,
2584–2599. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.ep9706060186
George, C., Kaplan, N., Main, M. (1996). Adult Attachment Interview. Unpublished protocols,
University of California, Berkeley.
Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1986). Instructions for the classification of children’s family drawings
in terms of representation of attachment. Unpublished manuscript, University of California,
Berkeley.
Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable
from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period. Developmental
Psychology, 24, 415–426. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.3.415
Main, M., Goldwyn, R., & Hesse, E. (2002). Adult attachment scoring and classification system.
Unpublished manuscripts, University of California, Berkeley.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A
move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton, & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of
attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
50(1-2, Serial No.209), 66–104. doi: 10.2307/3333827
Najolia, G. M., Cohen, A. S., & Minor, K. S. (2011). A laboratory study of affectivity in schizotypy:
Subjective and lexical analysis. Psychiatry Research, 189, 233–238. doi:10.1016/j.
psychres.2011.07.012
Sagi, A., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Scharf, M. H., Koren-Karie, N., Joels, T., & Mayseless,
O. (1994). Stability and discriminant validity of the Adult Attachment Interview: A
psychometric study in young Israeli adults. Developmental Psychology, 30, 771–777.
doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.30.5.771
Brief Report 295
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd
Twine, F. W. (2006). Visual ethnography and racial theory: Family photographs as archives
of interracial intimacies. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29, 487–511. doi: 10.1080/
01419870600597909
van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness,
and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment
Interview. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 3, 387–403. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.387
van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (1996). Attachment representations in
mothers, fathers, adolescents, and clinical groups: A meta-analytic search for normative
data. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 8–21. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.64.1.8
Weiser, J. (1984). Phototherapy: Becoming visually literate about oneself, or Phototherapy???
What’s phototherapy. Phototherapy, 4, 2–7.
296 Brief Report
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. 22: 289–296 (2013)
DOI: 10.1002/icd