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Theodore E A Waters

Biographic Data

ID1660935
NAMETheodore E A Waters
GIVEN NAMESTheodore E A
FAMILY NAMEWaters
SIGNATUREWATERS T E A
AFFILIATIONSNew York University Abu Dhabi
ORCID0000-0002-4395-220X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS25
TOTAL CITATIONS56
AUTHOR COUNT25
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2010
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX4
  • Genetic and environmental factors underlying the associations between attachment styles and mental and physical health

    Open Access•Keely A Dugan, Jacob J Kunkel et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality and Social…•2026

    30), but little-to-no overlap among the environmental factors that contribute to attachment anxiety and physical health. Thus, the associations between attachment anxiety and physical health outcomes appear to be primarily attributable to a common or shared genetic liability. Attachment avoidance shared weak or near-zero associations with indicators of physical health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

  • Maternal and paternal emotion socialization practices and psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence among urban Chinese families

    Lixian Cui, Meng-Run Zhang et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2025•Cited by: 1

    Longitudinal studies of emotion socialization are still lacking in the Majority World. Studies with father data are particularly scarce. The present study drew data from a 15-year longitudinal project of urban Chinese families and examined both concurrent and longitudinal associations between parental emotion socialization (ES) practices and youth psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence. Youths ( N = 272, 52.9% boys, M age = 9.77 y…

  • Maternal Sensitivity Predicts Child Attachment in a Non-Western Context: A 9-Year Longitudinal Study of Chinese Families

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Rui Yang et al.•ARTICLE•Child Development•2025•References: 104

    Despite the long-standing debate over the assumed universality of maternal sensitivity predicting attachment security (i.e., sensitivity hypothesis), few long-term longitudinal investigations on attachment have been conducted outside the Western context. We leveraged data from a prospective 9-year longitudinal study of middle-class families (N = 356; female = 48.9%) in China to examine if early maternal sensitivity predicts attachment representat…

  • Middle childhood attachment is related to adolescent early maladaptive schemas

    Open Access•Kexin Li, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Current Psychology•2024

  • Longitudinal Associations Between Scripted Attachment Representations in Late Adolescence and Depression in Adulthood in a Normative and a Higher-Risk Cohort

    Open Access•Or Dagan, Marissa D Nivison et al.•ARTICLE•Emerging Adulthood•2024

    Attachment representations are increasingly operationalized as secure base script knowledge —one’s level of awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers when in distress. A method was recently developed to assess secure base script knowledge during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI sbs ), though its predictive validity for mental health outcomes is largely unkn…

  • Developmental antecedents of adherence to masculinity norms: A 9-year longitudinal study of urban Chinese families

    Rui Yang, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2024•Cited by: 2

    A growing body of literature shows that adherence to some aspects of Western masculinity norms, including the suppression of emotional vulnerability, avoidance of seeking support from others, and exaggerated physical toughness, is associated with poorer psychological and social outcomes. While existing research suggests that parental gender beliefs and caregiving behaviors might influence the development of children's gendered behaviors, little i…

  • Reconciling a phenomenological with a functional approach to memory: Narrative coherence and its social function

    Open Access•Lauranne Vanaken, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Memory•2022

    To date, the phenomenological and functional aspects of autobiographical memory have by and large been studied separately. This is quite remarkable, given that both can inform each other, and that investigating their interaction can add to the understanding of the (in)adaptivity of certain memory characteristics for our well-being. In other words, examining how particular features of autobiographical memory are adept or inept at serving specific …

  • An empirical test of prototype and revisionist models of attachment stability and change from middle childhood to adolescence: A 6-year longitudinal study

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Rui Yang et al.•ARTICLE•Child Development•2022

    We examined the prototype v. revisionist models of attachment stability with a five-wave, 6-year, longitudinal study of attachment security from middle childhood to adolescence in a White Western European sample (N = 157; Wave 1 Mage = 10.91, SD = 0.87; 52% female). Attachment was assessed using both questionnaire (Experiences in Close Relationships) and narrative-based measures (Attachment Script Assessment). In addition, a set of potential mode…

  • Flourishing Privately but Languishing Publicly: Ethnic Identity’s Contribution to Understanding Eudaimonic Wellbeing

    Open Access•Mary Jane Arneaud, Nicole Alea et al.•ARTICLE•International Journal of…•2022

    The paper probes the meaning of wellbeing by examining whether ethnic identity is related to private and public conceptualisations of eudaimonic wellbeing. Private and public eudaimonic wellbeing are assessed as positive relations with others and social integration. Ethnic identity is a type of social identity that is meaningful in contexts of enduring inter-ethnic group contact. Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago (TT), nations with contact between two…

  • On the way to adult identity: An evaluation of identity status and narrative identity models of development

    Open Access•Christin Camia, Simran Motiani et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2022•Cited by: 3•References: 58

  • Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Sophia W Magro et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2021•Cited by: 1•References: 8

    The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of …

  • Consistency and stability of narrative coherence: An examination of personal narrative as a domain of adult personality

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Christin Köber et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality•2019

    OBJECTIVE: Narrative theories of personality assume that individual differences in coherence reflect consistent and stable differences in narrative style rather than situational and event-specific differences (e.g., McAdams & McLean, 2013). However, this assumption has received only modest empirical attention. Therefore, we present two studies testing the theoretical assumption of a consistent and stable coherent narrative style. METHOD: Study 1 …

  • Stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood and early adolescence: A 3-year longitudinal study

    Theodore E A Waters, Christopher R Facompré et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2019•Cited by: 3•References: 6

    There is limited research examining stability and change in attachment security in middle childhood. The current study addresses this gap using data from a 3-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we examined stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood using a sample of 157 children (Wave 1 mean age [ M age ] = 10.91, standard deviation [ SD ] = 0.87) assessed at 1-year intervals across 4 waves. Secure base script…

  • A meta-analytic examination of maternal reminiscing style: Elaboration, gender, and children's cognitive development

    Theodore E A Waters, Christin Camia et al.•ARTICLE•Psychological Bulletin•2019•Cited by: 3

    Sociocultural theories of development privilege the role of parent-child conversation as a critical interpersonal context for cognitive and socioemotional development. Research on maternal reminiscing suggests that mothers differ on the elaborative nature of their reminiscing style. Individual differences in maternal elaborative style are thought to contribute to children's cognitive development in at least 3 critical areas: (a) memory; (b) langu…

  • The nature of narrative coherence: An empirical approach

    Open Access•Jonathan M Adler, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 20

  • Adult attachment representations and the quality of romantic and parent–child relationships: An examination of the contributions of coherence of discourse and secure base script knowledge

    Theodore E A Waters, K Lee Raby et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 10

    Attachment theory suggests that early experiences with caregivers are carried forward across development in the form of mental representations of attachment experiences. Researchers have investigated at least two representation-based constructs when studying attachment and successful adaptation in adulthood: (a) coherence of autobiographical discourse/memories and (b) knowledge of the secure base script. Here, we present data examining the unique…

  • Maternal sensitivity during the first 31⁄2 years of life predicts electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife

    Open Access•Jodi Martin, Jacob E Anderson et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 2•References: 7

    This study examined the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity in early childhood for electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife in a sample of 73 adults (age = 39 years; 43 females; 58 parents) from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. When listening to an infant crying, both parents and nonparents who had experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity in early childhoo…

  • Can an unpredictable childhood environment enhance working memory? Testing the sensitized-specialization hypothesis

    Ethan S Young, Vladas Griskevicius et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality and Social…•2018•Cited by: 4

    Although growing up in an adverse childhood environment tends to impair cognitive functions, evolutionary-developmental theory suggests that this might be only one part of the story. A person's mind may instead become developmentally specialized and potentially enhanced for solving problems in the types of environments in which the person grew up. In the current research, we tested whether these specialized advantages in cognitive function might …

  • Patterns of Attachments across the Lifespan

    Open Access•Robyn Fivush, Theodore E A Waters•OTHER•Emerging Trends in the Social and…•2015

    The attachment relationship is a critical bond between infant and caregiver that, when secure, facilitates physical and psychological well‐being. Cutting‐edge research integrating attachment theory with cognitive theories of event representations indicates that both generalized event representations, or scripts, and specific autobiographical narratives provide continuity from implicit to explicit representations of attachment across development. …

  • Relations Between Narrative Coherence, Identity, and Psychological Well‐Being in Emerging Adulthood

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Robyn Fivush•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality•2015

    The hypothesis that the ability to construct a coherent account of personal experience is reflective, or predictive, of psychological adjustment cuts across numerous domains of psychological science. It has been argued that coherent accounts of identity are especially adaptive. We tested these hypotheses by examining relations between narrative coherence of personally significant autobiographical memories and three psychological well‐being compon…

  • The latent structure of secure base script knowledge

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, R Chris Fraley et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 6

    There is increasing evidence that attachment representations abstracted from childhood experiences with primary caregivers are organized as a cognitive script describing secure base use and support (i.e., the secure base script). To date, however, the latent structure of secure base script knowledge has gone unexamined-this despite that such basic information about the factor structure and distributional properties of these individual differences…

  • Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Guy Bosmans et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 11•References: 10

    Recent work examining the content and organization of attachment representations suggests that 1 way in which we represent the attachment relationship is in the form of a cognitive script. This work has largely focused on early childhood or adolescence/adulthood, leaving a large gap in our understanding of script-like attachment representations in the middle childhood period. We present 2 studies and provide 3 critical pieces of evidence regardin…

  • Caregiving antecedents of secure base script knowledge: A comparative analysis of young adult attachment representations

    Ryan D Steele, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2014•Cited by: 12•References: 8

    Based on a subsample (N = 673) of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) cohort, this article reports data from a follow-up assessment at age 18 years on the antecedents of secure base script knowledge, as reflected in the ability to generate narratives in which attachment-related difficulties are recognized, competent help is provided, and the problem is resolved. Secure base script knowledge was (a) modestly to moder…

  • The making of autobiographical memory: Intersections of culture, narratives and identity

    Open Access•Robyn Fivush, Tilmann Habermas et al.•ARTICLE•International Journal of Psychology•2011

    Autobiographical memory is a uniquely human form of memory that integrates individual experiences of self with cultural frames for understanding identities and lives. In this review, we present a theoretical and empirical overview of the sociocultural development of autobiographical memory, detailing the emergence of autobiographical memory during the preschool years and the formation of a life narrative during adolescence. More specifically, we …

  • Re-Presenting the Presentational Self

    Robyn Fivush, Theodore E A Waters•ARTICLE•Human Development•2010

    Commentaries| September 27 2010 Re-Presenting the Presentational Self: Commentary on Komatsu Subject Area: Psychiatry and Psychology , Women's and Children's Health Robyn Fivush; Robyn Fivush Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Theodore E.A. Waters Theodore E.A. Waters Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scho…

  • Caregiving antecedents of secure base script knowledge: A comparative analysis of young adult attachment representations

    Ryan D Steele, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2014•Cited by: 12•References: 8

    Based on a subsample (N = 673) of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) cohort, this article reports data from a follow-up assessment at age 18 years on the antecedents of secure base script knowledge, as reflected in the ability to generate narratives in which attachment-related difficulties are recognized, competent help is provided, and the problem is resolved. Secure base script knowledge was (a) modestly to moder…

  • Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Guy Bosmans et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 11•References: 10

    Recent work examining the content and organization of attachment representations suggests that 1 way in which we represent the attachment relationship is in the form of a cognitive script. This work has largely focused on early childhood or adolescence/adulthood, leaving a large gap in our understanding of script-like attachment representations in the middle childhood period. We present 2 studies and provide 3 critical pieces of evidence regardin…

  • The latent structure of secure base script knowledge

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, R Chris Fraley et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 6

    There is increasing evidence that attachment representations abstracted from childhood experiences with primary caregivers are organized as a cognitive script describing secure base use and support (i.e., the secure base script). To date, however, the latent structure of secure base script knowledge has gone unexamined-this despite that such basic information about the factor structure and distributional properties of these individual differences…

  • The nature of narrative coherence: An empirical approach

    Open Access•Jonathan M Adler, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 20

  • Adult attachment representations and the quality of romantic and parent–child relationships: An examination of the contributions of coherence of discourse and secure base script knowledge

    Theodore E A Waters, K Lee Raby et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 10

    Attachment theory suggests that early experiences with caregivers are carried forward across development in the form of mental representations of attachment experiences. Researchers have investigated at least two representation-based constructs when studying attachment and successful adaptation in adulthood: (a) coherence of autobiographical discourse/memories and (b) knowledge of the secure base script. Here, we present data examining the unique…

  • Can an unpredictable childhood environment enhance working memory? Testing the sensitized-specialization hypothesis

    Ethan S Young, Vladas Griskevicius et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality and Social…•2018•Cited by: 4

    Although growing up in an adverse childhood environment tends to impair cognitive functions, evolutionary-developmental theory suggests that this might be only one part of the story. A person's mind may instead become developmentally specialized and potentially enhanced for solving problems in the types of environments in which the person grew up. In the current research, we tested whether these specialized advantages in cognitive function might …

  • On the way to adult identity: An evaluation of identity status and narrative identity models of development

    Open Access•Christin Camia, Simran Motiani et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2022•Cited by: 3•References: 58

  • Stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood and early adolescence: A 3-year longitudinal study

    Theodore E A Waters, Christopher R Facompré et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2019•Cited by: 3•References: 6

    There is limited research examining stability and change in attachment security in middle childhood. The current study addresses this gap using data from a 3-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we examined stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood using a sample of 157 children (Wave 1 mean age [ M age ] = 10.91, standard deviation [ SD ] = 0.87) assessed at 1-year intervals across 4 waves. Secure base script…

  • A meta-analytic examination of maternal reminiscing style: Elaboration, gender, and children's cognitive development

    Theodore E A Waters, Christin Camia et al.•ARTICLE•Psychological Bulletin•2019•Cited by: 3

    Sociocultural theories of development privilege the role of parent-child conversation as a critical interpersonal context for cognitive and socioemotional development. Research on maternal reminiscing suggests that mothers differ on the elaborative nature of their reminiscing style. Individual differences in maternal elaborative style are thought to contribute to children's cognitive development in at least 3 critical areas: (a) memory; (b) langu…

  • Developmental antecedents of adherence to masculinity norms: A 9-year longitudinal study of urban Chinese families

    Rui Yang, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2024•Cited by: 2

    A growing body of literature shows that adherence to some aspects of Western masculinity norms, including the suppression of emotional vulnerability, avoidance of seeking support from others, and exaggerated physical toughness, is associated with poorer psychological and social outcomes. While existing research suggests that parental gender beliefs and caregiving behaviors might influence the development of children's gendered behaviors, little i…

  • Maternal sensitivity during the first 31⁄2 years of life predicts electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife

    Open Access•Jodi Martin, Jacob E Anderson et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 2•References: 7

    This study examined the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity in early childhood for electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife in a sample of 73 adults (age = 39 years; 43 females; 58 parents) from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. When listening to an infant crying, both parents and nonparents who had experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity in early childhoo…

  • Maternal and paternal emotion socialization practices and psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence among urban Chinese families

    Lixian Cui, Meng-Run Zhang et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2025•Cited by: 1

    Longitudinal studies of emotion socialization are still lacking in the Majority World. Studies with father data are particularly scarce. The present study drew data from a 15-year longitudinal project of urban Chinese families and examined both concurrent and longitudinal associations between parental emotion socialization (ES) practices and youth psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence. Youths ( N = 272, 52.9% boys, M age = 9.77 y…

  • Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Sophia W Magro et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2021•Cited by: 1•References: 8

    The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of …

  • Re-Presenting the Presentational Self

    Robyn Fivush, Theodore E A Waters•ARTICLE•Human Development•2010

    Commentaries| September 27 2010 Re-Presenting the Presentational Self: Commentary on Komatsu Subject Area: Psychiatry and Psychology , Women's and Children's Health Robyn Fivush; Robyn Fivush Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Theodore E.A. Waters Theodore E.A. Waters Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scho…

  • The making of autobiographical memory: Intersections of culture, narratives and identity

    Open Access•Robyn Fivush, Tilmann Habermas et al.•ARTICLE•International Journal of Psychology•2011

    Autobiographical memory is a uniquely human form of memory that integrates individual experiences of self with cultural frames for understanding identities and lives. In this review, we present a theoretical and empirical overview of the sociocultural development of autobiographical memory, detailing the emergence of autobiographical memory during the preschool years and the formation of a life narrative during adolescence. More specifically, we …

  • Caregiving antecedents of secure base script knowledge: A comparative analysis of young adult attachment representations

    Ryan D Steele, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2014•Cited by: 12•References: 8

    Based on a subsample (N = 673) of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) cohort, this article reports data from a follow-up assessment at age 18 years on the antecedents of secure base script knowledge, as reflected in the ability to generate narratives in which attachment-related difficulties are recognized, competent help is provided, and the problem is resolved. Secure base script knowledge was (a) modestly to moder…

  • Patterns of Attachments across the Lifespan

    Open Access•Robyn Fivush, Theodore E A Waters•OTHER•Emerging Trends in the Social and…•2015

    The attachment relationship is a critical bond between infant and caregiver that, when secure, facilitates physical and psychological well‐being. Cutting‐edge research integrating attachment theory with cognitive theories of event representations indicates that both generalized event representations, or scripts, and specific autobiographical narratives provide continuity from implicit to explicit representations of attachment across development. …

  • Relations Between Narrative Coherence, Identity, and Psychological Well‐Being in Emerging Adulthood

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Robyn Fivush•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality•2015

    The hypothesis that the ability to construct a coherent account of personal experience is reflective, or predictive, of psychological adjustment cuts across numerous domains of psychological science. It has been argued that coherent accounts of identity are especially adaptive. We tested these hypotheses by examining relations between narrative coherence of personally significant autobiographical memories and three psychological well‐being compon…

  • The latent structure of secure base script knowledge

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, R Chris Fraley et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 6•References: 6

    There is increasing evidence that attachment representations abstracted from childhood experiences with primary caregivers are organized as a cognitive script describing secure base use and support (i.e., the secure base script). To date, however, the latent structure of secure base script knowledge has gone unexamined-this despite that such basic information about the factor structure and distributional properties of these individual differences…

  • Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Guy Bosmans et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2015•Cited by: 11•References: 10

    Recent work examining the content and organization of attachment representations suggests that 1 way in which we represent the attachment relationship is in the form of a cognitive script. This work has largely focused on early childhood or adolescence/adulthood, leaving a large gap in our understanding of script-like attachment representations in the middle childhood period. We present 2 studies and provide 3 critical pieces of evidence regardin…

  • The nature of narrative coherence: An empirical approach

    Open Access•Jonathan M Adler, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 20

  • Adult attachment representations and the quality of romantic and parent–child relationships: An examination of the contributions of coherence of discourse and secure base script knowledge

    Theodore E A Waters, K Lee Raby et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 4•References: 10

    Attachment theory suggests that early experiences with caregivers are carried forward across development in the form of mental representations of attachment experiences. Researchers have investigated at least two representation-based constructs when studying attachment and successful adaptation in adulthood: (a) coherence of autobiographical discourse/memories and (b) knowledge of the secure base script. Here, we present data examining the unique…

  • Maternal sensitivity during the first 31⁄2 years of life predicts electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife

    Open Access•Jodi Martin, Jacob E Anderson et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2018•Cited by: 2•References: 7

    This study examined the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity in early childhood for electrophysiological responding to and cognitive appraisals of infant crying at midlife in a sample of 73 adults (age = 39 years; 43 females; 58 parents) from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. When listening to an infant crying, both parents and nonparents who had experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity in early childhoo…

  • Can an unpredictable childhood environment enhance working memory? Testing the sensitized-specialization hypothesis

    Ethan S Young, Vladas Griskevicius et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality and Social…•2018•Cited by: 4

    Although growing up in an adverse childhood environment tends to impair cognitive functions, evolutionary-developmental theory suggests that this might be only one part of the story. A person's mind may instead become developmentally specialized and potentially enhanced for solving problems in the types of environments in which the person grew up. In the current research, we tested whether these specialized advantages in cognitive function might …

  • Consistency and stability of narrative coherence: An examination of personal narrative as a domain of adult personality

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Christin Köber et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality•2019

    OBJECTIVE: Narrative theories of personality assume that individual differences in coherence reflect consistent and stable differences in narrative style rather than situational and event-specific differences (e.g., McAdams & McLean, 2013). However, this assumption has received only modest empirical attention. Therefore, we present two studies testing the theoretical assumption of a consistent and stable coherent narrative style. METHOD: Study 1 …

  • Stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood and early adolescence: A 3-year longitudinal study

    Theodore E A Waters, Christopher R Facompré et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2019•Cited by: 3•References: 6

    There is limited research examining stability and change in attachment security in middle childhood. The current study addresses this gap using data from a 3-year longitudinal study. Specifically, we examined stability and change in secure base script knowledge during middle childhood using a sample of 157 children (Wave 1 mean age [ M age ] = 10.91, standard deviation [ SD ] = 0.87) assessed at 1-year intervals across 4 waves. Secure base script…

  • A meta-analytic examination of maternal reminiscing style: Elaboration, gender, and children's cognitive development

    Theodore E A Waters, Christin Camia et al.•ARTICLE•Psychological Bulletin•2019•Cited by: 3

    Sociocultural theories of development privilege the role of parent-child conversation as a critical interpersonal context for cognitive and socioemotional development. Research on maternal reminiscing suggests that mothers differ on the elaborative nature of their reminiscing style. Individual differences in maternal elaborative style are thought to contribute to children's cognitive development in at least 3 critical areas: (a) memory; (b) langu…

  • Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Sophia W Magro et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2021•Cited by: 1•References: 8

    The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of …

  • Reconciling a phenomenological with a functional approach to memory: Narrative coherence and its social function

    Open Access•Lauranne Vanaken, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Memory•2022

    To date, the phenomenological and functional aspects of autobiographical memory have by and large been studied separately. This is quite remarkable, given that both can inform each other, and that investigating their interaction can add to the understanding of the (in)adaptivity of certain memory characteristics for our well-being. In other words, examining how particular features of autobiographical memory are adept or inept at serving specific …

  • An empirical test of prototype and revisionist models of attachment stability and change from middle childhood to adolescence: A 6-year longitudinal study

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Rui Yang et al.•ARTICLE•Child Development•2022

    We examined the prototype v. revisionist models of attachment stability with a five-wave, 6-year, longitudinal study of attachment security from middle childhood to adolescence in a White Western European sample (N = 157; Wave 1 Mage = 10.91, SD = 0.87; 52% female). Attachment was assessed using both questionnaire (Experiences in Close Relationships) and narrative-based measures (Attachment Script Assessment). In addition, a set of potential mode…

  • Flourishing Privately but Languishing Publicly: Ethnic Identity’s Contribution to Understanding Eudaimonic Wellbeing

    Open Access•Mary Jane Arneaud, Nicole Alea et al.•ARTICLE•International Journal of…•2022

    The paper probes the meaning of wellbeing by examining whether ethnic identity is related to private and public conceptualisations of eudaimonic wellbeing. Private and public eudaimonic wellbeing are assessed as positive relations with others and social integration. Ethnic identity is a type of social identity that is meaningful in contexts of enduring inter-ethnic group contact. Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago (TT), nations with contact between two…

  • On the way to adult identity: An evaluation of identity status and narrative identity models of development

    Open Access•Christin Camia, Simran Motiani et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Research in Personality•2022•Cited by: 3•References: 58

  • Middle childhood attachment is related to adolescent early maladaptive schemas

    Open Access•Kexin Li, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Current Psychology•2024

  • Longitudinal Associations Between Scripted Attachment Representations in Late Adolescence and Depression in Adulthood in a Normative and a Higher-Risk Cohort

    Open Access•Or Dagan, Marissa D Nivison et al.•ARTICLE•Emerging Adulthood•2024

    Attachment representations are increasingly operationalized as secure base script knowledge —one’s level of awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers when in distress. A method was recently developed to assess secure base script knowledge during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI sbs ), though its predictive validity for mental health outcomes is largely unkn…

  • Developmental antecedents of adherence to masculinity norms: A 9-year longitudinal study of urban Chinese families

    Rui Yang, Theodore E A Waters et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2024•Cited by: 2

    A growing body of literature shows that adherence to some aspects of Western masculinity norms, including the suppression of emotional vulnerability, avoidance of seeking support from others, and exaggerated physical toughness, is associated with poorer psychological and social outcomes. While existing research suggests that parental gender beliefs and caregiving behaviors might influence the development of children's gendered behaviors, little i…

  • Maternal and paternal emotion socialization practices and psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence among urban Chinese families

    Lixian Cui, Meng-Run Zhang et al.•ARTICLE•Developmental Psychology•2025•Cited by: 1

    Longitudinal studies of emotion socialization are still lacking in the Majority World. Studies with father data are particularly scarce. The present study drew data from a 15-year longitudinal project of urban Chinese families and examined both concurrent and longitudinal associations between parental emotion socialization (ES) practices and youth psychosocial adjustment from early- to mid-adolescence. Youths ( N = 272, 52.9% boys, M age = 9.77 y…

  • Maternal Sensitivity Predicts Child Attachment in a Non-Western Context: A 9-Year Longitudinal Study of Chinese Families

    Open Access•Theodore E A Waters, Rui Yang et al.•ARTICLE•Child Development•2025•References: 104

    Despite the long-standing debate over the assumed universality of maternal sensitivity predicting attachment security (i.e., sensitivity hypothesis), few long-term longitudinal investigations on attachment have been conducted outside the Western context. We leveraged data from a prospective 9-year longitudinal study of middle-class families (N = 356; female = 48.9%) in China to examine if early maternal sensitivity predicts attachment representat…

  • Genetic and environmental factors underlying the associations between attachment styles and mental and physical health

    Open Access•Keely A Dugan, Jacob J Kunkel et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Personality and Social…•2026

    30), but little-to-no overlap among the environmental factors that contribute to attachment anxiety and physical health. Thus, the associations between attachment anxiety and physical health outcomes appear to be primarily attributable to a common or shared genetic liability. Attachment avoidance shared weak or near-zero associations with indicators of physical health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychology (23 works) · Developmental psychology (19 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (14 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Identity, Memory, and Therapy (9 works) · Longitudinal study (9 works) · Cognition (7 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Linguistics (7 works)

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