Abstract

The origin and consolidation of Attachment Style, according to Communicative Approach to Attachment and Infant Research, is not uniquely the consequence of maternal sensitivity but derives instead from the communication system and the relational history of the dyad. In agreement to this assumption, we aimed to analyze in detail the characteristics of parent-child verbal exchanges developing an appropriate coding system. Its application on 37 mother-child dyads in the Strange Situation underlined the acceptability of the verbal categories suggested by the tool and highlighted the existence of a significant relationship between the Communication Categories of the mother and the Attachment Style of the child.