Teacher-child emotional matching: The role of attachment representation

This study examines the role of children's representation of attachment relationships in emotional matching as shown in teacher-child dyads engaged in Autobiographical Emotional Events Dialogue (AEED; Oppenheim, 2007). This task involves the dyad in the co-construction of narratives related to significant emotional episodes lived by the child and evaluates the participation of both partners during this process. Participants were thirty-seven children from five to seven years of age with their three teachers: the dyads completed the AEED and the children were tested with the Separation Anxiety Test - School Version, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised, and the Coloured Progressive Matricies. The results evidenced a link between the quality of teacher-child attach- ment from the child's point of view and the emotional matching: children who have a secure representation of attachment significantly increase the probability that the dyad will be emotionally matched.