California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

importance for a child’s self-concept,
relationships with others, and understanding
of what people are like (see
reviews by Thompson 2006; Thompson
and others 2005; and Waters
and others 1991). At the same time,
developmental researchers realized
that the caregivers on whom children
are emotionally reliant are not always
biological parents. Sometimes they
are grandparents or other adults who
assume a regular caregiving role in the
child’s life—they are, in a sense, “psychological
parents” to the child. This is
true when nonparents are substitute
parents (such as when grandparents
are providing full-time care instead
of a parent who is incapacitated or
absent) and when nonparents are coparents
along with the child’s biological
parents. In each case, these adult
caregivers assume a parenting function
in the child’s life and are usually
attachment figures. This substrand
is labeled “Attachments to Parents,”
although the foundations refer to
“primary family attachment figures” to
acknowledge the diversity of adults
who are attachment figures to young
children.
Consistent with their psychological
importance to young children, parent-child
attachments have also been
found to be important to the development
of school readiness. Many studies
have found that the quality of the
parent-child relationship in the preschool
years, especially its quality in
terms of warmth and support to the
child, predicts children’s subsequent
Children with more secure, supportive
family relationships also show fewer
conduct problems and have better
work habits.
California Department of Education • Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1
academic success in kindergarten and
the early primary grades as well as
their social competence in the classroom.
Children with more secure, supportive
family relationships also show
fewer conduct problems and have better
work habits (Burchinal and others
2002; Estrada and others 1987; Morrison,
Rimm-Kauffman, and Pianta 2003;
NICHD Early Child Care Research
Network 2003b, 2003c, 2005; Pianta,
Nimetz, and Bennett 1997).
The behavioral indications of parentchild
attachment in preschoolers are
well established (Marvin and Britner
1999), and the indicators of attachment
relationships incorporated into
this foundation are drawn from the
extensive research literature as well
as validated assessment instruments
for assessing parent-child attachment
quality (see Solomon and George 1999;
Waters 2006). In contrast to the
dependence of infants and toddlers on
physical proximity to their caregivers,
preschool children are more independent
socially yet are still very emotionally
reliant on their attachment figures.
The indicators included here focus on
how preschoolers seek security and
support from their attachment figures
in age-appropriate ways as well as
their capacities to maintain positive
relationships with their attachment
figures through their own initiative
(Maccoby 1984). An important developmental
change in attachment relationships
during this period is the greater
initiative of older preschoolers in both
seeking support and maintaining
a relationship of positive mutual
cooperation with their attachment
figures, which is an outgrowth of their
greater psychological understanding of
the adult and of the relationship they
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SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT