Attachment Classification and Family-Perceptions in Foster Children
AUTHOR : 김윤미,이경숙,박진아,이권희,진미경
INFORMATION : page. 63~87 / 2008 Vol.15 No.3
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to help develop our understanding of foster children\'s mental and social characteristics through comparison with family-reared children. The subjects of this study were 60 children aged from five to eight: 30 of whom were in foster care arranged by the Family Foster Support Center in Gyeonggi Province and the other 30 were family-reared children living in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province. The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (Green, Stanley, & Goldwyn, 2003) was used to measure attachment classifications. The Family Drawing Checklist(FDC)(Fury, 1996) was used to measure family perception. The comparison of attachment classifications between foster children and family-reared children found that foster children exhibited less secure attachments and more insecure classification than family-reared children. No significant differences were found between secure and insecure attachment in terms of foster children\'s gender, foster style, foster period, and opportunities to meet with their biological parents. Regarding family perception, foster children had more negative conceptions about the notion of family than family-reared children. Male foster children showed more negative attitudes towards the notion of family than female foster children. Children who had a comparatively shorter foster period showed higher levels of negative feeling about family than children who had experienced a comparatively longer foster period. The comparison of family perception in terms of foster children\' attachment classification revealed that children who exhibited secure attachments viewed the notion of family more positively, while children who exhibited insecure attachments perceived the notion of family more negatively.