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This study employs an intra-national and cross-national, prospective, and longitudinal design to examine age, gender, region, and country variation in group mean-level continuity and individual-differences stability of emotional availability in child-mother dyads. Altogether, 220 Argentine, Italian, and US American metropolitan and rural residence mothers and their daughters and sons were observed at home when children were five and 20 months of age. Similar patterns of continuity and discontinuity of emotional availability from five to 20 months were observed across regions and countries, but not between genders. Stability of emotional availability from five to 20 months was moderate and similar across genders, regions, and countries. Universal and gender-specific developmental processes in child-mother emotional availability as revealed in intra-national and cross-national study are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitive and optimally structuring, and Italian children were more responsive and involving, than Argentine and U.S. dyads. In terms of region, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers, and boys from metropolitan areas were more responsive than boys from rural areas. In terms of gender, mothers of girls were more sensitive and optimally structuring than mothers of boys, and daughters were more responsive and involving than sons. Understanding how country, region, and gender influence EA exposes forces that shape child development, parent-infant interaction, and family systems. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure, and 1 footnote.)

This study examined associations between infant-mother attachment, assessed using Ainsworth's Strange Situation at 12-months, and mother-child narrative co-construction in 110 Israeli mothers and their 71/2 year-old children to examine aspects of Bowlby's (1973) notion of "Goal-Corrected Partnerships". Narrative co-constructions were classified into a mutual-balanced style or one of two non-mutual/unbalanced styles of affective negotiation. Dyads with children classified as secure were more likely to be classified as mutual-balanced than dyads with children classified as insecure (ambivalent or disorganized). The latter were likely to be classified into one of the two Non-mutual/Unbalanced classifications (i.e., Disengaged or Overwhelming). Contributions of this study to broadening our understanding of secure-base in the post-infancy years, and for increasing our knowledge about goal-corrected partnerships, are discussed. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure and 3 footnotes.)

Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Is EA affected by context? In this methodological study, 34 mothers and their 2-year-olds were observed in 2 different settings (home vs. laboratory) 1 week apart. Significant cross-context reliability and continuity in EA as measured with the "Emotional Availability Scales" emerged. Because EA is not affected by context, cross-context generalizations about EA status in the dyad may be warranted. This work further documents the adequate psychometric properties of emotional availability. (Contains 2 tables.)