PPT Slide
Playground Q-Sort Procedure: Secure Base Support
Parent’s Secure Base Q-sort; Waters and Gao, 1997: Parent’s secure base support of their child on the playground was scored using 49 items describing the parent’s ability to support the child’s exploration, while simultaneously being available and monitoring the child’s safety. The q-sort for each parent is correlated with a prototypic q-sort of secure base behaviors derived from expert sorts to yield a secure base score. Researchers who had obtained adequate agreement observed all dyads (average inter-rater reliability, alpha = .85; range: .76 to .92).
- If child is upset, parent comes close, offers contact, comforts, and helps transition back to play
- Moves into position ahead of child’s activities as appropriate to the child’s skill level
- Supervises closely and consistently (whether from nearby or from a distance)
- Seems interested/amused by child’s play