Does perceived parenting affect children's attachment style in middle childhood?

This longitudinal study examined the likely direction of influence between perceived parenting and attachment style in middle childhood. In each of two successive years, measures of perceived parenting behaviors and of attachment style were administered to 164 children (mean age 10.2 in Year 1). Avoidant (but not preoccupied) attachment predicted change in perceived parenting over time, in that avoidant children perceived their mothers as increasingly overprotective, as less monitoring, as less affectionate, and as providing less reliable support over time. There was little evidence that perceived parenting led to change in attachment style over time, although low perceived maternal support in Year 1 predicted increases in preoccupied attachment. Results provide new insights into the direction of effects between attachment and perceived parenting during middle childhood.