Special Section A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Emotional Availability Research

The construct of emotional availability (EA) refers to the capacity of a dyad to share an emotional connection and to enjoy a mutually fulfilling and healthy relationship. The EA Scales were designed to assess multiple components of a relationship from the perspective of both partners. The four caregiver components include sensitivity, structuring, nonintrusiveness, and nonhostility; two scales measure the child’s responsiveness to the caregiver and involvement of the caregiver. We describe the EA construct and introduce the papers in this issue, focusing on the contributions of this Special Section to a developmental psychopathology framework. The construct of emotional availability (EA) refers to the capacity of a dyad to share an emotional connection and to enjoy a mutually fulfilling and healthy relationship. Mahler, Pine, and Bergman (1975) first used the term EA to describe a mother’s supportive attitude and presence in the context of infant/toddler explorations away from her. Healthy mother– child relationships allow exploration and autonomy, at the same time recognizing the importance of physical contact and emotional “refueling.” Other theorists (e.g., Emde, 1980; Sorce & Emde, 1981) recognized the importance of EA including not merely physical presence, but also emotional signaling and receiving. For Emde (1980, 1983, 2000), EA in a parent–child relationship refers to the adult’s “receptive presence” to the child’s emotional signals. Further, it connotes a type of presence and availability that has a great deal in common with the way a psychotherapist “is there” for a patient. Emde and Easterbrooks (1985) stated that EA is an affective barometer of the relationship between a parent and a young child and emphasized affective attunement to a broad spectrum of negative and positive emotions as an important aspect of EA. According to Emde (1980, p. 80), Emotional availability, then, refers to an individual’s emotional responsiveness and “attunement” to another’s needs and goals; key to the construct is the acceptance of a wide range of emotions rather than responsiveness solely to distress. Emotional expression, of both negative emotions (such as distress, anger, sadness, and disgust) and positive emotions (such as interest, satisfaction, joy, and surprise), provides the parent with information about the child’s feelings and needs (Emde, 1980, p. 97): Crying, for example, gives a message of “come change something,” a message that is species-wide and peremptory, while smiling gives a species-wide message something like “keep it up, I like it.” Origin of the Concept Certainly, the construct EA has a great deal in common with ethological attachment theory, and much in the conceptualization and operationalization of EA is derived from research. Bowlby (1969/1980, 1973) and Ainsworth (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) utilized the concept of sensitivity to describe the clarity with which the mother perceives her child’s signals and communications and to the way in which she responds to them. Sensitivity as a concept has become the centerpiece in attachment research (van IJzendoorn, 1995). Another major influence on the conceptualization of EA comes from systemic theories (e.g., Guttman, 1991), which recognize the importance of seeing relationships as units, rather than as individual qualities. One member of the family Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Zeynep Biringen, Family and Developmental Studies Program, Colorado State University, 413 Behavioral Sciences, Fort Collins, CO 80523; E-mail: [email protected]. Development and Psychopathology 24 (2012), 1–8 # Cambridge University Press 2012 doi:10.1017/S0954579411000617