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International Journal of Health and Allied Sciences

Abstract

Background: Oral hygiene, which is measured by the status of plaque-free tooth surfaces, is essential for the promotion of oral health. Bowlby suggests that children develop internal working models in earlier stages depending on their attachment relationships with parents.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of attachment styles in 9-12-year-oldschool children and also to note the oral hygiene status of children based on their attachment style.

Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on three eighty-four 9–12-year-old school children in the Nellore district using the cluster sampling method. Attachment style was measured using 15-item questionnaires developed from the Attachment Questionnaire for Children (AQ-C). First, the children were instructed, and then they were asked to read and rate the extent to which each questionnaire item described themselves. Oral hygiene status was noted using OHI-S index. Data was analyzed statistically using the Chi-square test for prevalence of attachment style and oral hygiene status. Thelevelofsignificancewassetatp≤0.05.

Results: The secure attachment style was found in 64.10% of all study participants, whileavoidantandambivalentattachmentstylesin7%and28.9%ofparticipantsrespectively. Secure children had more of good oral hygiene followed by ambivalent and avoidant styles with no statistically significant difference (p=0.161).

Conclusion: Thesecureattachmentstyleismoreprevalentfollowedbyambivalentandavoidant attachment styles. Attachment styles had no significant influence on oral hygiene status of children.

Key words: Attachment style, attachment questionnaire for children, prevalence, oral hygiene status

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