Emotional availability: Conceptualization and research findings

The emotional availability construct (based on observations of parent-child interactions) teas first reconceptualized for research in 1991 as a way to describe the quality of parent-child interactions. Since then, there has been considerable refinement of the construct. EA refers to several parental dimensions (sensitivity, structuring, nonintrusiveness, nonhostility) and two child dimensions (responsiveness to parent and involvement of parent). The EA empirical link with attachment and parent-child relationship are reviewed and avenues for future research are suggested.