Expanding the Notion of a Secure Base- Which Factors Contribute to a Child's Potential for Exploration?

The overarching aim of my research project is to understand the context in which young children explore their environment, and how different factors in their environment might facilitate or impede exploratory behaviour. I will look at how relational, developmental, and wider environmental factors such as socioeconomic status affect children through the mechanism of biological embodiment. To do this, I will be measuring the relationship between these factors and biological stress-response system functioning, and how this might relate to exploratory behaviour. This has the potential to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how various factors might contribute to a secure base and, most importantly, to understand the conditions under which children are able to explore.