Evaluating child–caregiver attachment beyond infancy when language barriers exist: Longitudinal study in a protracted crisis

Observational coding systems are invaluable for understanding child-caregiver interactions, but their reliance on language comprehension limits their use with linguistically diverse populations. We developed the Behavioral Recognition in Displaced Group Exchanges (BRIDGE) coding system to measure the quality of refugee child-caregiver relationships through paralinguistic cues (e.g., tone) and kinetic behavioral signals (e.g., gestures). Here BRIDGE was tested on 1,092 videos featuring 287 Syrian refugee mothers and their children in Jordan (Mage = 6, range 4-8; 1:1 gender ratio). Most coders were unable to understand the language the dyads spoke, yet all demonstrated excellent intra- and interrater reliability across preregistered analyses. Coding patterns also showed convergence, divergence, sensitivity to contextual factors, and temporal stability, establishing BRIDGE as a robust linguistically agnostic tool.