PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Object Attachment”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Attachment of mothers and children with recurrent asthmatic bronchitis.

OBJECTIVE: This study on attachment in children with recurrent asthmatic bronchitis and their mothers addresses three issues. The first aim was to test whether children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis more often display an insecure pattern of attachment in comparison with healthy children. The second aim was to verify whether the distribution of adult attachment representations in the mothers of children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis is different from the one shown by the mothers of the healthy comparison group. The third aim was to investigate intergenerational transmission of attachment. METHODS: Sixty Italian children, aged between 2 and 5 years, and their mothers participated in the study. The Adult Attachment Interview and the Attachment Q-Sort were used to assess, respectively, the security of mothers' attachment representations and of mother-child attachment. RESULTS: Children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis appeared to be less secure in comparison with healthy children. Their mothers showed a higher percentage of insecure attachment representations. Finally, the intergenerational transmission of attachment was not influenced by the preclinical condition of the children. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a model of genetic and social transmission of insecure attachments in families struggling with asthma.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Separation as a natural cue to danger in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta).

Spotted hyena biology suggests mothers and infants will exhibit one of two alternative responses to separation: (a) Due to prolonged dependency, infants will act similarly to Old World monkeys, displaying distress and proximity seeking behaviors; or (b) because mother-infant separations are frequent in the wild, infants will exhibit little distress or change in reunion behavior. Hence, reunion behavior following mother-infant separation was compared to control periods in captive hyena (Crocuta crocuta) mothers and infants at two developmental periods. Significant increases (p < or =.05) in distress (i.e., agitated arousal and increased vocalization) and proximity maintenance (i.e., cub and maternal approaches, and maternal monitoring) as well as a trend towards increased sibling aggression following separation were observed. Responsibility for proximity maintenance, assessed by the Hinde Index, adhered to patterns common to primates---with cubs assuming increased responsibility later in development. Findings are discussed in light of hyena ecology and Attachment Theory.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Mother-child relationship, child fearfulness, and emerging attachment: a short-term longitudinal study.

Mother-child relationship (maternal responsiveness and shared affective positivity), observed in naturalistic interactions, and child fearfulness, assessed in standard procedures involving exposure to unfamiliar stimuli and with parental reports, were examined at 8-10 and 13-15 months in relation to child attachment in the Strange Situation at 13-15 months (N = 108). Mother-child relationship, at 13-15 months only, predicted child security versus insecurity but not the type of insecurity. In contrast, child fearfulness was unrelated to security versus insecurity but predicted the type of insecurity and arousal in the Strange Situation. Resistant and highly aroused children (B3-C2) were more fearful than avoidant and less aroused children (A1-B2). The analyses using discrete and continuous attachment scores produced converging results. The study informs the debate on early relationships, temperament, and attachment.

Affect↗
PubMed1987

Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process.

This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process--a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the development of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy--secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent--and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. Implications for theories of romantic love are discussed, as are measurement problems and other issues related to future tests of the attachment perspective.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Attachment between working mothers and their infants: the influence of family processes.

The literature on maternal employment and attachment is reviewed, with emphasis on the system of care the infant experiences within the context of the family. Maternal characteristics, paternal involvement in child rearing, and the nature of the marital relationship are identified as contributing to qualitative differences in the attachment relationship between working mothers and their infants.

Family↗
PubMed2004

Naïve observers' perceptions of family drawings by 7-year-olds with disorganized attachment histories.

Previous research has succeeded in distinguishing among drawings made by children with histories of organized attachment relationships (secure, avoidant, and resistant); however, drawings of children with histories of disorganized attachment have yet to be systematically investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether naïve observers would respond differentially to family drawings of 7-year-olds who were classified in infancy as disorganized vs. organized. Seventy-three undergraduate students from one university and 78 from a second viewed 50 family drawings of 7-year-olds (25 by children with organized infant attachment and 25 by children with disorganized infant attachment). Participants were asked to (1) circle the emotion that best described their reaction to the drawings and (2) rate the drawings on 6 bipolar scales. Drawings from children classified as disorganized in infancy evoked positive emotion labels less often and negative emotion labels more often than those children classified as organized. Furthermore, drawings from children classified as disorganized in infancy received higher ratings on scales for disorganization, carelessness, family chaos, bizarreness, uneasiness, and dysfunction. These data indicate that naive observers are relatively successful in distinguishing selected features of drawings by children with histories of disorganized vs. organized attachment.

Affect↗
PubMed2006

Script-like attachment representations: steps towards a secure base for further research.

The secure base script method assesses the extent to which attachment relevant narratives reflect access to a secure base script. The reliability and (convergent, predictive) validity of the secure base script measure has been documented in the convergent findings of the various cross-national studies reported in this issue. The instrument's easy administration and coding system promises larger studies focusing on psychometric and substantive questions following from the current set of studies. More specifically, future research with the secure base script may concern its incremental validity, explore scripts of so-called 'earned secure adults', and test the association between scriptedness and (disorganized) attachment in the Strange Situation Procedure.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Divorce: crisis intervention guided by attachment theory.

Persons in the crisis of divorce are increasingly being treated. Attachment theory is a way of conceptualizing man's propensity to form affectional bonds and the resulting patterns of distress when these bonds are disrupted. Guidelines for a short-term and crisis-oriented management based upon attachment theory are presented.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2007

Predicting preferences for dating partners from past experiences of psychological abuse: identifying the psychological ingredients of situations.

Are women who have been the victim of psychological abuse in the past more likely to prefer an abusive dating partner in the future? Are men who have been the perpetrator of abuse more likely to prefer a dating partner with high attachment anxiety, a characteristic associated with victims of abuse? The present research used a highly repeated, within-subject, multilevel approach to identify the characteristics of potential dating partners that constitute salient psychological ingredients of situations influencing partner preference. Study 1 found that college-age women who reported more instances of receiving psychological abuse, compared to women who did not, showed a stronger preference for male dating partners who possessed characteristics associated with an abusive personality (e.g., possessiveness). Study 2 found that college-age men who reported more instances of inflicting psychological abuse, compared to men who did not, showed a stronger preference for female dating partners characterized by high attachment anxiety.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parental sensitivity to infants and toddlers in dual-earner and single-earner families.

BACKGROUND: Concerns have been raised about the effects of maternal employment on parent-child relations. Some researchers have concluded that maternal employment status has no effect on children's maternal attachments; others have found that full-time employment initiated in the first year of life is associated with insecure patterns of attachment behavior. The evidence suggests that dual-earner parents who have young children have increased psychological distress, affecting marital quality and spousal and parenting behaviors. OBJECTIVES: To learn whether parental sensitivity and the determinants of parental sensitivity differ for first-time parents in single-earner and dual-earner families when their first-born children are 3 months of age and when they are 2 1/2 years old; and to learn the extent to which changes in parental sensitivity and the determinants of parental sensitivity differ for single-earner and dual-earner parents during the study interval. METHOD: This panel study compared marital quality, psychological well-being, and parental sensitivity of single-earner and dual-earner parents when their first-born children were 3 months of age and again when they were 2 1/2 years of age. RESULTS: Employed mothers were more sensitive to their 3-month olds than were nonemployed mothers. When children were 2 1/2 years of age, dual-earner parents had lower marital quality than single-earner parents. Marital quality was positively associated with parental sensitivity at both study phases. Regardless of maternal employment status, parents' marital quality declined during the study interval. CONCLUSIONS: Regardless of mothers' employment status, well-educated, middle-class parents tend to provide sensitive parenting. Marital quality and psychological well-being are important supports of sensitive parenting for dual-earner and single-earner families.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Predictors of prenatal attachment in mothers of twins.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the predictive relationship between prenatal attachment and selected demographic and biopsychosocial factors and to compare these predictors to those identified in previous research on maternal attachment in singleton pregnancies. DESIGN: A predictive correlational descriptive design. SETTING: Data were obtained via mailed surveys. PARTICIPANTS: 214 women expecting twins were recruited from a national mother of twins support group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Instruments included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Norwood Social Support Apgar, Miller Prenatal Attachment Inventory, and a demographic data tool to collect data on perinatal factors of gestational age, infertility history, perceived risk status, fetal movement, and planning of pregnancy. RESULTS: Women who were younger, with lower income, a history of infertility, greater self-esteem, who had experienced quickening, and were further along in their pregnancy reported greater prenatal attachment to their twins (Adjusted R2 = 19.4%, p < .001). Perceived risk, social support, and planning of pregnancy did not predict level of attachment. CONCLUSION: Factors that influence attachment in women experiencing a twin pregnancy are complex, and much is still unknown. Development and testing of theory is needed to guide future research and practice.

Adolescent↗