Attachment and risk for psychopathology: the early years.
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Acting Out↗
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[Family attachments in early childhood and later psychological development].
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Adolescent↗
Cognitive underpinnings of narrative attachment assessment.
Traditional story completion methods used to examine attachment representations in childhood draw heavily on socially significant content and clinical judgment. Using these methods with 37-month-olds, Bretherton, Ridgeway, and Cassidy (1990) found that attachment security scored from story completions were related to a wide range of secure base, personality, intellectual, and family variables. We examined story completions from 24 of Bretherton et al. 's (1990) subjects who had also produced story completions at 54 months, but scored passage length (idea units) and scriptedness. Results captured much of the attachment-related variance associated with the traditional scoring, but had better discriminant validity vis-à-vis general developmental level. These results indicate that analysis of cognitive variables underlying conventional scoring can advance understanding of attachment representations and their relations to the organization and content of attachment-related narratives.
Age Factors↗
A representational perspective of child abuse and prevention: internal working models of attachment and caregiving.
Attachment theory provides a rich theoretical framework for research and intervention in child abuse. This paper examines the central role of internal working models in the development of child-parent relationships. Mental representations of child attachment (in infancy and middle childhood), adult attachment and parental caregiving are discussed in light of the adaptational deficits that researchers have found to be associated with attachment insecurity. A reconceptualization of the link between insecurity and child abuse is described, highlighting disorganized attachment. Implications for child abuse intervention are discussed.
Child↗
What is remembered about early childhood events?
Almost 100 years ago, Freud identified infantile or childhood amnesia, the difficulty that most adults have remembering events from their first years of life. Recent research in cognitive psychology has in fact demonstrated a paucity of verbal memories of early life experiences. Although Freud believed that childhood memories are repressed, modern explanations for childhood amnesia focus instead on cognitive and social developmental advances of the early preschool years. According to the social interaction hypothesis, a narrative sense of self emerges as a result of parent-child conversations about the past. Implications of autobiographical memory research for models of adult attachment and psychotherapy are discussed.
Adult↗
Early contact and maternal attachment among women using public health care facilities.
The relationship between the time of first holding of the infant and the development of feelings of maternal attachment among women using public health care facilities was investigated. A sample of 88 mothers reported holding their infants from 10 minutes to 48 hours after delivery and developing feelings of maternal attachment from 10 minutes to 2.5 days after delivery. A positive relationship between the first holding of the infant and the development of feelings of attachment was supported, which indicated that feelings of attachment began when the infant was first held regardless of how long after delivery the holding was. Opportunities for early contact should be provided, but when appropriate, mothers should be informed that it does not appear that early contact is essential to the development of attachment feelings.
Adolescent↗
School-aged children's vulnerability to depressive symptomatology: the role of attachment security, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk.
The influences of three risk factors (insecure attachment, maternal depressive symptoms, and economic risk) on children's depressive symptomatology were examined. Subjects were 85 children from a range of income levels; all subjects were between 7 and 9 years of age. Children's depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Dimensions of Depression Profile for Children and Adolescents. Results indicated that children at high economic risk were more likely to exhibit depressive symptomatology than were children at low economic risk. Security of attachment was significantly related to children's depressive symptomatology. In addition, a significant relation was noted between children's depressive symptomatology and the depressive symptomatology of their mothers. Contrary to expectations, no significant relation was found between maternal depressive symptomatology and security of attachment. A multiple regression analysis revealed that security of attachment, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk accounted for 47% of the variability in children's depression scores. Secure attachment served as a buffer; economic risk was associated with depressive symptoms only among insecurely attached children.
Child↗
Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: a longitudinal analysis.
Adult attachment styles in 354 heterosexual couples in serious dating relationships were examined. Principal findings included the following: (a) male and female attachment styles were nonrandomly paired, for example, no anxious-anxious or avoidant-avoidant pairs were found; (b) male and female styles related to concurrent relationship ratings of both partners in different but theoretically meaningful ways; (c) male and female styles contributed significantly to longitudinal prediction of relationship stability and status, even when prior duration and commitment to the relationship were statistically controlled; (d) specifically, relationships of avoidant men and of anxious women were surprisingly stable over 3 years, particularly in light of the relatively poor ratings of these relationships by both partners at Time 1. Discussion focuses on the need to integrate gender role considerations and relationship dynamics and processes into theorizing on adult attachment.
Adult↗
Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior.
Contemporary attachment research is based on the assumption that at least three types of infant attachment patterns exist: secure, avoidant, and resistant. It is not known, however, whether individual differences in attachment organization are more consistent with a continuous or a categorical model. The authors addressed this issue by applying P. E. Meehl's (1973, 1992) taxometric techniques for distinguishing latent types (i.e., classes, natural kinds) from latent continua (i.e., dimensions) to Strange Situation data on 1,139 fifteen-month-old children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. The results indicate that variation in attachment patterns is largely continuous, not categorical. The discussion focuses on the implications of dimensional models of individual differences for attachment theory and research.
Child Development↗
Measuring sensitivity moment-by-moment: microanalytic look at the transmission of attachment.
Meta-analyses have indicated that the mediating power of sensitivity in the transmission of attachment across generations is not nearly as great as would be predicted by attachment theory (van IJzendoorn, 1995; De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997). To make sense of these findings, the author suggests that current measures of sensitivity should be expanded to include the assessment of mother-infant behavior on a micro-behavioral level. This paper reviews evidence for two central propositions: (1) The internal working model of mothers is expressed in subtle, fine-grained interactive behaviors with their infants, and (2) infants perceive and remember these behaviors in the form of interactional expectancies. Following these propositions, hypothesized representational micromodels for each major attachment organization are then offered, based on the Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) approach to information processing. In closing, this paper presents some of the most pressing unresolved issues for attachment researchers as they seek to empirically identify the mechanisms by which attachment is transmitted across generations.
Child↗
An approach to the delineation of adult attachment. Scale development and reliability.
The authors present the results of a project to develop scales to measure the features of adult attachment using a construct-oriented approach. Adult attachment is defined in terms of eight features: proximity seeking, secure base effect, separation protest, feared loss of the attachment figure, reciprocity, availability, responsiveness of the attachment figure, and use of the attachment figure. Each feature was defined and a large item pool to tap all dimensions was derived from item nominations by clinicians, researchers, and lay subjects. The resultant scales were administered to a small sample for preliminary empirical testing. Analyses of internal reliability for each scale resulted in the elimination of items that detracted from reliability. After editing, all scales had satisfactory internal consistency. A discriminant-functions analysis provided suggestive evidence that this method of defining and measuring adult attachment would have relevance for identifying psychopathology.
Adult↗
Dying to be thin: attachment to death in anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) usually follows a prolonged course accompanied by significant morbidity and high mortality. AN patients have been found to have elevated and attempted suicide rates, with suicide being the second most common cause of death in AN after the complications of the disorder itself. The suicide risk in AN is similar to that in major depression or conduct disorder and linked mainly to longer duration of illness, lower weight, bingeing and purging, impulsivity-related manifestations, comorbid substance abuse, and affective disorder. This paper reviews suicidal tendency and disturbed body image, death and eating disorders, and attachment and death with clinical implications related to AN.
Anorexia Nervosa↗
Attachment in chronically underweight young children.
This study, conducted in Chile with a low-income population, was designed to assess quality of mother-infant attachment in 17-21-month-old children of different nutritional status. 43 nutritionally healthy and 42 chronically underweight children were seen with their mothers in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Children were classified in the conventional B (secure) and A and C (anxious) attachment patterns. In addition, an A/C pattern of anxious attachment was found to be frequent among children who consistently fail to gain adequate weight-for-age. Results showed a greater proportion (93%) of anxious attachments in the underweight group as compared to the group of children without a history of nutritional deficits (50%). Children classified as A/C presented the most serious weight deficits within the underweight group, indicating an association between severity of the nutritional deficits and insecure/disorganized attachments. Various hypotheses concerning the association between chronic nutritional deficits and insecure/disorganized attachments in infancy are discussed.
Chile↗
A contextual-moderator analysis of emotional autonomy and adjustment in adolescence.
This study investigated the relation between emotional autonomy, as measured by Steinberg and Silverberg's Emotional Autonomy Scale (EA), and adolescent adjustment as moderated by several individual, familial, and cultural contexts. Subjects were 96 adolescents (10-18 years old) and their mothers and teachers. Results indicate that when the affective nature of the parent-adolescent relationship is positive (e.g., maternal warmth is high or intensity of parent-adolescent conflict is low), positive adolescent adjustment is more likely when adolescents report less emotional autonomy. On the other hand, when the family environment is more stressful, emotional autonomy is positively associated with adolescent adjustment. Findings suggest that higher scores on the EA scale index emotional detachment from parents and that such detachment is detrimental in supportive familial environments but adaptive in less supportive familial environments. That emotional detachment from parents appears to serve a protective function in certain stressful situations is viewed as analogous to the adoption of an avoidant attachment strategy during infancy.
Adolescent↗
Thinking about children's attachments.
Disordered parental attachment can commit children to lives characterised by relationship difficulties, behaviour problems, educational failure, and poor self-esteem. It is a major root of trans-generational neglect and abuse and frequently underlies mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, and crime. Early childhood setting of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis function appears to contribute to these costly difficulties. More broadly, the concept of attachment can contribute to defining and managing the psychosocial dimension of routine paediatric care. The current under-representation of attachment in paediatric education, practice, and research needs to be rectified.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
An unfortunate family: terminal illness and the altering of the attachment bond.
This article emphasizes the value of a therapeutic presence in terminal death situations. An unusual clinical case illustrates the point. The presenting issue was aggression between an adult son and father. It soon became apparent, however, that this son was profoundly enmeshed with his mother. During the course of family therapy the father died, and then the mother was diagnosed with cancer. The therapist changed therapeutic goals and attended to the relationship between mother and son. He made home visits to the mother and the surviving son. She seemed to die peacefully and the son moved on with his life, which prior to the death of his mother would not have appeared likely because of his profound dependence on her. Resolving pathological attachment is not easy. Attachment theory refers to the affectional bonds or attachments, initially between child and parent and later between adult and adult. It is suggested that terminal illness and death can, with help of a therapist, alter this attachment bond, even though the literature on adult dependency and attachment does not refer to death in this manner.
Adult↗
Do automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of romantic partner, mother, and self relate to adult romantic attachment?
Three studies tested the expectation that automatic reactions elicited by the mental representation of one's current romantic partner, mother, and self relate to adult romantic attachment. Adult romantic attachment was assessed using multiple measures, and individual differences in automatic reactions were assessed by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Studies 1 and 2 showed that automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of current romantic partner, but not by thoughts of self, were related to adult romantic attachment assessed at a specific (i.e., within one's current romantic relationship) and general level (i.e., across all romantic relationships). The pattern of results was stronger among individuals identified as attachment-schematic. Studies 2 and 3 showed that automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of one's mother were related to adult romantic attachment assessed at a general level. In all three studies, results did not differ depending on how adult romantic attachment was conceptualized (four styles vs. two dimensions).
Adult↗
Early-life trauma and the psychogenesis and prevention of violence.
This article considers the development of violence with particular reference to family factors in violence such as the quality of the parent-child relationship. In taking a developmental approach to violence, a link is established between the maltreatment of children in an attachment context and the risk of violence via the child's capacity to envision mental states in the other. Evidence from epidemiology and neuroscience is brought to bear on this link. Finally, some studies of prevention of violence that are likely to enhance attachment and mentalizing are considered.
Age Factors↗