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PubMed2000

Emotional availability in the mother-infant dyad as related to the quality of infant-mother attachment relationship.

Dyadic emotional availability and infant-mother attachment relationship were examined in 687 Israeli dyads. Concurrent assessments used the Strange Situation procedure (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) for evaluating infants' attachment relationship, and the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1993) for evaluating the quality of mother-child interaction. It was found that higher scores on the Emotional Availability Scales were associated with infant attachment security. In addition, it was found that the Emotional Availability Scales discriminated between insecure-ambivalent and secure attachment classification, but were not informative about unique characteristics of emotional availability in dyads with avoidant and disorganized infants. Our findings contribute to the cross-cultural validation of Emotional Availability Scales against infants' attachment security.

Emotions↗

PubMed2005

Representations of attachment to parents and shyness as predictors of children's relationships with teachers and peer competence in preschool.

In a group of 112 children (46% boys), representations of attachment to parents and shyness at age 5 were used as predictors of social relationships in preschool at age 6. A Story Completion task was used to assess attachment representations and shyness was assessed through parent ratings and observations. Preschool teachers rated the child-teacher relationship and the child's peer competence. Children with avoidant representations had more conflictual and less close teacher relationships, and showed less prosocial orientation with peers than did children with secure attachment representations. Children with bizarre-ambivalent representations had somewhat less intimate teacher relationships and less social initiative with peers than did children with secure representations. Shy children had less close and less conflictual teacher relationships and somewhat less social initiative with peers than did non-shy children. There was one marginally significant interaction effect of the quality of attachment representations and shyness on social relationships.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Initial acquaintance and attachment behavior of siblings with the newborn.

The attachment process of siblings to the newborn was examined. Data were collected from observations of 30 siblings during initial encounters with the newborns and interviews with parents. Sibling behaviors to the newborn fell into two overlapping categories--acquaintance and attachment. The children interacted more with their mothers than with the newborns. No attachment behaviors were seen in children with loss experience. Methods of facilitation of acquaintance were identified.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

Application of attachment theory for psychological support in palliative medicine during the terminal phase.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The situation leading to the death of a close relative is a unique and irrevocable experience of separation which evokes a state of emotional strain for the patient and the family. This situation therefore is an especially effective trigger of the so-called 'attachment system'. Attachment research in recent decades has shown that already in early infancy every person develops special attachment strategies activated in cases whenever a person cannot cope on its own with dangers. Only four such patterns of attachment have been specified, namely 'secure', 'insecure-avoidant', 'insecure-ambivalent/enmeshed' and 'disoriented/disorganized'. Since the dying are usually brought to the hospital by members of the family, the doctor responsible for treatment can perceive with unusual clarity the patterns of attachment within the family system, and can integrate such observation into her treatment strategy. This article suggests an attachment-informed therapy in the field of palliative medicine. It seems apparent that such approaches provided by the attachment theory for relief during the terminal phase are not only relevant in a palliative context but also applicable within the overall field of medicine and care-giving relating to terminal patients and their families. METHODS: To the doctor familiar with the attachment patterns and the conditions of their formation, clinical observation easily reveals which pattern is active among the dying and the accompanying members of the family. Here, cases are used to show how these insights can be realized in the psychotherapeutic care of patients and their families on a palliative ward. For example, in a case of 'avoidant' attachment, denied emotions can be addressed carefully and still existent hopes for protection and support can be reinforced; in a case of so-called 'ambivalent-enmeshed' attachment, overly intense relationships can be disentangled, and in a case of 'disorganized' attachment, emotion regulation can be supported and clarity in the relationships can be promoted. RESULTS: The clinical results show that psychotherapeutic intervention based on insights imparted by the attachment theory are of special benefit in relieving the psychological strain for the dying and their families.

Aged↗

PubMed2006

Avoidant attachment and the experience of parenting.

Guided by attachment theory, this research investigated connections between avoidant attachment styles and the experience of parenting after the birth of a couple's first child. One hundred and six couples completed a battery of measures approximately 6 weeks before and 6 months after the birth of their first child. As anticipated, parents with more avoidant attachment styles experienced greater stress after the birth of their child and perceived parenting as less satisfying and personally meaningful. Attachment theory maintains that adult attachment styles should affect relationships with adults and with one's children. The present findings provide some of the first evidence that self-reported adult romantic attachment styles, which have been the focus of attachment research by social and personality psychologists, are systematically associated with parent-child relationships. They also provide insight into the processes through which secure and insecure attachment styles might be transmitted from one generation to the next.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Automatic activation of attachment-related goals.

When people encounter threats, their attachment systems are activated and they become motivated to seek protection and support through proximity to their attachment figures. Theoretically, therefore, mental representations of attachment figures should be associated with goals related to attaining proximity and safety. The present studies explore this idea by examining the effects of a person's chronic attachment style and exposure to a particular attachment figure's name on the automatic activation of attachment-related goals. Studies 1 and 2 examine effects of exposure to the name of a security-providing attachment figure on willingness to self-disclose and seek support (two behaviors related to gaining proximity). Study 3 examines how exposure to names of different relationship partners (with whom a participant has felt secure, anxious, or avoidant) affects the mental accessibility of attachment-related goal words. Taken together, the studies support the idea that mental representations of attachment figures are associated with attachment-related goals.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

On the concepts of amae and the mother-group.

Notwithstanding Freud's (1921) early linkage of psychoanalytic group psychology with patriarchal themes (i.e., father-leader), more recent findings suggest that the regression in group behavior in general, and in group psychotherapy in particular, tends to evoke frequent maternal ideations. In this connection, this article points to a phenomenological relationship between the individual's universal need to be at one with the internalized mother, as exemplified in the Japanese concept of amae and that of the Mother-Group. With amae serving as an explanatory construct for the group members' interpersonal relations (i.e., identifications and transferences), the idea of the Mother-Group ties in with the group entity's simultaneous supportive functions (i.e., "we are all in the same boat") coupled with its role as a collective arena for the reactivation of unconscious wishes for the nurturing mother of early childhood. In linking a Japanese psychological concept with another, which was developed in the West, I am disproving Rudyard Kipling's often quoted assertion that "never the East and the West shall meet." I was encouraged in this task by Takeo Doi's written comment to me that the idea of the Mother-Group "certainly can be linked with that of Amae. For instance, when the group functions as the Mother-Group, you can say that the participants are experiencing Amae in one way or another" (T. Doi, Sept. 17, 1993, personal communication). In an extended sense, one hopes this essay might even serve to revive our interest in the interrupted well-known early collaboration of psychoanalysts and of anthropologists, which had begun to forge a way to connect personality formation with its cultural context (LeVine, 1974). The insufficient attention paid to the influence of cultural factors on attachment behavior was recently decried by Bretherton (1997).

Child↗

PubMed2005

The relations among varieties of adult attachment and the components of empathy.

The authors examined the proposition that recollections of childhood attachments, parental bonds, or romantic attachments are related to M. H. Davis's (1983) cognitive and emotional components of empathy. Participants were 178 undergraduates who completed self-report questionnaires. Recollections of parental bonds and romantic attachments made both independent and conjoint contributions to Davis's components. Parental overprotection and romantic anxiety predicted personal distress; parental care and romantic anxiety predicted empathic concern; and romantic avoidance predicted fantasy. The findings suggested that attachment may be more likely to influence empathy negatively than positively, that the relation between attachment and empathy may be more emotional than cognitive, and that romantic attachments may be more related to empathy than recollections of parental bonds.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

[Prediction model on mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the influencing factors of mother-infant attachment and construct a descriptive model that explains mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period. METHOD: The hypothetical model of this study consisted of 8 variables with 23 constructed paths. The subjects of this study were 152 postpartum women. Data was analyzed to test the hypothetical model using covariance structure analysis. RESULT: The final model which is modified from the hypothetical model improved to Chi-Square 41.92, GFI.95, AGFI.89, RMSR.02, RMSEA.06, NFI.94, and NNFI.95. Mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period was proven to be influenced directly by neonatal perception, maternal sensitivity, and maternal-fetal attachment and also indirectly by social support, maternal-fetal attachment and maternal identity. These variables accounted for 32% of the variance of the mother-infant attachment during the early postpartum period. CONCLUSION: It is necessary that the nurses provide postpartum women with an intervention using social support for improving maternal identity and alleviating maternal role strain. It can be helpful to improve maternal sensitivity and in the end it will facilitate the mother-infant attachment during postpartum period.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Expectant parents' representations of early attachment relationships: associations with mental health and family history.

The association between adult representations of early attachment relationships and history of individual and family mental health was examined in a sample of 233 expectant mothers and fathers. As predicted, security of attachment was linked to mental health. Parents classified as Preoccupied were more likely than other parents to report suicidal ideation. Whereas parents classified as Unresolved more often reported suicidal ideation, emotional distress, and substance abuse. With respect to family history. Unresolved and Preoccupied attachment classifications were significantly related to child abuse involving a relative and parental separation or divorce. These findings support theoretical conceptualizations regarding the link between adult attachment and mental health in middle-class American adults.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

Social support as a factor in the development of parents' attachment to their unborn.

Two studies are discussed which have investigated the association between aspects of social support and parents' attachment to their unborn children. The first study involved interviews of 30 women in the third trimester of pregnancy and utilized a broad conceptualization of social support measured by a questionnaire developed for the study. Overall social support was positively associated with the woman's attachment to her fetus; support from health care professionals was more highly correlated with attachment (.74) than was support from family and friends (.25). The second study utilized questionnaires from 326 couples to investigate the relationship between fetal attachment and satisfaction with the marital relationship. Results revealed a positive association between marital relationship and attachment to the fetus for both men and women. Implications for further research are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Individual differences in infant-mother attachment relationships at age one: antecedents in neonatal behavior in an urban, economically disadvantaged sample.

Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scales (NBAS) were administered to 100 neonates at 7 and 10 days after birth. The infants and their mothers were subsequently observed in the Ainsworth and Wittig strange-situation procedure at age 1. Infants were classified as secure, anxious/avoidant, or anxious/resistant. When compared with the secure attachment group, anxious/resistant infants scored lower on orientation, motor maturity, and regulation items at day 7. The secure and anxious/avoidant subjects did not differ at day 7. The anxious/resistant group improved from day 7 to day 10, and neither anxious group differed from the secure group on the second examination. The results suggest that early neonatal difficulties may reflect probelms in integrative and adaptive mechanisms which continue to influence behavior, interaction, and eventually attachment relationships, despite the tendency of all normal infants eventually to meet the demands of the neonatal period. In view of the resiliency of neonatal behavior, it is assumed that neonatal difficulties must interact with difficult environments to produce anxious attachments.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Paternal-infant attachment of experienced and inexperienced fathers during infancy.

Seventy-nine experienced fathers (with one or more previous children) and 93 inexperienced (first-time) fathers were studied for differences in paternal-infant attachment at postpartal hospitalization and at 1, 4, and 8 months following birth. No significant differences were observed between the groups for reported attachment to their infants; scores varied little. Over the 8-month period, from 27% to 47% and from 9% to 22% of the variance in attachment was explained for experienced fathers and inexperienced fathers, respectively. Fetal attachment was a major predictor for attachment for experienced fathers at the first three test periods, explaining 19% of the variance at early postpartal hospitalization, 16% at 1 month, and 9% at 4 months. It was a major predictor for inexperienced fathers the first month only, explaining 13% of the variance at early postpartal hospitalization and 15% at 1 month. Depression was the second most important predictor. For experienced fathers, it explained 8% of attachment at early postpartum and 22% at 8 months; for inexperienced fathers, it explained 7% at 1 month and 9% at 4 months. Environmental factors such as social support and stress had no effects on fathers' attachment to their infants.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Parenting and preschooler attachment among low-income urban African American families.

This study examined the parental correlates of child attachment in a preschool-aged, economically disadvantaged, urban, African American sample. Sixty-nine 4- to 5-year-olds and their primary caregivers participated in the Strange Situation assessment procedure. Based on Cassidy and Marvin's classification system for preschoolers, 61% of the children were classified as securely attached, with girls being significantly more likely to be securely attached than boys (74% versus 45%). The majority of the insecure attachments were of the avoidant variety. Consistent with attachment theory, parents of securely attached children were rated as significantly more warm and accepting and less controlling with their children than were parents of insecurely attached preschoolers. Relative to parents of securely attached preschoolers, parents of children judged to be insecurely attached reported being more likely to use corporal punishment and less likely to use verbal reminders when their children misbehaved. Parenting was associated with attachment over and above the effects of child sex.

Black or African American↗

PubMed1984