Attachment, loss, and depression.
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Animals↗
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Results for “Object Attachment”
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Patterns of attachment among preterm infants of varying biological risk.
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Follow-Up Studies↗
Attachment, autonomy, and multifinality in adolescent internalizing and risky behavioral symptoms.
A diathesis-stress interaction model is used to describe multifinality in adolescent internalizing and risky behavioral outcomes. Problematic behavior associated with adolescent insecure preoccupation (a diathesis) was expected to interact with the level of maternal autonomous discourse (a stressor) to predict specific adolescent outcomes. Assessments of adolescent preoccupied attachment organization, observations of maternal displays of autonomy in mother-adolescent interactions, and adolescent reports of internalizing symptoms and risky behaviors were obtained at age 16. As predicted, maternal autonomy in the mother-adolescent relationship helped to explain multifinality in dysfunctional symptoms among preoccupied adolescents. Adolescent preoccupation was more strongly linked to internalizing behavior when mothers demonstrated low levels of autonomy in interactions with their adolescents and more strongly linked to risky behavior when mothers displayed extremely high levels of autonomy. Implications for autonomy processes in increasing our understanding of how adolescent insecure-preoccupation relates to profiles of specific problems during adolescence are discussed as is the importance of exploring the role of attachment in different contexts.
Adolescent↗
Mothers' insightfulness regarding their infants' internal experience: relations with maternal sensitivity and infant attachment.
This study examined the associations among mothers' insightfulness into their infants' internal experience, mothers' sensitivity to their infants' signals, and infants' security of attachment to their mothers. The insightfulness of 129 mothers of 12-month-old infants was assessed by showing mothers 3 videotaped segments of observations of their infants and themselves and interviewing them regarding their infants' and their own thoughts and feelings. Interviews were classified into 1 insightful and 3 noninsightful categories. Mothers' sensitivity was assessed during play sessions at home and at the laboratory, and infant-mother attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation. Mothers classified as positively insightful were rated as more sensitive and were more likely to have securely attached children than were mothers not classified as positively insightful. Insightfulness also accounted for variance in attachment beyond the variance explained by maternal sensitivity. These findings add an important dimension to research on caregiving, suggesting that mothers' seeking of explanations for the motives underlying their infants' behavior is related to both maternal sensitivity and infant attachment.
Attitude↗
Schemas, sexuality, and romantic attachment.
One's self-views are powerful regulators of both cognitive processing and behavioral responding. Sexual self-schemas are cognitive generalizations about sexual aspects of the self. The bivariate sexual self-schema model, which posits independent effects of positive and negative components of women's sexual self-views, was tested. Three hundred eighteen female undergraduates completed anonymous questionnaires, including the Sexual Self-Schema Scale and assessments of sexual responses and romantic attachment patterns. Results extended knowledge of positive-negative schema group contrasts and distinguished the response patterns of the aschematic and co-schematic groups. As predicted, aschematics reported low levels of sexual desire, arousal, and anxiety, and weak romantic attachments, whereas co-schematics endorsed conflicting positive and negative responses to sexual-romantic cues. In addition, path analyses supported the bivariate model. Finally, findings are related to theories of attachment representations within the cognitive hierarchy of the self.
Adult↗
Parent-child attachment and monitoring in middle childhood.
Research on parent-child attachment and parental child rearing practices has been pursued independently. The purpose of the present study was to test whether a secure attachment relationship is related to parental monitoring and child efforts to contribute to the monitoring process. This question was examined in a cross-sectional study of third- and sixth-grade children and their parents. Attachment-based measures were used to tap child and parent perceptions of attachment. Monitoring (i.e., parents' awareness of children's whereabouts and activities) was assessed through phone interviews with children and parents. Child contributions to monitoring were assessed with parent and child questionnaires. A more secure attachment was related to closer monitoring and greater cooperation by the child in monitoring situations, especially at sixth grade. The findings illustrate the importance of embedding attachment within a larger child rearing context.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Are there really patterns of attachment? Comment on Fraley and Spieker (2003).
Ainsworth's description of attachment patterns in the Strange Situation is one of the best known and most enduring descriptive insights in developmental psychology. Yet attachment theorists have paid little attention to whether ABC classifications represent a true taxonomy or to mechanisms that might produce truly distinct patterns of attachment. This comment focuses on three questions. Does attachment theory require distinct patterns of attachment? How can taxonomic analysis contribute to an understanding of individual differences in attachment security? And are attachment theorists asking the right questions? The authors conclude that attachment theory is indifferent to the structure (taxonomic or dimensional) of individual differences. Nonetheless, taxonomic search methods can make important contributions to attachment study if research is broadened to include secure base behavior in naturalistic settings.
Female↗
The Adult Attachment Interview and questionnaires for attachment style, temperament, and memories of parental behavior.
Relations between Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) outcomes and data from questionnaires on attachment style, temperament, and memories of parental caregiving behavior were investigated to examine theoretical and methodological specificity of the AAI. The participants were 83 mothers of 1-year-olds. No differences between the three AAI classifications (autonomous, dismissing, or preoccupied) were found. Correlations between scales yielded few significant relations, with the exception of strong relations between some AAI scales for experiences and self-reported memories of parental behavior. The self-report questionnaires for attachment style and memories of parental behavior were therefore found to be not suitable for obtaining information about attachment working models as assessed by the AAI. Furthermore, attachment working models appear independent of temperament.
Female↗
Maternal social and physical contact: links to early infant attachment behaviors.
The relationship between maternal physical and social contact styles and infant attachment behavior under stress and nonstress conditions was studied at 2 different age points during the 1st year of life. The infants (29 girls and 15 boys) and their mothers were observed in their homes at 4 and 7 months of age. Maternal physical and social contact behaviors during an unstructured observation were rated on the Clarke-Stewart Rating Scales. Infant attachment behaviors in semistructured interactions with their mothers and with a stranger were rated on the Attachment Indicators Rating Scale. Scores on all attachment behaviors were subjected to a principal-axes factor analysis with varimax rotation, and one-way analyses of variance were conducted to assess effects of maternal social and physical contact at 4 and 7 months. A significant link was found between maternal physical contact at 4 months and the infant's attachment behavior under conditions of stress and play at both 4 and 7 months. Maternal social contact at 4 months was linked to attachment behavior in play situations, but not in stress situations. By the age of 7 months, the infants' attachment behavior under both stress and play conditions was linked to concurrent social and physical maternal contact. Maternal physical and social contacts at 4 and 7 months were linked to concurrent infant proximal attachment behavior, but such contacts at 4 months were not predictive of later infant proximal behaviors. These findings suggest that the relationship between the intensity and style of maternal contact and infant attachment behavior varies with age.
Adult↗
The relationship of attachment theory and perinatal loss.
Perinatal loss has recently received attention in the literature that presents it as different from other types of losses. Perinatal loss, or the loss of an infant due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death, is a significant problem that may be best understood when viewed through the framework of attachment theory. Recent advances in medical technology, including prenatal diagnostic procedures and resulting decisions have influenced issues of both perinatal attachment and loss, and have provided challenges for the clinician. This article presents a review of current theories and research on attachment and perinatal loss, and discusses how knowledge gained from this research may be integrated into clinical practice.
Bereavement↗
Cumulative phobic response to early traumatic attachment: aspects of a developmental psychotherapy in midlife.
This paper is an attempt to look at the impact of early traumatic attachment and disorganized attachment system in the evolution and maintenance of phobic response. It will explore the way in which the therapeutic attachment relationship plays a core role in facilitating development that was obstructed in infancy, childhood and adolescence involving the integration of developmental issues and the undoing of the need for phobic response. The tenacity of the need for a good enough primary attachment figure and the impact of the search for one on development are starkly revealed in the therapeutic work.
Adolescent↗
Adult attachment style and interpersonal distance.
We tested for an association between adults' attachment style and their regulation of interpersonal physical distance. In Study 1, the stop-distance paradigm was used to derive measures reflecting tolerance of and reactiveness to spatial-intrusion. As predicted, university students who were classified as avoidantly attached (by a 3-category attachment style measure) were less tolerant of close interpersonal physical proximity than were securely attached individuals. Further, they were more reactive to spatial-intrusion by a male (but not a female) adult. In Study 2, we measured the distance that participants chose to sit from an interviewer. Participants' ratings on a 4-category measure were used to classify them into an attachment style and to derive measures of positive self model and positive other model. Results revealed that fearfully avoidant adults were distinguished by their choice of far interpersonal distances. Across subjects, the measure of positive self model made a unique contribution to choice of interpersonal distance, but the measure of positive other model did not. In summary, the data provide evidence of an association between adults' comfort with interpersonal emotional closeness (attachment style) and their comfort with and regulation of interpersonal physical closeness.
Adult↗
Sensitivity, security and internal working models: bridging the transmission gap.
Empirical studies and meta-analytical reviews have shown security of attachment to be predicted by: (1) caregivers' current representations of their own childhood attachment experiences; and (2) caregivers' sensitive responsivity to their infants' cues during the first year of life. However, despite the wealth of data on these topics, the reasons for these connections remain poorly understood. The aim of this paper is to present a new theoretical approach that may enable us to identify the mechanisms involved in the evolution and transmission of attachment security. Specifically, it is suggested that the concept of parental mind-mindedness (Meins, 1997) may help to explain the links between parents' mental representations of attachment experiences and infant-parent attachment security. This approach may also contribute to our understanding of certain consequences of attachment relationships, such as recent evidence for security-related differences in children's mentalizing abilities.
Adult↗
Representations of attachment in mothers and their one-year-old infants.
Attachment classifications in mothers and their 1-year-old infants were independently and concurrently assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure. Overall concordance was significant (k = 0.62), with strong links apparent between mothers classified dismissing and infants classified avoidant and between mothers classified autonomous and infants classified secure. Mothers' classified preoccupied were not more likely to have infants classified resistant. Mothers' perceptions and interpretations of the emotional distress of an infant observed in a 4-minute videotape were related to both infant and mother attachment classifications. These results are compatible with the suggestion that attachment classification reflect differences in internal working models of relationships. Other measures of maternal psychosocial adjustment were not related to infant attachment classifications.
Adult↗
Developmental patterns in security of attachment to mother and father in late childhood and early adolescence: associations with peer relations.
This study examined developmental differences in two dimensions of attachment security (parental availability and child dependency on parents) in late childhood (N = 274) and early adolescence (N = 267) and their association with peer relations. Children's perceptions of mother's availability and boys' perceptions of father's availability did not differ as a function of age. Dependency on parents, however, decreased with age. Findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between parental availability and reliance on parental help when measuring attachment developmentally. Children's reports of positive friendship qualities and lack of conflict in their best friendships were related to attachment to both mother and father, whereas the presence of a reciprocated friendship and popularity were not. Father availability was a particularly important predictor of lower conflict with best friends. Findings indicate that the quality of parent-child attachment generalizes primarily to the quality of children's close peer relations.
Adolescent↗
Continuity and discontinuity of attachment from infancy through adolescence.
This study reports relations between infant Ainsworth Strange Situation classifications, negative life events, and Adolescent Attachment Interview classifications. Overall, the stability of secure versus insecure classifications was 77%, and infant attachment classification was a significant predictor of adolescent attachment classification. Chi-square analyses indicate that negative life events are significantly related to change in attachment classification. The sample (n = 30) is drawn from the Family Lifestyles Project (FLS), an ongoing longitudinal study of children's development within the context of nonconventional family lifestyles. The distribution of family lifestyles within this study, unlike those in the full FLS sample, represent a higher proportion of conventional two-parent families (40%). There were no differences between adolescents reared in conventional or nonconventional families in the distribution of adolescent attachment security, the experience of negative life events, or the continuity of attachment from infancy through adolescence.
Adolescent↗
Mothers' internal models of relationships and children's behavioral and developmental status: a study of mother-child interaction.
Interactional behavior of mothers and preschool children was studied in light of mothers' internal models of relationships and select child characteristics. Children with behavior problems who were developmentally intact (n = 20) and developmentally delayed (n = 20), and a matched nonclinic group (n = 24), were studied in a problem-solving session. Mothers' help and support, and children's approach to tasks, relationship to mother, and overall experience were scored. Mothers' internal models of relationships, based on descriptions of childhood relationships, were characterized as detached, preoccupied, or secure (attachment classifications). Results showed children's behavioral and developmental status, as well as mothers' internal models, to be associated with dyadic behavior. Children's behavior corresponded to mothers' internal models and to behavioral and developmental status even with the effects of mothers' behavior removed. Discriminant analysis correctly classified 93% of the sample into clinic and nonclinic groups and into the 3 attachment classifications.
Affect↗
A method to help new fathers develop parenting skills.
Interaction of parent and infant birth is important to the process of bonding and attachment. Much of this very early interaction is physical handling and care. New fathers may tend to feel uncomfortable and awkward with this handling due to lack of prior experience. A class was developed, in a private Midwestern hospital, to offer opportunities for fathers to gain knowledge, skill, and practice to make them feel more comfortable with this interaction and facilitate attachment. Response from participating fathers indicated that the classes were effective.
Education↗