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PubMed1992

A Rorschach study of attachment and anxiety in inpatient conduct-disordered and dysthymic adolescents.

We investigated the constructs of attachment and anxiety in inpatient conduct-disordered and dysthymic adolescents. Texture, diffuse shading, and pure human content (Exner, 1986) Rorschach indices were compared between 48 subjects who met the criteria for conduct disorder and 30 subjects who met the criteria for dysthymia, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987). We also compared mild, moderate, and severe conduct-disorder groups on the three selected Rorschach variables and investigated certain family characteristics for the two groups. We found a lower frequency of texture and pure human content responses in conduct-disordered subjects and a greater frequency of diffuse shading responses in the dysthymic subjects. The conduct-disordered subjects also came from homes in which the mother figure was significantly less present. Our psychometric findings of lessened attachment and diminished anxiety in the conduct-disordered adolescents are similar to adult psychopaths. We urge that an attachment or socialization disturbance criterion be reintroduced into the forthcoming DSM-IV conduct-disorder diagnosis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Avoidant/ambivalent attachment style as a mediator between abusive childhood experiences and adult relationship difficulties.

The role of attachment style, self-esteem, and relationship attributions as possible mediators between abusive childhood experiences and difficulties in establishing supportive love relationships in adulthood were investigated in a sample of women known to be at risk of experiencing relationship problems. Measures of child abuse, the quality of love relationships, and the three potential mediators were made concurrently in adulthood. Participants who had experienced child abuse were found to be six times more likely to be experiencing difficulties in the domain of adult love relationships than those who had not. Self-esteem and relationship attributions were not found to be related to child abuse. When both child abuse and avoidant/ambivalent attachment style were considered together avoidant/ambivalent attachment style, but not child abuse, was found to be related to relationship difficulties. These findings indicate that avoidant/ambivalent attachment style, but not self-esteem and relationship attributions, is a mediating factor in the route from child abuse to adult relationship abilities.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Attachment representations in adulthood: relations with parental behaviors.

The paper presents two standardized measurements of attachment. The Strange Situation Procedure is an observational measure of the reaction of 12-18-month-old infants to their parent after being exposed to brief separations from him/her. Four main types of responses are noted, and have been noted in a range of cultures. The second measure is the Adult Attachment Interview which is a semi-structured interview of 18 questions that discusses childhood memories and assesses the current state of mind with regard to attachment issues. Four types of characteristic response styles have been noted in a range of cultures, and this measure seems to be related to certain types of parenting. Studies of the link between the two measures have been complicated, as the adult measure does not include the capacity to be available for the child. A further instrument, the Maternal Empathic Understanding Procedure, designed to assess parent's ability to see things from the child's point of view, is suggested as a possible mediator between parental attachment style and parenting behavior. These studies permit standardized evaluation of parenting skills, facilitate the study of intergenerational transmission of these skills, and suggest the possibility of psychotherapeutic interventions that focus on these areas.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1981

Infant irritability, mother responsiveness, and social support influences on the security of infant-mother attachment.

This study investigates the influence of infant irritability, maternal responsiveness, and social support on the development of secure and anxious infant-mother attachments at 1 year. Infant irritability was assessed during the neonatal period using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, maternal responsiveness to crying was measured during observations at 3 months, and social support was based on interviews also conducted at 3 months. Security of attachment measures were derived from strange-situation videotapes. Results indicate that social support is the best predictor of secure attachment, and that it is most important for mothers with irritable babies. Maternal unresponsiveness is associated with resistance during reunion episodes and appears to be a mechanism through which anxious attachment develops. Some evidence suggests that social support may mitigate the effects of unresponsive mothering by providing the infant with a responsive substitute. Results are discussed in terms of a transactional/contextual model of development.

Crying↗

PubMed1993

The drug-exposed mother and infant: a regional center experience.

Drug-exposed mothers and infants continue to challenge maternal and infant health care resources. The woman who abuses drugs may have a complex social history and high resistance to change. Drug use may be intergenerational and long-standing. Although cocaine may be a drug of choice, there is often polydrug abuse, complicating the assessment of the newborn who may be suffering from an overall unstable intrauterine environment due to poor general health and lack of nutrition, inadequate prenatal care, and risk of exposure to contaminants from street drugs and of infection, including Hepatitis B and HIV. Infants must be thoroughly assessed and treated as any newborn at risk. Drug screening and child welfare issues are discussed. Hepatitis B immunization is recommended. Ongoing assessment of the infant and intervention techniques are described. Since many drug-exposed infants go home with their mothers, an integrated plan of care for mother and infant may contribute to a therapeutic relationship, facilitate maternal attachment behaviors, and motivate maternal rehabilitation. For nurses caring for these demanding families, burnout prevention and self-care strategies are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

Transference and post-traumatic stress: combat veterans' transference to the Veterans Administration Medical Center.

In this paper I have discussed two types of transference manifestations to an institution; namely, the "VA Medical Center transference syndrome" (VATS) and the "VA medical center split transference syndrome" (VAST). Transference to an institution was identified as an important issue deserving the attention of psychotherapists and psychoanalysts. Two case studies illustrated the dynamics of these two transference phenomena. Moreover, as a consequence of exposure to traumatic war experiences in Vietnam, these two illustrative cases portrayed a strong tendency to splitting dynamics and fragmenting ego operations inherent in what has been referred to here as "post-traumatic borderline personality disorder" (p-TBPD). In the VATS case, the patient struggled with intense feelings of dissociated and repressed guilt over the five men killed and two severely wounded in Vietnam for which he believed himself to be responsible. Initially, the patient had denied he felt responsible and guilty over this tragic event; however, later as trust developed and intense paranoid defenses were attenuated, these painful memories were expressed in vivid detail. His affective attachment or transference to the VA Medical Center was an "instrumental transference" in that it served the purpose of giving him the sense of protection from his guilt-ridden ego and harsh, punitive superego. The task of the treatment was to first establish trust through emphasizing the "real" relationship and fostering the idealizing transference. Through the idealizing transference, the patient began to decathect from the VAMC as his sole protective object. With this patient the "real" relationship was essential in assisting him to relinquish his transference hold on the VAMC and embark on "the road to recovery" (Brende and Parson, 1985). The VAST case portrayed the situation in which the veteran "bifurcates" his transference responses--one to therapist, the other to the VAMC. As in the VATS case, it was essential to emphasize the real relationship, maintaining an active intervening stance, while fostering the idealizing transference.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Intrauterine position, parenting, and nest-site attachment in male Mongolian gerbils.

We housed male Mongolian gerbils, their mates, and foster litters of standardized size and sex ratio in enclosures that provided cover in two locations. Males had been gestated in known intrauterine positions: either between two females (2F males) or between two males (2M males). From Days 1 to 20 postpartum, we examined the frequency with which both males and females were in contact with the pups they were rearing. We found that 2F males spent more time with pups than did 2M males both during entire observation periods and when females were away from the nest. Further, when pups were moved from the nest site. 2M males spent more time than did 2F males in the vacated nest site. We concluded that 2F male gerbils spent more time with pups than 2M males not because of a greater attachment of 2F than 2M males to places of concealment, their male, or their nest site. Rather, 2F males were more attracted to pups than were 2M males.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1995

The value of possessions in compulsive hoarding: patterns of use and attachment.

Hoarding behavior, patterns of use of possessions, and emotional attachment to possessions were examined among a sample of female undergraduates and a sample of community volunteers. Hoarding behavior was associated with a decreased frequency of use of possessions and excessive concern about maintaining control over possessions. Furthermore, high scores on the hoarding scale were associated with higher levels of perceived responsibility for: (1) being prepared; and (2) the well-being of the possession. Hoarding was also associated with greater emotional attachment to possessions and to the reliance on possessions for emotional comfort. The implications of these findings for the definition of hoarding are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Contributions of attachment style and perceived social support to lifetime use of illicit substances.

Research has shown insecure attachment style is associated with ineffective emotional regulation leading to maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. In the present study, we examined the association between attachment style and illicit substance use within a sample of adoptees (n=148). It was predicted that insecure attachment style would be associated with a higher incidence of lifetime illicit substance use and that perceived social support would mediate this association. Logistic regression analyses showed higher prevalence of illicit substance use among both insecure attachment groups as compared to the secure group. No difference was found between the two insecure types. Perceived social support was found to mediate the association between attachment style and illicit substance use for the insecure-preoccupied group only. The findings from the present study further implicate attachment style in the risk for illicit substance use, as well as preventions designed to identify those at risk for use.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1985

Attachment of people to companion animals.

Cat and dog owners appear to be equally attached to their pets, engage in similar behaviors, and hold similar opinions regarding their pets. The universality and strength of this attachment may be because household pets fit into the biological attachment system that exists to bond parents and children. Additionally, pets may convey a feeling of security or a sense of well-being that is rooted in our evolutionary past.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

The development of communicative competence of securely and insecurely attached children in interactions with their mothers.

Coordinated interpersonal timing in preverbal mother-child interactions is assumed to be one fundamental feature of interpersonal relatedness and the basis for parent-child bonding. The ubiquity of and early evidence for this phenomenon in ontogeny hint at its biological "prewiredness" and relevance for development. The quality of interpersonal timing in early preverbal parent-child interactions was hypothesized (and partially shown) to predict quality of attachment, level of cognitive functioning, and patterns of language acquisition. The aim of this study was to investigate the assumption of a facilitating effect of adequate interpersonal coordination (measured by quality of attachment) on the development of verbal communicative competence in children during the first stages of language development. On the basis of longitudinal data for 25 mother-child dyads, videotaped when the children were 17, 23, 30, and 36 months old in a free play and a short separation situation, it was investigated whether securely and insecurely attached children differ with respect to the amount of verbal contributions, their realization as alternating or simultaneous utterances, and the duration of intra-turn and inter-turn pauses. The results show that attachment was related to children's use of communicative competence especially in stressful situations, its development being paced by the age or maturation of the child.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1984

Psychological changes over the course of pregnancy: a study of attitudes toward the fetus/neonate.

Pregnant women's attitudes towards their fetus over the course of the pregnancy were studied in relation to physiological events of pregnancy, namely seeing the fetus via ultrasound and experiencing fetal movement. A consecutive series of primiparae (n = 129) was randomly assigned, at recruitment between 10 and 14 weeks menstrual age, to conditions of high (n = 67) or low (n = 62) feedback real time ultrasound. Thereafter, women were assessed at 16 and 32 weeks gestation, within 24 hours of delivery and by questionnaire at 3 months postpartum. On each occasion women completed attitude rating scales concerning their pregnancy and their fetus or neonate. These scales were subjected to principal components analysis and two main dimensions were derived for ratings of both attitudes towards the pregnancy and the fetus/neonate. No relationship was found between factor scores and ultrasound feedback condition, although scores on the fetal attachment dimension showed a significant linear increase over the pregnancy. Women reporting fetal movement at 16 weeks displayed significantly higher scores on the fetal-attachment dimension at all three assessment points. Multiple regression analyses were utilized to identify predictors of initial reactions to the neonate and attachment ratings at 3 months postpartum. At delivery, ratings of attachment to the neonate were related to drug requirements in labor and attachment ratings at 32 weeks. Reactions to the neonate at delivery and ratings of postpartum mood emerged as significant predictors of maternal attachment at 3 months postpartum. These results are discussed in the context of research attempting to establish the importance of postpartum bonding.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Attachment and obligation as daughters' motives for caregiving behavior and subsequent effect on subjective burden.

Existing studies have failed to adequately determine the combined effects of attachment and filial obligation as motives for adult children's caregiving behavior. This study's aim was to clarify the effects of these motives on caregiving and subsequent feelings of burden. In a path analysis of data from 78 daughters caring for elderly mothers, both attachment and obligation were related to amount of help provided. Stronger attachment was related to less subjective burden, whereas stronger obligation was related to greater burden. Contextual variables also contributed to the explanation.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2006

In search of shared and nonshared environmental factors in security of attachment: a behavior-genetic study of the association between sensitivity and attachment security.

The current article presents results from a twin study of genetic and environmental components of maternal sensitivity and infant attachment and their association. The sample consisted of 136 twin pairs from 2 sites: Leiden, the Netherlands, and London, UK. Maternal sensitivity was assessed in the home at 9-10 months, and infant attachment security was observed in the laboratory at 12 months. The study yielded little evidence that genetic factors are involved in variations between twins in maternal sensitivity ratings but did find that shared variance in maternal sensitivity was able to account for some of the similarity between twins in attachment security. Weak nonshared associations between sensitivity and attachment appeared to suppress the magnitude of the correlation between attachment and sensitivity in twin children. The results could indicate that the attachment security of one twin may depend on the relationship the parent has with the other twin. The results are brought to bear on the validity of attachment theory as a theory of primarily shared environmental effects in children's development and the continuing challenge posed to attachment theory by within-family differences in socioemotional processes.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Social-emotional adaptation and infant-mother attachment in siblings: role of the mother in cross-sibling consistency.

We investigated concordance in social-emotional behavior and attachment of first- and secondborn siblings from 65 families. Both children were seen at 24 months in a problem-solving procedure and at 12 months in the Strange Situation. Maternal behavior at 24 months also was examined. Child behaviors at 24 months showed trends toward concordance across siblings. Maternal behavior was significantly stable across siblings and correlated significantly with child competence. In post-hoc analyses, the sample was split into 2 groups: maternal behavior stable (N = 36) and maternal behavior unstable. In the first group, cross-sibling correlations were significant and larger than for the whole sample; in the second group, cross-sibling correlations were low and nonsignificant. There also was significant concordance across siblings in attachment classification. These data suggest that it is essential to consider the care received by different children in investigating similarities in siblings' behavior.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1991

Are insecure-avoidant infants with extensive day-care experience less stressed by and more independent in the strange situation?

In order to test the hypothesis that elevated ratings of avoidance and classifications of insecure-avoidant attachments of infants with extensive infant day-care histories may be the result of the fact that children with routine experiences of separation are less stressed by, and more independent in, the Strange Situation than more traditionally reared infants, 2 groups of 12-month-old infants with insecure-avoidant attachments were compared on 2 behavioral indices in each reunion-with-mother episode of the Strange Situation. 9 infants experienced less than 20 hours per week of nonparental care in their first year, and 11 infants experienced 20 or more hours of care. Contrary to propositions advanced by Clarke-Stewart, Thompson, and others, insecure-avoidant infants with extensive nonparental care experience whimpered, fussed, and cried more and engaged in object play less in each reunion episode than their insecure-avoidant counterparts with less nonparental care experience. These results are discussed in terms of the recent controversy surrounding infant day-care in the United States.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

The assessment of antenatal emotional attachment: development of a questionnaire instrument.

The nature of the relationship which female and male expectant parents develop during pregnancy with their unborn baby has both theoretical and clinical significance. It potentially provides a framework for improved understanding of many aspects of psychosomatic obstetrics, including reactions to foetal loss. Existing instruments designed to assess this relationship inadequately differentiate between attitude to the foetus per se versus attitude to the pregnancy state or motherhood role. The present paper presents a theoretical model of the subjective experiences of human attachment. This is utilized to develop a questionnaire to assess the antenatal attachment construct. Item analysis results in a 19-item maternal and 16-item paternal questionnaire with high levels of internal consistency. Each takes approximately five minutes to complete. Finally, the factor structures of the resultant questionnaires are explored.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Adult attachment, reassurance seeking and hypochondriacal concerns in college students.

An individual's attachment style can be conceptualized as a working model for interactions with others, developed as result of experiences with childhood caregivers. People with hypochondriacal tendencies are preoccupied with thoughts of having an illness and constantly seek medical reassurance. We hypothesized that students with preoccupied attachment would score highly on a measure of hypochondriasis and investigated whether the association would be explained by the general tendency to seek reassurance in relationships. A total of 117 undergraduate students completed questionnaires measuring attachment style; negative affectivity; reassurance seeking in relationships and hypochondriasis. Participants with preoccupied attachment style (n = 17, 15%) had significantly higher hypochondriasis scores than those with other attachment styles. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested that the association between the preoccupied attachment style and hypochondriasis was explained by the general tendency to seek reassurance in relationships, with negative affectivity, a dispositional variable, also acting as a significant predictor of hypochondriasis.

Adolescent↗