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PubMed2006

Maternal attachment script representations: longitudinal stability and associations with stylistic features of maternal narratives.

To evaluate the temporal stability of maternal attachment representations obtained using a word-prompt task, a sample of mothers (N = 55) was assessed on two occasions, 12 - 15 months apart. Each mother responded to six word-prompt sets on each assessment occasion (4 word-prompt sets were designed to prime secure base themes, 2 word-prompt sets were designed to prime different themes), and the resulting stories were scored in terms of the presence and quality of the secure base scripts evident in each story. The story scriptedness scores (average across four stories) were internally consistent at each assessment (alphas >.85) and the mean difference in scores was not significant across assessments. The cross-time correlation for the composites (aggregates of scores at each age) was positive and significant, r53 = .54. Other aspects of maternal stories were also stable (e.g., number of words used, number of sentences per story, use of words from the prompt list). Controlling for stable stylistic features of the stories did not reduce the magnitude of association for scriptedness scores across time. These results suggest that the presence and quality of secure base scripts is a stable aspect of maternal representations of attachment and that the word-prompt task is useful for prompting the script in narrative production.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Attachment bonds between adult daughters and their older mothers: associations with contemporary caregiving.

This study examined associations between attachment bonds and the care that daughters were providing to their community-dwelling mothers. Adult daughters (40 African American, 40 European American) completed assessments of adult attachment, instrumental and emotional caregiving, and caregiver burden. The author performed hierarchical linear regressions to examine the relationships between attachment dimensions (Security and Anxiety) and the provision of instrumental and emotional care. Both attachment dimensions were unrelated to the provision of instrumental care. In contrast, high scores on the Security dimension and low scores on the Anxiety dimension were associated with the provision of more emotional care to mothers. A final analysis revealed that high scores on the Security dimension were associated with less caregiver burden. These results suggest that practical care that daughters provide to their mothers may be independent of attachment patterns within the child-parent relationship, whereas affective, discretionary care may be promoted or hindered by attachment patterns. Moreover, the stress of caregiving may be mediated by a more secure attachment bond. The potential impact of adult attachment patterns has implications for both family intervention and public policy, given that more families are expected to participate in caregiving in coming decades.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2001

Interpersonal variability in dependent personality.

The interpersonal circumplex (IPC) was recommended as a personality trait dimensional model with good potential to identify the phenomenological scope of personality disorders whose core dysfunction involves maladaptive expression of interpersonal traits. The IPC was then applied to the reconceptualization of dependent personality and dependent personality disorder. In Study 1, Pincus and Gurtman's (1995) three interpersonal vectors of dependency were validated via factor analyses conducted on two large samples (N = 921; N = 472) and a reliable self-report measure, the 3 Vector Dependency Inventory (3VDI) was constructed. In Study 2, two samples (N = 103; N = 122) of individuals identified as predominantly endorsing submissive dependence, exploitable dependence, or love dependence, or who were low in aspects of dependency were compared via ANOVA and chi-square analyses on parental representations, adult attachment styles, loneliness, and pathological attachment. Submissive dependence was associated with higher scores on maladaptive constructs (fearful attachment, pathological attachment, and loneliness) and was also associated with lower parental affiliation and higher maternal control. Love dependence was associated with lower scores on maladaptive constructs and higher scores on secure attachment and parental affiliation. Variability in dependent phenomenology was related to its three component traits. Multiple perspectives on integrating love dependence, exploitable dependence, and submissive dependence into a reconceptualization of dependent personality disorder were articulated.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

An interpersonal analysis of adult attachment style: circumplex descriptions, recoiled developmental experiences, self-representations, and interpersonal functioning in adulthood.

Previous research suggests that the structure of adult attachment is dimensional, but the specific dimensions remain unclear. Given its relational nature, studies should examine attachment structure in association with conceptually related interpersonal constructs. The interpersonal model (Kiesler, 1996) provides an integrative framework to examine this structure and associations between dimensions of attachment security (i.e., Anxiety and Avoidance) and: 1) the dimensions of the interpersonal circumplex, 2) the five-factor model of personality, 3) recollections of mothers and fathers, and 4) current self-processes and adult social functioning. In two samples of undergraduates, the Anxiety and Avoidance dimensions were associated with a hostile-submissive interpersonal style. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that dimensions representing combinations of Anxiety and Avoidance, and roughly corresponding to the dimensions from Secure (i.e., low Anxiety and Avoidance) to Fearful (i.e., high Anxiety and Avoidance) attachment and from Preoccupied (i.e., high Anxiety and low Avoidance) to Dismissive (i.e., low Anxiety and high Avoidance) attachment related to the interpersonal constructs. The Secure to Fearful dimension (i.e., overall attachment security) seemed to share relatively more variance with the interpersonal constructs. These dimensions were associated with theoretically consistent characteristics, recollections of early experiences with parents, self-representations, and social functioning.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mother-child discourse, attachment security, shared positive affect, and early conscience development.

The separate literatures on parental discipline, maternal discourse about emotion, and autobiographical memory support the idea that parent-child discourse in the context of a supportive relationship plays a role in a child's early conscience development, and this study was designed to examine this issue. Forty-two preschool children and their mothers took part in a 45-min structured laboratory session, and at their homes, mothers completed the Attachment Q-Set. As part of the laboratory session, each mother was asked to discuss with her child one incident that occurred within the last week in which her child behaved well and one in which her child misbehaved. These conversations were transcribed verbatim and coded for maternal references to feelings, rules, consequences of the child's actions, and moral evaluatives. Each child also took part in a behavioral measure of internalization and several compliance tasks, and mothers completed a maternal report of the child's early conscience development. Consistent with attachment theory, attachment security predicted maternal and child references to feelings and moral evaluatives. Attachment security, shared positive affect between the mother and child, and maternal references to feelings and moral evaluatives also predicted specific aspects of early conscience development.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

The long-term consequences of infant day-care and mother-infant attachment.

The aim of this study was to explore the within-group effects of mother-infant attachment and day-care on children's social and emotional adaptation at 42 months and in the early school years. For this high-risk sample, the effects of day-care depended on the quality of mother-infant attachment. Day-care appeared to have a negative effect for secure children but had a positive influence for insecure children. For the secure group, children in day-care were more negative and avoidant at 42 months, and they were more externalizing and aggressive in kindergarten compared to the home-reared group. In contrast, day-care children who were insecurely attached were less withdrawn and more agentic. Overall, day-care children were rated higher on externalizing behavior in kindergarten than home-reared children, but no differences were found in the later school years. The sequelae of attachment indicated that security of attachment during infancy differentially predicted later adaptation for day-care and home-reared children. Attachment was related to later adaptation for home-reared children but did not predict later adaptation for day-care children.

Aggression↗

PubMedDate not supplied

African American late adolescents' relationships with parents: developmental transitions and longitudinal patterns.

Five-year longitudinal patterns and the influence of developmental transitions on 76 middle-class African American late adolescents' (M=18.43 years) relationships with parents were examined. Late adolescents were closer to mothers than to fathers. Controlling for age, late adolescent females who had left home reported less negative relationships with mothers than did adolescents living at home or in transition to leaving home, and late adolescent females living at home reported more intense conflicts with parents 3 years earlier than did boys living at home and girls living away. Earlier attachment led to more attached and supportive relationships with both parents and less negative interactions with mothers in late adolescence. Stable father presence also influenced more positive relationships with fathers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: infant attachment to the mother at one year of age.

Attachment to the mother at 1 year of age was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. Attachment was measured in the home in a standardized manner by a modified version of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure. Three different patterns, representing "secure attachment" (Type B), "anxiously avoidant attachment" (Type A) and "anxiously ambivalent attachment" (Type C), were defined. While no significant difference on attachment type was found between the total index versus control group, a significantly increased rate of anxious attachment (A + C) was found for offspring of schizophrenics but no other diagnostic group. Attachment type was unrelated to index mothers' psychiatric hospitalization, psychotic status and known mental disturbance during the infants' first year of life, as well as to the infants' sex.

Female↗

PubMed1988

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: antecedents of anxious attachment to the mother at one year of age.

Mother-infant interaction characteristics at six ages during the first year of life were studied in relationship to the development of the infant's anxious vs. secure attachment to the mother at 1 year of age. The same antecedent maternal characteristics, notably less harmony during feeding and less consideration for the child's needs in play, were associated with anxious attachment in both index and control groups. In contrast, control infants' behaviors were totally unrelated to the development of anxious attachment, while index infants developing anxious attachment evidenced reduced social contact toward the mother and increased crying prior to 1 year, suggesting either vulnerability to negative maternal influence or initial deviations in these index offspring.

Crying↗

PubMed2001

Murder misdiagnosed as SIDS: a perpetrator's perspective.

AIMS: Child murder misdiagnosed as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a difficult area to study. We present a perpetrator's descriptions to enrich clinicians' knowledge of possible presenting features of this phenomenon. METHODS: Interview material was collected as part of a qualitative study of maternal filicide performed from a naturalistic paradigm in order to access the perpetrators' view of events. The woman participant has been convicted for three child murders and two attempted murders which were initially misdiagnosed as SIDS. Interviews were done in the participant's home with her partner present, while she was on leave from prison. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed, and analysed for themes. Specific ethical permission was gained to present this case in isolation and the paper was written in consultation with the woman described. RESULTS: She described initial intense attachment to her first victim and described killing her because she was unable to bear her apnoea attacks and her fear of losing her. She described difficulty grieving for this child and subsequent failure to attach to her next child or feel for the other victims. CONCLUSIONS: Expressions of intense attachment to an infant and description of intense grief over a death in a way which engages compassion should not deter a paediatrician from considering the possibility of the parent having killed the child.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Oscillations of attachment in borderline personality disorder.

The authors propose that oscillations of attachment in borderline personality disorder stem from a central problem with regulation of interpersonal distance. This problem derives from borderline patients' conflicts between fears of abandonment and domination. When they move closer to others, they fear that they will be dominated; when they move away, they fear that they will be abandoned. Whichever direction they move, they experience negative feedback. This gives rise to recurrent oscillations between attachment to and detachment from others. Because the oscillations are reinforced by the ambivalent reactions of significant others and the involvement of third parties, family therapy is often indicated.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗

PubMed2004

The correspondence between attachment to parents and God: three experiments using subliminal separation cues.

Attachment theoretical studies have increased our understanding of the socioemotional foundations for religious development. However, because these studies have been correlational and based on self-reports, they are vulnerable to concerns of self-presentation bias and lack of basis for causal inference. Three subliminal stimulation experiments were therefore performed, where activation of the attachment system was attempted by way of unconsciously administered separation stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 3 (N = 29 and 89), the separation stimulus alluded to God, and in Experiment 2 (N = 47), it alluded to mother. Responses were moderated by perceived attachment history with parents in all experiments. Participants with secure histories increased in religious attachment behaviors, whereas those with insecure histories decreased following attachment system activation compared with control stimulation. There also were suggestions of experimental group increase in proximity seeking in relation to God. The main conclusion supports correspondence between internal working models of parents and God.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Can foster carers help children resolve their emotional and behavioural difficulties?

Although foster care is generally seen as providing a positive experience for the children and young people for whom it caters, it is rarely conceived of as a place where the children are helped to address their emotional difficulties and modify their often difficult behaviour. Yet research evidence suggests that some foster carers are consistently less likely to have placements which break down, and that foster carers who show particular skills in parenting can make a difference to successful outcomes. The article draws on a large longitudinal study of foster care to argue that it is possible to learn from what these foster carers do in order to develop these skills in others. A model of successful foster care. developed from the main statistical part of the study is first described. Two cases from the qualitative, case-studies component of the research are then analysed to demonstrate a quality of responsive parenting. The model is further developed within the framework of the dynamic of attachment and interest sharing proposed by Heard and Lake (1997), to show how this can be used as a basis for future approaches to working with foster placements.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1989

Maternal self-efficacy and infant attachment: integrating physiology, perceptions, and behavior.

48 mothers of 5-month-old infants were asked to estimate their control over the termination of an infant cry in a laboratory-simulated child-care task. Mothers who greatly overestimated their control differed from low or moderate "illusion-of-control" mothers by exhibiting a depression-prone attributional style, a depressed mood state, perceiving the father as participating less in child care, and responding to impending infant cries with heart-rate acceleration characteristic of aversive conditioning. At age 16 months, 40 of the mother-infant pairs participated in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Insecure infant attachment at 16 months was associated with maternal perception of overcontrol, depressed mood state, and aversive conditioning to the impending cry in the laboratory task at the 5-month period.

Arousal↗

PubMed2004

Rethinking parenting interventions for drug-dependent mothers: from behavior management to fostering emotional bonds.

Mothers who are physically and/or psychologically dependent upon alcohol and illicit drugs are at risk for a wide range of parenting deficits beginning when their children are infants and continuing as their children move through school-age and adolescent years. Behavioral parent training programs for drug-dependent mothers have had limited success in improving parent-child relationships or children's psychological adjustment. One reason behavioral parenting programs may have had limited success is the lack of attention to the emotional quality of the parent-child relationship. Research on attachment suggests that the emotional quality of mother-child relationships is an important predictor of children's psychological development through school-age and adolescent years. In this paper, we present a rationale and approach for developing attachment-based parenting interventions for drug-dependent mothers and report preliminary data on the feasibility of offering an attachment-based parenting intervention in an outpatient drug treatment program for women.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Fathering and early onset conduct problems: positive and negative parenting, father-son attachment, and the marital context.

Research literature linking negative and positive aspects of the father-child relationship with early onset conduct problems is reviewed. Evidence from the Preschool Families Project, a longitudinal study of clinic-referred preschool boys at risk for conduct disorder, is presented, including previously unpublished data on father-child attachment. Both negative (e.g., harsh, angry, and physically punitive) and positive (involvement, warmth, and secure attachment) dimensions of fathering, as well as aspects of the marital relationship, appear to be associated with the emergence of early onset conduct problems.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Incarcerated adolescents' distress and suicidality in relation to parental bonding styles.

This study examines the relationships between the bonding style of an incarcerated adolescent with parents and his/her current feelings of self-esteem, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts and attempts. It also investigates differences between bonding to mother and bonding to father. Some 296 incarcerated adolescents were interviewed using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Significant relationships were found between youths' self-esteem, hoplessness, and suicidal behavior and their bonding style. Youths whose parent(s) had a parental bonding style of affectionless control reported the greatest distress, and youths whose parent(s) had an optimal bonding style reported the least distress. Differences were found between bonding styles with the mother and with the father. Attachment theory may be useful in targeting incarcerated youths who have affectionless control bonding with parent(s) for special interventions since these youths are most at risk for psychosocial problems.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Interpersonal problems, attachment styles, and outcome in brief dynamic psychotherapy.

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) has been used to identify dysfunctional patterns in interpersonal interactions. Interpersonal problems can be organized in two dimensions, and the two-dimensional space can be divided into eight equal sectors (octants). Subscales of the IIP describe each of these octants. The instrument has been used to identify (a) interpersonal problems that are discussed most often in a brief dynamic psychotherapy and (b) problems that are treated most easily. The results show that problems in the "exploitable" octant improve most frequently, whereas problems in the "dominating," "vindictive," and "cold" octants do not improve as readily. Attachment styles in adulthood were examined (following a model proposed by Bowlby), and different attachment styles were found to correspond to different types of interpersonal problems. Finally, these variables were related to the ability to describe other people clearly. The article also discusses implications for brief dynamic psychotherapy.

Adult↗