The Importance of Shared Environment in Infant-Father Attachment: A Behavioral Genetic Study of the Attachment Q-Sort.

In this first behavior genetic study on infant-father attachment, we estimated genetic and environmental influences on infant-father attachment behaviors and on temperamental dependency, both assessed with the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS; B. E.Vaughn & E. Waters, 1990; E. Waters, 1995). Mothers of mono- and dizygotic twins (N = 56 pairs) sorted the AQS with a focus on the infant's behaviors in the presence of the father. Genetic modeling showed that attachment was largely explained by shared environmental (59%) and unique environmental (41%) factors. For dependency, genetic factors explained 66% of the variance, and unique environmental factors including measurement error explained 34%. Attachment to father appears to be, to a significant degree, a function of the environment that twins share. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Less is more: Meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood.

Is early preventive intervention effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security, and if so, what type of intervention is most successful? Seventy studies were traced, producing 88 intervention effects on sensitivity (n=7,636) and/or attachment (n=1,503). Randomized interventions appeared rather effective in changing insensitive parenting (d=0.33) and infant attachment insecurity (d=0.20). The most effective interventions used a moderate number of sessions and a clear-cut behavioral focus in families with, as well as without, multiple problems. Interventions that were more effective in enhancing parental sensitivity were also more effective in enhancing attachment security, which supports the notion of a causal role of sensitivity in shaping attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychometric study of the Adult Attachment Interview: Reliability and discriminant validity.

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) stimulates Ss to retrieve and evaluate attachment-related autobiographical memories and has increasingly been used to predict the quality of parent–child interactions and infant–parent attachment relationships. Its reliability and discriminate validity, however, have not yet been examined. In this study, 83 mothers were interviewed twice, 2 mo apart, by different interviewers so that the instrument's test–retest reliability and potential interviewer effects can be evaluated. To examine the AAI's discriminate validity, tests were administered for autobiographical memory, intelligence, and social desirability. The reliability of the AAI classifications was quite high over time (78% on the level of the 3 main categories κ?=?.63) and across interviewers. The unresolved category was less stable. The AAI classifications turned out to be independent on non-attachement-related memory, verbal and performance intelligence, and social desirability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting and toddler aggression in second-generation immigrant families: The moderating role of child temperament.

We investigated the influence of parenting practices in the prediction of child physical aggression in 94 second-generation Turkish immigrant families with 2-year-old toddlers, and the moderating role of child temperament. In a longitudinal study we tested both a dual-risk model and a differential susceptibility model. Observational data were obtained for mothers’ positive parenting and authoritarian discipline, and maternal reports for child temperament and physical aggression. All measures were repeated 1 year later. Child temperament at age 2 years was a significant predictor of child aggression 1 year later. We found no main effects of positive parenting or of authoritarian discipline for the prediction of child aggression. However, we found support for the dual-risk hypothesis: Toddlers with difficult temperaments were more adversely affected by a lack of positive parenting than other children, but they did not benefit more from high levels of positive parenting than toddlers with more easy temperaments. We found no interaction effects with child temperament for authoritarian discipline. These findings provide support for the generalizability of the dual-risk model of parenting and temperament to non-Western immigrant families with young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment-based intervention for enhancing sensitive discipline in mothers of 1- to 3-year-old children at risk for externalizing behavior problems: A randomized controlled trial.

The home-based intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) was tested in a randomized controlled trial with 237 families screened for their 1- to 3-year-old children's relatively high scores on externalizing behavior. VIPP-SD, based on attachment theory and coercion theory, focuses on mirroring and discussing actual parent-child interactions in six 1.5-hr sessions with individual families at home. VIPP-SD proved to be effective in enhancing maternal attitudes toward sensitivity and sensitive discipline and in promoting sensitive discipline interactions in the intervention group as compared with the control group. Moreover, in families with more marital discord and in families with more daily hassles, the intervention resulted in a decrease of overactive problem behaviors in the children. The authors conclude that VIPP-SD should become an important module in attachment-based interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential susceptibility to discipline: The moderating effect of child temperament on the association between maternal discipline and early childhood externalizing problems.

This study investigated the interaction of child temperament and maternal discipline in the prediction of externalizing problems in early childhood. Interaction effects were evaluated in a sample of 227 one- to three-year-old children with relatively high externalizing problems scores on the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5. Child temperament was reported by the mothers, maternal discipline was observed in a laboratory session, and child outcome measures included both mother-reported externalizing problems and observed physical aggression. Results indicate that children with difficult temperaments are more susceptible to negative discipline (i.e., they showed more externalizing problems) as well as more susceptible to positive discipline (i.e., they showed fewer externalizing problems and less physical aggression), as compared with children with relatively easy temperaments. These findings provide empirical evidence for the differential susceptibility hypothesis and suggest directions for enhancing the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing early childhood externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental evidence for differential susceptibility: Dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism (DRD4 VNTR) moderates intervention effects on toddlers' externalizing behavior in a randomized controlled trial.

In a randomized controlled trial we tested the role of genetic differences in explaining variability in intervention effects on child externalizing behavior. One hundred fifty-seven families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for their relatively high levels of externalizing behavior participated in a study implementing Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), with six 1.5-hr intervention sessions focusing on maternal sensitivity and discipline. A moderating role of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) exon III polymorphism was found: VIPP-SD proved to be effective in decreasing externalizing behavior in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele, a polymorphism that is associated with motivational and reward mechanisms and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. VIPP-SD effects were largest in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele whose parents showed the largest increase in the use of positive discipline. The findings of this first experimental test of (measured) gene by (observed) environment interaction in human development indicate that children may be differentially susceptible to intervention effects depending on genetic differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study.

This meta-analysis of 172 studies (N = 2,263 anxious,N = 1,768 nonanxious) examined the boundary conditions of threat-related attentional biases in anxiety. Overall, the results show that the bias is reliably demonstrated with different experimental paradigms and under a variety of experimental conditions, but that it is only an effect size of d = 0.45. Although processes requiring conscious perception of threat contribute to the bias, a significant bias is also observed with stimuli outside awareness. The bias is of comparable magnitude across different types of anxious populations (individuals with different clinical disorders, high-anxious nonclinical individuals, anxious children and adults) and is not observed in nonanxious individuals. Empirical and clinical implications as well as future directions for research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social development from infancy to adolescence: Longitudinal and concurrent factors in an adoption sample.

In the present longitudinal study, early adopted children (N = 160) were followed from infancy to adolescence to assess the influence of previous and concurrent factors on the children's social development. This study allowed for more conclusive evidence of the influence of early and concurrent rearing experiences and temperament on adolescents' social development, independent of shared genetic factors between children and parents. Results showed that social development and temperament were stable over time and that both previous and current parental sensitivity were important in predicting social development in adolescence. Quality of the early parent-child relationship was indirectly associated with social development in adolescence through the influence on social development in middle childhood. Maternal sensitivity in middle childhood and in adolescence partly buffered the negative effects of difficult temperament on social development in adolescence. Adaptation emerged as the product of both developmental history and current circumstances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)