Unresolved states of mind, disorganized attachment relationships, and disrupted interactions of adolescent mothers and their infants.

The links between unresolved maternal attachment status, disrupted maternal interaction in play situations, and disorganized attachment relationships were examined in a study of 82 adolescent mother-infant dyads. Maternal interactive behavior was measured using the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification coding system. Additional rating scales were developed to correspond to the 5 dimensions of disrupted maternal behavior outlined by E. Bronfman, E. Parsons, and K. Lyons-Ruth (1999). A robust association was observed between disrupted maternal behavior and disorganized attachment. Ratings of disrupted maternal behavior revealed that disorganized attachment relationships were strongly related to ratings of fearful/disoriented behavior. Moreover, mothers who were unresolved were more likely than not-unresolved mothers to show disrupted patterns of interaction with their infants. Regression analyses suggested that disrupted behavior statistically mediated the association between unresolved status and disorganized attachment relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disorganization of attachment in relation to maternal alcohol consumption.

The relation between maternal alcohol consumption and infant attachment behavior at 1 year of age was investigated. Alcohol consumption was estimated by self-report questionnaires that were filled out by mothers over 30 years of age regarding the amount of alcohol they had consumed prior to, during, and following pregnancy. The attachment behavior of infants was observed using the Ainsworth "strange-situation" procedure. Infants were classified as secure (Group B); insecure–avoidant (Group A); or insecure–ambivalent/resistant (Group C). Additionally, a new classification of insecure–disorganized/disoriented (Group D), developed by Main and Solomon (1986), was used. The majority of infants of mothers who had consumed more alcohol were insecure in comparison with a minority of insecure infants of mothers who had been abstinent or light drinkers. The classification of infants as insecure–disorganized/disoriented helped to identify a large number of infants who were insecure in the group of heavy-drinking mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment Disorganization: The Reunion of Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis.

The author investigates the psychoanalytic implications of recent attachment research on the disorganized attachment category in infants and the unresolved for trauma and loss adult attachment classification with which it has been associated. The author first reviews empirical findings on attachment disorganization and then explores the ways in which they are consistent with and illuminated by psychoanalytic concepts. The focus is on linkages between disorganized attachment and Freud's theory of strain trauma and traumatic anxiety, Klein's theory of projective identification and the interplay between paranoidschizoid and depressive anxieties in development, and Blatt's theory of psychological development as resulting from the interplay of anaclitic and introjective developmental lines. In so doing, this article contributes to the reunion between attachment theory and psychoanalysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Les conversations mère-enfant et l'attachement des enfants à la période préscolaire.

This study examines whether mother-child conversation patterns are associated with child attachment classifications at preschool age (N=80). Results revealed that a child's discourse style is similar to that of her or his mother. In comparison with mothers of insecure ambivalent or disorganized children, mothers of secure children made more frequent verbal statements that elaborated emotional content. Mothers of avoidant children were more inclined to minimize emotional content than mothers of secure children. In comparison with other mothers, those with a disorganized child were sharing more frightening and hostile content, or made more verbal statements accompanied by aggressive behaviors. Secure children made more frequent verbal statements that elaborated emotional content than avoidant and disorganized children. Disorganized children made more controlling verbal statements as well as statements accompanied by aggressive or flight behaviors. Finally, our results showed that child capacity to elaborate emotional experiences partially mediated the link between maternal capacity to elaborate emotional content and child security of attachment. Our results emphasize the importance of mother-child conversational exchanges for the development of attachment in preschool children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict and the development of infant–parent attachment relationships.

Couples were studied before and after the birth of their 1st child to understand processes by which marital conflict influences child development. Hypotheses were tested concerning direct and indirect processes relating marital conflict to the security of infant–mother and infant–father attachment and disorganized attachment behavior. Findings supported the prediction that chronic marital conflict interferes with sensitive, involved parenting and thereby predicts insecurity in attachment relationships, particularly for fathers. It was also argued that chronic marital conflict presents the infant with experiences of frightened or frightening parents and diminished behavioral options to alleviate accompanying distress. As predicted, disorganized attachment behavior with mother and father was explained by chronic marital conflict and not mediated by parental ego development or sensitive parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment representations in mothers, fathers, adolescents, and clinical groups: A meta-analytic search for normative data.

This meta-analysis on 33 studies, including more than 2,000 Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classifications, presents distributions of AAI classifications in samples of nonclinical fathers and mothers, in adolescents, in samples from different cultures, and in clinical groups. Fathers, adolescents, and participants from different countries show about the same distribution of AAI classifications as nonclinical mothers do. The distribution of nonclinical mothers is as follows: 24% dismissing, 58% autonomous, and 18% preoccupied mothers. About 19% of the nonclinical mothers are unresolved with respect to loss or trauma of other kinds. Mothers from low socioeconomic status show more often dismissing attachment representations and unresolved loss or trauma. Autonomous women and autonomous men are more often married to each other than can be expected by chance, and the same goes for unresolved men and women. Clinical participants show highly deviating distributions of AAI classifications, with a strong overrepresentation of insecure attachment representations, but systematic relations between clinical diagnosis and type of insecurity are absent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' attachment status as determined by the Adult Attachment Interview predicts their 6-year-olds' reunion responses: A study conducted in Japan.

Following a 1986 study reporting a predominance of ambivalent attachment among insecure Sapporo infants, the generalizability of attachment theory and methodologies to Japanese samples has been questioned. In this 2nd study of Sapporo mother-child dyads (N=43), the authors examined attachment distributions for both (a) child, based on M. Main and J. Cassidy's (1988) 6th-year reunion, and (b) adult, via the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In contrast to the previous Sapporo study, children's 3-way or "organized" distribution did not differ from the global distribution. However, when the disorganized-controlling (D) and cannot classify (CC) categories were applied to the analyses, a high proportion of D/CC children was found. Comparable analyses for Japanese mothers, including the unresolved/disorganized (U) and CC categories, were found to deviate slightly from the global norm. However, turning from global distributions to mothers' AAI classification as related to their child's reunion classification, all matches were surprisingly close to those established worldwide. When, as is customary, mothers' U and CC classifications were combined (U/CC) and compared with the child's D and CC classifications (also customarily combined as D/CC), mothers' U/CC status strongly predicted child D/CC status (r=.60, d=1.50). Additionally, mothers' AAI subclassifications predicted child subclassifications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants at social risk: Relations among infant maltreatment, maternal behavior, and infant attachment behavior.

Fifty-six 12-mo-old infants, including 10 maltreated infants, 18 nonmaltreated high-risk infants, and 28 matched low-income controls, were videotaped in naturalistic settings at home with their mothers for 40 min and were observed 2 weeks later in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Maltreating mothers were rated higher than nonmaltreating mothers on covertly hostile and interfering behaviors toward their infants at home. Maltreated infants were more avoidant of their mothers in the Strange Situation than nonmaltreated infants. Correlations between maternal behaviors at home and infant behaviors in the Strange Situation revealed that mothers whose infants displayed resistant behavior on reunion were rated at home as less verbally communicative and mothers whose infants displayed avoidant behavior on reunion were rated at home as more covertly hostile. Infants showing mixed avoidance and resistance were more likely to have extremely uncommunicative mothers than were infants who showed avoidance alone. Use of the behavioral rating scales for avoidance and resistance produced clearer findings than use of the final attachment classifications. Reasons for the discrepancies between analyses of classifications and analyses of behavior ratings were identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of mother-infant and father-infant attachments in the second year of life.

Observed 20 infants at home interacting with their mothers, fathers, and an unfamiliar investigator, when they were 15, 18, 21, and 24 mo of age. The infants showed significant preferences for their fathers over their mothers in the display of attachment and affiliative behaviors. Both parents were preferred to the investigator on attachment behavior measures, though when the relative activity of the adults was taken into account, the infants directed more affiliative behaviors to the investigator than to their parents. Over the year, there were declines in the occurrence of most attachment and affiliative behaviors. Fathers were far more active in interaction with sons than with daughters. At 24 mo, the infants were observed in a laboratory playroom with their parents. In this situation, the infants showed no preference for either parent in the display of attachment and affiliative behaviors. They interacted far more with each parent when alone with her/him than when both parents were present. A stranger's presence had a similar effect on affiliative interaction within each parent–infant dyad, though the stranger effect was differentiated by intensification of the attachment behavior system. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment at Early School Age and Developmental Risk: Examining Family Contexts and Behavior Problems of Controlling-Caregiving, Controlling-Punitive, and Behaviorally Disorganized Children.

Preschool to school-age trajectories of 242 children, including 37 with insecure-disorganized and 66 with insecure-organized attachment patterns, were examined. Child attachment and stressful life events (the latter retrospectively) were measured at ages 5-7, and mother-child interactive quality, parenting stress, marital satisfaction, and teacher-reported behavior problems were evaluated concurrently and 2 years earlier. Results indicated that all three disorganized subgroups had poorer mother-child interactive patterns and more difficult family climates than secure or insecure-organized children. The controlling-punitive group showed significant increases in maternal reports of child-related stress between preschool and school age. The controlling-caregiving group showed greater likelihood of loss of a close family member, and mothers of the insecure-other group reported lower marital satisfaction and greater likelihood of their own or a spouse's hospitalization. Controlling-punitive children had higher externalizing scores, and controlling-caregiving children higher internalizing scores, than secure children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father, mother, and stranger as elicitors of attachment behaviors in infancy.

Compared fathers with mothers and strangers as elicitors of attachment behaviors in 10 male and 10 female infants from each of 3 age groups (10, 13, and 16 mo). Differential proximity-seeking behavior, distress vocalization, and stranger eye contact from a "secure base" were used to index attachment. Fathers were superior to strangers as elicitors of attachment behaviors but 2nd to mothers at all age levels. When both parents were present, Ss approached mothers twice as often as fathers. Tested with each parent separately, they traveled to the mother in a shorter time than they traveled the same distance to the father and spent more time near the mother. The amount of eye contact with strangers was greater when Ss were near mothers as compared to fathers. Distress vocalization during separation from the parents was one of the few measures which did not discriminate between mothers and fathers. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coparenting, mother-infant interaction, and infant-parent attachment relationships in two-parent families.

Coparenting behavior and the quality of mothers' parenting behavior were examined in relation to parents' perceptions of their child's attachment in 60 two-parent families with 11- to 15-month-old infants (30 boys and 30 girls). Parent-child attachment was assessed using the Attachment Q-Sort. Competitive coparenting was associated with mothers' and fathers' perception of a less secure parent-child attachment relationship, whereas maternal responsiveness was associated with mothers' perception of a more secure mother-child attachment relationship. Families with mothers who were more restrictive and those with parents who were more competitive were less likely to have mothers and fathers with similar perceptions of the quality of parent-child attachment relationships. Findings support the proposal that different levels of family functioning affect the quality of parent-child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

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

Interaction and attachment in normal and atypical infants.

This summary of the special series critically evaluates what we know about the relations between early interaction, the "strange situation," and later social behavior in normal and atypical infants including premature infants, abused or neglected infants, and the infants of depressed mothers. Equivocal relations between early interaction behaviors and later attachment classifications are attributed to the limitations of the strange-situation paradigm, a paradigm that has rapidly become the accepted standard for assessing attachment. A more complex paradigm that would tap behavior in more ecologically meaningful situations, both stressful and nonstressful, may provide more insight into the functional significance of attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of stress and cohort on mother- and father-infant interaction.

20 18-mo-olds were observed interacting with their mothers and fathers in a structured laboratory setting. In an initial free-play session, infants directed more affiliative behaviors to their fathers than to their mothers. When observed alone with each parent there was more parent-child interaction than when both parents were present, though the same relative preferences emerged; however, the entry of a stranger caused infants to seek proximity to their mothers preferentially. The wariness occasioned by the stranger caused a shift in the infants' behavior from affiliation to attachment. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Security of attachment, compliance, and maternal training methods in the second year of life.

36 children and their mothers were first observed when the child was 12 mo old, using the M. D. Ainsworth et al (1978) Strange Situation; based on their behavior in this setting, 22 infants were judged to be secure in attachment to their mothers. At age 21 mo, children (and mothers) were observed again, using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, an interview, and a laboratory play session. Children's measures were (a) proportions of maternal commands obeyed and actively disobeyed, (b) internalized controls, (c) cooperation with an adult woman playmate and the Bayley examiner, and (d) mother's report on home behavior. Secure infants were significantly more compliant and cooperative than the others on every 21-mo measure. Mothers of secure infants exhibited more gentle physical interventions and used warmer tones in giving commands than did mothers of nonsecure infants. Children's compliance and cooperation with the mother and with other persons were positively related to the mother's warmer tones and gentler physical interventions. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instability of infant–parent attachment security.

Data from 2 separate projects were examined to address the stability of infant–parent attachment security. Both included infant–mother attachment classifications at 12 and 18 mo of age (n?=?125, n?=?90), and 1 included infant–father classifications at 13 and 20 mo (n?=?120). Significant stability was not discerned in attachment security, either at the level of ABC or secure–insecure classifications. Rates of stability ranged from 46–55%. Results are discussed in terms of the select nature of the samples studied (all sons in 1, some depressed mothers in the other), the fact that past estimates of stability are based on small samples, the potential influence that coding for disorganized behavior may have on how Strange Situations are classified, and the changing ecology of infancy over the past 10–15 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of Attachment at Age 3: Construct Validity of the Preschool Attachment Classification System.

This study examined correlates of attachment at age 3 to further validate preschool separation-reunion measures. Three-year-olds (N = 150) and their mothers participated in a separation-reunion protocol, the Preschool Attachment Classification System (PACS: J. Cassidy & R. S. Marvin with the MacArthur Working Group on Attachment, 1992), and a mother-child interaction session during a laboratory visit. Mothers also completed psychosocial measures and, along with teachers, evaluated child behavior problems. The secure and disorganized groups received, respectively, the highest and lowest interaction scores. Disorganized children showed a higher level of teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing problems than did secure children. Mothers of insecure children reported higher child externalizing (all insecure groups) and internalizing (avoidant group) scores, more personal distress related to emotional bonding (disorganized group), childrearing control (ambivalent group), and child hyperactivity (avoidant group). Results strongly support the validity of the PACS as a measure of attachment in 3-year-olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal attachment representations, maternal sensitivity, and the infant–mother attachment relationship.

The role of maternal sensitivity as a mediator accounting for the robust association between maternal attachment representations and the quality of the infant-mother attachment relationship was examined. Sixty mother-infant dyads were observed at home and in the Strange Situation at 13 months, and mothers participated in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) within the next 6 months. A strong association was found between AAI and Strange Situation classifications. and autonomous mothers were more sensitive at home than were nonautonomous mothers. Mothers in secure relationships were more sensitive at home than mothers in nonsecure relationships. Likewise, infants in secure relationships were more secure as assessed by the Waters' Attachment Q sort than infants in nonsecure relationships. A test of the mediational model revealed that maternal sensitivity accounted for 17% of the relation between AAI and Strange Situation classifications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachement et problèmes de comportements intériorisés et extériori?s auto-rapportés à la période scolaire.

The association between attachment and self-reported externalizing and internalizing behavior problems was examined for a diverse SES French-Canadian sample of 108 children. Attachment classifications were assigned on the basis of reunion behavior with mother when the children were approximately 6 years old. Child problem behavior was assessed two and a half years later using the Dominic test. Results indicated that boys with disorganized attachment and children with ambivalent attachment reported a higher level of externalizing problems then did secure children. Moreover, disorganized children also reported a higher level of internalizing problems than secure children. Child assessments using the Dominic in conjunction with a measure of separation-reunion behavior at age 5 to 7 can play an important role in the identification of school-aged children at risk for aggressive or anxious-depressive adaptive problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)