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Attachment Experiences (attachment + experience)
Selected AbstractsAttachment style, affective loss and gray matter volume: A voxel-based morphometry studyHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 10 2010Stefania Benetti Abstract Early patterns of infant attachment have been shown to be an important influence on adult social behavior. Animal studies suggest that patterns of early attachment influence brain development, contributing to permanent alterations in neural structure; however, there are no previous studies investigating whether differences in attachment style are associated with differences in brain structure in humans. In this study, we used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine for the first time the association between attachment style, affective loss (for example, death of a loved one) and gray matter volume in a healthy sample of adults (n = 32). Attachment style was assessed on two dimensions (anxious and avoidant) using the ECR-Revised questionnaire. High attachment-related anxiety was associated with decreased gray matter in the anterior temporal pole and increased gray matter in the left lateral orbital gyrus. A greater number of affective losses was associated with increased gray matter volume in the cerebellum; in this region, however, the impact of affective losses was significantly moderated by the level of attachment-related avoidance. These findings indicate that differences in attachment style are associated with differences in the neural structure of regions implicated in emotion regulation. It is hypothesized that early attachment experience may contribute to structural brain differences associated with attachment style in adulthood; furthermore, these findings point to a neuronal mechanism through which attachment style may mediate individual differences in responses to affective loss. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The influence of attachment representation on parental perception and interpretation of infant emotions: A multilevel approachDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Gottfried Spangler Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate parental perception and interpretation of infant emotional expression depending on their attachment representation. Forty-six parents' responses to infant pictures depicting positive, neutral, and negative emotions were assessed on the level of affective judgments (valence, arousal), mimic responses (facial muscle activity), and of the eyelid reflex (using the startle paradigm). Results revealed small differences between parents of different attachment representations with respect to their subjective evaluations. However, secure parents, as compared to insecure ones, showed a positive bias in their mimic responses to infant pictures. The modulation of the startle response indicated a negative evaluation of negative infant emotion expressions in dismissing parents, while an augmentation of the startle response to negative infant emotions could not be observed in secure and preoccupied parents. The findings highlight the role of attachment experiences for emotional information processing in parents and its consequences for parental behavior. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 52: 411,423, 2010. [source] Predictors of representational aggression in preschool children of low-income urban African American adolescent mothers,INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010Geoff Goodman Responses to five doll-story stems thematically related to attachment experiences with the mother were videotaped in the home and used to evaluate child, maternal, and environmental predictors of representational aggression in 93 preschool children of African American women receiving public assistance who had become pregnant as teenagers. Significant correlations were found between representational aggression and child's gender (male), birth weight, maternal depressive affect, maternal educational attainment, recent employment, mother's historical residence with her own mother, and felt social support, accounting for 40% of the variance in representational aggression. A significant Felt Social Support × Gender interaction effect suggested that girls of mothers who perceive higher levels of felt social support are more likely to represent less aggression in their stories; felt social support was not associated with boys' representational aggression. A significant Felt Social Support × Employment interaction effect suggested that representational aggression is associated with lower levels of felt social support only among employed mothers. Findings suggest that different pathways exist for representational aggression in children of low-income adolescent mothers, which nevertheless share predictors associated with poverty. [source] Coping Trajectories from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Links to Attachment State of MindJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 4 2005Inge Seiffge-Krenke The objective of this study was to examine the links between coping and attachment. In a longitudinal study of 112 participants, coping behavior was assessed at five points in time during adolescence (starting at the age of 14 years) and early adulthood. In addition, at the age of 21 years, state of mind regarding current and earlier attachment experiences was assessed by employing the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In both adolescence and early adulthood, differences in coping styles were found to be related to differences in attachment. Individuals classified as secure dealt with their problems more actively by using their social network during adolescence and at the age of 21 years. Both secure and dismissing individuals used more internal coping than those with a preoccupied state of mind. Latent growth curve modeling revealed that differences in active and internal coping between secure and insecure individuals applied to the rate of change in these coping styles between 14 and 21 years, with participants in the secure group showing much steeper growth in both coping styles. Only minor differences were found with respect to withdrawal as a coping style. The results represent first evidence that coping trajectories during adolescence and young adulthood are linked with attachment state of mind. [source] Attachment models of the self and others: Relations with self-esteem, humanity-esteem, and parental treatmentPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 3 2004Michelle A. Luke The present research tested the extent to which perceptions of early childhood experiences with parents predicted general views of the self (i.e., self-esteem) and others (i.e., humanity-esteem), and whether attachment self- and other-models mediated these links. Two studies used a new measure of humanity-esteem (Luke & Maio, 2004) to achieve these ends. As expected, indices that tapped a positive model of the self in relationships were associated with high self-esteem and indices that tapped a positive model of others in relationships were associated with high humanity-esteem. Also, early attachment experiences with fathers and mothers predicted self-esteem and humanity-esteem, respectively, and these direct relations were mediated by the attachment models. The studies, therefore, provide direct evidence that attachment measures predict general favorability toward the self and others, while revealing novel differences in the roles of childhood experiences with fathers and mothers. No variables, it is held, have more far-reaching effects on personality development than a child's experiences within the family: for, starting during his first months in his relation with his mother figure, and extending through the years of childhood and adolescence in his relation to both parents, he builds up working models of how attachment figures are likely to behave towards him in any of a variety of situations; and on those models are based all his expectations, and therefore all his plans, for the rest of his life. Bowlby (1973; p. 369) [source] Disorganized Reasoning in Holocaust SurvivorsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2002Abraham Sagi PhD In 2 related studies of nonclinical Israeli samples, the long-term sequelae of traumatic Holocaust experiences were investigated from an attachment perspective. In each study. Holocaust survivors were compared with participants who had not experienced the Holocaust, and their attachment style and state of mind with regard to past and present attachment experiences as well as their state of mind regarding unresolved loss were assessed. In both studies, the Holocaust groups were found to be significantly more inclined to show disoriented thought processes around trauma than were the groups without Holocaust background. From an attachment perspective, the authors showed that even after 50 years, traumatic traces of Holocaust experiences are present in the survivors. [source] The capacity to be an analyst: A contribution from attachment research to the study of candidate selectionTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 6 2003Janice Halpern In this paper the author discusses how the study of candidate selection, once a topic of vibrant research, has unfortunately languished. Certain qualities were thought to characterize the successful candidate. However, they were never successfully operationalized nor empirically tested. Possibly because of this lack of empirical data, selectors today have difficulty articulating their criteria and are relying on intuition. In order to provide a more rational basis for contemporary selection, the author looks to the attachment literature. This makes sense because attachment theory shares some basic assumptions of contemporary psychoanalysis. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a research tool that predicts the ability of a parent to convey attachment security. It is scored by attending to how a person speaks about his early attachment experiences. The AAI appears to tap into similar qualities to those selection researchers have sought in their candidates. Further, the scoring method of the AAI appears to be similar to the last attempt by selection researchers to operationalize them. Given these similarities, the author recommends an empirical study using the AAI to operationalize these qualities in analytic candidates. The study would test their importance for success in the training program, thus offering selectors some empirical grounding for their choices. [source] Attachment theory in adolescence and its relevance to developmental psychopathologyCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 1 2001Lucy Scott Brown The relationship between the quality of early attachment and later psychological adaptation is frequently emphasized. To date, the significance of attachment during infancy and adulthood has been a central focus in the literature, with remarkably little attention being given to adolescence. The aim of this selective review is to introduce and critically consider the key concepts of attachment theory, and to then discuss the relevance of attachment to the period of adolescence. More specifically, an emphasis will be placed upon the importance of early attachment experiences in the development of adolescent psychopathology. Theoretical explanations for this relationship are considered alongside implications for clinical practice and research. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||