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Attachment Figures (attachment + figure)
Selected AbstractsPhysiological effects of separation and reunion in relation to attachment and temperament in young childrenDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Mirjam Oosterman Abstract This study examined physiological effects of separation and reunion in a sample 3- to 6-year-old children. Using continuous ambulatory recording, changes in heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and pre-ejection period (PEP) were compared across the episodes of a separation,reunion procedure based on the strange situation. RSA decreased significantly over the course of the procedure as well as on separation from the parent and not the stranger, supporting that separation from the attachment figure elicited vagal withdrawal in young children. The absence of significant PEP effects suggest that the separation,reunion procedure, and more specifically separation from the parent, was not threatening enough to activate the sympathetic nervous system, even if children were insecure attached and inhibited with regard to strangers. Some of the variability in HR increases to reunion was explained by younger age. The findings highlight the role of the ANS as a regulatory process in the parent,child relationship. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 119,128, 2007. [source] Attachment behaviour towards support staff in young people with intellectual disabilities: associations with challenging behaviourJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 7 2010J. C. De Schipper Abstract Background Attachment research has shown the importance of attachment behaviour for the prevention of dysregulated behaviour due to emotional distress. The support of an attachment figure may be especially important for people with intellectual disability (ID), because they are less adept in dealing with stressful situations on their own. Our purpose was to examine the role of support staff as targets of attachment behaviour for young people with ID by testing the hypothesis that young people who more often engage in attachment interactions with group care staff are less at risk for challenging behaviours. The study design included professional caregivers' report of young persons' attachment behaviour across different relationships to address the relationship-specific nature of attachment behaviour in a group care context. Methods Support staff rated attachment behaviour of 156 young participants with moderate to severe ID who were attending a group care setting. For each participant, we asked two members of the classroom support staff to fill out the Secure Base Safe Haven Observation list. One of them also rated challenging behaviour (Abberant Behavior Checklist). Results Young people who showed more secure attachment behaviour towards professional caregivers were less irritable, less lethargic and less stereotypic in their behaviour, even if we controlled for developmental age and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Two results point in the direction of relationship-specific attachment behaviour: the absence of high consistency in a person's attachment behaviour towards two different caregivers and the independent contribution of each of these relationships to explaining differences in lethargy and stereotypies. A certain preference in attachment behaviour towards specific caregivers was not associated with challenging behaviour. Conclusions Findings suggest that attachment behaviour may be part of young persons' adaptation to the stresses and challenges of group care. Furthermore, adaptation may be determined by the integration of relationships with support staff, because each relationship with a care staff member bears uniquely on challenging behaviour. [source] The adult attachment interview and self-reports of romantic attachment: Associations across domains and methodsPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2000PHILLIP R. SHAVER Two lines of research on adult attachment have emerged; both are based on Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory, which in turn relies on evolutionary theory. Investigators in one tradition use the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess "state of mind with respect to attachment." The AAI has been validated primarily by its ability to predict the attachment classification of an interviewee's child in Ainsworth's "strange situation." Investigators in the second tradition use self-report measures to assess romantic "attachment style." The self-report measures have been validated by their ability to predict features of romantic/marital relationships. Although the two constructs. state of mind and romantic attachment, are importantly different and so would not be expected to relate highly, some of their components, especially ability to depend on attachment figures, should be related if both stem from a person's attachment history. We report associations between components, or aspects, of the two measures. Overlap occurs mainly in the areas of comfort depending on attachment figures and comfort serving as an attachment figure for others. Implications of the findings for attachment theory and research, as well as for evolutionary psychology, are discussed. [source] Stress Regulation in Adolescents: Physiological Reactivity During the Adult Attachment Interview and Conflict InteractionCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2008Mariëlle D. Beijersbergen The current study examined whether adolescents' attachment representations were associated with differences in emotion regulation during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1996) and during a mother,adolescent conflict interaction task (Family Interaction Task [FIT]; J. P. Allen et al., 2003). Participants were one hundred and fifty-six 14-year-old adolescents. Dismissing adolescents showed less interbeat interval (IBI) reactivity (indicating less stress) during the AAI than secure adolescents. However, during the FIT, dismissing adolescents showed more IBI reactivity. No differences in physiological reactivity were found between individuals with resolved or unresolved loss or trauma during the AAI or FIT. The results indicate that dismissing adolescents may effectively use a defensive strategy during the AAI but less so in direct conflict interaction with their attachment figure. [source] Parental Acceptance-Rejection: Theory, Methods, Cross-Cultural Evidence, and ImplicationsETHOS, Issue 3 2005RONALD P. ROHNER This article summarizes concepts, methods, cross-cultural evidence, and implications of parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). The theory focuses primarily on parental love,its expressions, impact, and origins. Nearly 2,000 studies in the United States and cross-culturally confirm the widely held belief that children everywhere need acceptance (love) from parents and other attachment figures. Evidence has shown that when this need is not met, children worldwide,regardless of variations in culture, gender, age, or ethnicity,tend to self-report a specific form of psychological maladjustment. Additionally, individuals who perceive themselves to be rejected appear to be more disposed than accepted persons to develop behavior problems, depression or depressed affect, substance abuse, and other mental health-related issues. Finally, children and adults appear universally to organize their perceptions of acceptance-rejection around the same four classes of behavior. These include warmth/affection (or coldness/lack of affection), hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection. [source] USING CHILD DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH TO MAKE APPROPRIATE CUSTODY AND ACCESS DECISIONS FOR YOUNG CHILDRENFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2000Joan B. Kelly Decisions regarding custody and access are most often made without reference to the research on child development, although this literature can be useful in conceptualizing children's needs after separation and divorce. Research on attachment processes, separation from attachment figures, and the roles of mothers and fathers in promoting psychosocial adjustment are reviewed in this article. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for young children's parenting schedules. [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] The adult attachment interview and self-reports of romantic attachment: Associations across domains and methodsPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 1 2000PHILLIP R. SHAVER Two lines of research on adult attachment have emerged; both are based on Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory, which in turn relies on evolutionary theory. Investigators in one tradition use the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess "state of mind with respect to attachment." The AAI has been validated primarily by its ability to predict the attachment classification of an interviewee's child in Ainsworth's "strange situation." Investigators in the second tradition use self-report measures to assess romantic "attachment style." The self-report measures have been validated by their ability to predict features of romantic/marital relationships. Although the two constructs. state of mind and romantic attachment, are importantly different and so would not be expected to relate highly, some of their components, especially ability to depend on attachment figures, should be related if both stem from a person's attachment history. We report associations between components, or aspects, of the two measures. Overlap occurs mainly in the areas of comfort depending on attachment figures and comfort serving as an attachment figure for others. Implications of the findings for attachment theory and research, as well as for evolutionary psychology, are discussed. [source] Closeness in relationships as a mediator between sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence and psychopathological outcome in adulthoodCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 3 2010Nevena Dimitrova Abstract The risk of adverse psychological outcomes in adult victims of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) has been documented; however, research on possible mediating variables is still required, namely with a clinical perspective. The attachment literature suggests that secure interpersonal relationships may represent such a variable. Twenty-eight women who had experienced episodes of CSA, and 16 control women, were interviewed using Bremner's Early Trauma Inventory and the DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning; they also responded to Collins' Relationship Scales Questionnaire, evaluating adult attachment representations in terms of Closeness, Dependence and Anxiety. Subjects with an experience of severe abuse reported significantly more interpersonal distance in relationships (low index of Closeness) than other subjects. The index of psychopathological functioning was correlated with both the severity of abuse and attachment (low index of Closeness). Regression analysis on the sample of abused women revealed that attachment predicted psychopathology when abuse was controlled for, whereas abuse did not predict psychopathology when attachment was controlled for. Therefore, preserving a capacity for closeness with attachment figures in adulthood appears to mediate the consequences of CSA on subsequent psychopathological outcome. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: , The way CSA victims deal with closeness and intimacy in relationships contributes to the quality of psychological outcome in adulthood. , Treatment strategies for CSA victims should emphasize the enhancement of interpersonal experiences and the strengthening of the subject's sense of closeness to others, intimacy in relationships, and confidence in others. [source] | |||||||||||||