Représentations d’attachement et capacité de mentalisation d’enfants d’âge scolaire en contexte de protection de l’enfance : une étude préliminaire

Abstract

IntroductionMost children under the Youth Protection Services have experienced early relational trauma in the relationships with their significant caregivers (e.g., neglect, physical and sexual abuse), which may compromise the quality of their attachment representations as well as the development of their mentalizing capacity. These elements would play a key role in the children's emotional and behavioral regulation and influence their subsequent interpersonal functioning. ObjectivesThis exploratory research aims to describe the attachment representations and mentalizing capacity of children living in foster care and to empirically study the relationship between these two variables. MethodEighteen children aged 6 to 11 participated in the Attachment Story Stems as well as in the Child Attachment Interview. The Attachment-Focused Coding System was used to explore the attachment representations of children. The Child and Adolescent Reflective Functioning Scale was used to assess their mentalizing capacity. ResultsThe average mentalizing capacity of all participants is considered absent. Significant links were found between mentalizing capacity and emotional dysregulation through the child's attachment stories, and between emotional openness, use of examples, and preoccupied anger towards the father in the child interview about attachment. ConclusionThe results describe the mentalizing capacity of children under the Youth Protection Services and explore the relationships between this variable and the different elements of the attachment representations. This study supports the importance of integrating interventions based on attachment and mentalization into the clinical work in order to facilitate the rehabilitation process of children under the Youth Protection Services.