Attachment Emotion Research Articles

Parent-child emotion communication, attachment, and affective narratives

Forty-four pre-schoolers (ages 4.3 to 5.8 years) and their primary caregivers participated in a study on the connections between parent-child emotion communication and a narrative assessment of pre-schoolers' attachment. Children completed the Separation Anxiety Test (SAT), a narrative assessment of children's responses to attachment-related separations (including self-reliance, avoidance, attachment and coherence scores). Several aspects of parent-child discussions of emotion-eliciting events were also assessed in the Emotion Communication Task. Results indicated that SAT coherence was positively related to SAT attachment and negatively related to SAT avoidance. Furthermore, SAT coherence was positively related to parental scaffolding and negatively related to parental and child negativity during the Emotion Communication Task. Parental scaffolding and child reciprocity were positively related to each other and, in general, were negatively related to parental and child negativity. Discussion focused on the potential contributions of children's interactions with caregivers to the development of children's attachment narratives and emotion-related understanding.

Infants' Behavioral Strategies for Emotion Regulation With Fathers and Mothers: Associations With Emotional Expressions and Attachment Quality.

This study examined 12- and 13-month-old infants' behavioral strategies for emotion regulation, emotional expressions, regulatory styles, and attachment quality with fathers and mothers. Eighty-five infants participated in the Strange Situation procedure to assess attachment quality with mothers and fathers. Infants' behavioral strategies for emotion regulation were examined with each parent during a competing demands task. Emotion regulation styles were meaningfully related to infant-father attachment quality. Although expressions of distress and positive affect were not consistent across mothers and fathers, there was consistency in infant strategy use, emotion regulation style, and attachment quality with mothers and fathers. Furthermore, infants who were securely attached to both parents showed greater consistency in parent-oriented strategies than infants who were insecurely attached to one or both parents. Limitations of this study include the constrained laboratory setting, potential carryover effects, and a homogeneous, middle-class sample.

Maternal Expressed Emotion Related to Attachment Disorganization in Early Childhood: A Preliminary Report

Using a longitudinal sample of children, this study examined the relation between maternal Expressed Emotion (EE) and mother-child attachment disorganization at age 6 years. A nonclinical sample of 33 children (at ages 12 months and 18 months) from Berlin, Germany participated with their mothers in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. Thirty-two children were again observed with their mothers at age 6 years in a standard laboratory attachment observation. At the time of the 6-year assessment, maternal EE was assessed based on a Five-Minute Speech Sample. Mothers also completed the Life Events Questionnaire, a measure of family stress, and the Present State Examination, a measure of maternal depression. Maternal Expressed Emotion was significantly linked to mother-child attachment security at age 6 years. Further analyses revealed that High EE was most closely linked to the disorganized attachment pattern at age 6 years, an at-risk attachment pattern that has been associated with intrusive and hostile maternal behavior. The relationship was upheld when other relevant variables, including infant attachment disorganization and a measure of perceived family stress, were simultaneously considered. The study provides independent validation of Expressed Emotion as a measure of relationship quality in early childhood. It also provides a basis for the further investigation of the nature of the relation between maternal Expressed Emotion and attachment disorganization.

The infant-toddler social and emotional assessment (ITSEA): Comparing parent ratings to laboratory observations of task mastery, emotion regulation, coping behaviors, and attachment status

This paper examines associations between maternal ratings of social-emotional problems and competencies on the Infant–Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA), a new adult informant instrument, with observational measures of attachment status, task mastery, emotion regulation, and coping behaviors. In addition, associations between maternal ratings on the ITSEA and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), a widely used temperament rating scale, are compared. Consistent with our expectations, the ITSEA and the IBQ were associated with observational measures of task mastery, emotion regulation, coping behaviors, and some dimensional ratings of attachment behaviors. In addition, ITSEA scales were associated with all dimensional ratings of attachment behaviors and with categorical classifications of attachment. Moreover, controlling for the contribution of maternal ratings of temperament on the IBQ, ITSEA problem and competency scales contributed uniquely to observational measures of emotion regulation, coping behaviors, task mastery, and attachment. That associations were observed in a low risk sample of 91 12-month-old infants and mothers, highlights that parents can provide coherent descriptions of their very young infants problem behaviors and competencies and offers concurrent observational validation of this promising new instrument. ©1999 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Psychopathology in infancy.

The first three years of life present unique challenges to the study of psychopathology. We highlight four of the issues in a selective review of the developmental psychopathology of early childhood, including lack of specificity of risk and outcome variables, measurement difficulties, rapid developmental changes and the centrality of the relationship context in early childhood. We also highlight issues relevant to conceptualizations of disorders of infancy, emphasizing especially the need for efforts to validate clinical disorders. We consider two major domains of infant development that we believe are especially relevant to a discussion of psychopathology, namely, regulation of emotion and infant-caregiver attachment. Discussions of these two domains of infant development and their psychopathological extremes allow us to consider conceptualizations of psychopathology from the dual perspectives of developmental psychopathology and clinical disorders. We conclude by suggesting a number of strategies to build upon previous research.

Emotion socialisation, attachment, and patterns of adult emotional traits

Abstract The emotional organisation of adults was studied within the framework of differential emotions theory and its assumptions concerning the formative role of early emotion experiences. Specifically, we explored how early attachment experiences and parental rearing styles as recalled by subjects, related to adult emotion traits and emotion decoding biases. A total of 129 subjects (60 males, 69 females, mean age 25 years) completed measures of attachment style, a maternal discipline questionnaire based on social learning theory, an emotion trait measure, and an emotion decoding task. We found that particular kinds of parental disciplinary style and attachment style were associated with different patterns of emotion traits as well as performance on the decoding task. There were gender differences throughout, but in general parental use of reasoning (matter-of-fact induction) was associated with a balanced emotional profile and low decoding biases, whereas physical punishment was associated with pattern...

EMOTION REGULATION: INFLUENCES OF ATTACHMENT RELATIONSHIPS

Emotion regulation and quality of attachment are closely linked. It has been proposed here that one influence on individual differences in emotion regulation may be a child's attachment history. Individuals characterized by the flexible ability to accept and integrate both positive and negative emotions are generally securely attached; on the other hand, individuals characterized by either limited or heightened negative affect are more likely to be insecurely attached. While acknowledging the role of infant temperament, I have focused on the role of social factors in examining the link between emotion regulation and attachment. The approach to emotion regulation taken here--that emotion regulation is adaptive in helping a child attain her goals--is esentially a functionalist approach (Bretherton et al., 1986; Campos et al., 1983), consistent with earlier views of emotions as important regulators of interpersonal relationships (Charlesworth, 1982; Izard, 1977). It has been proposed that patterns of emotion regulation serve an important function for the infant: the function of maintaining the relationship with the attachment figure. Emotion regulation has been described as serving this function in two ways. First, the function of maintaining the relationship is thought to be served when infant emotion regulation contributes to the infant's more generalized regulation of the attachment system in response to experiences with the caregiver. Infants who have experienced rejection (insecure/avoidant infants) are thought to minimize negative affect in order to avoid the risk of further rejection. Infants whose mothers have been relatively unavailable or inconsistently available (insecure/ambivalent infants) are thought to maximize negative affect in order to increase the likelihood of gaining the attention of a frequently unavailable caregiver. Both these patterns of emotion regulation help ensure that the child will remain close to the parent and thereby be protected. Second, the function of maintaining the attachment relationship is thought to be served when the infant signals to the parent that she will cooperate in helping maintain the parent's own state of mind in relation to attachment. The minimizing of negative affect of the avoidant infant signals that the infant will not seek caregiving that would interfere with the parent's dismissal of attachment. The heightened negative emotionality of the ambivalent infant signals to the parent that the infant needs her and thus helps maintain a state of mind in which attachment is emphasized. The approach to emotion regulation presented here is congruent with much work examining the socialization of emotions (Lewis & Saarni, 1985; Thompson, 1990).

The use of a narrative story stem technique with maltreated children: Implications for theory and practice

AbstractMaltreatment can impact the earliest stages of development during which time patterns of emotion regulation and attachment begin to be established (Carlson, Cicchetti, Barnett, & Braunwald, 1989b; Cicchetti, Ganiban, & Barnett, 1991). These disruptive patterns are problematic for early moral development and are likely to play a role in the development of conduct disorders (Aber & Cicchetti, 1984). Thus, maltreated children are clearly in a high-risk situation. To examine emotion regulation, internal representations of relationships, and early moral development, the use of a play narrative story stem technique (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990; Buchsbaum & Emde, 1990) with maltreated children and a nonmaltreated disadvantaged comparison group of children is described. Representative case examples from each group are used to illustrate the effectiveness of this technique for eliciting themes about family relationships, conflicts, and their resolution or lack thereof as well as defenses and coping styles. The potential usefulness of this paradigm for clinical assessment and intervention are discussed.