Insecure Attachment Groups Research Articles

Infant and preschool attachment, continuity and relationship to caregiving sensitivity: findings from a new population-based Australian cohort.

Here, we report new prevalence and temporal stability data for child attachment and parental caregiving behaviour, from infancy (1 year) to preschool (4 years). Attachment (SSP) and caregiving data (MBQS) were from observations of parents and their infants and preschoolers, who represent the third generation of participants within an Australian longitudinal cohort. At 1 year (n = 314 dyads) and at 4 years (n = 368 dyads), proportions assessed secure were 59% and 71%, respectively. Proportions assessed avoidant were 15% and 11%; ambivalent 9% and 6%, and disorganised 17% and 12%, at 1 and 4 years. Continuity of attachment pattern was highest for the infant secure group. Of dyads initially classified disorganised in infancy, 36% remained so at the preschool assessment. Attachment and caregiving continuities across the infancy-preschool period were highest for the stable secure attachment group and lowest for the stable insecure attachment group. Loss of secure attachment to mother by age 4 years correlated with decreased maternal caregiving sensitivity, and acquisition of secure status by age 4 was associated with increased maternal sensitivity. We found no difference in caregiving sensitivity scores for mothers and fathers for female and male preschool children. The contemporary infant and preschool attachment proportions we report here closely mirror the patterns of those reported in prior decades, with an inclination towards secure base relationships. Our findings alert practitioners anew to the responsiveness of early attachment status to change in caregiving responsiveness and support ongoing investment in early identification of disorganised attachment.

Secure Attachment Representation in Adolescence Buffers Heart-Rate Reactivity in Response to Attachment-Related Stressors.

To date, we know very little about the effects of the differences in attachment classifications on the physiological correlates of stress regulation in adolescent age groups. The present study examined for the first time heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) during an attachment interview in adolescents. HR and HRV data were collected during a baseline assessment as well as during the administration of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) in a community-based sample of 56 adolescents (26 females and 30 males, mean age = 16.05 years [SD = 1.10]). We additionally used the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in 50% of our sample to test the convergent validity. Adolescents with a secure attachment representation showed a higher HRV from baseline to the AAP interview compared to those with an insecure-dismissing (Ds) and the unresolved group. A comparison between the two insecure attachment groups showed no significant difference related to HR and HRV. Cohen’s Kappa (κ = 0.81) revealed an almost perfect agreement between the AAP and the AAI for the four-group classification. Our results indicate that adolescents with a secure attachment representation are more capable of dealing with attachment-related distress which is represented in higher HRV during an attachment interview.

Effects of Non-verbal Priming on Attachment-Style Activation.

Using an affective priming procedure, two experiments examined the effects of non-verbal cues on activating attachment styles. In Study 1, the secure attachment group, which was primed non-verbally, showed higher levels of self-esteem, interpersonal competence, and positive affect than the insecure attachment group, which was also primed non-verbally. In contrast, no significant difference was found between the two attachment groups that were primed verbally. In Study 2, using a different priming method and adding a neutral group, similar interactions between priming modality (non-verbal or verbal cues) and attachment styles were found: the differences in self-esteem, interpersonal competence, and positive affect between the secure attachment group, neutral group, and insecure attachment group were greater when primed non-verbally than when primed verbally. Finally, the limitations of the research and recommendations for follow-up study are discussed.

Differences in Parenting Stress, Parenting Attitudes, and Parents' Mental Health According to Parental Adult Attachment Style.

Objectives:We aimed to compare the differences in parenting stress, parenting attitudes, and parents’ mental health between different adult attachment styles.Methods:Forty-four parents who completed a parental education program were enrolled in our study. They completed the Korean version of the Experience of Close Relationship Revised, Korean-Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Maternal Behavior Research Instrument, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised.Results:The avoidant attachment score positively correlated with parenting stress. The anxious attachment score showed a positive relationship with parenting stress, hostile parenting attitude, and psychopathology, but a negative association with an affectionate parenting attitude. The secure attachment group exhibited a more autonomous, affectionate parenting style and a less hostile parenting attitude and less parenting stress than the insecure attachment group. Dismissing-avoidant attachment parents reported significantly higher parenting stress scores than secure attachment parents. Preoccupied and fearful-avoidant attachment parents displayed a more hostile parenting style than secure attachment parents. Dismissing-avoidant and preoccupied parents reported a less affectionate parenting attitude than secure attachment parents.Conclusion:There were differences in parenting stress, parenting attitudes, and parents’ mental health depending on the adult attachment style. More specific education and interventions based on parental attachment type are necessary for parents.

A Reaction Time Experiment on Adult Attachment: The Development of a Measure for Neurophysiological Settings.

In the last few decades, there has been an increase of experimental research on automatic unconscious processes concerning the evaluation of the self and others. Previous research investigated implicit aspects of romantic attachment using self-report measures as explicit instruments for assessing attachment style. There is a lack of experimental procedures feasible for neurobiological settings. We developed a reaction time (RT) experiment using a narrative attachment measure with an implicit nature and were interested to capture automatic processes, when the individuals’ attachment system is activated. We aimed to combine attachment methodology with knowledge from implicit measures by using a decision RT paradigm. This should serve as a means to capture implicit aspects of attachment. This experiment evaluated participants’ response to prototypic attachment sentences in association with their own attachment classification, measured with the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). First the AAP was administered as the standardized interview procedure to 30 healthy participants, which were classified into a secure or insecure group. In the following experimental session, both experimenter and participants were blind with respect to classifications. One hundred twenty eight prototypically secure or insecure sentences related to the eight pictures of the AAP were presented to the participants. Their response and RTs were recorded. Based on the response (accept, reject) a continuous security scale was defined. Both the AAP classification and security scale were related to the RTs. Differentiated study hypotheses were confirmed for insecure sentences, which were accepted faster by participants from the insecure attachment group (or with lower security scale), and rejected faster by participants from secure attachment group (or with higher security scale). The elaborating unconscious processes were more activated by insecure sentences with potential attachment conflicts. The introduced paradigm is able to contribute to an experimental approach in attachment research. The RT analysis with the narrative procedure might be of interest for a broader variety of questions in experimental and neurophysiological settings to capture unconscious processes in association with internal working models of attachment. An electrophysiological model based on preliminary research is proposed for assessing the preconscious neuronal network related to secure or insecure attachment representations.

Attachment Patterns Trigger Differential Neural Signature of Emotional Processing in Adolescents

BackgroundResearch suggests that individuals with different attachment patterns process social information differently, especially in terms of facial emotion recognition. However, few studies have explored social information processes in adolescents. This study examined the behavioral and ERP correlates of emotional processing in adolescents with different attachment orientations (insecure attachment group and secure attachment group; IAG and SAG, respectively). This study also explored the association of these correlates to individual neuropsychological profiles.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used a modified version of the dual valence task (DVT), in which participants classify stimuli (faces and words) according to emotional valence (positive or negative). Results showed that the IAG performed significantly worse than SAG on tests of executive function (EF attention, processing speed, visuospatial abilities and cognitive flexibility). In the behavioral DVT, the IAG presented lower performance and accuracy. The IAG also exhibited slower RTs for stimuli with negative valence. Compared to the SAG, the IAG showed a negative bias for faces; a larger P1 and attenuated N170 component over the right hemisphere was observed. A negative bias was also observed in the IAG for word stimuli, which was demonstrated by comparing the N170 amplitude of the IAG with the valence of the SAG. Finally, the amplitude of the N170 elicited by the facial stimuli correlated with EF in both groups (and negative valence with EF in the IAG).Conclusions/SignificanceOur results suggest that individuals with different attachment patterns process key emotional information and corresponding EF differently. This is evidenced by an early modulation of ERP components’ amplitudes, which are correlated with behavioral and neuropsychological effects. In brief, attachments patterns appear to impact multiple domains, such as emotional processing and EFs.

유아-부모 애착이 유아의 상호 우정과 상호 반감관계에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the child-mother attachment and the child-father attachment (secure attachment, insecure avoidant and insecure disorganized attachment) on children`s mutual friendships and mutual antipathy relations. The subjects consisted of 116 5-6 year old kindergarteners (64 boys & 52 girls) and they were asked to respond to the Attachment Story Completion Task by Bretherton & Cassidy (1990), based on the sociometric popularity postulated by Coie & Dodge (1988). Data were analyzed by the logistic regression analysis and the one-way ANOVA method and the Scheffe test in multiple comparisons analysis. The results concluded that 1)There were differences in terms of child-mother attachment and child-father attachment when it came to a child`s mutual friendship. The secure child-mother and child-father attachment groups had more mutual friendships than the insecure attachment groups. 2)There were no differences in terms of child-mother attachment and child-father attachment when it came to child`s mutual antipathy. 3) 78.0% of the mutual friendships were accurately classified as existence with respect to child-mother and child-father attachment.

Contributions of attachment style and perceived social support to lifetime use of illicit substances

Research has shown insecure attachment style is associated with ineffective emotional regulation leading to maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. In the present study, we examined the association between attachment style and illicit substance use within a sample of adoptees ( n=148). It was predicted that insecure attachment style would be associated with a higher incidence of lifetime illicit substance use and that perceived social support would mediate this association. Logistic regression analyses showed higher prevalence of illicit substance use among both insecure attachment groups as compared to the secure group. No difference was found between the two insecure types. Perceived social support was found to mediate the association between attachment style and illicit substance use for the insecure-preoccupied group only. The findings from the present study further implicate attachment style in the risk for illicit substance use, as well as preventions designed to identify those at risk for use.

The Relationship Among Attachment Representation, Emotion-Abstraction Patterns, and Narrative Style: A Computer-Based Text Analysis of the Adult Attachment Interview

The main aim of this research was to test the discriminant capacity of computer-based, linguistic text measures which are economically compilable (Emotion-ion Patterns, Mergenthaler, 1996; Computerized Referential Activity, Mergenthaler & Bucci, 1999) in differentiating between complex attachment representations in the Adult Attachment Interview (Main & Goldwyn, 1994). The study of N = 40 healthy controls produced the consistent result that, of the two insecure attachment categories, the group ‘dismissing’ (n = 10) showed the lowest means on all text measures, whereas the group ‘preoccupied’ (n = 10) showed the highest means. The mean of the attachment group ‘secure’ (n = 20) lay between these groups. This ranking is consistent with the results of studies which had another research focus, showing deactivation or hyperactivation of attachment-relevant information in both insecure attachment groups, as well as flexibility in the ‘secure’ group. We also discuss whether the coincidence of language markers for emotion and abstraction, as well as Computerized Referential Activity, is adequate to operationalize the construct of coherence in narrative style.

The Mother‐Child Relationship Following In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF): Infant Attachment, Responsivity, and Maternal Sensitivity

Infant attachment and mother-child interaction were evaluated for 65 primiparous women and their singleton infants conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and a control group of 61 women and their infants conceived naturally. The sample was enrolled during pregnancy as part of a longitudinal study. At 12 months postpartum, security of infant attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure, and mother-child interaction was assessed in a free play context using the Emotional Availability Scales. IVF children demonstrated predominantly secure attachment relationships with their mothers (64.6% IVF, 55.9% controls), and there were no significant between-group differences in the proportion of IVF compared to control group children classified in any of the secure or insecure attachment groups. Furthermore, there were no significant group differences on maternal (sensitivity, structuring, hostility) or child (responsivity, involving) dimensions of interaction during play. The majority of IVF mothers (86%) were sensitive and their infants responsive (91%). Contrary to expectation, mother's ratings of greater anticipated infant difficultness assessed during pregnancy and higher ratings of infant temperament and behaviour difficulty assessed at 4 and 12 months postpartum were associated with secure attachment relationships and more optimal mother-child interaction in both the IVF and control groups.

The Relationship Between Interpersonal Attachment Styles and Work Difficulties

Hazan and Shaver (1990) have argued that attachment theory can be used to predict relationships between adult attachment types (love) and aspects of work behavior. They found that anxious/ambivalent attachments were associated with poorer work performance. Avoidantly attached individuals tended to be overinvolved with work which resulted in effective work performance but disrupted home life. The present study aimed to develop scales of insecure attachment problems for use with a clinical population and to further replicate Hazan and Shaver's findings. In this context the study also looked at the effects of psychological interventions on attachment difficulties. Using data from 219 depressed clients receiving psychological treatment for stress at work, differences in orientation to work were associated with the two insecure attachment groups as predicted. The anxious/ambivalent scale correlated significantly with reported anxiety about work performance and relationships at work. In contrast, the avoidant scale correlated with concern over hours of work and difficulties in relationships at home and with social life. The study also found that relationship problems associated with insecure attachments were significantly helped by psychological treatments.

Patterns of individual adaptation across childhood

AbstractContinuity in individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation was examined across the years from infancy to preadolescence. Forty-seven preadolescent subjects from a 15-year longitudinal study of children at risk for developmental problems participated. Subjects were intensively observed in a 4-week summer daycamp at age 10. Children were then rated on scales of agency, social skill, dependency, positive and negative affect, and ranked on emotional health. In addition, Q-sorts were performed to obtain an overall description of the child's personality, and observations were made of child-adult interactions. Significant differences were found between secure and insecure attachment groups on molar measures of adaptation including social competence and ego resiliency. Children with anxious histories were also rated higher on dependency and were found to be more frequently involved in interactions with adults than children with secure histories. In addition, differences were found in the patterns of adaptation exhibited by children with the two types of anxious attachment history. Children with resistant histories were found to be more often the recipients of adult-initiated contact, specifically support and nurturance, than were children with avoidant attachment histories. Comparison of overall personality style through correlations of composite counselor Q-sorts identified children with secure and resistant attachment histories as most like other children with the same attachment history. Results for avoidant children did not achieve significance. Patterns of contemporary child behavior revealed through counselor Q-sorts were also found to be related to theoretically derived predictions from patterns observed in infancy.

Infant-Mother Attachment at Twelve Months and Style of Interaction with a Stranger at the Age of Three Years

LOTKENHAUS, PAUL; GROSSMANN, KLAUS E.; and GROSSMANN, KARIN. Infant-Mother Attachment at Twelve Months and Style of Interaction with a Stranger at the Age of Three Years. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 1538-1542. This study explores the relation between the quality of infant-mother attachment at 12 months and the child's style of interaction with an unfamiliar visitor at age 3 years. Quality of infant-mother attachment was assessed in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. At age 3 years, the children were visited in their homes and a competitive game interaction between child and visitor was videotaped. Children classified as securely attached at 12 months interacted faster and more smoothly with the visitor than children who had been avoidantly attached. Microanalyses of the competitive game also revealed different styles of interaction. Failure feedback led to increased effort in the secure-attachment group and to decreased effort in the insecure-attachment group. After failing, securely attached children tended to display sadness more openly than insecurely attached children.