Intergenerational Transmission Of Attachment Research Articles

Parental Reflective Functioning on the Parent Development Interview: A narrative review of measurement, association, and future directions.

A caregiver's capacity to mentalize is thought to be one of the most important features of secure parent-child relationships. Parental mentalizing can be measured using the Reflective Functioning (RF) coding system applied to the Parent Development Interview (PDI). In this narrative review, we summarize the research using this measure and synthesize what has been learnt about the predictors, correlates and sequelae of parental RF. Studies have consistently shown that PRF on the PDI is associated with both parent and child attachment and is an important factor in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. It is also related to the quality of parental representations, parent-child interactions, and child outcomes. While a number of social and clinical risk factors are associated with lower PRF, it is difficult to disentangle the unique contribution of each of these. We discuss these findings and present the direction of future work that is planned to expand and refine the PRF scale for the PDI.

The intergenerational transmission of attachment during middle childhood in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction: The mediating role of reflective functioning

ABSTRACT The present study examined the attachment patterns distribution of 60 lesbian mothers, 50 gay fathers, and 42 heterosexual parents through assisted reproduction and their 76 children, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), respectively. The study also explored the intergenerational transmission of attachment through reflective functioning (AAI-RF). All families lived in Italy and children were aged 6–12 years (M years = 8.11, SD = 2.17; 48.68% assigned female at birth). The AAI patterns distribution was similar across family types and did not significantly differ from international and national normative data. Similarly, children’s FFI attachment patterns were evenly distributed between family types, and no significant differences emerged in comparison to international and national normative data referring to middle childhood samples. Mediational models revealed that, in all three family types, parents with greater AAI coherence of mind exhibited higher AAI-RF, which, in turn, was associated with increased FFI attachment security in children. Furthermore, parents’ AAI coherence of mind directly influenced children’s FFI attachment security. The results support and expand hypotheses regarding the intergenerational transmission of attachment in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction, while offering unique indications to support these families during middle childhood.

The Role of Maternal Sensitivity in Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment and Psychopathology in Early Childhood

The Role of Maternal Sensitivity in Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment and Psychopathology in Early Childhood

Insecure adult attachment styles are associated with parental reflective functioning pre-mentalizing modes

IntroductionParental Reflective Functioning (PRF) refers to parents’ capacity to view their child’s and their own behavior considering inner mental states, like thoughts, desires, and intentions. It has been related to attachment, mentalizing capacities, and psychopathology in children. An association between adult attachment style and reflective functioning has been described. Studies have also suggested that parental insecure attachment is related to lower levels of PRF.ObjectivesWe aim to study the association between specific adult attachment styles (anxious [Anx] and/or avoidant [Av]) and specific PRF modes (pre-mentalizing [PM], certainty about mental states [CMS] and/or interest and curiosity [IC]).MethodsA sample of 238 parents (228 mothers and 34 fathers) of 263 children aged 0 to 5 years old were recruited through informal difussion of the study in social media. These parents completed the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) and the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire-18 (PRFQ-18) online. Sex and age of parents and children were also gathered. In the first place, Pearson’s correlation was conducted to study the association between the ECR-R and the PRFQ-18 subscales. In a second step, general linear models were used to control for the effect of sex and/or age, when necessary.ResultsMothers’ mean age was 35,59±4,55 and fathers’ 38,26±4,47. Among children, a total of 119 were girls (45,2%) and 140 (53,2%) boys; in 4 (1,5%) cases the sex was not specified. The association between attachment and PRF subscales is shown in Table 1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 78Parent age-Parent sex-0,196**-Child age0,273**0,054-Child sex0,0620,0140,041-PRFQ PM0,120-0,0590,072-0,001-PRFQ CMS-0,1090,135*0,137*0,015-0,256**-PRFQ IC-0,0990,163**0,121-0,069-0,0720,078-ECR-R Anx0,115-0,138*-0,0270,0060,410**-0,232**-0,035-ECR-R Av0,137*-0,0490,007-0,0910,186**-0,049-0,1030,279****p<.001,*p<.05 In a second step, the influence of Anx attachment on CMS was controlled for parents’ sex and children’s age; β-value of Anx was -0,288 (p<.000) and the whole model explained 70% of the variability of CMS.ConclusionsWe observed that Anx attachment is associated with lower CMS and greater PM. With regard to CMS, both high and low extreme scores have been proposed to be less adaptative than average scores. Av attachment has also been related to higher PM scores. PM mode, which involves “an inability to hold the child’s mental states in mind and/or to have malevolent attributions about the child’s behavior”, is indicative of pathological PRF, and seems to be associated with insecure attachment (↑Anx/Av). Our results are in line with previous works (San Cristobal et al. Front. Psychol. 2017; Luyten et al. PLOS ONE 2017), and suggest that PRF could play a role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment, which should be further investigated.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Assessing therapist and clinician competency in parent-infant psychotherapy: The REARING coding system (RCS) for the group attachment based intervention (GABI).

The development of fidelity and quality measures for the dissemination of evidence-based practices is an often-neglected, vital step in the implementation of psychological interventions, especially within parent-infant mental health. The current study aims to address this gap by developing a competency-based measure for clinicians delivering the Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI). GABI is an intervention aimed at supporting family preservation in parents who have experienced disparities across multiple systems of care. After observing over 100 hours of clinical video, the research team, comprised of clinicians and academic researchers, developed a competency coding system to measure clinician efficacy titled the REARING coding system (RCS). This paper outlines the development and structure of the measure, including a detailed discussion of the model of therapeutic action (i.e., REARING: reflective functioning, emotional attunement, affect regulation, reticence, intergenerational transmission of attachment, nurturance, and group therapy context), as well as provides a clinical case study to illustrate the utility, flexibility, and depth of the measure. The case study details a family session consisting of a mother, father, and two children (one infant, one toddler), and how RCS can be used in supervision to foster clinical competency and effectiveness in the GABI model. RCS seeks to address the dissemination gap in Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) by contributing to the limited number of existing fidelity and competency measures in infant mental health and psychodynamic dyadic psychotherapy. RCS is an important tool for monitoring clinical competency in the dissemination of GABI and gives supervisors the ability to provide fidelity-focused supervisions.

The implications of parent mental health and wellbeing for parent-child attachment: A systematic review.

Parent mental health and wellbeing may have implications for understanding attachment transmission. In this systematic review, we synthesise the published literature to determine the nature of the relationship between parent mental health and wellbeing and the intergenerational transmission of attachment and to provide recommendations for future research, clinical practice and intervention. Using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) approach, five electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed empirical studies, published in English. Articles were considered for inclusion if data was collected on adult attachment, child attachment, and a domain of parent mental health/wellbeing. No date parameters were applied to the search strategy. The review was registered with PROPSERO (registration number: CRD42020157247). Eleven studies examining the impact on parent mental health and wellbeing on the intergenerational transmission of attachment were identified for inclusion in this review. Our review found preliminary evidence that parent mental health and wellbeing play a role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. Other key findings from the review were: evidence quality is mixed due to variable measurement of attachment and mental health; studies have mostly included correlational analysis or do not utilise contemporary methodological approaches to testing mediating or moderating relationships; and literature is largely focused on psychopathology and negative factors of mental health. The limited scope of parent mental health and wellbeing constructs examined in the literature, the sparse use of robust statistical analyses, and the lack of literature in general makes it difficult to draw conclusions on how and why parent mental health impacts attachment transmission. Addressing these limitations will further progress attachment-related literature and may have particular implications for attachment-informed interventions with clinical populations.

The Recent Perspectives on the Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment: Parental Reflective Functioning

The Recent Perspectives on the Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment: Parental Reflective Functioning

"Narrowing the transmission gap: A synthesis of three decades of research on intergenerational transmission of attachment": Correction.

Reports an error in "Narrowing the transmission gap: A synthesis of three decades of research on intergenerational transmission of attachment" by Marije L. Verhage, Carlo Schuengel, Sheri Madigan, R. M. Pasco Fearon, Mirjam Oosterman, Rosalinda Cassibba, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn (Psychological Bulletin, 2016[Apr], Vol 142[4], 337-366). In the article, there are errors in Table 7. The percentages of the attachment classifications do not add up to 100%. The corrected version of Table 7 is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2015-55801-001.) Twenty years ago, meta-analytic results (k = 19) confirmed the association between caregiver attachment representations and child-caregiver attachment (Van IJzendoorn, 1995). A test of caregiver sensitivity as the mechanism behind this intergenerational transmission showed an intriguing "transmission gap." Since then, the intergenerational transmission of attachment and the transmission gap have been studied extensively, and now extend to diverse populations from all over the globe. Two decades later, the current review revisited the effect sizes of intergenerational transmission, the heterogeneity of the transmission effects, and the size of the transmission gap. Analyses were carried out with a total of 95 samples (total N = 4,819). All analyses confirmed intergenerational transmission of attachment, with larger effect sizes for secure-autonomous transmission (r = .31) than for unresolved transmission (r = .21), albeit with significantly smaller effect sizes than 2 decades earlier (r = .47 and r = .31, respectively). Effect sizes were moderated by risk status of the sample, biological relatedness of child-caregiver dyads, and age of the children. Multivariate moderator analyses showed that unpublished and more recent studies had smaller effect sizes than published and older studies. Path analyses showed that the transmission could not be fully explained by caregiver sensitivity, with more recent studies narrowing but not bridging the "transmission gap." Implications for attachment theory as well as future directions for research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Parental Attachment Dimensions and Parenting Stress: The Mediating Role of Parental Reflective Functioning

Research suggests that parental reflective functioning—the parent’s capacity to envision the mind of his/her child—may play an important role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment and reflective functioning. Studies also suggest the importance of this capacity for the transition to parenthood, and particularly parents’ capacity to deal with parenting stress. This study focused on the potential mediating role of PRF dimensions in the relationship between parental attachment dimensions (attachment anxiety and avoidance) and parenting stress, using data from a 1-year longitudinal study in biological first-time parents (N = 106). Structural equation modeling showed that parents’ use of prementalizing modes of reflecting upon their child (PM) fully mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and three parenting stress dimensions (marital relationship, role restriction, and social isolation) across a 1-year interval, while attachment avoidance was indirectly related to these parenting stress dimensions through PM. Further, PM partially mediated the relationship between parental attachment anxiety and avoidance and a fourth dimension of parenting stress, lack of trust in parental competence. In addition, multi-group analyses revealed some interesting gender differences. Implications of these findings for the conceptualization of the relationship between parental attachment, PRF, and parenting stress are discussed.

애착의 세대간 전이 과정에서 어머니의 배우자에 대한 낭만애착에 의한 양육행동의 조절된 매개효과 검증:한국애착종단연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderated mediation effect of mothers’ parenting behavior by romantic attachment in intergenerational transmission of attachment. The subject were 166 infant-mother dyads recruited from J province to fill in the questionnaire and participated in the Strange Situation Procedure. The data was analysed through SPSS 21.0 and The PROCESS macro for SPSS. The findings are as followed. First, mothers’ parenting behaviors had a partial mediating effect in the relationship between mothers’ childhood attachment to parents and their infants’ attachment to themselves. Second, mothers’ romantic attachment had a moderating effect between mothers’ childhood attachment to parents and their parenting behaviors. Third, there was no moderating effect of mothers’ romantic attachment in intergenerational transmission of attachment. Fourth, there was a moderated mediation effect of mothers’ parenting behavior by romantic attachment in intergenerational transmission of attachment. These results imply that romantic attachment has an important role to promote mothers’ parenting behavior affected by childhood attachment to parents and affecting infants’ attachment to mothers. Therefore, it is suggested to simultaneously provide the workshop regarding improving parenting behaviors and the marriage enrichment program in order to enhance romantic attachment.

Infant attachment, adult attachment, and maternal sensitivity: revisiting the intergenerational transmission gap

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the intergenerational transmission of attachment, utilizing the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), and the Maternal Behavioral Q-Set (MBQS). We revisited fundamental questions in attachment theory and research by examining: (1) the level of intergenerational agreement between maternal attachment representations and infant attachment security, and (2) whether maternal sensitivity serves as an intergenerational mediator between adult and infant attachment security. Significant categorical matches between the AAI and the SSP as well as mean differences for MBQS scores between adult attachment secure-insecure groups were found. Consistent with earlier intergenerational research, maternal sensitivity only partially mediated the AAI-SSP link, indicating the transmission gap remains. Consistent with recent mediation studies, using more contemporary analytical techniques, it was confirmed that maternal sensitivity did mediate the direct pathway between AAI security and SSP security. Thus, the transmission gap appears somewhat different depending on the statistical method used to measure mediation. Post hoc analyses considered mothers’ childhood experiences of separation/divorce and this helped make sense of intergenerational mismatches.

Narrowing the transmission gap: A synthesis of three decades of research on intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Twenty years ago, meta-analytic results (k = 19) confirmed the association between caregiver attachment representations and child-caregiver attachment (Van IJzendoorn, 1995). A test of caregiver sensitivity as the mechanism behind this intergenerational transmission showed an intriguing "transmission gap." Since then, the intergenerational transmission of attachment and the transmission gap have been studied extensively, and now extend to diverse populations from all over the globe. Two decades later, the current review revisited the effect sizes of intergenerational transmission, the heterogeneity of the transmission effects, and the size of the transmission gap. Analyses were carried out with a total of 95 samples (total N = 4,819). All analyses confirmed intergenerational transmission of attachment, with larger effect sizes for secure-autonomous transmission (r = .31) than for unresolved transmission (r = .21), albeit with significantly smaller effect sizes than 2 decades earlier (r = .47 and r = .31, respectively). Effect sizes were moderated by risk status of the sample, biological relatedness of child-caregiver dyads, and age of the children. Multivariate moderator analyses showed that unpublished and more recent studies had smaller effect sizes than published and older studies. Path analyses showed that the transmission could not be fully explained by caregiver sensitivity, with more recent studies narrowing but not bridging the "transmission gap." Implications for attachment theory as well as future directions for research are discussed.

Continuity of attachment in children with disruptive behavior disorders and in their parents: A pilot study

IntroductionThe quality of adult–infant attachment plays an essential role in influencing the children's well-being (Groh et al., 2012). Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) has been found as particularly influenced by the presence of unavailability in the parental caregiving. It is widely attested that parents’ attachment states of mind predict the attachment patterns of their children. Nonetheless, the investigation of the attachment organization during the middle childhood shows inconsistent data. Moreover, a paucity of studies focused on the role of father's attachment in this period still remains.ObjectivesThis pilot study investigates the attachment patterns of children with DBD and those of their parents.AimsThe aims are to verify the presence of: (1) an over-representation of Disorganized attachment in these children; (2) an over-representation of Irresolution with respect to abuse or loss in one or both their parents.MethodsThe sample consists of 33 subjects: n = 11 children with DBD and n = 22 parents. The children completed the Child Attachment Interview (Shmueli-Goetz et al., 2000) and the parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (George et al., 1985).ResultsFindings showed: (1) a significant presence of Disorganized attachment with respect to both parents in the children; (2) an over-representation of Insecure states of mind in their parents; (3) a more significant presence of Disorganization in the fathers than in the mothers.ConclusionThis focus on the topic of intergenerational transmission of attachment in a specific clinical sample enriches the research, underlining the more pronounced role of fathers’ attachment configuration.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Supplemental Material for Narrowing the Transmission Gap: A Synthesis of Three Decades of Research on Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment

Supplemental Material for Narrowing the Transmission Gap: A Synthesis of Three Decades of Research on Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment

Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment. Family Interactive Dynamics and Psychopathology: What kind of Relationship in Adolescence?

Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment. Family Interactive Dynamics and Psychopathology: What kind of Relationship in Adolescence?

Mediating and moderating processes underlying the association between maternal cognition and infant attachment

The goal of this longitudinal study was to elucidate aspects of maternal cognition associated with maternal sensitivity and the development of infant attachment. Seventy-seven mothers were administered a number of measures over the course of the infant’s first year, including the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), secure base scripts, and a measure of maternal insight about her infant’s behavior. Maternal sensitivity was assessed using the maternal sensitivity Q-Sort and infant attachment using the Strange Situation Procedure. Associations were found between AAI coherence, secure base scripts, and maternal sensitivity; however, no direct association was found between maternal insight and sensitivity. A mediator-moderator model suggested that: 1) AAI coherence mediated the association between secure base scripts and maternal insight; and 2) maternal insight and sensitivity interacted to predict secure attachment. Findings suggest the need to further investigate the role of cognitive factors implicated in the intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Intergenerational transmission of attachment in abused and neglected mothers: the role of trauma-specific reflective functioning.

There are still important gaps in our knowledge regarding the intergenerational transmission of attachment from mother to child, especially in mothers with childhood histories of abuse and neglect (CA&N). This study examined the contributions of reflective function concerning general attachment relationships, and specifically concerning trauma, as well as those of maternal attachment states of mind to the prediction of infant attachment disorganization in a sample of mothers with CA&N and their infants, using a 20-month follow-up design. Attachment and reflective functioning were assessed during pregnancy with the Adult Attachment Interview. Infant attachment was evaluated with the Strange Situation Procedure. The majority (83%) of infants of abused and neglected mothers were classified as insecure, and a significant proportion (44%) manifested attachment disorganization. There was a strong concordance between mother and child attachment, indicative of intergenerational transmission of attachment in parents with CA&N and their infants. Both unresolved trauma and trauma-specific reflective function made significant contributions to explaining variance in infant attachment disorganization. The findings of this study highlight the importance of trauma-specific mentalization in the intergenerational transmission of attachment by mothers with a history of childhood maltreatment, and provide new evidence of the importance of the absence of mentalization regarding trauma for infant attachment.

Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment. Family Interactive Dynamics and Psychopathology: What kind of Relationship in Adolescence?

Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment. Family Interactive Dynamics and Psychopathology: What kind of Relationship in Adolescence?

Review of Assessing adult attachment: A dynamic-maturational approach to discourse analysis.

Assessing Adult Attachment: A Dynamic-Maturational Approach to Discourse Analysis, by Patricia McKinsey Crittenden and Andrea Landini. New York, NY, W. W. Norton & Co., 2011. 440 Pages (ISBN 978-0-393-70667-3, US $42.40 Hardcover) Reviewed by GENEVIEVE TARDIF DOI: 10.1037 /a00267 52 This book, released in the spring of 201 1, is dedicated to mental health practitioners and researchers who are interested in knowing more about a new way of coding the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) according to Crittenden's dynamic-maturational model (DMM). The AAI (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985, 1996) is a semistructured interview that takes between 60 to 90 minutes to administer and involves about 20 questions about general and specific recollections of childhood relationships with attachment figures. The DDM-AAI method presented here assesses the pattern of attachment of the speaker both in terms of how the individual behaves while considering dangerous topics and the underlying basis of this behaviour in the mental processing of information. To fully understand the reason for such a book, one needs to know that the theoretical model presented by the authors differs in some fundamental ways from the one used as the foundation for the AAI, which affects the goals of assessment and the analysis of transcripts. For example, Crittenden's DMM model puts an emphasis on the effects of danger rather than the benefits of security. Exposure to danger is assumed to be the essential condition that elicits attachment behaviour, and across repeated experiences, leads to organized self-protective (p. 15). What is new in Crittenden model's of discourse analysis is that the tool is not aimed at assessing the patterns of attachment of the speaker to predict infants' patterns of attachment (the intergenerational transmission of attachment), but instead at identifying the strategies used by the individual to face exposure to danger. Finally, the discourse analysis takes into account the distortions of the mental processing of information, especially those related to feelings, thoughts, and behaviour. With this book, Crittenden and Landini first introduce the DMM model and die attachment styles that it comprises. This will help readers understand the general guidelines for the classification of AAI transcripts using Main and Goldwyn's original coding system, which is the most widely used. They then explain their DMM model, which allows for the expansion of the original system into adulthood among people who suffer from different forms of psychopathology. This book suggests ways of making sense of seemingly incomprehensible behaviours, such as pedophilia, familial violence, aggression, and suicide. It helps understand how individuals adapt to danger, and how certain strategies used to protect the individual from danger can lead them to adopt survival behaviours dangerous to themselves and to those around them, especially to their partners and children. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the presentation of the analysis model and consists of four chapters. After the overview of the main ideas of the book presented in chapter 1 (Introduction), chapter 2 focuses on the history of the AAI and outlines briefly each of the classifications. In chapter 3, the authors introduce information processing theory, which they then apply to established attachment patterns. In chapter 4 the constructs used in the discourse analysis are presented. Crittenden and Landini's final analysis is based on three components: 1) interpersonal relationships as facilitators of protection and comfort, 2) patterns of mental processing of information about risk, and 3) strategies of self-protection. This second section contains a detailed presentation of the classification system of attachment styles. It defines the three patterns and subpatterns associated with the three major styles. Specifically, the Dynamic-Maturational method uses six compulsive Type A subpatterns (A3- 8) and six obsessive Type C subpatterns (C3-8). …

Le rôle joué par les événements stressants sur la transmission intergénérationnelle de l’attachement

Associations between maternal internal working models (IWM) (adult attachment projective: AAP) [George, C., West, M., Pettem, O., 1997. Adult attachment projective: protocol and classification scoring system. Manuscrit non publié. Mills College, Californie], preschool child attachment (separation–reunion procedure) [Cassidy, J., Marvin, R. S., 1992. Attachment organization in preschool children: procedures and coding manual. Manuscrit non publié. MacArthur Working Group on Attachment; Dev Psychol 24 (1988) 415–526] and stressful life-events were examined in 119 dyads. A convergence for transmission similar to what has been reported in the literature [Psychol Bull 117(3) (1995) 387–403] was found (76% for security, kappa = 0.53; p < 0.001). Moreover, unresolved mothers with disorganized–controlling children reported more stressful life-events (F [3, 106] = 4.70; p < 0.01). The present study therefore indicates the importance of including contextual factors [van IJzendoorn, M.H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., 1997. Intergenerational transmission of attachment: a move to the contextual level. In: Atkinson et, L., Zucker, K.J. (Eds.), Attachment and Psychopathology. The Gilford Press, New York, pp. 135–170] to better understand attachment transmission and offer support for the validity of the AAP.