Mother-child Attachment Relationship Research Articles

Changes in coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior across COVID-19 and the moderating role of parent-child attachment relationship quality.

Research indicates increases in coercive parenting towards children and increases in child externalizing behavior during COVID-19 as compared to the pre-pandemic period. In this preregistered study, we extended previous knowledge by investigating to what extent, and under what conditions, changes in coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior are interrelated. Ninety-five mothers and fathers of children (of age 3 prior to the pandemic) reported on coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior before and during the pandemic, and trained assistants observed the quality of mother-child and father-child attachment relationship prior to the pandemic. We employed latent change score modeling to test the extent to which changes in maternal and paternal coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior across the pre-pandemic period and the onset of the first COVID-19 lockdown are interrelated. Moreover, we tested whether these linkages are moderated by changes in the other parent's coercive parenting and the quality of parent-child attachment relationship. Specifically, we tested the moderation by mother-child (father-child) attachment relationship quality in the relation between changes in mothers' (fathers') coercive parenting and changes in child externalizing behavior. We found that changes in mothers', but not fathers' coercive parenting were positively associated with changes in child externalizing behavior. We found no moderation by changes in the other parent's parenting or by parent-child attachment relationship quality. Our findings provide support for the transactional processes underlying mothers' and children's behavior in the context of non-normative stressful conditions. We recommend incorporating evidence-based (parenting) support for mothers, fathers, and young children in prevention strategies and recovery tools employed during and after future lockdowns and non-normative stressful events.

Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of care in the first 54 months of life and the content of adolescents' attachment representations around age 18 years (N = 857; 51% female; 78% White, non-Hispanic; M income-to-needs ratio = 4.13), leveraging data from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). We identified a small positive association between the observed quality of early child care (but not quantity or type of care) and secure attachment states of mind as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (but not the Attachment Script Assessment) at age 18 years that was robust to demographic covariates and observations of maternal and paternal sensitivity during childhood. We observed no significant interactions among child care variables. Associations between early child care experiences and indicators of adolescent attachment were likewise not moderated by maternal sensitivity from infancy to mid-adolescence or by maternal reports of child temperament in early childhood.

Treating Externalizing Behaviors in Toddlers with ASD Traits Using Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Toddlers: A Case Study

Up to 27% of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience clinically significant externalizing behavior. Child emotional dysregulation is thought to be one of the main reasons for the manifestation of externalizing behaviors during toddlerhood and has also been associated with insecure and disorganized parent-child attachment relationships. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Toddlers (PCIT-T) is an attachment and behavioral based parent training program targeted at children aged 12 to 24 months with externalizing behavior. This study assessed the effectiveness of PCIT-T in reducing child externalizing behavior as well as improving child emotional regulation and the parent-child attachment relationship in a child with moderate-to-severe ASD traits, low intellectual and adaptive functioning, externalizing behaviors within the clinical range, and a disorganized/insecure mother-child attachment relationship. The intervention occurred over a 12-week period and focused on improving positive parenting skills, parent emotional regulation, and child emotional regulation. Treatment progress was tracked using the Child Behavior Checklist Externalizing Behavior subscale, the Deverux Early Childhood Assessment for Toddlers Attachment/Relationship and Self-Regulation subscales, the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System, version 4, and the Strange Situation Procedure. Study results provide preliminary support for the use of PCIT-T in reducing externalizing behavior, improving the parent-child attachment relationship and child emotional regulation. These results indicate that PCIT-T can be beneficial for children with ASD traits, however, further research with a larger sample size is needed to strength these findings.

Mediating role of depressive symptoms linking insecure attachment and disordered eating in adolescents: A multiwave longitudinal study.

Research has supported a link between insecure attachment and disordered eating in adolescents; however, how this influence is exerted remains unclear. This study explored whether depressive symptoms constitute a pathway through which insecure attachment to parents predicts subsequent development of disordered eating in the transition from childhood to adolescence. The study also examines whether there are differential effects regarding the attachment figure, child's gender, or reciprocity between variables. A community-based sample of Spanish youth (n = 904; 49.4% girls) was followed biennially from age 10 to 16 years. Attachment, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating were measured using the Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment, Children's Depression Inventory, and Children's Eating Attitudes Test, respectively. Prospective data were analyzed using a dynamic panel model, which accounts for unmeasured time-invariant factors. Whereas insecure attachment to the father did not predict later depression or disordered eating, higher insecure attachment to the mother at ages 10 and 12 years predicted more disordered eating at ages 14 and 16 years via increased depressive symptoms at ages 12 and 14 years. No child's gender-specific or reverse mediational effects were found. This study suggests that an increase in depressive symptoms might be one mechanism by which insecure attachment exerts its influence on the development of eating disorders symptomatology in adolescence. Intervention efforts aimed at strengthening particularly the mother-child attachment relationship may reduce the vulnerability to develop depressive symptoms and disordered eating.

Early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships: contributions to preschoolers’ social competence

ABSTRACT The main goal of this study was to explore the contributions of early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships to children’s later social competence with their preschool peers; possible unique and shared contributions were tested. Using a multi-method design and focusing on direct observation, attachment was assessed at home at age 3 with the Attachment Behavior Q-sort (AQS) and two years later social competence was assessed at classrooms of 5-year-olds using a set of seven measurement indicators that are part of the Hierarchical Model of Social Competence. Results show that attachment to each parent made unique and significant contributions to children’s social competence and suggested the possibility that each caregiver may have somewhat different patterns of influence on the different indicators of children’s social competence. Findings also suggest the possibility that a secure attachment with one parent may buffer the impact of having an insecure relationship with the other. Due to sample size, these results should be seen as a starting point to generate new and larger studies.

Impact of Behavioral Feeding Intervention on Child Emotional and Behavioral Functioning, Parenting Stress, and Parent-Child Attachment.

Behavioral intervention is the only treatment for pediatric feeding problems with well documented empirical support. However, parents may be hesitant to pursue behavioral intervention because of concerns about possible negative side effects on child behavioral health and the parent-child relationship. This study investigated associations between behavioral feeding treatment and parenting stress, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in young children, and parent-child attachment quality. Participants included 16 mother-child dyads seeking treatment from a behavioral feeding clinic at a large Midwestern university medical center. Children were between the ages of 30 and 45 months (adjusted) at baseline. Caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 1.5 to 5 (CBCL/1.5-5), the Parenting Stress Index, 3rd Edition Short Form (PSI/SF), and mother-child dyads participated in the Strange Situation procedure at baseline and again after 6 months. The treatment group (n = 12) began outpatient behavioral feeding intervention following the baseline evaluation, whereas the control group (n = 12) remained on the clinic waitlist until after the 6-month follow-up. The treatment group demonstrated decreases in internalizing and externalizing child behavior problems and parenting stress compared with the control group. No significant differences were demonstrated in parent-child attachment quality within or between groups. Behavioral feeding intervention had positive effects on perceptions of child emotional and behavioral functioning and maternal parenting stress. Intervention also did not impact the quality of the mother-child attachment relationship. Further research with a larger sample size and additional observational measures of behavior is needed to support the replicability and generalizability of these results.

Alterations in adolescent dopaminergic systems as a function of early mother-toddler attachment: A prospective longitudinal examination

Early experiences have the potential for outsized influence on neural development across a wide number of domains. In humans, many of the most important such experiences take place in the context of the mother-child attachment relationship. Work from animal models has highlighted neural changes in dopaminergic systems as a function of early care experiences, but translational research in humans has been limited. Our goal was to fill this gap by examining the longitudinal associations between early attachment experiences (assessed at 2.5 years) and neural responses to risk and rewards during adolescence (assessed at 13 years). Adolescence is a developmental period where sensitivity to rewards has important implications for behavior and long-term outcomes, providing an important window to study potential influences of early attachment experiences on reward processing. In order to address this question, 50 adolescents completed a risk and reward task during an fMRI scan, allowing us to assess differences in neural sensitivity to changes in risk level and reward amount as a function of early attachment experiences. Adolescents with insecure attachment histories showed blunted sensitivity to increasing risk levels in regions of the dorsal striatum, while also showing heightened sensitivity to increasing reward levels in the same region. These results highlight the importance of early attachment experiences for long-term neural development. Specifically, early exposure to more maladaptive relationships with caregivers may confer dual risks prospectively for adolescents, sensitizing them to rewarding outcomes while de-sensitizing them to potential risks associated with those behaviors, perhaps due to stress-related dopaminergic changes early in development.

How fathers’ attachment security and education contribute to early child language skills above and beyond mothers: parent-child conversation under scrutiny

ABSTRACTAttachment (AQS) of 100 children aged 12 to 24 months was observed, with more than half of the fathers (and mothers) representing higher social status. Children’s language comprehension and production were measured using the Bayley Scales for receptive (RLS) and expressive language skills (ELS). Spontaneous book reading conversations in father-child and mother-child dyads were coded from videotapes, capturing five modes of conversation derived from research on dialogic reading. Path modelling examined the association of these modes on children’s RLS and ELS in concurrence with parental attachment and education. First time, significant effects of father-child attachment security on children’s RLS were revealed (and confirmed for mother-child dyads). Fathers’ impact on child language skills could be further explained through modes which inquire and imitate child responses which were related to RLS and ELS, respectively. Although mothers’ modes of conversation were associated with the mother-child attachment relationship, the father-child conversations were not so but instead were associated with the father’s educational background.

L’attachement et la mentalisation en pédopsychiatrie : une fenêtre sur le fonctionnement des enfants et de leurs parents

Le travail auprès de la clientèle en pédopsychiatrie et les défis qu’il pose amènent à revoir les pratiques cliniques afin de prendre en compte de façon systématique les notions d’attachement et de mentalisation chez les enfants et leurs parents. L’article traite d’abord des concepts d’attachement et de mentalisation et fait un résumé de l’état des connaissances sur ces derniers. Il est ensuite question d’un projet de recherche développé en pédopsychiatrie à la clinique spécialisée 0-5 ans de l’Hôpital en santé mentale Albert-Prévost (HSMAP). Nous présentons les résultats préliminaires de cette recherche de même que les défis rencontrés dans l’implantation du projet. Enfin, nous développons sur la façon d’aborder le travail clinique en considérant de manière systématique l’attachement et la mentalisation dans l’évaluation et l’intervention auprès des familles référées en pédopsychiatrie.

III. THE ORGANIZATION OF ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOR IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: LINKS WITH MATERNAL SENSITIVITY AND CHILD ATTACHMENT REPRESENTATIONS.

This article investigated two central questions about mother-child attachment relationships during early childhood: (1) the association between maternal sensitivity and child attachment behavior (Study 1) and (2) the link between child attachment behavior and representations (Study 2). In Study 1, maternal sensitivity and child security were assessed in naturalistic contexts among 74 middle-class dyads, when children were about 3.5 and again 5.5 years of age, using the Maternal Behavior with Preschoolers Q-set (MBPQS) and the Attachment Q-set (AQS), respectively. Sensitivity and security were significantly related at each point in time and stable from 3.5 to 5.5 years of age. Furthermore, changes in sensitivity predicted changes in child security. In Study 2, the relationship between the organization of preschoolers' attachment behavior and the structure of attachment representations (secure base script knowledge) was assessed. Participants were 158 preschoolers between 3 and 5.5 years. Children's secure base behavior was described with the AQS, whereas their attachment script knowledge was assessed with the MacArthur Attachment Story Completion Task. The organization of children's secure base behavior was significantly, if modestly, associated with their knowledge of the secure base script.

VIII. CONCLUSION: CO-CONSTRUCTING A SECURE BASE PARTNERSHIP: MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS, COMMUNICATION, AND SCRIPT REPRESENTATIONS.

Using the secure base construct, the evidence presented indicates that interactional experience continues to be a central factor in the organization of mother-child attachment relationships. The parent-child codetermination process that establishes their relationship in infancy expands during the preschool years. Furthermore, with the increasingly relevant role of language, parent-child verbal communication during this time plays an important part in structuring children's attachment behavior and knowledge. Parents help their children construe attachment-related information, control and regulate emotional experience, and guide behavior during attachment-related experiences. That is, during early childhood, parent and child continue the process of constructing a secure base partnership through their gradually more complex interactions that take advantage of children's behavioral, emotional, representational, and language advances. Although the studies are interrelated and contribute to a coherent understanding of attachment relationships during this time period, they represent small-scale studies. Further, some of the effect sizes presented are small. Thus, future research should include tests of replication as well as explorations of links to early and later development and parallel findings in more diverse samples.

Using Semi-Projective Doll Play Methods to Classify Middle Childhood Children Into Four Attachment Types: Types Associations With Distinctive Psychosocial Adaptation

This research presents an adapted version of the Attachment Doll Story Completion Task for children in middle childhood (ADSCT for m-c), a measure for classifying children’s representations of mother-child attachment relationships into four attachment types: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. The ADSCT enables interviewers to partially circumvent the sophistication and defensiveness of middle childhood children's story completions. A sample of 185 children in the 4th and 5th grades, and 50 mothers of children from one 4th and one 5th grade class of that sample participated in the study. Children underwent the ADSCT for m-c procedure. Homeroom teachers, classmates, and the child reported on the children’s psychosocial adaptation. A sub-sample of the mothers completed measures of maternal caring attitudes and practices. Associations between the different attachment types and distinct forms of adaptation showed that secure attachment exhibited positive social relationships and a low level of psychosocial and behavior problems; disorganized attachment showed the poorest adaptation, manifested in psychosocial problems, behavior problems, social problem, aggressiveness, and victimization. Avoidant attachment exhibited social problems, peer rejection, behavior problems, and compulsive thought. And ambivalent attachment showed social vulnerability, and intermediate level of adaptation, between the better functioning of the securely attached and the problematic functioning of the insecurely attached. Concurrent validity of the ADSCT for m-c with maternal attitudes and practices, and discriminate validity with reference to key cognitive variables were good.

Associations Among Supportive Coparenting, Father Engagement and Attachment: The Role of Race/Ethnicity

The present study examined the longitudinal associations among supportive coparenting and father engagement during infancy and mother–child attachment in toddlerhood within an at-risk sample (N = 1371). Of particular interest was whether these associations were moderated by race/ethnicity. Mothers reported on coparenting and father engagement during the 1-year interview and mother–child attachment was assessed using the Toddler Attachment Sort-39 at age three during the in-home visit. Findings suggest that supportive coparenting was significantly associated with higher levels of father engagement and more secure mother–child attachment relationship for both white and minority families. In addition, race/ethnicity moderated the link between supportive coparenting and father engagement such that the link was stronger among white families compared to minority families. Results highlight the significance of coparenting for father engagement and the mother–child attachment relationship. The implications of these findings are discussed for interventions targeting coparenting and positive paternal engagement among at-risk children.

O modelo interno dinâmico da mãe e o comportamento de base segura dos seus filhos num grupo de crianças adoptadas

O estudo da qualidade da vinculação em crianças adoptadas é de extrema relevância para a Teoria da Vinculação, uma vez que permite avaliar a qualidade da vinculação e o seu desenvolvimento em famílias, nas quais não há partilha da mesma informação genética nem da mesma história familiar. São dois os objectivos principais do presente trabalho: 1) avaliar se a idade da criança à data da adopção tem alguma influência na qualidade da vinculação estabelecida com a sua nova família e 2) verificar se existe uma relação entre o modelo interno dinâmico da mãe e o comportamento de base segura do seu filo(a) adoptado(a). Para atingir tais objectivos foram utilizados, o AQS (Waters, 1987) para a caracterização da qualidade da vinculação mãe-criança e as Narrativas Maternas (H. Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh, 2001) para aceder ao modelo interno da mãe. Não foi encontrada uma relação entre a idade e a qualidade da vinculação, facto que sugere que a criança consegue estabelecer relações significativas ao longo dos primeiros anos de vida. Tal resultado questiona, por um lado, a noção de período crítico para o estabelecimento da vinculaçãoo e, por outro lado, salienta o papel fulcral de uma figura estável e sensível para a promoção e desenvolvimento de laços afectivos. Os resultado obtidos demonstram ainda que a qualidade dos scripts de base segura maternos está relacionada com os valores do critério de segurança dos seis filhos. Desta forma, os nosso resultados estão de acordo com M. Ainsworth – que sempre sublinhou ao longo dos seus trabalhos, o papel importante da sensitividade materna na construção de uma vinculação segura – e suportam um dos princípios básicos da Teoria da Vinculação, o conceito de transgeracionalidade, em que o modelo interno da mãe é tido como um factor mediador da qualidade da prestação dos cuidados e interacção que esta estabelece com o seu filho(a), e que se reflecte na qualidade de vinculação das crianças.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v20i1.376

Positive and Negative Emotions and Coping as Mediators of Mother-Child Attachment and Peer Relationships

This study examined whether emotions and coping explain (mediate) the association between mother-child attachment and peer relationships. Attachment, positive and negative emotion experience, coping, and peer relationships were examined in 106 fourth-grade through sixth-grade girls attending a 6-day residential camp. Attachment, experience of positive and negative emotions, and coping were measured prior to camp with questionnaires completed by girls and their mothers. Girls reported the quality of their best friendship at camp, and camp counselors rated girls’ peer competence. Girls who perceived a more secure attachment to mother reported experiencing more positive and less negative emotions, were reported by mothers to use more social-support coping, reported more positive qualities in camp best friendships, and were rated by counselors as having enhanced peer relationships at camp. Further, the experience of positive emotions, problem-solving coping, and social-support coping mediated the links between attachment and peer relationships.

The Effects of Cerebral Palsy on Early Attachment: Perceptions of Rural South African Mothers

The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of mothers about the effect of cerebral palsy on early attachment behaviours of their children in a rural area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The study explored the mother-child attachment relationship. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess mothers' perception of cerebral palsy and its effect on attachment behaviour of children. The interviews were recorded and then analysed using thematic content analysis. The study identified three recurrent themes that emerged in thematic content analysis. These were factors that facilitated bonding, hindered bonding and maternal response to the needs of the child. The findings of this study showed that children with cerebral palsy were reported to experience early attachment difficulties. The mothers reported that the emotional bond between mothers and children was affected by the severity of cerebral palsy. The results indicated that mothers of children with cerebral palsy needed both psychological and material support in order to strengthen early attachment behaviours of children and mothering practices. Directions for future studies could focus on educational interventions that assist mothers accept cerebral palsy diagnosis and the development of positive attitudes towards cerebral palsy in mothers who live in rural areas in South Africa.

Parental Attitudes, Attachment Styles, Social Networks, and Psychological Processes in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

ABSTRACT In this study the authors used a cross-cultural approach to examine parental attitudes, attachment styles, social networks, and some of the psychological processes involved in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Fifty-two children (aged 4–11 years) took part in the study: 30 Italians (15 with ASD and 15 controls) and 22 Cubans (11 with ASD and 11 controls). Findings indicated significant differences between the two cultural groups in terms of the structure of the children's social network and parental attitudes toward their children. However, the mother–child attachment relationship and cognitive and emotional functioning of the study participants were independent of culture.

Mother-Child Attachment Representation and Relationships Over Time in Mexican-Heritage Families

Continuity and intergenerational transmission of representations of attachment were examined in a longitudinal sample of 88 Mexican immigrant mothers and their children who participated in the local intervention group of the Early Head Start Evaluation Study. The authors interviewed mothers with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and Parent Attachment Interview (PAI). Mothers and children were observed when the children were 14 months old with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS), and children were interviewed at 54 months with the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. Early maternal AAI and PAI scores were associated with toddler-age children's AQS scores and preschool Story Stem scores. Mothers who were more secure in their attachment representations in the AAI had children who were also more secure, as measured by the AQS and in their Story Stem narratives. Mothers' high comfort and low enmeshment PAI scores predicted children's Story Stem security. Mothers' AAI security scores predicted children's Story Stem narrative coherence.

Representations of Mother-Child Attachment Relationships and Social-Information Processing of Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence

We examined the concurrent associations between early adolescents’ representations of mother-child attachment relationships and how they process social information in their peer relationships. Attachment representations were examined in a normative sample of 97 males and 88 females (mean age = 10.35 years), using an adaptation of the Attachment Doll Story Completion Task. Structural Equation Modeling was used to assess general latent structures of social-information processing (SIP) orientations across the different SIP steps. As expected, secure mother-child attachment representations were positively associated with prosocial SIP orientation and negatively with antisocial SIP orientation. Avoidant attachment was associated negatively with prosocial and distress expression SIP orientations. Ambivalent attachment was positively associated with distress expression SIP orientation. Disorganized attachment was positively associated with SIP distress expression orientation and with antisocial SIP orientation. Results are discussed as reflecting a generalization of social knowledge and regulation strategies from the attachment system to the affiliative system.

Work–family relations among mothers of children with learning disorders

The study examined conflict and facilitation in work–family relations among working mothers of children with learning disorders (LD) or with typical development. The study also focused on three maternal personal resources (maternal anxious/avoidant attachment security, affect and sense of coherence) as antecedents of these work–family relations, and examined outcomes of such conflict and facilitation between the two life domains, as they affected patterns of close relationships within the family (child attachment and family cohesion). The sample included 96 mother–child dyads: 48 mothers and their children with LD; and 48 mothers and their typically developing children. Children’s ages were 8–12 years. All attended public elementary schools in urban areas of central Israel. Significant group differences emerged on mothers’ family to work conflict and on mothers’ work to family facilitation. Findings indicated that several maternal personal resources were antecedents of these relations and also contributed to differences in mother–child attachment relationships and family cohesion. Discussion focused on understanding work–family relations among these mothers of children with LD, as well as the influence of maternal personal resources on patterns of close relationships (i.e., child attachment, family cohesion).