Representations Of Attachment Relationships Research Articles

Co-creating secure attachment imagery to enhance relational healing

All treatments for adult attachment insecurity include in some form a set of principles and methods that can be termed therapist-as-good-attachment-figure. This relational context is widely and appropriately accepted as a foundation for any attachment-focused therapy. After highlighting some of the principles of this approach, this article describes a therapeutic model that includes using patient-and-therapist co-created imagery of positive attachment experience. This imagery method is intrapersonal, in that it focuses on the patient's inner experience of mental representations of attachment relationships; it is interpersonal, in that the process calls upon the therapist to be highly attuned and responsive — as a good attachment figure — to the patient experiencing the imagery; and it is metainterpersonal, in that the patient experiences the imagined interaction with the positive attachment relationships in the context of the therapist supporting and participating in the process. The use of imagery in this way can be a valuable contribution towards relational healing and adult earned secure attachment.

Exclusion Expected? Cardiac Slowing Upon Peer Exclusion Links Preschool Parent Representations to School‐Age Peer Relationships

Attachment theory proposes that children's representations of interactions with caregivers guide information-processing about others, bridging interpersonal domains. In a longitudinal study (N=165), preschoolers (Mage =5.19years) completed the MacArthur Story Stem Battery to assess parent representations. At school-age (Mage =8.42years), children played a virtual ballgame with peers who eventually excluded them to track event-related cardiac slowing, a physiological correlate of rejection, especially when unexpected. At both ages, parents and teachers reported on peer and emotional problems. During exclusion versus inclusion-related events, cardiac slowing was associated with greater positive parent representations and fewer emerging peer problems. Cardiac slowing served as a mediator between positive parent representations and peer problems, supporting a potential psychophysiological mechanism underlying the generalization of attachment-related representations to peer relationships.

Usage d’Internet en fin de grossesse chez des femmes primipares : lien avec l’attachement et les troubles anxiodépressifs

IntroductionThe pregnancy of a first child is a life event with a strong emotional impact. Like any life event, pregnancy is a time when the need for comfort and support can be increased. The issues related to attachment will be reactivated in future parents and affect the experience of this transition period. Pregnant women with an insecure attachment style would be particularly vulnerable to experiencing pregnancy-specific anxiety. Furthermore, depending on their representations of attachment relationships, future mothers may perceive their partner as more or less supportive. Faced with a lack of perceived support, expectant mothers could turn to other people. Nevertheless, seeking help and support is not always simple. The Internet could be an alternative source of support and information. Indeed, the specificities of online exchanges can allow another mode of exchange and facilitate the search for support, making the Internet a potential source of support. To face anxiety and depression sometimes experienced during pregnancy, social support is essential. It may help pregnant women to grasp the changes related to her new life. Future mothers with a high level of anxiety and depression, or with anxiety-depressive disorders, could use the Internet to find people with whom to exchange and find answers to their questions. The aim of this study is to explore the Internet use related to pregnancy by expectant mothers in relation to their attachment style, perception of social support, and level of anxiety and depression. Materials and methodsThis study is cross-sectional and was conducted among a sample of 28 pregnant women (mean=27.10 years; sd=3.70). To recruit participants, advertisements with a link to the survey were posted and shared on social networks. All the women were expecting their first child and were in the last trimester of their pregnancy. The participants completed an anonymous online survey. The survey assessed Internet use related to pregnancy, attachment style, perceived social support level of anxiety and depression by autoquestionnaires. ResultsPartial correlation analyzes, controlled by time prior to conception, showed a significant relationship between fearful attachment and (1) Internet use for information seeking, (2) Internet use having a perceived effect on emotions. Data revealed that Internet use to exchange and share experiences and emotions is significantly and negatively related to satisfaction of perceived social support. Finally, depression was linked to both Internet use for information seeking and Internet use for counseling and reducing negative emotions. ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that pregnant women with fearful attachment use the Internet to search for information related to pregnancy. This use could be explained by the fact that the fearful attachment is often associated with a higher level of stress. The need for reinsurance could then result in a multiplication of sources of information to handle the issues raised by pregnancy. The link between the level of depression and the use of the Internet to reduce negative affects suggests that the Internet can be perceived as a source of support by expectant mothers. However, the link between the level of depression and the use of the Internet for information seeking questions about the effects of this use. Indeed, the information and testimonies collected on the Internet could also lead to depressive symptomatology in future mothers.

Attachment-Related Representations and Suicidal Ideations in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Adolescents with and without Suicide Attempts: A Pilot Study.

Consistent with the debate surrounding the association between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal intent, and suicidal behavior, and between NSSI and dysregulation processes, we attempted to analyze suicide intent and emotion dysregulation in NSSI adolescents, in the framework of the attachment representations and exploring these clues of emotion dysregulation characteristics of insecure attachment. Furthermore, we intended to focus on these attachment-related segregated systems regarding death and suicidal ideations, to explore how differently they would characterize self-injuring adolescents with and without suicide attempts. Thirty-four NSSI inpatient adolescents, 17 with suicide attempts, 17 without suicide attempts, and 17 healthy controls (age 11-17) were assessed using Adult Attachment Projective, which allows for the classification of attachment status and related emotion dysregulation and segregated systems. The majority of the NSSI group with and without suicide attempts showed unresolved (disorganized) attachment-related representations and clues of damaged reflective functions, whereas only the NSSI with suicide attempts showed clues of impaired interpersonal relationships. The two clinical groups used words expressing suicidal intent, whereas the healthy group did not. Therapists are encouraged not to underestimate suicidal ideation in NSSI regardless of whether or not they have already attempted suicide.

Short Form Version of the Father and Mother Attachment Questionnaire (FMAQ)

The Father and Mother Attachment Questionnaire (FMAQ) is a 30-item self-report measure developed for assessing adolescents’ and young adults’ representations of attachment relationships with each parental figure separately, across three dimensions: quality of emotional bond, separation anxiety, and inhibition of exploration and individuality. Five studies were conducted to develop a short-form of FMAQ and to examine whether this new short measure presented with fit psychometric properties. Study 1 involved Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses with 563 Portuguese adolescents and aim to select the best items to include in the short-form of the FMAQ. Studies 2 to 5 aimed to replicate the reliability and factor structure found in Study 1 through confirmatory factor analysis on independent samples of adolescents, young adults and adults. The IRT results suggested including 15-items in the short-form of FMAQ. The results provide support for the adjustment of the short factor structure, internal consistency, and invariance measurement (among gender of participants and parental roles), and predictive validity across different samples. The results obtained in the five studies indicate that the short-form FMAQ is a reliable instrument to assess the quality of attachment to parents in adolescence and emerging adulthood, as well as to evaluate adults’ perceptions of their parents as attachment figures during their adolescence. Thus, we suggest this short-form as a promising research tool for researchers quickly to assess attachment to parents in these ages taking into account a three-dimensional approach.

Associations between early caregiving and rural, low-SES, African-American children’s representations of attachment relationships

ABSTRACTLittle research has examined the legacy of early maternal care for later attachment representations among low-income and ethnic minority school-aged children. Using data from a sample of 276 rural, low-income, African-American families, this study examined associations between maternal care in infancy and children’s representations of attachment figures in middle childhood. Maternal care was coded from 10-min home-based observations at 6, 15, and 24 months of age. Representations of attachment figures were assessed using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task at 6 years of age. Sensitive maternal care in infancy was not significantly related to attachment security or episodic disorganized behaviors in children’s representations. However, children exposed to more harsh–intrusive parenting during infancy displayed less secure representations of attachment figures in middle childhood and more episodic disorganized behaviors, even after controlling for numerous child and family contextual covariates. Findings inform conceptualizations of attachment formation among rural, low-income, African-American parent–child dyads.

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In This Issue

Children's attachment-related self-worth: a multi-method investigation of postdivorce preschoolers’ relationships with their mothers and peers

Three related hypotheses derived from attachment theory were examined in this multi-informant and multi-method study of 71 postdivorce mothers and their preschool children (40 boys, 31 girls): (1) mother–child interactions observed at home will be related to attachment-related representations by children (Attachment Story Completion Task or ASCT) and mothers (Parent Attachment Interview or PAI); and (2) these variables will be inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms and positively with social support (from mother's parents and the child's father); and (3) mother–child observations and representations will predict teacher-rated peer behavior. Where appropriate, child gender, maternal income, and child receptive language were statistically controlled. More harmonious observed mother–child interactions were associated with children's sense of self-worth in family relationships (ASCT) and maternal accounts of sensitive-effective guidance (PAI). Observational and representational variables were inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers' satisfaction with social support from their parents was indirectly linked to the family variables while social support from the child's father had no measurable effect on the mother–child variables. Mother–child variables and teacher ratings were uncorrelated but explained independent variance in ASCT self-worth scores.

The family drawings of at-risk children: Concurrent relations with contact with incarcerated parents, caregiver behavior, and stress

The current study examined children's attachment representations as assessed with their family drawings in relation to contact with an incarcerated or estranged parent, caregiver behavior, and family stress in a high-risk sample of children (N = 44, M age = 8.14), 55% of whom had incarcerated parents. Greater phone, mail, and physical contact with an incarcerated parent was associated with more role reversal in children's family drawings. Additional results show that child-reports of more hostile caregiver behavior were associated with greater overall insecurity in their family drawings; child and caregiver reports of stress were associated with increased global pathology and bizarreness/dissociation in children's family drawings. Given the lack of research on concurrent familial-based correlates of ratings made of children's family drawings, these results provide additional insights into children's representations of attachment relationships in early middle childhood. Further, the results regarding contact with incarcerated parents have implications for researchers and clinicians working with families impacted by parental incarceration.

Use of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System in an Assessment of an Adolescent in Foster Care

Child maltreatment has been associated with a host of negative outcomes including impaired social relationships (Rogosch, Cicchetti, & Aber, 1995), depression (Toth, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1992), poor self-concept and motivation (Vondra, Barnett, & Cicchetti, 1990), and delinquency and conduct problems (Cook et al., 2005; Grotevant et al., 2006; McCabe, Lucchini, Hough, Yeh, & Hazen, 2005; Ryan & Testa, 2005). An assessment of the mental representation of attachment relationships could offer additional relevant and useful information to the evaluation of youth in foster care, and could inform treatment and placement considerations. The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) is a relatively new measure of internal representations of attachment based on the analysis of a set of stimuli designed to systematically activate the attachment system (George, West, & Pettem, 1997). This article considers the use of the AAP with a maltreated adolescent in a clinical setting and uses a case study to illustrate the components of the AAP that are particularly relevant to case conceptualization and interventions.

The Role of Adolescent Attachment in Moderating and Mediating the Links Between Parent and Adolescent Psychological Symptoms

The present study examined whether adolescent attachment security and attachment-related representations moderate and mediate, respectively, the link between parent symptoms (depressive and anxiety) and adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants were 189 (118 girls) eleventh graders and their parents in a community sample. Results showed that adolescent attachment moderated the connection between parent and adolescent symptoms; in most cases attachment security was more protective if both parents were high on anxiety symptoms or if one parent was high on anxiety but the other parent was low on depressive symptoms. Mediational analyses indicated that representations of their mothers as a secure base mediated the link between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms. Perceptions of fathers as a secure base did not play a mediating role, although paternal depressive symptoms were associated with lower perceptions of the father as a secure base. Neither parent's anxiety symptoms were related to perceptions of the parent as a secure base or to adolescent depressive symptoms.

Attachment Representations and Parental Memories of Incarcerated Fathers

This article presents the findings of a study designed to apply attachment theory concepts to a group of incarcerated fathers in a minimum-security facility. Participants in this convenience sample were either immediate graduates of a 13-week parenting skills program or currently involved in the parenting skills program. This exploratory study sought to examine first, whether the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) could effectively determine current mental representations of attachment relationships with a group of incarcerated fathers. Secondly, to gain further knowledge of this population regarding the impact of familial aspects by use of a survey measure, along with two other standardized measures were implemented. Thirty-eight voluntary subjects participated in the intensive AAI in scheduled individual sessions, completing child abuse additional measures. Differences among a three-category adult attachment classifications and five-category attachment classifications were identified. Both qualitative and quantitative results are discussed.

Links between children's attachment behavior at early school-age, their attachment-related representations, and behavior problems in middle childhood

The objective of the present study was to examine associations between children's attachment behavior at early school-age, dimensions of narrative performance, and behavior problems as assessed in middle childhood. Children's attachment patterns with mother were assessed at age 6 (N = 127) using the Main and Cassidy (1988) separation—reunion classification system. Two years later, these children (N = 109) completed the Narrative Story Stem Battery (Bretherton, Oppenheim, Buchsbaum, Emde, & The MacArthur Narrative Group, 1990), and teachers rated their level of behavior problems using the Social Behavior Questionnaire (Tremblay, Vitaro, Gagnon, Piché, & Royer, 1992). Results indicated that secure children depicted fewer conflict themes in their narratives than did disorganized/controlling children, produced more discipline themes than avoidant children, and had higher coherence scores than ambivalent children. Avoidant children also depicted fewer conflict themes than disorganized/controlling children. Finally, children's narrative conflict themes significantly predicted both level of externalizing and total behavior problems, even after controlling for variance explained by gender and disorganized/controlling attachment behavior. Girls' narratives were more likely to evoke discipline and affection/affiliation themes, and to be more coherent than boys' narratives.

Attachment and Coping Strategies in Middle Childhood Children whose Mothers Have a Mental Health Problem: Implications for Social Work Practice

Mental health has implications for the quality of relationships within a family, particularly between parents and children, but also between other family and non-family members. Previous research has investigated parental reports of attachment in families with mental health problems, but relationship representations as experienced by these children, especially in middle childhood, have not been so frequently investigated. An understanding of children’s representations of attachment relationships and the different coping strategies that may result is important for social work practice when offering support, not only to the children, but also other family members. Methods of investigating attachment, such as the Separation Anxiety Test, have been used to understand the relationship issues, fears and coping strategies of other vulnerable children, and this study was designed specifically to investigate relationship issues in middle childhood children whose mothers had previously been hospitalized with mental health problems. We found that these children tended to be less emotionally open and secure, and generated fewer adaptive coping strategies than children whose mothers had never had mental health problems. Other themes also emerged from the interviews, such as a sense of trust in the parent–child relationship and the ‘containment’ of fears. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

The attachment working models concept: Among other things, we build script-like representations of secure base experiences

Mental representations are of central importance in attachment theory. Most often conceptualized in terms of working models, ideas about mental representation have helped guide both attachment theory and research. At the same time, the working models concept has been criticized as overly extensible, explaining too much and therefore too little. Once unavoidable, such openness is increasingly unnecessary and a threat to the coherence of attachment theory. Cognitive and developmental understanding of mental representation has advanced markedly since Bowlby's day, allowing us to become increasingly specific about how attachment-related representations evolve, interact, and influence affect, cognition, and behavior. This makes it possible to be increasingly specific about mental representations of attachment and secure base experience. Focusing on script-like representations of secure base experience is a useful first step in this direction. Here we define the concept of a secure base script, outline a method for assessing a person's knowledge/access to a secure base script, and review evidence that script-like representations are an important component of the working models concept.

Representations of Attachment Relationships in Children of Incarcerated Mothers

Representations of attachment relationships were assessed in 54 children ages 2.5 to 7.5 years whose mothers were currently incarcerated. Consistent with their high-risk status, most (63%) children were classified as having insecure relationships with mothers and caregivers. Secure relationships were more likely when children lived in a stable caregiving situation, when children reacted to separation from the mother with sadness rather than anger, and when children were older. Common reactions to initial separation included sadness, worry, confusion, anger, loneliness, sleep problems, and developmental regressions. Results highlight need for support in families affected by maternal imprisonment, especially efforts to promote stable, continuous placements for children, in addition to underscoring the importance of longitudinal research with this growing but understudied group.

Reconstructive memory related to adolescent-parent conflict interactions: the influence of attachment-related representations on immediate perceptions and changes in perceptions over time.

This investigation examined the hypothesis that individuals change, over time, their perceptions of interactions with attachment figures in ways that are consistent with their attachment-related representations of those individuals. In an original and a replication study, adolescents participated in laboratory conflict discussions with each of their parents. Adolescents rated their perceptions of the interactions immediately after the conflict discussions, then again 6 weeks later. Results indicated that (a) adolescents' immediate perceptions of the interactions were influenced by their attachment-related representations of their parents, and (b) adolescents' perceptions, over a period of 6 weeks, shifted such that their later perceptions were more congruent with their attachment-related representations than were their immediate perceptions. Implications for the continuity of relational models and relationship patterns are discussed.

Caregiver models of self and others, coping, and depression: Predictors of depression in children with chronic pain.

In a sample of 59 chronically ill pediatric patients and their maternal caregivers, both child-reported pain and caregiver-reported depression predicted child-reported depression. Results further suggested that the association between pain and depression in children is ameliorated by caregiver coping strategies and that how caregivers cope is a function of their attachment-related representations of the self and others. Caregivers with a negative model of the self were more depressed. and those with a negative model of others were more prone to use avoidant coping strategies, and, in turn, to be more depressed. However, the extent to which caregivers with negative models of self used more avoidant and less approach coping appeared to depend on whether they perceived that others were likely to respond to their needs.

Caregiver models of self and others, coping, and depression: Predictors of depression in children with chronic pain.

In a sample of 59 chronically ill pediatric patients and their maternal caregivers, both child-reported pain and caregiver-reported depression predicted child-reported depression. Results further suggested that the association between pain and depression in children is ameliorated by caregiver coping strategies and that how caregivers cope is a function of their attachment-related representations of the self and others. Caregivers with a negative model of the self were more depressed, and those with a negative model of others were more prone to use avoidant coping strategies, and, in turn, to be more depressed. However. the extent to which caregivers with negative models of self used more avoidant and less approach coping appeared to depend on whether they perceived that others were likely to respond to their needs.

Attachment security and adjustment to school in middle childhood

The concurrent association between security of attachment and adaptive functioning at school in middle childhood was examined. A sample of 113 children of 4th and 5th grade ” lled out a self-report measure of attachment security (Kerns, Klepac, & Cole, 1996) and were administered the Doll Story Completion task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990b) modi” ed for use with children in middle childhood to assess the quality and the security of attachment-related representations of the relationship with the mother. According to the latter measure children were classi” ed as secure, avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganised with regard to attachment. Their teachers completed several questionnaires assessing each child’s academic achievement, emotional and social adjustment, and frequency of behavioural problems. In addition, each participating class underwent a sociometric procedure. Findings based on correlations and comparisons of attachment groups indicated that secure children showed better adjustment to school as reflected in teachers’ reports of scholastic, emotional, social, and behavioural adjustment, as well as in peer-rated social status. Avoidant and disorganised children showed the poorest adjustment. Findings indicated the usefulness of attachment theory in understanding adjustment to the school environment in middle childhood.