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PubMed2004

When "new" meets "old": configurations of adult attachment representations and their implications for marital functioning.

Two studies addressed the implications of concordance versus discrepancy of attachment representations in individuals at 2 stages in their marital relationships. Engaged (n = 157) and dating (n = 101) couples participated in a multimethod 6-year longitudinal study of adult attachment. Individuals completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the Current Relationship Interview (CRI), and various questionnaires and were observed in interactions with partners. On the basis of AAI and CRI classifications, participants were placed in one of four groups: Secure-sub(AAI)/Secure-sub(CRI), Secure-sub(AAI)/Insecure-sub(CRI), Insecure-sub(AAI)/Secure-sub(CRI), or Insecure-sub(AAI)/Insecure-sub(CRI). Each of the configurations showed a particular pattern of behavior, feelings about relationships and the self, and likelihood of relationship breakup. The findings of the studies address important points about the protective effects of attachment security and have interesting implications for the extension of attachment theory into adulthood.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

[Attachment representation and a projective test with pictures of parent-child interaction].

The purpose of this study was to assess individual differences in attachment representation. They were assessed, not through direct verbal reports, but indirectly as indicated in a projective test. The test required subjects to tell their impressions of pictures, which depicted daily, routine parent-child interactions. A series of pictures were developed for story-making task, which was named PARS (Picture Attachment Related Study). Three hundred and two (302) undergraduate and vocational students were asked to see the pictures, and freely imagine the situation, think what they would feel, and create the further story. They were then to recall their own experiences with their parents, and fill out a questionnaire of how they see their relationship with others. It was found that those who made a trustful PARS story recalled their own attachment experiences in an autonomous way, and had lower distrust in their relationship with others. Thus, results of the projective test were shown to reflect individual personal attachment experiences, and the test be useful.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Narrative assessment of attachment representations: links between secure base scripts and adolescent attachment.

We explored the notion that adolescents possess mental secure base scripts of attachment-related events and examined, for the first time, whether these scripts were linked to adolescent attachment security. Results indicated that adolescents possessed a general script for mother and for father, and that they drew upon these scripts across different contexts. Adolescents' scripts for mother and for father were related, but only the scripts for mother predicted unique variance in adolescents' scripts for nonspecific others. Moreover, greater attachment security (as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview; AAI) was linked to greater access to and knowledge of secure base scripts for mothers, fathers, and nonspecific others. Only mother scripts, however, predicted unique variance in adolescents' AAI coherence of mind scores. Adolescents' romantic-attachment avoidance and anxiety scores (as assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationship Inventory) were linked negatively to scripts for mothers and nonspecific others, respectively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Assessing children's representational attachment models: links to mother-child attachment quality in infancy and childhood.

The authors examined whether the finding of a correspondence between specific behavioral patterns of attachment in infancy and childhood and specific representational patterns in childhood could be replicated using children's responses to a story depicting an imagined parent-child separation experience. The participants were 33 German mothers and their children (16 girls, 17 boys). Attachment quality was assessed via standard and exploratory attachment observations at ages 12 months, 18 months, and 6 years. Chi-square analyses indicated that there was a good level of concordance between the behavioral and representation attachment patterns in infancy and childhood.

Anxiety, Separation↗
PubMed2001

A vicious circle: transgenerational attachment representations in a case of factitious illness by proxy.

Attachment theory offers a robust way to investigate transgenerational child maltreatment; first because there is a coherent theoretical hypothesis of how this might be mediated by the development of insecure working models of relationships, and second, because there is existing evidence from prospective studies that transgenerational attachment patterns can be predicted. Specifically, attachment theory may be particularly useful in cases of Fictitious Illness by Proxy (FIP), where the maltreating behavior is characterized bv disordered illness behavior and care-eliciting. We present a case history, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), which examines attachment and child maltreatment in three generations. A single case history allows for hypothesis generation about the genesis of FIP behavior.

Child Abuse↗
PubMed1999

Attachment representation and emotion regulation in adolescents: a psychobiological perspective on internal working models.

Attachment theory claims that inner working models of attachment substantially control behavioral and emotional regulation. There are different levels of organization of the attachment system following a developmental sequence from basic attachment behaviors at newborn age to a procedural organization in terms of behavioral strategies at the end of the first year to a representational organization later on. Also, the organismic systems underlying emotions and emotional regulation may occur and may be described on different organizational levels. Inner working models are seen as regulatory mechanisms for the interplay between the different organismic systems underlying emotions and emotional regulation. This paper will concentrate on biobehavioral organization. Combining assumptions of attachment theory with assumptions about biobehavioral function may provide the possibility of validating theoretically derived interpretations of the attachment system. Including the physiological processes in addition to the psychological processes enables us to test assumptions about the function of the inner working model with respect to processes that are not accessible by verbal communication and that are not expressed through overt behavior. The paper will provide theoretical and empirical evidence for the contribution of the inner working model of attachment to emotional perception, emotional expression and the coherence of inter-modal organization. The empirical findings suggest that from a developmental perspective the inclusion of different levels of regulation may provide possibilities of studying continuity and stability of individual differences of the attachment system during the life-course both within and across levels.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Assessing secure base behavior in adulthood: development of a measure, links to adult attachment representations, and relations to couples' communication and reports of relationships.

A focus on the secure base phenomenon creates a framework for exploring the function of the attachment system in adulthood. Engaged couples (N = 157) were videotaped in a problem-solving interaction and assessed using the Secure Base Scoring System (SBSS), a system based on Ainsworth's analyses of infant-parent secure base use and support. Study 1 showed behavior was significantly related to representations assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (M. Main & R. Goldwyn, 1994). In Study 2, the interactions were independently scored with the Rapid Marital Interaction Coding System (RMICS; R. E. Heyman & D. Vivian, 1993), a communication-based system. The SBSS predicted relationship variables beyond the RMICS, especially for women. Results indicate that the secure base phenomenon provides a cogent perspective on adult attachment behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Attachment representations in adulthood: relations with parental behaviors.

The paper presents two standardized measurements of attachment. The Strange Situation Procedure is an observational measure of the reaction of 12-18-month-old infants to their parent after being exposed to brief separations from him/her. Four main types of responses are noted, and have been noted in a range of cultures. The second measure is the Adult Attachment Interview which is a semi-structured interview of 18 questions that discusses childhood memories and assesses the current state of mind with regard to attachment issues. Four types of characteristic response styles have been noted in a range of cultures, and this measure seems to be related to certain types of parenting. Studies of the link between the two measures have been complicated, as the adult measure does not include the capacity to be available for the child. A further instrument, the Maternal Empathic Understanding Procedure, designed to assess parent's ability to see things from the child's point of view, is suggested as a possible mediator between parental attachment style and parenting behavior. These studies permit standardized evaluation of parenting skills, facilitate the study of intergenerational transmission of these skills, and suggest the possibility of psychotherapeutic interventions that focus on these areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Script-like attachment representations: steps towards a secure base for further research.

The secure base script method assesses the extent to which attachment relevant narratives reflect access to a secure base script. The reliability and (convergent, predictive) validity of the secure base script measure has been documented in the convergent findings of the various cross-national studies reported in this issue. The instrument's easy administration and coding system promises larger studies focusing on psychometric and substantive questions following from the current set of studies. More specifically, future research with the secure base script may concern its incremental validity, explore scripts of so-called 'earned secure adults', and test the association between scriptedness and (disorganized) attachment in the Strange Situation Procedure.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Attachment representations of deaf adults.

The primary goal of this study was to examine the feasibility of using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) with 50 culturally Deaf adults. Modifications to the standard protocol included using a visual-spatial language (American Sign Language) rather than a spoken language (English), as well as coding and procedural variations from the standardized protocol. Results suggested that the adapted AAI interview and coding processes provided an effective assessment of the state of mind regarding the attachment of Deaf individuals. The expectation that Deaf participants would be less coherent in their AAI transcripts and therefore less likely than hearing individuals to be classified as Autonomous was not supported. The distribution of the classifications of this Deaf sample was not different from existing normative distributions. Moreover, there was no evidence that early separation from parents associated with attendance at a residential school for the Deaf resulted in attachment formations with residential counselors or teachers at the school.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Children of adolescent mothers: attachment representation, maternal depression, and later behavior problems.

Underlying the responses of 34 44-month-old children of adolescent mothers to five attachment narratives were two factors--departure and reunion. The departure factor included disorganized and insecure responses to parents' departure as well as disorganized responses to narratives about children's misbehavior and fear. Scores predicted children's externalizing behavior problems 10 months later and discriminated children in the clinical from those in the normal range for externalizing problems. Maternal depression explained significant additional variance in children's externalizing problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Attachment representation and illness behavior in somatoform disorders.

Somatoform disorders are characterized by high health care utilization and conflictual interactions with health care providers. The aim of the present study was to explore whether patterns of insecure attachment are a prominent feature of somatoform disorder. In addition, the links between insecure attachment and health care utilization were evaluated. Thirty-seven patients with an International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision diagnosis of somatoform disorders and 20 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and education were administered the Adult Attachment Interview. Psychological symptoms and health care utilization were assessed using various self-report measures. There was a clearly higher incidence of insecure attachment in the somatoform group compared with the nonclinical control subjects. In the somatoform group, dismissing attachment occurred approximately twice as frequently as the preoccupied pattern of attachment. The results provide evidence for an association between health care utilization and insecure attachment. Insecure attachment in somatoform disorder may underlie problems in interpersonal functioning and in health care behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Attachment representations in adults with congenital blindness: association with maternal interactive behaviors during childhood.

This study explores how maternal interactive behaviors experienced during the childhood of adults with congenital blindness are associated with their subsequent development and personality. Many researchers have found a high frequency of maternal directiveness and overprotection in sighted mother-congenitally blind child relationships. One open question is whether these behaviors may have negative effects on congenitally blind children's subsequent development, or whether they may have a functionally adaptive-strategic role. The purpose of this study was to discriminate between the two hypotheses. This objective was pursued by adopting the theory of attachment and administering the Adult Attachment Interview to 15 participants with congenital blindness. Results suggested that directive and overprotective maternal behaviors are experienced by the persons with congenital blindness as encouraging and functional as long as they are accompanied by an affective, loving, and supportive attitude. Results did not support the hypothesis that directive and overprotective maternal interactive behaviors have a necessarily negative effect on the development of persons with congenital blindness.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Feedback seeking in children and adolescents: associations with self-perceptions, attachment representations, and depression.

Because the feedback children and adolescents receive is important to their development, 2 experimental studies were designed to examine children's (M = 12 years) and adolescents' (M = 17 years) active selection of the quality of feedback they wish to receive. In both studies evidence emerged that participants' self-perceptions influence their feedback seeking. Participants with positive self-perceptions sought more positive feedback than participants with negative self-perceptions and sought more positive feedback than expected by chance. Participants with negative self-perceptions lacked this tendency to seek positive feedback and sometimes sought less positive feedback than expected by chance. As expected, depression and attachment-related measures were also associated with participants' feedback seeking. Contributions of feedback-seeking patterns to stability and change in children's and adolescents' development are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

[Transmission of binding by mothers and their children in the preschool age].

A new method is presented in order to assess attachment representations in preschoolers. Using the symbolic medium of doll play and story completions the internal representations of attachment in children beyond infancy can be assessed. Additionally the thesis of transmission of attachment across generations was tested empirically in a sample of 28 German families from middle class socioeconomic background as part of longitudinal study. Transmission of attachment means that parents transmit their different attachment representations to preschool-aged children. Secure and insecure attachment representation in mothers assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview, are associated systematically with their childrens' attachment representations coded from the doll play. In the present study the Adult Attachment Interview was conducted with mothers during the fifth year post delivery. Their first-born children, 17 boys and 11 girls with a mean age of 6;4 years participated in the story completion session. Using a two-fold distinction (secure and insecure) as well as a converted 4-level scale of attachment security, results revealed a correspondence between maternal and child attachment representations. According to psychometric indicaters the story completion procedure demonstrates satisfying reliability and convergent validity with the Separation Anxiety Test. Finally, reasons for the high match of mothers' and childrens' attachment representations are discussed. Maternal sensitive behavior, maternal reflection of their own childhood triggered by the observation of their own child, and various learning processes may operate as mediating factors in this case.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Atypical maternal behavior, maternal representations, and infant disorganized attachment.

The data for 197 mother-infant pairs from two longitudinal studies were analyzed to assess relations between maternal attachment representations; atypical maternal behavior, coded with a new tool. Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE), and infant attachment. Both maternal and infant attachment were systematically related to atypical maternal behavior: mothers who were Unresolved on the Adult Attachment Interview and those whose infants were disorganized in the Strange Situation Procedure engaged in more atypical behaviors than those who were not Unresolved and whose infants showed organized patterns of attachment, respectively. Regression analyses indicated that when tested as a mediator, atypical maternal behavior as measured on the AMBIANCE did not reduce the association between maternal Unresolved status and infant disorganized attachment. This may, in part, reflect the fact that our low-risk sample did not include enough cases in the risk categories. These data provide preliminary empirical validation for the AMBIANCE and strengthen the evidence for links between atypical maternal behavior and disorganized attachment but indicate that in addition to maternal attachment representations, other factors must contribute to atypical maternal behavior.

Adolescent↗