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Results for “Attachment representation”

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PubMed1999

Frightening maternal behavior linking unresolved loss and disorganized infant attachment.

Main and Hesse's (1990) model in which frightening (threatening, frightened, or dissociated) parental behavior explains why infants of parents with unresolved loss develop disorganized attachment relationships was tested. Unresolved loss using the Adult Attachment Interview in a nonclinical middle-class sample of 85 mothers who had experienced the loss of someone important was assessed. Disorganized attachment was examined in the Strange Situation. Parental behavior was recorded during 22-hr home visits. The model applied to mothers with currently insecure attachment representations. Secure mothers with unresolved loss displayed less frightening behavior than other mothers, and unresolved loss in secure mothers did not predict disorganized attachment of their infants. Frightening behavior predicted infant disorganized attachment irrespective of maternal security.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Representations of early family relationships predict marital maintenance during the transition to parenthood.

Marital maintenance, which involves engaging in behaviors that maintain closeness and is critical to sustaining marital satisfaction, was examined in 234 husbands and wives across the transition to parenthood. Prenatal assessments of adults' attachment representations and memories of their parents' marriage during childhood predicted perceptions of maintenance in their own marriage prenatally and 24 months postpartum. Adults who dismiss the importance of early attachment and lack believable memories of their parents' marriage reported the lowest levels of prenatal maintenance. Adults who are preoccupied with their early relationships with parents and have negative memories of their parents' marriage reported the sharpest declines in maintenance postpartum. Family interventions that can help couples recognize and explore problems that may accompany parenthood are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The differential relevance of attachment classification for psychological disorders].

In recent years, there is a growing acceptance of attachment theory in different fields of psychosocial medicine. This article reviews findings of clinical attachment research - mainly based upon the Adult Attachment Interview - related to three psychological disorders, i.e. Anxiety Disorders, Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder. Whilst there are some indications for a differentiation of de- and hyperactivating attachment strategies connected to depressive disorders, the findings related to anxiety and Borderline Personality Disorders clearly indicate a predominance of preoccupied attachment patterns combined unresolved traumatic experiences. The need for a further differentiation of attachment related features within clinical samples should be considered in the future. Specifically, a differentiation of "organized" vs. "disorganized" attachment representations seems to be promising.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1999

Structure and functions of internal working models of attachment and their role for emotion regulation.

The concept of organization in the service of adaptation has been applied to attachment theory (Sroufe & Waters, 1977) as well as to a variety of life sciences (Ryan, Kuhi & Deci, 1997). Internal working models (IWMs) are postulated as providing organizing structure to the attachment behavior system controlling attachment behaviors toward caregivers and, with increasing age, autonomous individual adaptation. While many theoretical specifications have been suggested on that topic (e.g. Bretherton, 1987, 1990; Bretherton & Munholland, 1999; Main, Kaplan & Cassidy, 1985; Sroufe & Fleeson, 1986), empirical studies focusing directly on the structure or functions of internal working models are rare. Knowledge about the structure and functioning of IWMs could add to the understanding of the developmental influences of the attachment organization across the life-span. In this paper two topics will be addressed shortly and related to an empirical investigation concerning the relationship between attachment representations during late adolescence and emotion regulation patterns: (1) structure and functions of IWMs in terms of information-processing and emotion and behavior regulation; and (2) the transfer from IWMs of self-with-attachment figures to adaptive personality structures based on autonomous self-regulation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Expectant parents' representations of early attachment relationships: associations with mental health and family history.

The association between adult representations of early attachment relationships and history of individual and family mental health was examined in a sample of 233 expectant mothers and fathers. As predicted, security of attachment was linked to mental health. Parents classified as Preoccupied were more likely than other parents to report suicidal ideation. Whereas parents classified as Unresolved more often reported suicidal ideation, emotional distress, and substance abuse. With respect to family history. Unresolved and Preoccupied attachment classifications were significantly related to child abuse involving a relative and parental separation or divorce. These findings support theoretical conceptualizations regarding the link between adult attachment and mental health in middle-class American adults.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Schemas, sexuality, and romantic attachment.

One's self-views are powerful regulators of both cognitive processing and behavioral responding. Sexual self-schemas are cognitive generalizations about sexual aspects of the self. The bivariate sexual self-schema model, which posits independent effects of positive and negative components of women's sexual self-views, was tested. Three hundred eighteen female undergraduates completed anonymous questionnaires, including the Sexual Self-Schema Scale and assessments of sexual responses and romantic attachment patterns. Results extended knowledge of positive-negative schema group contrasts and distinguished the response patterns of the aschematic and co-schematic groups. As predicted, aschematics reported low levels of sexual desire, arousal, and anxiety, and weak romantic attachments, whereas co-schematics endorsed conflicting positive and negative responses to sexual-romantic cues. In addition, path analyses supported the bivariate model. Finally, findings are related to theories of attachment representations within the cognitive hierarchy of the self.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Maternal characteristics and toddler temperament in infantile anorexia.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between specific maternal characteristics, maternal perceptions of toddler temperament, and infantile anorexia. METHOD: Three groups of toddlers (aged 12-37 months) participated in this study: toddlers with infantile anorexia (n = 34), picky eaters (n = 34), and healthy eaters (n = 34). Mothers completed questionnaires that assessed their own eating attitudes, marital satisfaction, and their toddlers' temperament, and an interview that explored their attachment representations. Mothers and toddlers were videotaped during a feeding session, and toddlers were weighed and measured. RESULTS: Temperament ratings differentiated between infantile anorexics and healthy eaters (p < .0001), with infantile anorexics receiving higher difficulty, irregularity, negativity, dependence, and unstoppable ratings. Mothers of anorexics showed greater attachment insecurity than mothers of healthy eaters (p < .05), but they demonstrated neither overt eating pathology nor less marital satisfaction than the other groups. Thirty-nine percent of variance in feeding conflict was explained by toddlers' diagnoses, temperament ratings, and maternal characteristics. Twenty-one percent of variance in toddlers' weights was explained by temperament ratings and feeding conflict. CONCLUSION: Maternal characteristics and perceptions of their toddlers' temperament characteristics should be addressed in treatment for infantile anorexia.

Anorexia↗
PubMed2000

Maternal attachment and sensitivity in an at-risk sample.

This study investigated the relationship between adult attachment status and maternal sensitivity in a sample of 30 at-risk mother-child dyads. The children were 18-42 months old with an equal distribution of boys and girls that were at risk for compromised development due to a number of social, emotional and environmental factors. Using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) it was found that only 17% of the mothers were classified as autonomous, while 83% were classified as anxious regarding attachment. Sensitivity was measured using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) (Biringen, Robinson, & Emde, 1993). Each mother-child pair was video-taped in their home during a 30-minute interactional sequence in which they played with a given set of toys. Only the results from the Maternal Sensitivity Scale are reported here. Mothers who were free to evaluate their attachment experiences on the AAI were most sensitive. Mothers who showed anxiety in evaluating attachment, as a group, while undoubtedly caring and concerned, were less sensitive. There was, however, wide variability within the group of mothers with anxious attachment representations, Preoccupied mothers showing the least optimal interactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Intervention in transmission of insecure attachment: a case study.

Several attachment-based intervention studies have been performed, with varying success. An important question is whether short-term interventions can be successful in promoting parental sensitivity and security of infant-parent attachment as well as in changing parental representations of attachment. We investigated this issue in an exploratory way in a case study. A short-term home-based intervention with written material and video feedback, which was effective regarding parental sensitivity and infant security in a former study, was provided a parent who revealed an insecure attachment representation in the Adult Attachment Interview. The intervention sessions were expanded with discussions about past and present experiences of attachment. After four intervention sessions the mother's behavior towards her child was rated as more sensitive than before the intervention. Also, the infant-mother attachment, as observed in the Strange Situation, appeared to be more secure. Nevertheless, in a second Adult Attachment Interview administered after the intervention, the mother showed again an insecure representation of attachment. Possible implications of these results are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Transference and attachment: how do attachment patterns get carried forward from one relationship to the next?

This research investigated how working models of attachment are carried forward from one relationship to the next. A two-part study was conducted in which participants learned about two potential dating partners: one that was constructed to resemble a romantic partner from their past and one that resembled a partner from another participant's past. Results showed that people applied their attachment representations of past partners to both targets but did so to a greater degree when the target resembled a past partner. People also tended to feel more anxious and less avoidant toward the target that resembled their past partner. Overall, the findings were consistent with the hypothesis that working models of attachment are transferred in both general and selective ways in new relationships.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Disturbed attachment and negative affective style. An intergenerational spiral.

The relationship between the quality of parents' attachment to their own parents and the quality of affective style was examined with a sample of 49 severely disturbed young adults and adolescents and their families receiving long-term in-patient treatment. Measures reflecting disturbances in attachment of parents to their own parents, derived from a five-minute speech sample task, were strongly associated with measures of negative affective style (e.g., criticism, intrusiveness and guilt induction) in face-to-face interactions with the disturbed offspring, as assessed through videotaped discussions of conflictual family issues after three months of treatment. The most significant findings involved the linkages between disturbances in the mother's attachment to her own mother and the degree of negative affect directed at the child patient. The association between disturbed intergenerational parental attachments and negative affective style supports the hypothesis that the parent's own internal burdens, stemming from disturbed attachment representations, particularly of the same-sex parent, may be a driving force behind the negative affect they display in interactions with their disturbed offspring.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Unresolved attachment, PTSD, and dissociation in women with childhood abuse histories.

The primary objective of this study was to examine unresolved trauma as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview and current psychiatric symptoms, focusing on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociation, in a group of adult female childhood abuse survivors. The authors examined psychiatric symptoms and attachment representations in a group with (n = 30) and without (n = 30) abuse-related PTSD. The findings revealed that unresolved trauma carried a 7.5-fold increase in the likelihood of being diagnosed with PTSD and was most strongly associated with PTSD avoidant symptoms rather than dissociative symptoms. The utility of a PTSD framework for understanding unresolved trauma and the role of intentional avoidance of trauma cues in the maintenance of traumatized states of mind are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Discriminant validity of the adult attachment interview.

The Adult Attachment Interview is a semi-structured interview developed to investigate adults' attachment representations. Subjects are asked to describe their parents as caregivers, explain these descriptions, describe how their parents typically responded to distress, and discuss their current relationships with their parents. They are also asked to describe any significant losses and/or instances of abuse during childhood. Scoring focuses on the accessibility of early experiences to memory and the coherence and plausibility of the subject's narrative. Discriminant validity is always an important issue with such measures because IQ and other cognitively loaded variables offer plausible alternative interpretations or represent important correlates that should be treated as covariates when the measure is used. In addition, complex, multifaceted interviews always pose the risk of assessing general social adjustment rather than a more narrowly defined construct. This study examines the discriminant validity of the AAI vis(-)à-vis intelligence, social desirability, discourse style, and general social adjustment in a sample of 53 native-English-speaking, married women with preschool children. They were assessed with the AAI, a written IQ test, the Social Adjustment Scale, the Employment Experience Interview (discourse style), and a measure of social desirability. There were modest but significant correlations with IQ scores and social adjustment. There was no relation between AAI classifications and discourse style or social desirability. These results substantially strengthen the case for interpreting the AAI as an attachment-related measure.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Interwining operators and automorphic forms for the metaplectic group.

The local results announced in this paper concern the analytic continuation of interwining operators for the metaplectic covering group of SL(2) over an arbitrary local field and the decomposition of Weil's representation attached to the quadratic form q(x) = x(2). The global results concern Eisenstein series on the metaplectic group and a Siegel-Weil type formula relating the residues of these series to certain generalized theta functions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Perceived relationships with parents and paranoid delusions: comparisons of currently ill, remitted and normal participants.

BACKGROUND: Paranoid delusions are associated with abnormal attributions and abnormal beliefs about the self. Some researchers have also reported an association between paranoid beliefs and abnormal attachment representations. SAMPLING AND METHODS: Perceptions of relationships with the family of origin were measured in 14 currently ill paranoid patients, 9 remitted paranoid patients and 15 healthy controls, using two methods: the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and the Relationship with Family of Origin Scale (REFAMOS), an interview-based assessment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: On the PBI, both currently ill and remitted patients reported low parental care and overprotectiveness during childhood. Similar negative accounts of relationships with parents during the 16-20 years age period, and also at the time of assessment, were elicited from both the ill and remitted patients on the REFAMOS. These findings might reflect the influence of illness on patients' perceptions of their parents. However, the fact that the remitted patients did not differ from the currently ill patients raises the possibility that dysfunctional relationships are a common feature of the history of paranoid patients, perhaps contributing to the development of paranoid thinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

The association between spouses' self-reports of attachment styles and representations of family dynamics.

The current research assesses the association between spouses' self-reports of attachment style and their perceptions of family dynamics. The sample included 93 Israeli married couples with young children. Both husbands and wives completed the adult attachment style scale and the perceived and ideal versions of FACES III. Findings showed that spouses whose self-reports endorsed the secure style perceived relatively high levels of family cohesion and adaptability; persons who endorsed the anxious-ambivalent style reported high levels of family cohesion but low levels of adaptability; and persons who endorsed the avoidant style reported relatively low levels of both family dimensions. In addition, significant associations were found between reports of attachment styles, on the one hand, and ideal representations of family dynamics, the marital partner's representations of family dynamics, and spouses' discrepancies in these representations, on the other. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment theory.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Developmental protective and risk factors in borderline personality disorder: a study using the Adult Attachment Interview.

Mental representations and attachment in a sample of adults with Borderline Personality Disorder were assessed using the George, Kaplan and Main (1985) Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Eighty subjects participated in the study: 40 nonclinical and 40 with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The results obtained showed a specific distribution of attachment patterns in the clinical sample: free/autonomous subjects (F) represented only 7%, dismissing classifications (Ds) reached about 20%, entangled/preoccupied (E) 23% and unresolved with traumatic experiences (U) 50%. The two samples differed in their attachment patterns distribution by two (secure vs. insecure status), three (F, Ds and E) and four-way (F, Ds, E and U) categories comparisons. In order to identify more specific protective or risk factors of BPD, 25 one-way ANOVAs with clinical status as variable (clinical vs. nonclinical) were conducted on each scale of the coding system of the interview. Results support the hypothesis that some developmental relational experiences seem to constitute pivotal risk factors underlying this disorder. Results demonstrated potential benefits in using AAI scales in addition to the traditional categories. Implications for research and treatment are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Transgenerational promotion of binding: correlation between mental binding models of mothers, binding patterns of their infants and perception and behavior of mothers in transition to parenthood].

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George et al. 1996) was conducted with 28 mothers in order to assess their mental representations of attachment 4 years after giving birth to their first child. The interviews were coded and classified according to the method of Main and Goldwyn (1994). Using longitudinal data from the "Heidelberg Study on Transition to Parenthood", a significant correspondence was found between mothers' attachment representations and their childrens' patterns of attachment in the Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure after the first year of life. Additionally, further connections emerged between the mothers' attachment representation, their pre and post natal conceptions of their first child, their early bonding behavior, and their sensitive behavior with their 5-month-old infant in family interactions at home. These findings support the assumption of a transgenerational transmission of attachment quality and moreover indicate the usefulness of the Adult Attachment Interview in German-speaking countries, especially for studies on the transition to parenthood.

Adult↗