Attachment & Human Development最新文献

Background: Fathers remain neglected in attachment research, despite paternal sensitivity being important for children's development. Past research suggested that fathers' parenting may be influenced by contextual factors, including relationship functioning between parents.

Objective: This meta-analysis examined the association between paternal sensitivity and parental relationship functioning, and compared the magnitude of associations to those of maternal sensitivity.

Method: A search conducted across five databases up to February 2023 yielded 44 studies and N = 4,616 fathers (mean father age: 31.7 years; mean child age: 19.1 months). All studies included an observational measure of paternal sensitivity and a measure of parental relationship functioning.

Results: Paternal sensitivity was positively associated with the quality of the co-parenting relationship (r = .13, 95% CI [.01, .25]) and parental romantic relationship (r = .09, 95% CI [.03, .15]).. Associations were similar for mothers and fathers.

Conclusion: This study contributes to our understanding of factors that enhance paternal sensitivity.

Implications: The results of this research may inform family-wide intervention and prevention efforts to support child well-being.

Foster children face an elevated risk of behavioral and mental health challenges, often stemming from early adversities such as abuse, neglect, or parental incapacity. This study assessed attachment representations in 28 Danish foster children (ages 4-10) using the Story Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP). Participants were enrolled in a trial comparing Mentalization-Based Family Therapy (MBT) to Care as Usual (CAU). Foster children showed more attachment disorganization than a community sample (t(27) = 2.474, p = .019). Post-treatment, attachment security increased (z = -3.23, p = .001) and disorganization decreased (z = -2.82, p = .005). Age and gender patterns highlighted the need for specific SSAP norms. SSAP narratives were also coded for content reflecting the children's personal experiences to explore the intersection of their attachment representations and lived experiences. Fifteen children included narrative content of personal experiences, offering qualitative insights. These findings underscore the importance of tailored interventions and further investigation into attachment processes among foster children.

Mary Main played a key role for this study, in which we used an idiographic approach to examine discourse about abuse, trauma, and maltreatment (ATM) among eight mothers with a mild intellectual disability (ID), whose children had been assigned a secure (the "B-group") or disorganized (the "D-group") attachment classification. Thematic analysis yielded six ATM discourse themes: openness; coherence; presence of trauma in consciousness; support; agency in response to crisis; and self-concept and caregiving self-efficacy. Mothers in the B-group provided coherent narratives, were open with the interviewer, had memories of seeking and receiving support, and reflected freely and autonomously on their experiences. Contrastingly, the mothers in the D-group expressed a guarded, closed-off stance towards ATM, difficulties seeking support, helplessness in response to crisis, and poor self-concept and -efficacy. Their adverse experiences were nonetheless highly present in consciousness, albeit in unintegrated forms. Our findings suggest that the D-group mothers may be unresolved with respect to loss/abuse.

Since the development of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in 1985, more than 26,000 AAIs have been administered, coded, and reported, representing 170 (wo-)man-years of work. We used multinomial tests and analyses of correspondence to compare the AAI distributions in various cultural and age groups, in mothers, fathers, high-risk, and clinical samples with the combined samples of North American non-clinical, non-risk mothers (22% dismissing, 53% secure, 8% preoccupied, and 17% unresolved loss or other trauma). Males were more often classified as dismissing and less frequently classified as secure compared to females (except adoptive fathers), and females were more frequently classified as unresolved (but not more often preoccupied) compared to males. A combination of high scores on the unresolved and insecure-preoccupied dimensions was shared by borderline personality disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and gender dysphoria, while combined high scores on the unresolved and insecure-dismissing dimensions characterized anxiety problems, obsessive-compulsive and thought disorders.

I describe the development, with Ruth Goldwyn, Charlie Stanley and others, of the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST); particularly highlighting the pivotal role that Mary Main played in its evolution, and its approach to attachment Disorganization. MCAST is a doll play vignette-completion technique characterizing attachment representations in young school-aged children (4.5-8.5 years). It uses a specific dyadic focus and adapts both Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) methods within its coding procedure, thus allowing a full detailed attachment classification including Disorganisation. I detail how Mary's prior work, insight and continuing support, along with Erik Hesse, in applying these coding systems to play narratives, was crucial to the successful development of the instrument. With selected research data, I then review some of the developmental and clinical issues that MCAST has subsequently addressed, reflected in a 2018 meta-analytic review of 25 studies investigating MCAST Disorganisation.