Sleep and Attachment in Preterm Infants

Infants born preterm are at elevated risk for socioemotional difficulties; however, factors contributing to this risk are largely understudied. Within the present study, we explored infant sleep as a biosocial factor that may play a role in infant socioemotional development. Within a prospective longitudinal design, we examined parent‐reported sleep patterns and observed parenting quality as predictors of infant–mother attachment in 171 infants born preterm. Using structural equation modeling, we examined main effect and moderator models linking infant sleep patterns and parenting with attachment security. Sleep patterns characterized by more daytime sleep and positive/responsive parenting predicted infant attachment security. Parent‐reported nighttime sleep patterns were unrelated to attachment in this sample of infants born preterm. These results indicate that daytime sleep and parenting quality may be important for emerging attachment relationships in infants born preterm.     

Anxious attachment and psychological distress in cardiac rehabilitation patients

This study investigated the relevance of anxious attachment to the differentiation of psychologically distressed and non-psychologically distressed cardiac patients. Attachment is a biologically based behavioral system in which proximity to a special other is sought or maintained to achieve a sense of safety and security. Anxious attachment, as the name denotes, fails to achieve the function of attachment in the sense of individuals having little or no confidence in the availability of their attachment figures. Empirically, three scales (feared loss of the attachment figure, proximity seeking and separation protest) capture the features of anxious attachment as elaborated by Bowlby. These scales were administered to 178 cardiac rehabilitation patients drawn from the cardiac rehabilitation program of the Calgary General Hospital. The results indicate that feared loss and proximity seeking differentiated psychologically distressed from non-psychologically distressed patients. The implications of this finding for the understanding of psychologically distressed cardiac patients are discussed.     

Relationships between adult attachment representations and family ritual quality: a prospective, longitudinal study

Meaningful family rituals have been associated with positive outcomes for families and children. No studies, however, have investigated predictors of family ritual quality, the identification of which would be important for understanding why some families create and enact meaningful family rituals while others lack rituals or have problematic rituals. We propose that adult attachment security may be an important predictor of family ritual quality because family rituals may provide a sense of stability and cohesiveness for the family. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between adult attachment representations and the quality of family rituals, using a prospective, longitudinal design. Prior to the birth of their first child, 125 couples completed the Adult Attachment Interview, and a subsample of 70 mothers and 62 fathers completed the Family Rituals Questionnaire when their first child was 7 years old. Different patterns of relationships between attachment representations and family rituals were found for mothers and fathers. Maternal Insecure Attachment was associated with higher routinization of family rituals. Being in a couple with mixed attachment classifications (e.g., one Secure partner and one Insecure partner) was related to a pattern of low routinization and low meaning for family rituals. The results of this study are interpreted in terms of two patterns of rituals that have been described by clinicians--rigid ritualization and underritualization, and suggestions for working with these ritual patterns in families with Insecure attachment are provided.     

Understanding attachment security in family context

Attachment theory (J. Bowlby, 1969) is not just about how internalized models of relationships affect interpersonal outcomes; it is primarily a theory about how interpersonal processes affect social and cognitive development. This study tested 3 hypotheses about the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security: (a) attachment security is relationship specific, (b) characteristics of partners affect attachment security, and (c) security of attachment is reciprocated. Measures of attachment security were obtained from 2 parents and 2 children (adolescent or older) in 208 middle-class families. Results of social relations model analysis (D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984) supported all 3 hypotheses. The author concludes that internal working models of relationships may not be so "internal" after all and that greater emphasis on the interpersonal sources of adult attachment security is warranted.     

Consistency and inconsistency in infant emotional and social interactive behavior across contexts and caregivers

This study examined consistency in infant emotional and social interactive behavior in stressful and nonstressful situations with mothers and fathers. Infants were seen at 12 and 13 months, once with each parent. Emotion was assessed during free play and the Strange Situation. Strange Situation social interactive behaviors were also examined. Results demonstrated that (a) proximity seeking and contact maintaining are consistent cross-parent, (b) emotion is more consistent from free play to the Strange Situation with the father than with the mother, and (c) emotion is primarily consistent cross-parent within the Strange Situation, not in free play. These results suggest both infant- and relationship-based determinants of behavior within the Strange Situation. The greater cross-context consistency in infant emotion with the father is interpreted as supportive of the view that infant—father interactions reflect primarily affiliative, rather than attachment, relationships.     

Attachment security in couple relationships: a systemic model and its implications for family dynamics

Theory and research on adult attachment style emphasize the crucial role that the sense of attachment security plays in the formation and maintenance of couple relationships. In the present article, we review studies that have examined the contribution of adult attachment style to relational cognitions, emotions, and behaviors as well as to the formation, quality, and stability of dating and marital relationships. We discuss some of the measurement and design issues raised by this research. Based on the reviewed findings, we provide an integrative, systemic theoretical model delineating how the links between partners' attachment security and the quality of their couple relationship occurs. Finally, we discuss the implications of this model for the understanding of how attachment style and couple relationships combine to affect the family system in general, and parent-child relationships and children's developmental outcomes, in particular.     

Attachment, self-esteem, worldviews, and terror management: evidence for a tripartite security system

On the basis of prior work integrating attachment theory and terror management theory, the authors propose a model of a tripartite security system consisting of dynamically interrelated attachment, self-esteem, and worldview processes. Four studies are presented that, combined with existing evidence, support the prediction derived from the model that threats to one component of the security system result in compensatory defensive activation of other components. Further, the authors predicted and found that individual differences in attachment style moderate the defenses. In Studies 1 and 2, attachment threats motivated worldview defense among anxiously attached participants and motivated self-enhancement (especially among avoidant participants), effects similar to those caused by mortality salience. In Studies 3 and 4, a worldview threat and a self-esteem threat caused attachment-related proximity seeking among fearful participants and avoidance of proximity among dismissing participants. The authors' model provides an overarching framework within which to study attachment, self-esteem, and worldviews.     

To Know and Be Known: An Intimacy‐Based Explanation for the Gender Gap in Biblical Literalism

We assess the gender gap in U.S. Christianity by examining in a national sample (Baylor Religion Survey 2010) a particularly robust measure of religiosity: biblical literalism. Women are more likely to report biblical literalism than men in bivariate comparisons, but we argue that intimate attachment to God is a related intervening mechanism. The results of this study indicate: (1) intimate attachment to God is associated with more literal views of the Bible, (2) after accounting for attachment to God women are no longer associated with increased literalism, (3) divine proximity‐seeking behaviors are associated with more literal views of the Bible, (4) proximity‐seeking moderates the relationship between attachment to God and Bible views, and (5) gender moderates the relationship between both attachment to God and proximity‐seeking behaviors and Bible views. The evidence presented here provides a plausible mechanism by which gender differences in biblical literalism may be accounted for.     

成人依恋、情绪调节与主观幸福感:重新评价和表达抑制的中介作用

通过对1163名大学生被试进行成人依恋关系、情绪调节策略的使用以及主观幸福感的测查,该研究从情绪调节这一新的视角,深入探讨了成人依恋对主观幸福感产生影响的可能机制。结果发现:重新评价策略的使用在依恋安全对主观幸福感影响中具有重要的中介作用;依恋回避直接影响个体的主观幸福感;表达抑制对主观幸福感影响不显著。这些结果表明重新评价策略的使用是成人依恋关系影响个体主观幸福感的一个重要途径。     

Child–Mother Attachment Security and Child Characteristics as Joint Contributors to Young Children's Coping in a Challenging Situation

Moderate challenges provide opportunities for young children to develop coping skills, yet little is known about factors related to individual differences in early coping. This study investigated child–mother attachment security (9‐point rating) assessed via a modified Strange Situation procedure, child expressive language, and child social fearfulness as contributors to coping responses among 33‐month‐old children (N = 128, 66 girls) following receipt of an empty gift box. Associations between child–mother attachment security and child coping were moderated by child characteristics. As hypothesized, greater attachment security was associated with more action towards the stressor (i.e. vocalizing about the empty box and searching for the missing gift), but only for children high on social fearfulness. Further, greater attachment security was associated with seeking more physical proximity to mothers for children low on expressive language and less physical proximity for children high on expressive language. Lastly, greater attachment security was related to more self‐distraction for children with moderate to high expressive language. Results are discussed in terms of child–mother attachment security as a psychological resource constructed over time, which the child may draw upon when confronted with a moderate non‐attachment‐related stressor. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fan Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities

The theories of Levinson (1986 Am Psychol 41(1):3?C13) and Erikson (1959 Identity and the life cycle. WW Norton and Co, New York, 1968 Youth and crisis. WW Norton and Co, New York), Bandura??s (1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs) Social Cognitive Theory, and the ethological attachment theories of Bowlby (1969 Attachment and loss, Vol. 1, attachment. Hogarth, London), and Ainsworth (1978 Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale) are used in a discussion of the para-social and social relationships that fans have with celebrities. Fans?? attachments to celebrities play primary and secondary roles in the developmental stages of adulthood and transitions between those stages. Celebrities are role models for adults, and attachment develops in much the same way it develops in face-to-face relationships, e.g. through proximity and familiarity with the face, voice, and manner of the celebrity. Included are examples from the fan research of the author. One conclusion is that fan attachments are often part of the normal course of adult development in the areas of identity, intimacy, and generativity. Additionally, application of Levinson??s concept of stage transitions suggested that this might be a time when relationships with celebrities are more likely to begin.     

Infants' behavior with their mothers and grandmothers

Grandparents are a relatively neglected part of children's social network. In order to look at attachment behavior of young children toward their grandmothers, the present study examined infants' behavior in a play-separation situation with their mothers and maternal grandmothers. In a series of 13 3-min segments, mothers, grandmothers, and strangers were signaled in turn to leave the room and to return. The infants' (N=30) playroom behavior was examined by measuring duration of play, cry, proximity to each adult, hold by each adult, and proximity to the door. In this situation, mothers and grandmothers were treated almost interchangeably, while strangers were treated as strangers. These findings did not vary by amount of contact (from daily to twice a month), age of infant (12 to 24 months), or “birth order” of the grandchild. The findings may be specific to middle-class, stable families in which the grandmother lives nearby and has frequent contact with the grandchild. From these data, grandmother is seen as one who can serve some of the same functions as an attachment figure and who is able to play an important role in the young child's social development.     

A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis of Self-Report Measures of Adult Attachment

This study is a reliability generalization meta-analysis that reviews 5 of the most frequently used continuous measures of adult attachment security: the Adult Attachment Scale, Revised Adult Attachment Scale, Adult Attachment Questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships, and Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised. A total of 313,462 individuals from 564 studies provided 1,629 internal consistency reliability estimates for this meta-analysis. We present the average internal consistency reliability of scores for each measure and test the consistency of score reliabilities across a wide variety of sample characteristics. In light of this, we highlight several issues in the measurement of adult attachment security and make concrete recommendations for researchers seeking to measure adult attachment.     

The attachment system in fledgling relationships: an activating role for attachment anxiety

Is it sensible to study attachment dynamics between potential romantic partners before they share a full-fledged attachment bond? The present data indicate that such an approach may reveal novel insights about initial attraction processes. Four studies suggest that the state-like experience of attachment anxiety has functional implications within fledgling (i.e., desired or undeveloped) romantic relationships, well before the formation of an attachment bond. Studies 1 and 3 reveal that attachment anxiety directed toward a particular romantic interest is elevated before (in comparison with after) participants report being in an established relationship. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that such partner-specific attachment anxiety predicts attachment-relevant outcomes in fledgling relationships, including proximity seeking, safe haven, secure base, passionate love, and other approach behaviors. These associations were reliable above and beyond (and were typically as strong as or stronger than) the effect of sexual desire. Finally, Study 4 presents evidence that partner-specific attachment anxiety may cause several of these attachment-relevant outcomes. Attachment anxiety seems to be a normative experience and may signal the activation of the attachment system during the earliest stages of romantic relationships.     

A longitudinal study of Q‐sort attachment security and self‐processes at age 5

Attachment theory predicts that a sense of self emerges from early interactive relationships with significant others. In the current study, concurrent and predictive relations of child–mother Q‐sort attachment security to self‐concept and self‐esteem in 5‐year‐old children is examined. Concurrent attachment security scores are positively related to a puppet interview measure of self‐esteem, and children who are able to admit imperfections in themselves have higher attachment security scores at age 5. Attachment security at age 2 is not positively related to self‐processes, however, and security at either age does not predict overall self‐concept as measured by the Harter Scales. The results suggest that a secure attachment relationship is important for children to feel comfortable in presenting a realistic perspective of themselves.     

Individual differences in adult attachment: Disentangling two assessment traditions

The goal of this paper was to disentangle the contributions of type of measurement and relational domain to the lack of concordance between adult attachment measures. Eighty-six college students completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and self-reported measures of attachment security adapted to their relationships with four different relational partners. Results showed that whereas the AAI main dimensions were unrelated to self-reports relative to any partner, reports of attachment security with different partners were interrelated. Further, very few of the AAI State of Mind scales related to self-reported attachment security, but the AAI Experience scales did relate to self-reports in a theoretically consistent manner. Finally, the AAI scales of Idealization and Lack of Recall correlated positively with self-reported attachment when controlling for experiences reported on the AAI. The results suggest that a fundamental distinction between adult attachment measures could be the degree of automaticity of the constructs tapped, and that attachment self-reports may be biased by defensive information-processing strategies among dismissing individuals.     

恋爱中大学生依恋焦虑与心理健康的关系：恋爱关系质量的中介和调节作用

依恋焦虑与个体心理健康存在密切关联,恋爱关系质量可能在二者关系中发挥着重要作用。本文以595名处于恋爱关系中的大学生为被试,探讨了恋爱关系质量在大学生依恋焦虑与心理健康关系中的作用。结果表明,恋爱关系质量在大学生依恋焦虑与心理健康的关系中既发挥着中介作用,也发挥着调节作用。一方面,依恋焦虑能够通过影响恋爱关系质量对心理健康造成影响,另一方面,高质量的恋爱关系能够缓解依恋焦虑对心理健康的消极影响。     

Attachment,caregiving, and marital satisfaction

This research tested the proposition that attachment and caregiving are central, interrelated components of adult love relationships. A sample of 229 married couples was used to assess the association between attachment and caregiving styles and the implications of these variables for marital satisfaction. There was evidence of partner matching in terms of dimensions of attachment (Comfort with closeness, Anxiety over relationships) and caregiving (Responsive care, Compulsive care). Secure attachment (high Comfort with closeness, low Anxiety over relationships) was associated with beneficial caregiving to the spouse (high Responsive care, low Compulsive care). These associations were modest in size, however, suggesting that attachment and caregiving are separate constructs; further, these constructs were related in different ways to retrospective reports of early parenting. Marital satisfaction was higher for securely attached spouses, and for those whose partners reported more beneficial caregiving. For husbands, however, the link between caregiving and satisfaction was restricted to short-term marriages, and to those high in Anxiety over relationships. Overall, the results support the role of attachment and caregiving in marriage, but suggest that variables such as gender have important moderating effects.     

祖辈共同养育背景下多重依恋关系及对幼儿社会-情绪性发展的影响

采用依恋Q-Set分类程序考察72名幼儿(M=17.51个月)的母子依恋和祖孙依恋的安全性,用《婴幼儿社会-情绪性评价量表》(ITSEA)同时评估了幼儿的社会-情绪性(包括外显行为域、内隐行为域、失调域和能力域)的发展状况。结果发现:(1)在祖辈参与共同养育的背景下,大多数幼儿可以形成安全型的母子依恋和祖孙依恋,母子依恋的安全性高于祖孙依恋;(2)母子依恋和祖孙依恋存在着中等强度的相关,36%幼儿的母子依恋和祖孙依恋的安全性水平不一致;(3)回归分析表明,与祖孙依恋的安全性相比,母子依恋的安全性对幼儿的社会-情绪性发展的各领域具有更大的相对预测力,支持主导性假说;(4)拥有高安全性母子依恋和祖孙依恋的幼儿,其外显行为域和内隐行为域的得分显著低于其他3组,高安全性母子依恋或祖孙依恋不能补偿对方的低安全性依恋的消极影响。在失调域上,母子依恋和祖孙依恋的安全性存在着交互效应。