Adult attachment styles,early relationships,antenatal attachment,and perceptions of infant temperament: A study of first‐time mothers

We explored the relative contributions of first‐time mothers’romantic attachment styles and early relations with their own mothers to the prediction of infant temperamental difficulty. A mediating role for mother's attachment to the unborn baby was assumed. In a prospective longitudinal study of 115 mothers of healthy babies, a structural model was delineated according to a conception of maternally reported infant temperament as a reflection of basic aspects of the mother's personality and mother‐infant relationships. Mothers’experiences with their own mothers as supportive and nonintrusive differentiated between securely and insecurely attached participants. Security of attachment was found to facilitate antenatal attachment and perceptions of the 4‐month‐old infant as easier. Findings indicate that the effects of the mothers’romantic attachment styles on their perceptions of temperamental difficulty are mediated by their antenatal attachment. Moreover, the pattern of findings obtained suggests a link among mothers’history of relationships, romantic attachment styles, and caregiving characteristics that is congruent with evolutionary theoretical assumptions.     

Maternal depression and infant attachment security: A meta-analysis

The purpose of this study is to clarify the magnitude of the association between maternal depression and infant attachment nonsecurity, and to identify possible moderators of this relationship. An extensive literature search was conducted using multiple databases of both published and unpublished studies. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between maternal depression and infant attachment security and to establish the effect size. The main findings from this meta-analysis, which included 42 studies, indicate that there is a small, yet significant, relationship between maternal depression and infant attachment nonsecurity. The rate of nonsecurity in infants of mothers with depression was approximately 20% higher than expected rates in a nonclinical population, and the association between depressive symptoms and nonsecurity was small, but significant. Infants of mothers with depression were nearly twice as likely to have a nonsecure attachment than were infants of healthy mothers. Depression measure and maternal sample source were identified as significant moderators of the odds ratio effect size. Results of this study demonstrate that there is a significant relationship between maternal depression and infant attachment nonsecurity, and suggest that interventions that focus on both maternal mental health and the attachment relationship are warranted.     

Attitudinal commitment: A three‐dimensional construct

This study argues that underlying the breadth of research on attitudinal organizational commitment are three dimensions: positive affect for the organization, identification with the organization and a willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization. Results of confirmatory factor analyses using three different samples support a three‐dimensional model as a superior fit to the data when compared with one‐ or two‐dimensional models of attitudinal commitment.     

Maternal and paternal infant representations: A comparison between parents of term and preterm infants

Objective

Research on parental attachment representations after preterm birth is limited and inconclusive. The present study is the first in which maternal and paternal attachment representations after term, moderately and very preterm birth are compared. In addition, special attention was directed toward disrupted attachment representations.

Method

Mothers and fathers of term infants (≥37 weeks of gestational age, n = 71), moderately preterm infants (≥32–37 weeks of gestational age, n = 62) and very preterm infants (<32 weeks of gestational age, n = 56) participated in the present study. Attachment representations (balanced, disengaged, distorted) about their infants were evaluated with the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI). To asses disrupted representations the coding of the WMCI was extended with the disrupted scale (WMCI-D).

Results

The three main classifications of attachment representations were not affected by preterm birth. In addition, there were no gender differences in the rate of balanced representations. In case of non-balanced representations however, maternal representations were more often distorted, whereas fathers showed more often disengaged representations. Results further revealed that maternal disrupted attachment representations were marked by role/boundary confusion or disorientation, whereas paternal disrupted attachment representations were characterized by withdrawal.

Conclusion

Given the gender differences it is essential to tailor interventions according to the attachment representations of the parent, in order to be able to alter their non-balanced and/or disrupted attachment representations.     

Fathers' and mothers' attachment representations as predictors of preadolescents' attachment security: A ten‐year follow‐up of Finnish families

The question of how mothers' and fathers' representations of attachment correlate ten years later with children's perceptions of attachment relationships was examined in a longitudinal study on Finnish families (N = 42). The parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) during the child's first year of life. At 11 years, the children filled out three scales on how secure they perceive the relationship with each parent. Parents' AAI classifications and AAI dimensions based on continuous scales were used as predictors of the preadolescents' attachment security. Regression analyses demonstrated that fathers' but not mothers' State‐of‐Mind and Experience dimensions predicted preadolescents' security of attachment to father. The discussion focuses on the predictive validity of the classical categorical versus the recently proposed continuous approach and the different roles of parents in transmitting security from one generation to another.     

Antidepressive behaviour: A preliminary report

Outside the psychological literature it is common knowledge that when people feel depressed they ordinarily try to do something about it. In the clinical literature, this commonplace fact is in danger of being forgotten. Using an empirically-derived checklist of activities consensually identified as being ‘the thing to do when feeling depressed’, the present study examines (1) the distribution of reported antidepressive behaviour (ADB) in a group consisting of depressed and non-depressed psychiatric patients and normals and (2) the relationship between an individual's sex, personality (locus of control), and patient status and (a) the amount of ADB he reports and (b) how much of it he regards as helpful. All Ss reported some ADB but not all reported any that was helpful. In an analysis of variance, no main effects of sex, personality or patient status were found, but sex interacting with personality was significantly related both to the overall amount of ADB reported and to the amount found helpful. The findings have implications for the sorts of concepts that a theoretical formulation of ADB will require as well as for the ways in which clinicians conceptualize depressed patients.     

Maternal and paternal parenting during adolescence: forecasting early adult psychosocial adjustment

This study investigated the relationship of maternal and paternal parenting behavior (acceptance and firm control) during adolescence to four domains of early adult functioning (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, prosocial competence, and cognitive competence). Twenty-one females and 29 males from intact families, along with their mothers and fathers, participated. Assessments were conducted in adolescence and early adulthood, separated by approximately five and one-half years. Higher levels of maternal firm control during adolescence were associated with more secure early adult romantic attachment and lower levels of educational achievement. There were no main effects for fathers, but paternal parenting behavior interacted with maternal parenting behavior to predict both early adult romantic attachment and delinquency. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Disorganized infant attachment and preventive interventions: A review and meta‐analysis

Infant disorganized attachment is a major risk factor for problematic stress management and later problem behavior. Can the emergence of attachment disorganization be prevented? The current narrative review and quantitative meta‐analysis involves 15 preventive interventions (N = 842) that included infant disorganized attachment as an outcome measure. The effectiveness of the interventions ranged from negative to positive, with an overall effect size of d = 0.05 (ns). Effective interventions started after 6 months of the infant's age (d = 0.23). Interventions that focused on sensitivity only were significantly more effective in reducing attachment disorganization (d = 0.24) than interventions that (also) focused on support and parent's mental representations (d = ?0.04). Most sample characteristics were not associated with differences in effect sizes, but studies with children at risk were more successful (d = 0.29) than studies with at‐risk parents (d = ?0.10), and studies on samples with higher percentages of disorganized attachment in the control groups were more effective (d = 0.31) than studies with lower percentages of disorganized children in the control group (d = ?0.18). The meta‐analysis shows that disorganized attachments may change as a side effect of sensitivity‐focused interventions, but it also illustrates the need for interventions specifically focusing on the prevention of disorganization.     

Maternal and paternal infant-directed speech to girls and boys: An exploratory study

ABSTRACT

We compared systematically the structure and the content of maternal and paternal speech to infant boys and girls while we also investigated the effect of infant’s age. Six girls and five boys were observed in the interaction with their mothers and their fathers (dyads came from the same families) at home from the second to the sixth month after birth at 15- day intervals. Detailed analysis of time revealed that fathers favour systematically the temporal structure of their speech to both girls and boys, while mothers favour boys in infant emotion/attention thematic sequences and girls in infant attention speech. Variations are counterbalanced in the way mothers and fathers respond sensitively to known marked changes in infant- parent communication over the first 6 months of life. These results are discussing in relation to the theory of innate intersubjectivity and the complementary company and care both parents give to developing infant girls and boys.     

Maternal correlates of infant temperament ratings and of infant-mother attachment: A longitudinal study

This study examined longitudinally correlates of mothers' ratings of their infant's temperament and of the infant-mother attachment relationship. Measures included Carey's Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire, child-rearing attitudes, psychophysiological responses to an unfamiliar infant's crying pre- and postdelivery, psychophysiological responses to the mother's own infant's crying, and assessments of infant-mother attachment. The results indicated that maternal ratings of infant temperament at 4 months were significantly related not only to concurrent cry responsiveness but also to cry responsiveness and child-rearing attitudes predelivery, as well as to the quality of attachment at 1 year. It is suggested that a differential response pattern of mothers of “easy” and of “difficult” infants, which affects the developing infant-mother bond, may in part originate in maternal dispositions existing prior to parenthood.     

Failure‐to‐thrive is associated with disorganized infant–mother attachment and unresolved maternal attachment

This study provides further evidence for the co‐occurrence of atypical patterns of attachment and failure‐to‐thrive (FTT). Eighty‐three children with FTT and 130 normally growing comparison children were seen in Ainsworth's Strange Situation at ages 11 to 32 months. These subjects were highly diverse with respect to social, economic, and ethnic characteristics. Children with FTT were significantly less likely to show secure and more likely to show anxious, disorganized attachments than normally growing comparisons: only 34% of FTTs were secure, while 46% showed disorganized attachments. In contrast, 66% of comparisons were secure and 16% were disorganized. In addition, a subsample of 59 mothers (23 FTT and 36 comparison) were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Mothers of FTTs were more than twice as likely as comparisons (65% versus 22%) to use discourse indicating unresolved loss or trauma. Similarly, mothers of FTTs were less likely to show autonomous (secure) discourse than mothers of well‐nourished children (13% versus 58%). There were no differences in infant or adult attachment classifications between organic and nonorganic FTT groups, further discrediting this as a psychologically meaningful distinction. These results support the notion that disturbed patterns of attachment are common in FTT, regardless of the etiology of growth failure. The findings suggest that evaluations and treatments of FTT should address psychological, as well as medical problems in these families. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Taxonomies of aggressive behavior: A preliminary report

It has been widely and regularly suggested that aggression is not a unitary concept but rather an omnibus term concealing important and distinct subclasses of behavior. Psychologists have offered various categorical schemes highlighting motivation and form as distinguishing criteria. Many writers have also noted the social relativity of dermitions of classes of aggression and called for a consideration of lay conceptions of aggressive behavior. The present paper explores the correspondence between psychologists' and laypersons' categorizations of aggressive acts. Ten short scenarios of aggression were generated to embody systematic permutations of form and motive as suggested by the published work of social psychologists. Subjects rated every pairwise combination in terms of perceived similarity. The data were subjected to three-factor, multidimensional scaling. The resulting structure indicated that subjects' ratings were not random and reflected consideration of motive (hostile, normative, instrumental, status) and of direct versus indirect form. The data were thus in close correspondence with the classifications generated by psychologists. The desirability of refining this technique and extending it to other cultural and subcultural groups is discussed.     

Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review

How does parenting affect relational aggression in children? The goal of the present series of meta-analyses based on 48 studies (28,097 children) was to analyze and integrate the findings on the associations between various types of parenting behaviors and relational aggression, and to identify potential substantive and methodological factors that may moderate these associations. To distinguish between different parenting strategies, experts sorted the parenting measures used in the studies into 10 groups. Results of a multiple correspondence analysis revealed four separate clusters: Positive parenting, psychologically controlling parenting, negative/harsh parenting, and uninvolved parenting. The meta-analyses demonstrated that more positive parenting was associated with less relational aggression (combined effect sizes r = −.06, p < .05, for mothers, r = −.08, p < .01, for fathers). More harsh parenting (combined effect sizes r = .11, p < .01, for mothers, r = .12, p < .01, for fathers) and more uninvolved parenting (combined effect sizes r = .07, p < .01, for mothers, absent for fathers) were associated with increased relational aggression. Paternal psychologically controlling parenting was positively related to relational aggression (r = .05, p < .01), whereas maternal psychologically controlling parenting was not (combined effect sizes r = .04, p = .09). The effect of several moderators is discussed. The findings of this study suggest that dimensions of positive and negative parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers are associated with children’s relational aggression and that these associations are – in case of fathers – contingent upon a number of sampling and procedural characteristics.     

“You make me a better/worse person”: A two‐dimensional model of relationship self‐change

For better or worse, relationships have the potential to affect individuals' self‐concepts; however, currently no integrative model exists to explain the variety of these self‐concept changes. We propose that self‐concept changes occur along two independent dimensions: direction (increase vs. decrease in content) and valence (positivity vs. negativity of content). These two dimensions combine to create four processes of relationship‐induced self‐concept change: self‐expansion (increasing positive content), self‐contraction (decreasing positive content), self‐pruning (decreasing negative content), and self‐adulteration (increasing negative content). Using community and university samples, we developed a measure of self‐concept change (Study 1) and examined how the four self‐processes were associated with love (Study 1), relationship quality (Studies 2 and 3), and infidelity (Study 3). The self‐concept improvement processes (i.e., self‐expansion and self‐pruning) were associated with greater love and relationship quality, whereas in Study 3 self‐concept degradation processes (i.e., self‐contraction and self‐adulteration) predicted infidelity.     

The adult attachment interview and self‐reports of romantic attachment: Associations across domains and methods

Two lines of research on adult attachment have emerged; both are based on Bowlby and Ainsworth's attachment theory, which in turn relies on evolutionary theory. Investigators in one tradition use the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to assess “state of mind with respect to attachment.” The AAI has been validated primarily by its ability to predict the attachment classification of an interviewee's child in Ainsworth's “strange situation.” Investigators in the second tradition use self‐report measures to assess romantic “attachment style.” The self‐report measures have been validated by their ability to predict features of romantic/marital relationships. Although the two constructs. state of mind and romantic attachment, are importantly different and so would not be expected to relate highly, some of their components, especially ability to depend on attachment figures, should be related if both stem from a person's attachment history. We report associations between components, or aspects, of the two measures. Overlap occurs mainly in the areas of comfort depending on attachment figures and comfort serving as an attachment figure for others. Implications of the findings for attachment theory and research, as well as for evolutionary psychology, are discussed.     

Maternal confidence,knowledge, and quality of mother-toddler interactions: A preliminary study

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among maternal confidence, knowledge of child development, and quality of mother-toddler interactions using self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1989) as the theoretical framework. Using the Toddler Care Questionnaire, 50 mothers of toddlers were asked to estimate their confidence in their ability to parent their toddlers. Mothers also completed the Knowledge of Infant Development Questionnaire and were videotaped in their homes during a structured interaction with their toddlers. Maternal confidence was positively correlated with maternal knowledge of child development and parenting. The relationships among mother's knowledge of child development, maternal confidence, and quality of mother-toddler interactions were examined by a 2 × 3 analysis of variance with quality of interactions as the dependent variable. There were no significant main effects for maternal knowledge or confidence on quality of mother-toddler interactions, but there was a significant interaction effect. That is, the combined effects of maternal knowledge and confidence were related to quality of mother-toddler interactions. These results may explain previous inconsistencies in the literature regarding the significance of maternal confidence for mother-child interactions and are congruent with self-efficacy theory. Implications for interventions are discussed.