Patterns of mother-infant interaction and attachment: A cluster-analytic approach

This study examined stability and change in patterns of mother-infant interaction between 5 and 10 months and their relation to attachment security at 18 months. Cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of dyadic interaction. There was significant, but not substantial, stability in cluster membership from 5 to 10 months. For females, being in the most optimal cluster at 5 months related to subsequent attachment security, regardless of the 10-month pattern of interaction. For males, who were significantly more likely to be insecure than females, insecure attachment was predicted by negative change from 5 to 10 months (moving from a more optimal to a less optimal cluster).     

Psychological growth and well-being in individuals born with cleft: An application of self-determination theory

Objective: Many studies of individuals born with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) address the psychological impact of CLP in terms of stigma and/or ‘resilience’. The present study challenges the usefulness of resilience in CLP research with the application of self-determination theory (SDT). It is proposed that SDT can serve to better understand how individuals born with CLP can achieve psychological growth and well-being.

Design: Interviews were conducted with 15 individuals born with CLP in the UK.

Results: A thematic analysis was conducted and four main themes emerged: (1) personal challenges, (2) support and strategies for social interaction, (3) experience of treatment and outcomes, and (4) personal development. The thematic analysis and the interpretation in the context of SDT leads to a greater understanding of the development of psychological growth and well-being in individuals born with CLP.

Conclusion: Interpreting the life experiences of individuals with CLP through the theoretical lens of SDT allows the conceptualisation of individuals with CLP as a positive psychological resource when faced with the exclusionary practice of stigma. This resourcefulness is primarily nurtured by a supportive family and social environment that leads to the development of positive psychological growth and well-being. A new direction in CLP research is proposed that seeks to inform and implement change in professional practice to support individuals with CLP and their families.     

The effects of polydrug use with and without cocaine on mother-infant interaction at 3 and 6 months

The face-to-face interactions of 43 polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers and their infants at 3 and 6 months were compared to 17 non-cocaine-but other-drug-using mothers and 21 mothers who used no drugs during their pregnancy. Coders blind to mothers' drug use status scored 3 min of face-to-face interactions for 16 measures of maternal and infant interactive behaviors. A principal component of 7 behaviors formed a measure of maternal attentiveness; a principal component of 5 behaviors formed a measure of mother-infant dyadic organization; and a principal component of 4 behaviors formed a measure of infant readiness to interact. A measure of maternal interruption was computed as the mean standard score of 3 additional interruptive behaviors. At 3 and 6 months, polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers were less attentive to interactions, and polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers and their infants engaged in fewer dyadic interactions than either non-cocaine or non-drug-using mothers. Compared to 3 months, polydrug-with-cocaine-using mothers at 6 months were less attentive to interactions and more frequently interrupted interactions by looking away, redirecting the infant, or withdrawing, whereas non-cocaine-using and non-drug- using mothers showed no change or an improvement in attentiveness to interactions and a decrease in interruptions. No differences emerged in the interactive behaviors of the infants of polydrug- with-cocaine-using, non-cocaine-using, or non-drug-using mothers. Cocaine use represents a significant risk for diminished parental attentiveness and responsiveness to infants and for diminished interactiveness in infants.     

Maternal interactive behaviour towards children with and children without cleft lip and palate

The present study examined qualitative and quantitative differences in maternal interactive behaviour towards infants with and without cleft lip and palate (CLP). Thirty-three mother-child pairs with CLP and 34 pairs without CLP were videotaped at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age in two sorts of play situations at home. In addition, the mothers were questioned by letter about their ability to recognize and interpret the child's signals; their willingness to respond to such signals; and the duration of shared daily activities in the context of feeding and play. The results showed that mothers of CLP children are somewhat less sensitive than other mothers. In addition, it appeared that CLP children play less with other people. Longer feeding times for CLP children appeared to be restricted to the age of 3 months. It is suggested that mothers of CLP children may be comparatively directive and stimulating because of uncertainty about additional deficiencies. Furthermore, they may be inclined to keep their children away from the outside world.     

The boundaries between attachment and personality: Localized versus generalized effects in daily social interaction

A diary study examined the effects of romantic attachment (avoidance, anxiety) and autonomous and sociotropic personality on levels of sociability within social interactions across relational contexts (N = 89 undergraduates). As expected, the effects of domain-specific romantic attachment avoidance and anxiety on sociability were localized to social interactions with romantic partners, whereas the effects of autonomy and sociotropy were generalized across relational contexts (i.e., across social interactions with romantic partners, family members, friends, and acquaintances/others). Furthermore, the effects of both autonomy and sociotropy on sociability were partially mediated by domain-specific attachment in domain-congruent (romantic) but not domain-incongruent (non-romantic) relational contexts: romantic avoidance partially mediated the effects of autonomy on sociability toward romantic partners, whereas romantic anxiety partially mediated the effects of sociotropy. These results suggest that autonomy and sociotropy summarize global regularities in relational responding that correspond to those described by attachment avoidance and anxiety—although (unlike attachment) they do so across relational contexts. Domain-specific attachment representations, in contrast, govern responding within context-congruent domains and act as a mechanism through which personality guides social interaction within these domains.     

Fear,attachment and affiliation: The interaction of functional systems in 8- and 12-month-old infants

In this research fear of strangers has been analysed as it interacts with attachment and affiliation, and in relation to developmental level, in conditions most similar to the natural situations where encounters with unfamiliar persons take place. A total of 30 infants and their mothers participated. The children were divided into two groups (8-9 and 11-12 months). Each infant was approached by two females, who, in turn, produced either of two natural sequences. Our results allowed us to confirm the universality of fear and its coexistence and interaction with attachment and affiliation. As far as the role that developmental level plays, it was noted that in the 12-month-old infants fear reactions were more intense than in the younger ones. Furthermore, the attachment system was more activated in the older group in the intrusive episodes, but when the threatening nature of the situation decreased, attachment was activated less in the 12-month-old group. Another difference was related to control resources. While in the younger infants we observed a tendency to control their own emotional state, the 12-month-old infants tried to gain control over the stranger. These results were interpreted by considering the adaptative value of an increase with age of the capacity to evaluate a situation's threat value, of attachment security, and of behavioural resources permitting some control over the stranger's behaviour.     

Mental health and religion from an attachment viewpoint: overview with implications for future research

I argue in this article that attachment theoretical considerations provide insights into why certain moderators underlie the links observed between religion and mental health. Three sets of moderators are discussed. First, contextual factors associated with heightened attachment activation (e.g., stress, unavailability of one's secular attachment figures, low social welfare) increase the strength of the links observed between religion and mental health. Second, aspects of mental health that are most notably affected by having a safe haven to turn to and a secure base to depart from are particularly reliably linked to religion. Other attachment-related aspects of mental health that religion may promote concerns attenuation of grief and reparation of internal working models following loss of and/or experiences of having been insensitively cared for by other attachment figures. Finally, aspects of religion that are most consistently linked to mental health are partially those that express attachment-components, including belief in a personal, loving God with whom one experiences a close and secure relationship.     

Type a behavior pattern in mothers of infants: An exploration of associations with attachment,sensitive caregiving,and life-events

Abstract

In the present study. 83 lower- to upper-middle class mothers of first-born, 12-month-old infants were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, and Main, 1985), and completed the Groninger Intelligence Test (Luteijn and Van der Ploeg, 1982). Eighteen months after the beginning of the study, 67 mothers (81% of the original sample) were interviewed with the Structured Interview (Rosenman, 1978), and were observed during a brief, semi-structured play session at home with their child - at that time a 2.5-years-old toddler. They also completed a checklist about major life-events that had occurred during the past 18 months. A large majority of these mothers of young children (81%) showed Type A behavior patterns. The job of parenting, indeed, appears to be stressful. Attachment and Type A behaviors, however, did not seem to be related, probably because the influence of attachment is restricted to the regulation of emotions in intimate relationships. Yet, Type A behavior predicted a more sensitive parenting style than Type B did. All mothers who experienced negative life-events or Serious health problems in the recent past showed Type A behavior patterns. Our findings show that the Structured Interview can be applied in a valid manner to mothers of young children passing trough a demanding phase in their lives. Further research is needed to uncover the causes of the high prevalence of Type A behaviors in young mothers.     

Depression in the early postpartum period and attachment to children—in mothers of NICU infants

Depression in early puerperium was evaluated in terms of maternal attachment in mothers of children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in comparison to a control group of mothers of full‐term infants. A survey including Zung's self‐rating depression scale (ZSDS), a postpartum maternal attachment scale and items addressing the mother's feelings and peripheral conditions was conducted on mothers of children admitted to the NICU. Among the 153 mothers who gave valid responses, positive ZSDS scores of over 40 were seen in 61.8%. In terms of the children's disorder, strong depressive tendency was noted among mothers of low birth weight infants. Significant correlation was noted between the ZSDS and the ‘core maternal attachment’ (negative correlation) and ‘anxiety regarding children’ (positive correlation) subscales of postpartum maternal attachment. Path analysis revealed the father's positive reaction in learning of the pregnancy resulted in elevation of the ‘core maternal attachment’ score, in contrast to the control group mothers. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applicability and attachment findings of the Strange Situation Paradigm in infants with visual impairment

Attachment studies with diverse populations enrich the understanding of infants’ socioemotional development by documenting both universal and idiosyncratic aspects of attachment. Given the effects of attachment in children's socioemotional outcomes, such studies are necessary to investigate the impact of children's sensory impairments on attachment development. Yet, very little attachment research has focused on infants with visual impairment (VI infants), a population in which infant–caregiver emotional exchanges through visual means are reduced/absent. We investigated the applicability of the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP), with added instructions to compensate for degraded visual input, in 20 VI infants (with no additional disabilities and who were receiving developmental counseling). In all but 1 of the SSPs coded, VI infants displayed observable attachment behavior that was classifiable. Nineteen VI infants showed attachment by 12 months of age. Across the ages tested (fractional age range = 0.9–2.33 months), most VI infants’ attachment patterns were classified as secure and organized.     

Differences between men and women with a dismissing attachment style regarding their attitudes and behaviour in romantic relationships

Research to date has revealed that the association between gender, attachment and the quality and functioning of intimate relationships is complex. This study examined the relationship between gender and attachment styles in attitudes to communication with one's partner and in the number of past relationships in a sample of 746 Spanish undergraduates. The Relationship Questionnaire was administered to them to determine the adult attachment style. The results revealed the existence of differences according to the adult attachment style and gender with regard to the two measured variables, and a significant effect of the interaction between gender and attachment. Dismissing men reported the highest average scores in the number of past relationships, with significant differences appearing when they were compared with secure and preoccupied men. However, dismissing women did not differ from the rest of the women with other attachment styles. When men and women with the same attachment styles were compared in this variable, the only significant differences were found between dismissing men and women (with the latter reporting fewer partners). In the case of attitudes to expressing feelings to one's partner, dismissing men reported the most negative attitudes, compared with secure and preoccupied men. Dismissing women, unlike the men, did not differ in their attitudes either from preoccupied or fearful women. Moreover, clear differences were shown between dismissing men and women in these attitudes (more negative in the case of men).     

The role of attachment to God in secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious disease

This study investigated the role of security in one's attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in one's attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.     

Predictors of disinhibited eating in children with and without overweight

OBJECTIVE: This study examined how 7-13-year-old children with and without overweight respond to free access to snack food in the absence of hunger and whether this eating behaviour could be predicted by parental feeding strategies and child's characteristics. METHODS: A total of 52 children (26 normal weight and 26 overweight children) were exposed to snack food after consuming a typical meal. Parental feeding practices and child's variables were assessed via self-report. RESULTS: Two-third of the sample ate of the presented snacks and consumed an average of 68 g. Overweight boys consumed twice as much than the normal weight boys. Parental feeding strategies did not contribute to the prediction of this eating behaviour. Regardless of the children's weight status, the child's eating style strongly predicted snack intake. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that overweight boys show difficulties in regulating their eating behaviour. Inconsistent with previous work, no evidence for parental contribution of snack intake was found. The present findings suggest that in older children especially children's own eating style account for the variance in snack eating behaviour.     

Exploring cortical activation and connectivity in infants with and without familial risk for autism during naturalistic social interactions: A preliminary study

Behavioral signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are typically observable by the second year of life and a reliable diagnosis of ASD is possible by 2 to 3 years of age. Studying infants with familial risk for ASD allows for the investigation of early signs of ASD risk within the first year. Brain abnormalities such as hyper-connectivity within the first year may precede the overt signs of ASD that emerge later in life. In this preliminary study, we use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), an infant-friendly neuroimaging tool that is relatively robust against motion artifacts, to examine functional activation and connectivity during naturalistic social interactions in 9 high-risk (HR; older sibling with ASD) and 6 low-risk (LR; no family history of ASD) infants from 6 to 9 months of age. We obtained two 30-second baseline periods and a 5-minute social interaction period. HR infants showed reduced right and left-hemispheric activation compared to LR infants based on oxy (HbO₂) and deoxy (HHb) signal trends. HR infants also had greater functional connectivity than LR infants during the pre- and post-social periods and showed a drop in connectivity during the social period. Our findings are consistent with previous work suggesting early differences in cortical activation associated with familial risk for ASD, and highlight the promise of fNIRS in evaluating potential markers of ASD risk during naturalistic social contexts.     

Mother and father interaction with their 3-month-old infants: Similarities and differences in parenting behaviour in well-resourced parents

Infancy is characterized by intensive parenting which may affect later child development. However, little is known about similarities and differences in maternal and paternal parenting behaviour, as the majority of the studies have mainly focused on mothers. The present study investigated similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behaviour during parent-infant interaction in 56 mothers and 56 fathers of 3-months-old infants in a good-resourced sample. Parent-child interactions were videotaped and coded by the Global Rating Scales. Results suggested similar parenting behaviour in terms of maternal and paternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and remoteness. Moreover, regardless of sex infant’s behaviour was similar during interactions with mothers and fathers. The low-risk and non-clinical nature of our sample may have had a positive influence on mother-child and father-child dyadic exchanges. These findings suggest including family system models in research and clinical practice.