Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism,Adult Attachment,and Big Five Personality Traits

The author examined the role of anxiety and avoidance dimensions of attachment and Big Five personality traits in adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism among 604 (377 male, 227 female) Turkish university students. The results of 2 separate multiple regression analyses yielded that adaptive perfectionism was significantly predicted by conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion. Maladaptive perfectionism was significantly predicted by the neuroticism, anxiety, and avoidance dimensions of attachment. The authors discuss the implications, limitations, and future directions for research.     

Effect of television viewing on social–emotional competence of young Thai children

Exposure time, program content and cultural context may affect the impact of television (TV) on the social–emotional competence (SEC) of children. This study examined the effects of TV viewing on the SEC of Thai infants. The study was based on a Thai birth cohort study from which duration and content of TV viewing and data from the Modified Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment instrument at 1 and 3 years of age were available. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine whether scores below the 10th national percentile were associated with TV viewing duration. The relationship between viewing duration and SEC risk was quadratic rather than linear. Viewing duration of 30–120 min/day was associated with a decreased risk of low overall SEC compared to non-viewers after adjustments for confounding factors. However, the beneficial effect diminished when the duration exceeded 120 min/day. Viewing educational programs was associated with a risk reduction of having low overall SEC compared to non-educational programs. These results suggest that a short period of TV viewing may be beneficial for the SEC of Thai infants, especially if the programs are educational.     

Psychophysiological Arousal and Perceived Support during Couple Support Interactions: The Role of Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance

Abstract

Couple support processes—typically occurring in the context of non-relationship distressing issues—are crucial to our understanding of relationships (Pasch, Bradbury, & Sullivan, 1997 Pasch, L. A., Bradbury, T. N., & Sullivan, K. T. (1997). Social support in marriage: An analysis of intraindividual and interpersonal components. In G. R. Pierce, B. Lakey, & I. G. Sarson (Eds.), Sourcebook of social support and personality (pp. 229–256). New York, NY: Plenum Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). These couple support processes influence important relationship outcomes, including relationship satisfaction and longevity (i.e., Collins & Feeney, 2010 Collins, N. L., & Feeney, B. C. (2010). An attachment theoretical perspective on social support dynamics in couples: Normative processes and individual differences. In K. T. Sullivan, & J. Davila (Eds.), Support processes in intimate relationships (pp. 89–120). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). In this study, we examined 51 couples’ support perceptions and physiological arousal during individually distressing support conversations. Using dyadic data analysis, results reveal important findings in terms of avoidant attachment and couple support perceptions. Additionally, significant results were found between attachment anxiety and psychophysiological arousal. Implications of the current findings for couple relationships and therapy are discussed.     

Adaptive and Maladaptive Perfectionism as Mediators of Adult Attachment Styles and Depression,Hopelessness, and Life Satisfaction

This study examined the relationships between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, anxious and avoidant adult attachment styles, depression, hopelessness, and life satisfaction among a sample of 180 undergraduate students. Maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between both forms of adult attachment and depression, hopelessness, and life satisfaction. Adaptive perfectionism mediated the relationship between avoidant adult attachment and hopelessness and life satisfaction. Implications for counselors and future research directions are discussed.     

Identity in the asphalt jungle

We present a study of 40 youngsters who live and work in the streets of Mexico City and who have abandoned their homes for significant periods of time. They seek out their own means of survival from a very young age. In many cases they have children of their own already as teenagers. The Seminario de Sociopsicoanálisis was invited to take part in a project aimed at facilitating the access of these children to graphic arts, artistic creation and therapeutic listening. This article presents our principal findings of the children's everyday life conditions, their work and their dreams, based on data obtained from social character questionnaires – with which therapeutic intervention in this project began. Vignettes of two case studies are also presented. The interviews were complemented by data gathered in weekly sessions attended by the youngsters on a voluntary bases. The sessions attested to both the narcissistic, aggressive impulsiveness of these youngsters and the vital effort they make toward their own recovery and toward establishing affective emotional ties with instructors and therapists. We found that socio‐psychoanalytic methods could be used successfully to expand the scope of psychoanalytic theoretic postulates about character to a non‐clinical, disadvantaged population. By analyzing the content of the psychoanalytically guided interviews we were able to recognize the central, distinctive motive, which leads these youngsters to run away from home and forge their own sense of identity.     

Contribution of parents' adult attachment and separation attitudes to parent‐adolescent conflict resolution

This study examined the contribution to parent‐adolescent conflict resolution of parental adult attachment styles and attitudes toward adolescent separation. Questionnaires were completed by 295 couples with early to late adolescent children. Structural equation models were used to test self and partner influences on conflict resolution for three attachment orientations: confidence (model A), anxiety (model B) and avoidance (model C). Model A showed self influences between parents' confidence orientation and negotiation and also via positive attitudes towards separation. Also, the fathers' use of negotiation was facilitated by the mothers' confidence orientation and vice versa, indicating partner influences as well. Model B showed self influences between parents' anxiety orientation and the use of dominance and withdrawal and also via negative attitudes towards separation. Model C showed self influences between parents' avoidance orientation and dominance and withdrawal, and a partner influence between fathers' avoidance and mothers' use of dominance. The results indicated that the parents' adult attachment system and the parenting system were related in the area of conflict resolution, and that self influences were stronger than partner influences.     

Report on ‘A conversation about unintegration,disintegration and integration’ with papers by Anne Alvarez and Edna O'Shaughnessy,chaired by Margot Waddell, 25 february 2005 1

This paper attempts to explore the nature and consequences of trauma in infancy by an exploration of a prototype of trauma when babies are born addicted to heroin. The trauma not only involves a painful withdrawal from the drug and invasive medical procedures carried out in isolation in a special care baby unit, but often also an ongoing cumulative trauma of the lack of availability of a receptive containing parent. The paper raises specific issues about these babies as well as about trauma in general. It examines current psychoanalytic, attachment and other theories about trauma and resilience, and includes an infant observation of a baby in a special care baby unit who was born addicted. A detailed case is presented, illustrated by sequences of drawings by an 11-year-old boy who had been born addicted. These show how the lack of containment of any sort in infancy had profound effects on the child's ability to process his emotional experience in any meaningful way. An attempt is made to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychotherapy using criteria derived from Mary Main's work on disordered/chaotic infants. This involves a shift from disintegration and a lack of resolution of any crisis towards the emergence of the possibility of a hopeful outcome.     

Neglecting neglect: some thoughts about children who have lacked good input,and are ‘undrawn’ and ‘unenjoyed’

This paper looks at emotional neglect in the early years of life, and postulates some probable long-term sequelae of such neglect. It argues that there is a continuum of neglect; ranging from the severest form, as seen in institutional orphanages, to milder variations. A range of theoretical and research traditions, including developmental psychology, attachment theory and neuroscience are used, alongside psychoanalytic ideas, to attempt to delineate some of the key features and patterns that arise. A question is raised as to whether we have sufficient diagnostic categories or theoretical ideas to make sense of neglected children. Thought is given to the very specific clinical challenges of working with children who are neglected, and how the clinical task might differ from working with children who have suffered other forms of early damage, such as physical abuse. It is argued that these children suffer a multiple, overdetermined form of neglect; their initial neglect because of the form of caretaking they did (or did not) receive being compounded by their inability to use help and then also the tendency of professionals to similarly neglect these children, who can be difficult to relate to and hard to ‘warm’ to.     

‘Between the woods and frozen lake’: a child psychotherapist’s experiences of developing a grant application for an RCT feasibility study

Drawing on the six stages identified by Henton and Midgley (2012) in the narratives of five child psychotherapists involved in the IMPACT study on their evolving attitudes towards participation in outcome research, this paper explores another child psychotherapist’s internal and external world experiences of writing a National Institute of Health Research grant application for a randomised controlled trial feasibility study. It makes use of the key associations that came to mind on first reading Henton and Midgley’s article, outlines the practical and emotional stages of developing the grant proposal and briefly considers some of the wider implications of this kind of work on a personal, organisational and professional level.     

The impact of parents’ mental health on parent–baby interaction: A prospective study

The aims of the current study were to examine the effect of fathers’ and mothers’ pre and postnatal mental health on mother–infant and father–infant interactions. Mental health was broadly defined to include anxiety, depression and PTSD. A community sample of 44 mothers and 40 fathers from 45 families completed questionnaire measures of mental health in late pregnancy and three months postpartum. Mother–infant and father–infant interactions were observed and videoed three months postpartum and analysed using the CARE-index. Results showed that prenatal mental health, in particular anxiety, was associated with parent–infant interactions to a greater extent than postnatal mental health. Fathers’ prenatal symptoms were associated with higher paternal unresponsiveness and infant passivity whilst fathers’ postnatal symptoms were associated with higher levels of infant difficulty in the father–baby interaction. The results also indicated that mothers and fathers interaction with their babies were similar, both on average and within the couples, with 34% being inept or at risk. These findings highlight the need for early detection and prevention of both mental health and parent–infant relationship problems in fathers as well as mothers. However, further prospective and longitudinal studies are needed to understand the influences of parental mental health on the parent–infant interactions further. Also it should be noted that the mental health scores were low in this sample, which may reflect the sample characteristics. Future studies therefore would benefit from focusing on more vulnerable groups of parents.