Aggression in Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder: A Sign of Deficits in Emotional Regulatory Processes?

Children diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) have been reported to exhibit a multitude of symptoms and behaviors that are not captured by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. One behavior in particular that has been the source of much argument and controversy is aggression. Although limited research on this topic does support an association between aggression and RAD behaviors, the exact nature of this link remains unclear. This study aims to fill this gap by reporting data from a study that examined the behavioral processes that occur in adopted children with RAD. Guided by the principles of grounded theory, this study employed a multi-stage semi-structured interview design. The sample consisted of 5 adoptive families, and included both adult and child participants, including the adopted children with RAD. The findings revealed 5 prominent themes: The adopted children are reported to engage in extreme and prolonged tantrums, known as rages; children were often inconsolable during these rages; these rages are perceived as uncontrollable by children with RAD; these rages are directed toward a discriminate caregiver; and the impetus for these rages appears to be associated with difficulties in adapting to environmental demands. An in-depth discussion that draws a theoretical connection between these rages and possible deficits in brain-based processes responsible for emotional regulation is presented.     

Préservation d’une image positive de soi dans un cadre de vie « à risque »

According to social identity theory (Tajfel, 1972), individual try to maintain a positive self-image. Places at which he/she is attached contribute to identity building (Proshansky et al., 1983; Twigger-Ross & Uzzell, 1996). Therefore, individual will try to maintain a positive a positive and stable image of such places. Our study is interested in what is the representation of their living area for individuals living in coastal area considered as exposed to erosion/flood risk, and attached to it. We are focused on how this representation influences their perception to coastal risk. We assume that individual attached to a place which he/she consider as “at risk” will put in place a strategy to preserve the positive image of this place and of himself/herself. Analyzing answers to a questionnaire, results demonstrate that individuals considering a place which they are attached as “at risk” mitigate the danger impact on that space. Thus, they conciliate probability of such negative event on place which they identifying themselves with positive image of this place and, by extension, of themselves.     

学步儿母亲过度投入/未解决的依恋表征与控制行为：婚姻质量及儿童性别的调节作用

采用追踪设计,以北京市94名学步儿及其母亲为被试,系统考察学步儿期母亲过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对控制行为的影响,以及婚姻质量、儿童性别的调节作用。结果发现：(1)过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对3岁时的强制性控制具有显著的正向预测作用。(2)过度投入/未解决的依恋表征对3岁时温和控制及命令性控制的影响受到婚姻质量的调节。(3)婚姻质量及儿童性别共同调节过度投入/未解决的依恋表征与3岁强制性控制之间的关系。     

Development of body emotion perception in infancy: From discrimination to recognition

Research suggests that infants progress from discrimination to recognition of emotions in faces during the first half year of life. It is unknown whether the perception of emotions from bodies develops in a similar manner. In the current study, when presented with happy and angry body videos and voices, 5-month-olds looked longer at the matching video when they were presented upright but not when they were inverted. In contrast, 3.5-month-olds failed to match even with upright videos. Thus, 5-month-olds but not 3.5-month-olds exhibited evidence of recognition of emotions from bodies by demonstrating intermodal matching. In a subsequent experiment, younger infants did discriminate between body emotion videos but failed to exhibit an inversion effect, suggesting that discrimination may be based on low-level stimulus features. These results document a developmental change from discrimination based on non-emotional information at 3.5 months to recognition of body emotions at 5 months. This pattern of development is similar to face emotion knowledge development and suggests that both the face and body emotion perception systems develop rapidly during the first half year of life.     

Visual attention control differences in 12-month-old preterm infants

There have been few previous attempts to assess the development of early markers of executive function in infants born preterm despite well-established deficits reported for older preterm children that have been closely linked to poorer academic functioning. The present study investigates early attention control development in healthy 12-month-old age-corrected pre-term infants who were born less than 30 weeks and compares their performance to full-term infants. Eye-tracking methodology was used to measure attention control. Preterm Infants spent less time focused on the target and were slower to fixate attention, with lower gestational age associated with poorer target fixation and slower processing speed. There were no significant group differences observed for inhibition of return or interference control. These findings suggest that specific emerging deficits in attention control may be observed using eye tracking methodology in very preterm infants at this early stage of development, despite scores within the average range on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.     

Ecological Networks and Community Attachment and Support Among Recently Resettled Refugees

Interventions aimed at enhancing mental health are increasingly centered around promoting community attachment and support. However, few have examined and tested the specific ecological factors that give rise to these key community processes. Drawing from insights from the ecological network perspective, we tested whether spatial and social overlap in routine activity settings (e.g., work, school, childcare) with fellow ethnic community members is associated with individuals’ attachment to their ethnic communities and access to social resources embedded in their communities. Data on routine activity locations drawn from the Refugee Well‐Being Project (based in a city in the Southwestern United States) were used to reconstruct the ecological networks of recently resettled refugee communities, which were two‐mode networks that comprise individuals and their routine activity locations. Results indicated that respondents’ community attachment and support increased with their ecological network extensity—which taps the extent to which respondents share routine activity locations with other community members. Our study highlights a key ecological process that potentially enhances individuals’ ethnic community attachment that extends beyond residential neighborhoods.     

Attachment styles and clinical correlates in people at ultra high risk for psychosis

Evidence suggests that attachment styles may influence subclinical psychosis phenotypes (schizotypy) and affective disorders and may play a part in the association between psychosis and childhood adversity. However, the role of attachment in the initial stages of psychosis remains poorly understood. Our main aim was to describe and compare attachment styles in 60 individuals at ultra high risk for psychosis (UHR) and a matched sample of 60 healthy volunteers (HV). The HV had lower anxious and avoidant attachment scores than the UHR individuals (p < .001). Sixty-nine percentage of the UHR group had more than one DSM-IV diagnosis, mainly affective and anxiety disorders. The UHR group experienced more trauma (p < .001) and more mood and anxiety symptoms (p < .001). Interestingly, in our UHR group, only schizotypy paranoia was correlated with insecure attachment. In the HV group, depression, anxiety, schizotypy paranoia, and social anxiety were correlated with insecure attachment. This difference and some discrepancies with previous studies involving UHR suggest that individuals at UHR may compose a heterogeneous group; some experience significant mood and/or anxiety symptoms that may not be explained by specific attachment styles. Nonetheless, measuring attachment in UHR individuals could help maximize therapeutic relationships to enhance recovery.     

HANDBOOK OF ATTACHMENT,THIRD EDITION: THEORY,RESEARCH, AND CLINICAL APPLICATIONS JudeCassidy and Phillip R.Shaver (Eds.), New York: Guilford Press, 2016, 1,068 pp., ISBN 978‐1‐4625‐2529‐4

Jude Cassidy and Phillip R. Shaver's third edition of the Handbook of Attachment has emerged and set a new bar for formative texts on pivotal issues related to the field of attachment. This state‐of‐the‐science reference on attachment eloquently intertwines attachment theory, research, and clinical applications, giving us innovative conceptualizations and perspectives on both implications for clinical advancement and directions for future research. This handbook moves basic research findings quickly into the realm of clinical and community applications, providing the field with new information about intervention procedures and outcomes while setting the stage for theoretical advancement. New chapters reflect the way we think about the interweaving of attachment, development, and infant mental health research and application. From the authors’ opening “Overview of Attachment” to the summary overview and evaluation of the field, “The Place of Attachment in Development” by attachment‐research pioneer L. Alan Sroufe, this third edition broadly delivers the most significant and important information that the field has on attachment. Researchers, clinicians, and professionals will benefit from this handbook as it presents with the most up‐to‐date, innovative, and thorough presentation of attachment theory.     

Activating attachment representations impact how we retrieve autobiographical memories

Although much research indicates that proximity to attachment figures confers many psychological benefits, there is little evidence pertaining to how attachment activation may impact autobiographical memory retrieval. Following a negative mood induction to elicit overgeneral autobiographical retrieval, participants (N?=?70) were administered an induction in which they imagined a person who is a strong attachment figure or an acquaintance. Participants then completed an autobiographical memory task to retrieve memories in response to neutral and negative cue words. Attachment priming resulted in less distress, increased retrieval of specific memories, and reduced retrieval of categoric memories. These findings indicate that activation of mental representations of attachment figures can impact on the specificity of autobiographical memory retrieval, and extends prevailing models of autobiographical memory by integrating them with attachment theory.