| Abstract: | 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. |
