| Abstract: | This study may represent an advance in the study of failure to thrive (FTT), as (1) it is the first to use the disorganized/disoriented classification of infant-mother attachment (Main & Solomon, 1990) in a study of children with FTT, and (2) it includes measures of social processes associated with individual differences in attachment. Twenty-six children with FTT (10 “organic,” 16 “nonorganic”) and 28 normally growing children, ages 12 to 25 months, were seen in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. The FTT and control groups were equivalent on age of mother (28.0 and 28.6 years, respectively), annual family income ($37,700 and $24,100), and mother's marital status (56% and 52% married). The sample included African-American, Caucasian, and Latino families. In addition, measures of mother-child interaction and mothers' reports of social support and life stress were included. Children with FTT were less likely to show secure and more likely to show anxious, disorganized attachments than normally growing controls: Only 35% of FTTs were secure, whereas 46% showed disorganized attachments. In contrast, 64% of controls were secure and 7% were disorganized. Comparisons between FTTs and controls also revealed differences in maternal sensitivity and stressful social environments. There were no differences in patterns of attachment, level of acute malnutrition, maternal sensitivity, social support, or life stress between organic and nonorganic FTT groups, further discrediting this as a meaningful distinction. The organic and nonorganic groups differed only on a measure of chronicity of malnutrition. These results support the notion that disrupted parent-child relationships and stressful social environments are common in FTT, regardless of the etiology of growth failure. The findings suggest that treatments of FTT must address psychological, as well as medical, problems in these families. |
