The assessment of adult attachment security.

2003 ◽  
pp. 285-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick G. Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Security

Bridging the attachment transmission gap: The role of maternal mind-mindedness

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Bernier ◽  
Mary Dozier
Keyword(s):  
Intergenerational Transmission ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Attachment Research ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Age Appropriate

The intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns is one of the most reliable yet least understood findings of attachment research. The aim of this report was to examine the capacity of maternal mind-mindedness to account for the relation between adult attachment state of mind and infant attachment security. Sixty-four foster children (aged 6–30 months) participated with their foster mothers. The mother’s tendency to use mental features in describing her child (mindmindedness) was negatively related to the security of both maternal state of mind and infant attachment. Further, mind-mindedness accounted for the totality of the predictive power of state of mind on infant attachment. The results suggest that age-appropriate representations of the child may help explain intergenerational transmission, through their interplay with parental interactive behaviours.

Major depression as a predictor of the intergenerational transmission of attachment security: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110607
Author(s):  
Megan Galbally ◽  
Stuart J Watson ◽  
Anne Tharner ◽  
Maartje Luijk ◽  
Gaynor Blankley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Major Depression ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Parent Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation Procedure

Objective: Understanding the relationship between attachment and mental health has an important role in informing management of perinatal mental disorders and for infant mental health. It has been suggested that experiences of attachment are transmitted from one generation to the next. Maternal sensitivity has been proposed as a mediator, although findings have not been as strong as hypothesised. A meta-analysis suggested that this intergenerational transmission of attachment may vary across populations with lower concordance between parent and infant attachment classifications in clinical compared to community samples. However, no previous study has examined major depression and adult attachment in pregnancy as predictors of infant–parent attachment classification at 12 months postpartum. Methods: Data were obtained on 52 first-time mothers recruited in early pregnancy, which included 22 women who met diagnostic criteria for current major depression using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Adult Attachment Interview was also administered before 20 weeks of pregnancy. A history of early trauma was measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and maternal sensitivity was measured at 6 months postpartum using the observational measure of the Emotional Availability Scales. Infant–parent attachment was measured using the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 months. Results: Overall, we found no significant association between the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure classifications. However, a combination of maternal non-autonomous attachment on the Adult Attachment Interview and major depression was a significant predictor of insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. We did not find that maternal sensitivity mediated parental and infant attachment security in this sample. Conclusion: While previous meta-analyses identified lower concordance in clinical samples, our findings suggest women with major depression and non-autonomous attachment have a greater concordance with insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. These findings can guide future research and suggest a focus on depression in pregnancy may be important for subsequent infant attachment.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Predictive Role of Temperament Dimensions and Attachment Styles on the Five Factor Model of Personality

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Efrat Barel ◽  
Yonathan Mizrachi ◽  
Maayan Nachmani
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Attachment Style ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Self Report

Background: The present study investigated the role of temperament and attachment security in predicting individual differences in the five factor personality traits among adults. As previous studies suggested the potential moderating role of attachment in the association between temperament and personality traits, the present study sought to examine an interactionist model combining attachment and temperament in explaining individual differences in personality traits. Methods: A sample of 1871 participants (1151 women and 719 men) completed self-report measures of adult attachment style (the Relationships Questionnaire—RQ), temperament dimension (the Fisher Temperament Inventory—FTI), and personality domain (the Five Factor Model—FFM). Results: Partial correlational analyses revealed associations between attachment security and each of the five domains of the FFM, and few associations between some temperament dimensions and several domains of the FFM. Moderated regression analyses showed that attachment security moderated the associations between temperament dimensions and the Agreeableness domain of the FFM. Among secure individuals, those with higher scores on the Curious/Energetic, Cautious/Social Norm Compliant and Prosocial/Empathetic scales exhibited higher Agreeableness scores, whereas among insecure individuals, those with higher scores on the Analytic/Tough-minded scale exhibited lower scores on the Agreeableness scale. Conclusion: Overall, the current study provides evidence in support of the substantive role of social-environmental factors (Adult Attachment) as a moderating element bridging temperament-related personality elements and a number of their FFM manifestations.

scholarly journals Parental and Adult Attachment and Eating Symptomology in Eating Disorder Patients and Sine Morbo Individuals

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Dömötör Szalai ◽  
Edit Czeglédi M.A.
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Emotional Eating ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Eating Disorder Symptoms ◽  
The Relationship

Attachment can contribute to eating disorder symptomology through various paths, including emotion regulation. However, the relationship between parental and adult attachment and emotional eating and other eating disorder symptoms have been barely investigated on comparative samples. This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based online survey aimed to assess the relationship between parental and adult attachment qualities with the eating behavior severity, emotional eating, and the level of depression in 67 female anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder patients, compared to 67 female sine morbo individuals. Eating disorder patients less frequently had secure attachment, and were more often fearful or preoccupied than sine morbo individuals. In sine morbo individuals lower adult attachment security, but in patients, lower parental care was related to eating disorder symptoms. In sine morbo individuals, higher preoccupation, but in patients, higher fearfulness and lower care was related to emotional eating. Lower attachment security (OR = 0.54), younger age (OR = 0.93) and higher depression (OR = 1.04) explained 36.6% of the variance of diagnosed eating disorders. A complex interplay could be highlighted between dysfunctional attachment dimensions and eating symptomology in both groups—but with different patterns. Perceived parental care may be influential for eating disorder patients, whilst the degree of adult attachment security can be influential for sine morbo individuals. Lower attachment security was a predictor of eating disorders, which suggests the protective value of enhancing attachment security. However, further attachment-based interventions are required.

scholarly journals The Multimodal Assessment of Adult Attachment Security: Developing the Biometric Attachment Test

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. e100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Parra ◽  
Raphaële Miljkovitch ◽  
Gwenaelle Persiaux ◽  
Michelle Morales ◽  
Stefan Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Multimodal Assessment
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