Mothers' and fathers' working models of childhood attachment relationships, parenting styles, and child behavior

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Cohn ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn P. Cowan ◽  
Jane Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Child Behavior ◽  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Parent Child Relations ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Childhood Attachment

AbstractThis study addresses the question of whether or not parents' working models of childhood attachments constitute a risk factor for difficulties in current parent-child relations. In a sample of 27 families and their preschool-aged children, mother-child and father-child dyads were observed in separate laboratory play sessions from which ratings of parents' and children's behavior were collected. Working models of attachment were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1984). Results showed that parents classified as insecure were less warm and provided less structure in interactions with their children than did parents classified as secure. Children of insecure parents were less warm toward their parents than were children of secure parents. Analyses of parents' joint attachment classification showed that insecure women married to insecure men were less warm and provided less structure with their children than did mothers in either the insecure-secure or secure-secure dyads. These findings suggest that, in two-parent families, an insecure working model may be a risk factor for less competent parenting but that the risk is more pronounced when both parents have insecure working models of attachment.

Earned- and continuous-security in adult attachment: Relation to depressive symptomatology and parenting style

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane L. Pearson ◽  
Deborah A. Cohn ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn Pape Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Model Classification ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Earned Security ◽  
Early Relationships

AbstractThe secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk.

Unresolved loss in the Adult Attachment Interview: Implications for marital and parenting relationships

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 717-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Busch ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn P. Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Family Functioning ◽  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Authoritarian Parenting ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Unresolved Loss

AbstractThis study examined links between the unresolved loss of a significant person and current functioning in marital and parenting relationships. Participants were 80 women who had experienced loss, their husbands, and their preschool children. Unresolved loss was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview, and individual, marital, and parenting adaptation was assessed through videotaped observations and women's self-reports. As predicted, women with unresolved loss displayed less positive emotion and more anxiety and anger with both their husbands and children, compared to women who were not unresolved. They also displayed less authoritative and more authoritarian parenting styles with their children. Yet unresolved women did not report more individual or relationship difficulties, suggesting that direct observations are needed to assess the implications of unresolved loss for family functioning.

scholarly journals Der familiäre Hintergrund „suchtbelastete Familie“ und dessen Auswirkung auf Mentalisierungsprozesse fremduntergebrachter Kinder

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Nadja Springer ◽  
Brigitte Lueger-Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Child Behavior ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Child Behavior Checklist ◽  
Reflective Functioning ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
Child Attachment Interview

ZusammenfassungStudien über Bindung weisen auf Schwierigkeiten drogenabhängiger Eltern hinsichtlich ihrer Reaktion auf die emotionalen Signale der Kinder und die daraus abzuleitenden Verhaltensweisen hin. Dies lässt auf eine reduzierte Mentalisierungsfähigkeit schließen. Mentalisieren bedeutet die grundlegende menschliche Fähigkeit, Verhalten in Bezug auf Gedanken und Gefühle zu verstehen.Um diese Fähigkeit bei fremduntergebrachten Kinder (6–12 Jahre) aus suchtbelasteten Familien und deren aktuellen Bezugspersonen zu untersuchen, wurde eine auf dem Konzept der Mentalisierung basierende Gruppenintervention entwickelt, die das Wissen über Drogenabhängigkeit erweitern und soziale und affektive Fähigkeiten verbessern soll.Erhebungsinstrumente: Skala des Reflective Functioning (RF-Score) für das Adult Attachment Interview und für das Child Attachment Interview, Inventar der Sozialkompetenzen (ISK), Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18R), „Patte-Noire“-Test, Einstellungen zum Drogenkonsum (EBDD Bewertungsinstrument).An Hand zweier Fallbeispiele aus dieser laufenden Pilotstudie, werden der diagnostische Prozess sowie beobachtbare und messbare Veränderungen über den Untersuchungszeitraum von mehr als 12 Monaten exemplarisch dargestellt und diskutiert.

scholarly journals Attachment working models as unconscious structures: An experimental test

2004 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus A. Maier ◽  
Annie Bernier ◽  
Reinhard Pekrun ◽  
Peter Zimmermann ◽  
Klaus E. Grossmann
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Interview Method ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Internal Working ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Narrative Interview ◽  
Childhood Attachment ◽  
Report Measure

Internal working models of attachment (IWMs) are presumed to be largely unconscious representations of childhood attachment experiences. Several instruments have been developed to assess IWMs; some of them are based on self-report and others on narrative interview techniques. This study investigated the capacity of a self-report measure, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987), and of a narrative interview method, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), to measure unconscious attachment models. We compared scores on the two attachment instruments to response latencies in an attachment priming task. It was shown that attachment organisation assessed by the AAI correlates with priming effects, whereas the IPPA scales were inversely or not related to priming. The results are interpreted as support for the assumption that the AAI assesses, to a certain degree, unconscious working models of attachment.

scholarly journals Rearing Styles, Parents' Attachment Mental State,and Children's Social Abilities: The Link to Peer Acceptance

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grazia Attili ◽  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Antonio Roazzi
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Peer Acceptance ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
External Variables ◽  
Similarity Structure

This paper examines the discriminant effect of mothers' and fathers' attachment working models, the quality of their relationships in everyday settings, and children's social abilities on children's peer acceptance. Participants were thirty-four 7–9 year olds, their mothers, and fathers. Interactions were observed at home and coded on global measures of positive, negative, controlling, disconfirming, correcting behaviors, and neutral conversation. Parents' IWM were assessed by the AAI. Children's peer acceptance and behavioral orientations as a measure of a child's social competence at school were assessed by sociometric techniques. By using both traditional statistical analyses and a multidimensional scaling approach (MDS), in terms of “similarity structure analysis (SSA)” and the “external variables as points technique,” it emerged that children's lack of success among peers associated with social behaviors which were linked to parents' rejecting/neglecting and directive interactive styles, mainly to negative, disconfirming, and a few positive interactions. These parenting styles were significantly affected by adults' insecure IWM.

Perception of Autonomy and Connectedness Prior to the Onset of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Huemer ◽  
Maria Haidvogl ◽  
Fritz Mattejat ◽  
Gudrun Wagner ◽  
Gerald Nobis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Image Test ◽  
Restrictive Type

Objective: This study examines retrospective correlates of nonshared family environment prior to onset of disease, by means of multiple familial informants, among anorexia and bulimia nervosa patients. Methods: A total of 332 participants was included (anorexia nervosa, restrictive type (AN-R): n = 41 plus families); bulimic patients (anorexia nervosa, binge-purging type; bulimia nervosa: n = 59 plus families). The EATAET Lifetime Diagnostic Interview was used to establish the diagnosis; the Subjective Family Image Test was used to derive emotional connectedness (EC) and individual autonomy (IA). Results: Bulimic and AN-R patients perceived significantly lower EC prior to onset of disease compared to their healthy sisters. Bulimic patients perceived significantly lower EC prior to onset of disease compared to AN-R patients and compared to their mothers and fathers. A low family sum – sister pairs sum comparison – of EC had a significant influence on the risk of developing bulimia nervosa. Contrary to expectations, AN-R patients did not perceive significantly lower levels of IA compared to their sisters, prior to onset of disease. Findings of low IA in currently ill AN-R patients may represent a disease consequence, not a risk factor. Conclusions: Developmental child psychiatrists should direct their attention to disturbances of EC, which may be present prior to the onset of the disease.

Working Model Correspondence Between Adult Attachment and Attachment to God

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Njus ◽  
Cynthia M. H. Bane ◽  
Laura Delikowski
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment To God ◽  
Working Model

Mothers’ Personal and Interpersonal Function as Potential Mediators Between Maternal Maltreatment History and Child Behavior Problems

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Pereira ◽  
Jaclyn A. Ludmer ◽  
Andrea Gonzalez ◽  
Leslie Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Child Behavior ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Behavioral Observation ◽  
Maternal Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Avoidant Attachment

This study examined maternal depressive symptoms, social support, parenting, and adult attachment as mediators explaining the relation between maternal childhood maltreatment and child behavior in offspring. We assessed a community sample of 96 mother–child dyads. At child age 16 months, mothers self-reported maltreatment history, adult attachment, depressive symptoms, and social support, and maternal sensitivity was assessed via 2 hr of direct behavioral observation. Maternal reports of child behavior were collected at 5 years. Single and parallel mediation models were constructed. Only maternal depressive symptoms mediated the relation between maternal maltreatment history and children’s internalizing problems. Maternal sensitivity emerged as a suppressor variable. With respect to the relation between maternal maltreatment history and children’s externalizing problems, when entered singly, maternal depressive symptoms, social support, and avoidant attachment emerged as mediators. When examined in parallel, only maternal depressive symptoms and avoidant attachment accounted for unique mediating variance. Findings have implications with respect to important maternal factors that might be targeted to reduce the probability of maladaptive child behavior.

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