Adult Attachment, Mental Representations, and Faith: Mediators of Childhood Maltreatment and Self-Regulation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gibaeg Han ◽  
Patricia L. Kaminski
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Self Regulation

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.

Co-creating secure attachment imagery to enhance relational healing

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-55
Author(s):  
David S. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Patient Experiences ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Relational Context ◽  
Attachment Figure ◽  
Attachment Relationships ◽  
Attachment Experience ◽  
Therapeutic Model

All treatments for adult attachment insecurity include in some form a set of principles and methods that can be termed therapist-as-good-attachment-figure. This relational context is widely and appropriately accepted as a foundation for any attachment-focused therapy. After highlighting some of the principles of this approach, this article describes a therapeutic model that includes using patient-and-therapist co-created imagery of positive attachment experience. This imagery method is intrapersonal, in that it focuses on the patient's inner experience of mental representations of attachment relationships; it is interpersonal, in that the process calls upon the therapist to be highly attuned and responsive — as a good attachment figure — to the patient experiencing the imagery; and it is metainterpersonal, in that the patient experiences the imagined interaction with the positive attachment relationships in the context of the therapist supporting and participating in the process. The use of imagery in this way can be a valuable contribution towards relational healing and adult earned secure attachment.

Childhood maltreatment and alcohol use in young adulthood: the role of self-regulation processes

2019 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunny H. Shin ◽  
Gabriela Ksinan Jiskrova ◽  
Thomas A. Wills
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Self Regulation

Early-life adversities and adult attachment in depression and alexithymia

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jani Kajanoja ◽  
Max Karukivi ◽  
Noora M. Scheinin ◽  
Hanna Ahrnberg ◽  
Linnea Karlsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Style ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Birth Cohort Study ◽  
Emotional Neglect ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Adult Attachment Style ◽  
Personality Construct

Abstract Alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and verbalizing feelings, a restricted imagination, and an externally oriented thinking style. As alexithymia shows marked overlap with depression, its independent nature as a personality construct is still being debated. The etiology of alexithymia is unknown, although childhood emotional neglect and attachment formation are thought to play important roles. In the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, experiences of early-life adversities (EA) and childhood maltreatment (CM) were studied in a sample of 2,604 men and women. The overlap and differences between depression and alexithymia were investigated by comparing their associations with EA types and adult attachment style. Alexithymia was specifically associated with childhood emotional neglect (odds ratio (OR) 3.8, p < .001), whereas depression was related to several types of EA. In depression co-occurring with alexithymia, there was a higher prevalence of emotional neglect (81.3% vs. 54.4%, p < .001), attachment anxiety (t = 2.38, p = .018), and attachment avoidance (t = 4.03, p < .001). Early-life adversities were markedly different in the alexithymia group compared to those suffering from depression, or healthy controls. Depression with concurrent alexithymia may represent a distinct subtype, specifically associated with childhood experiences of emotional neglect, and increased attachment insecurity compared to non-alexithymic depression.

Adult Attachment Interview, Thematic Analysis, and Communicative Style in Families with Substance Use Disorder

2002 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Anolli ◽  
Michela Balconi
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Attachment Pattern

The paper examined the Adult Attachment Interview with special reference to thematic and semantic analysis in line with the discourse study (van Dijk, 1997). The hypothesis was that correspondence between the communicative organization of speech and the mental representations of the attachment experiences would be substantial Eight Adult Attachment Interview transcripts of fathers with a heroin addicted young son were analyzed at two levels, (a) thematic analysis to individuate the topics of their talk applying the structural and semantic study of discourse and (b) enunciative analysis of speech to define their linguistic patterns utilizing a set of linguistic micro- and macro-units. Results showed nine main topics in the Adult Attachment Interview, each of which was characterized by a distinctive linguistic profile. In this perspective this device seems to be effective not only for discriminating attachment styles between subjects but also to identify differences within subjects belonging to the same attachment pattern.

Childhood Maltreatment, Adult Attachment, and Depression as Predictors of Parental Self-Efficacy in At-Risk Mothers

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 595-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon G. Caldwell ◽  
Phillip R. Shaver ◽  
Chin-Shang Li ◽  
Michael J. Minzenberg
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Self Efficacy

scholarly journals Early life experiences and social cognition in major psychiatric disorders: A systematic review

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina I. Rokita ◽  
Maria R. Dauvermann ◽  
Gary Donohoe
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Parental Attachment ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Early Life Adversity

AbstractObjective:To present a systematic review of the literature on the associations between early social environment, early life adversity, and social cognition in major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.Method:Relevant studies were identified via electronic and manual searches of the literature and included articles written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals up to May 2018. Quality assessment was performed using the quality evaluation scale employed in previous systematic reviews.Results:A total of 25 studies were included in the systematic review with the quality assessment scores ranging from 3 to 6 (out of 6). The vast majority of the studies reviewed showed a significant association between early childhood social experience, including both insecure attachment and adversity relating to neglect or abuse, and poorer social cognitive performance.Conclusion:We discuss these findings in the context of an attachment model, suggesting that childhood social adversity may result in poor internal working models, selective attention toward emotional stimuli and greater difficulties with emotional self-regulation. We outline some of the steps required to translate this understanding of social cognitive dysfunction in major psychiatric disorders into a target for interventions that mitigate the adverse effects of childhood maltreatment and poor parental attachment on social cognition.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document