AbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate whether children with a history of disorganized
attachment in infancy were more likely than children without a history of disorganized
attachment to exhibit symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at school age
following trauma exposure. The sample consisted of 78 8.5-year-old children from a larger,
ongoing prospective study evaluating the effects of intrauterine cocaine exposure (IUCE)
on children's growth and development from birth to adolescence. At the 12-month visit,
children's attachment status was scored from videotapes of infant–caregiver
dyads in Ainsworth's strange situation. At the 8.5-year visit, children were administered
the Violence Exposure Scale—Revised, a child-report trauma exposure inventory,
and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents by an experienced clinical
psychologist masked to children's attachment status and IUCE status. Sixteen of the 78
children (21%) were classified as insecure–disorganized/insecure–other
at 12 months. Poisson regressions covarying IUCE, gender, and continuity of maternal care
indicated that disorganized attachment status at 12 months, compared with nondisorganized
attachment status, significantly predicted both higher avoidance cluster PTSD symptoms and
higher reexperiencing cluster PTSD symptoms. These findings suggest that the quality of
early dyadic relationships may be linked to differences in children's later development of
posttraumatic stress symptoms following a traumatic event.
Trauma Exposure in Elementary School Children: Description of Screening Procedures, Level of Exposure, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms
