Desire and Secure Attachment: An Adaptive Dialectic—Discussion of Jill Gentile’s “Between the Familiar and the Stranger: Attachment Security, Mutual Desire, and Reclaimed Love”

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-225
Author(s):  
Malcolm Owen Slavin
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
The Stranger

scholarly journals Indiscriminate friendliness in foster children: Associations with attachment security, foster parents’ sensitivity, and child inhibitory control

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-109
Author(s):  
Nikita K. Schoemaker ◽  
Harriet J. Vermeer ◽  
Femmie Juffer ◽  
Ruan Spies ◽  
Elisa van Ee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Parental Sensitivity ◽  
Observational Measure ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Stranger

Indiscriminate friendliness (IF) is atypical behavior often seen in postinstitutionalized and foster children. The current exploratory study examined the associations of children’s attachment security, parental sensitivity, and child inhibitory control with reported and observed IF in 60 family-reared, never-institutionalized foster children. IF was measured with a parent-report questionnaire (Indiscriminate Friendliness Questionnaire) and an observational measure (adapted version of the Stranger at the Door procedure; Bucharest Early Intervention Project). Attachment security and inhibitory control were related to reported IF (i.e., a secure attachment and poor inhibitory control were associated with higher levels of IF), but parental sensitivity was not. No associations were found between observed IF and attachment security, parental sensitivity, or inhibitory control. Thus, foster children with a secure attachment relationship may be more prone to socially interact with others including strangers, whereas better inhibitory control may serve as a buffer against IF but these results were found for reported IF only. More research is needed to gain more knowledge about different measures, other possible correlates, and underlying mechanisms of IF.

scholarly journals Early caregiving experiences shape adolescent attachment profiles

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Adolescent Attachment

Secure attachment in adolescents seems to be associated with robust mental health and social skills. How the quality of early caregiving impacts on attachment security in adolescence, however, is less clear.

scholarly journals Secure human attachment can promote support for climate change mitigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (37) ◽  
pp. e2101046118
Author(s):  
Claudia F. Nisa ◽  
Jocelyn J. Bélanger ◽  
Birga M. Schumpe ◽  
Edyta M. Sasin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Change Mitigation

Attachment theory is an ethological approach to the development of durable, affective ties between humans. We propose that secure attachment is crucial for understanding climate change mitigation, because the latter is inherently a communal phenomenon resulting from joint action and requiring collective behavioral change. Here, we show that priming attachment security increases acceptance (Study 1: n = 173) and perceived responsibility toward anthropogenic climate change (Study 2: n = 209) via increased empathy for others. Next, we demonstrate that priming attachment security, compared to a standard National Geographic video about climate change, increases monetary donations to a proenvironmental group in politically moderate and conservative individuals (Study 3: n = 196). Finally, through a preregistered field study conducted in the United Arab Emirates (Study 4: n = 143,558 food transactions), we show that, compared to a message related to carbon emissions, an attachment security–based message is associated with a reduction in food waste. Taken together, our work suggests that an avenue to promote climate change mitigation could be grounded in core ethological mechanisms associated with secure attachment.

scholarly journals Support for climate change mitigation can be promoted by secure human attachment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia F Nisa ◽  
Jocelyn Belanger ◽  
Birga Mareen Schumpe ◽  
Edyta Sasin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Climate Change Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Change Mitigation

Attachment is an ethological approach to the development of durable affective ties betweenhumans. We propose that secure attachment is crucial to understand climate change mitigationbecause the latter is inherently a communal phenomenon resulting from joint action, and requiring collective behavioral change. Here we show that secure (vs. insecure) attachment is associated with a higher willingness to pay taxes and prices to mitigate climate change (Study 1 N=1006 U.S. nationally representative sample). We also establish that priming attachment security increases acceptance (Study 2 N=173) and perceived responsibility about anthropogenic climate change (Study 3 N=209). Next, we show that priming attachment security, compared to a standard National Geographic video about climate change, increases monetary donations to a proenvironmental group in politically moderate and conservative individuals (Study 4 N=196). Lastly, in a preregistered field study conducted in the United Arab Emirates involving 130 nationalities (Study 5 N=143,558 food transactions), we show that an attachment-based message reduces food waste compared to a message related to carbon emissions. Our work suggests that a new avenue to promote climate change mitigation could be grounded in core ethological mechanisms associated with secure attachment.

scholarly journals The reciprocal relation between children’s attachment representations and their cognitive ability

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Stievenart ◽  
Isabelle Roskam ◽  
Jean Christophe Meunier ◽  
Gaelle van de Moortele
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Reciprocal Relation ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Representations ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
Verbal Iq ◽  
Completion Task ◽  
Story Completion

This study explores reciprocal relations between children’s attachment representations and their cognitive ability. Previous literature has mainly focused on the prediction of cognitive abilities from attachment, rarely on the reverse prediction. This was explored in the current research. Attachment representations were assessed with the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990); the IQ was measured with the WPPSI-III (Wechsler, 2004). Data were collected twice, at a two-year interval, from about 400 preschoolers. Reasoning IQ was found to influence the development of secure attachment representations, while attachment security and disorganization influenced later verbal IQ. The implications of the findings for both clinical and research purposes are discussed in the light of the interactions between cognitive abilities and attachment representations.

scholarly journals Preventive interventions and sustained attachment security in maltreated children

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4pt1) ◽  
pp. 919-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Pickreign Stronach ◽  
Sheree L. Toth ◽  
Fred Rogosch ◽  
Dante Cicchetti
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Security ◽  
Disorganized Attachment ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Maltreated Children ◽  
Intention To Treat ◽  
Group A ◽  
Prior Investigation ◽  
Community Standard

AbstractThirteen-month-old maltreated infants (n= 137) and their mothers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: child–parent psychotherapy (CPP), psychoeducational parenting intervention (PPI), or community standard (CS). A fourth group of nonmaltreated infants (n= 52) and their mothers served as a nonmaltreated comparison (NC) group. A prior investigation found that the CPP and the PPI groups demonstrated substantial increases in secure attachment at postintervention, whereas this change was not found in the CS and the NC groups. The current investigation involved the analysis of data obtained at a follow-up assessment that occurred 12 months after the completion of treatment. At follow-up, children in the CPP group had higher rates of secure and lower rates of disorganized attachment than did children in the PPI or the CS group. Rates of disorganized attachment did not differ between the CPP and the NC groups. Intention to treat analyses also showed higher rates of secure attachment at follow-up in the CPP group relative to the PPI and the CS groups. However, groups did not differ on disorganized attachment. Both primary and intention to treat analyses demonstrated that maternal-reported child behavior problems did not differ among the four groups at the follow-up assessment. This is the first investigation to demonstrate sustained attachment security in maltreated children 12 months after the completion of an attachment theory informed intervention. The findings also suggest that, although effective in the short term, parenting interventions alone may not be effective in maintaining secure attachment in children over time.

scholarly journals Maternal Reflective Functioning and Attachment Security in Girls and Boys: A Closer Look into the Middle Childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 11261
Author(s):  
Danguolė Čekuolienė ◽  
Lina Gervinskaitė-Paulaitienė ◽  
Izabelė Grauslienė ◽  
Asta Adler ◽  
Rasa Barkauskienė
Keyword(s):  
Gender Role ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Reflective Functioning ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Child Attachment ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Parent Development ◽  
Maternal Reflective Functioning

Child attachment undergoes major changes during middle childhood. Maternal reflective functioning (RF) is hypothesized to be an important correlate of a child’s attachment security during this period; however, the child’s gender role in this association has not been examined yet. In the present study, we used 64 mother-child (6–11 years old) dyads from a community sample to analyze the association between maternal RF and child attachment security and whether this link is moderated by gender. Maternal RF was assessed on the Parent Development Interview Revised (PDI-R2) and child attachment classifications were examined by the Child Attachment Interview (CAI). Results revealed the positive and statistically significant association between maternal RF and child attachment security in the whole sample. Further evaluations of this link in the groups of girls and boys separately indicated its significance for girls only. Finally, moderation analysis demonstrated the relation between child attachment security and maternal RF to be moderated by gender. These findings provide a new knowledge on gender role in attachment security in relation to maternal RF as well as suggest possible differentiation in the correlates on the pathway of secure attachment between girls and boys during middle childhood.

School-aged children's vulnerability to depressive symptomatology: The role of attachment security, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE A. GRAHAM ◽  
M. ANN EASTERBROOKS
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Economic Risk ◽  
Significant Relation ◽  
Children’S Depression ◽  
Security Of Attachment

The influences of three risk factors (insecure attachment, maternal depressive symptoms, and economic risk) on children's depressive symptomatology were examined. Subjects were 85 children from a range of income levels; all subjects were between 7 and 9 years of age. Children's depressive symptomatology was assessed with the Dimensions of Depression Profile for Children and Adolescents. Results indicated that children at high economic risk were more likely to exhibit depressive symptomatology than were children at low economic risk. Security of attachment was significantly related to children's depressive symptomatology. In addition, a significant relation was noted between children's depressive symptomatology and the depressive symptomatology of their mothers. Contrary to expectations, no significant relation was found between maternal depressive symptomatology and security of attachment. A multiple regression analysis revealed that security of attachment, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk accounted for 47% of the variability in children's depression scores. Secure attachment served as a buffer; economic risk was associated with depressive symptoms only among insecurely attached children.

scholarly journals Attachment security mediates the longitudinal association between child–parent psychotherapy and peer relations for toddlers of depressed mothers

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 587-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle J. Guild ◽  
Sheree L. Toth ◽  
Elizabeth D. Handley ◽  
Fred A. Rogosch ◽  
Dante Cicchetti
Keyword(s):  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Peer Relations ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Longitudinal Association ◽  
Prior Investigation ◽  
Depressed Mothers

AbstractNumerous investigations have demonstrated that child–parent psychotherapy (CPP) promotes secure attachment between mothers and offspring. However, the role of postintervention attachment security as it relates to long-term child outcomes has never been evaluated. The present study therefore examined postintervention attachment status as a mediator of the association between CPP for depressed mothers and their offspring and subsequent peer relations among offspring. Depressed mothers and their toddlers were randomized to receive CPP (n = 45) or to a control group (n = 55). A prior investigation with this sample indicated that offspring who received CPP attained significantly higher rates of secure attachment postintervention, whereas insecure attachment continued to predominate for offspring in the control group. The present study examined follow-up data of teachers’ reports on participants’ competence with classroom peers when they were approximately 9 years old. Findings indicated that children who received CPP were more likely to evidence secure attachments at postintervention, which in turn was associated with more positive peer relationships at age 9.

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