scholarly journals Parental Attachment and Children's Socio-emotional Development: Some Findings on the Validity of the Adult Attachment Interview in The Netherlands

1991 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinus H. van Ijzendoorn ◽  
Marian J. Kranenburg ◽  
Hylda A. Zwart-Woudstra ◽  
Agnes M. van Busschbach ◽  
Mirjam W.E. Lambermon
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Emotional Development ◽  
Parental Attachment ◽  
Parental Bonding ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Parental Bonding Instrument ◽  
Ego Resilience

In this study, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was applied in The Netherlands, to test certain aspects of its validity, and to provide information about its relation to toddlers' socio-emotional adaptation. In the second year of life, a sample of 80 infants were seen with their father, mother, and professional caregiver in the Strange Situation procedure, and in a free-play situation to assess caregivers' sensitivity. Two years later, 68 children participated in a follow-up study, involving mothers, fathers, and professional caregivers. Parents were interviewed with the AAI, and completed the Parental Bonding Instrument that measures attachment experiences in childhood. Parents also completed the Nijmegen-California Q-sort, to measure their children's ego-resilience and ego-control. Professional caregivers rated children's sociability in pre-school using the Pre-School Behavior Inventory. As predicted the AAI and the Parental Bonding Instrument were related. Only the AAI, however, yielded classifications that corresponded with the quality of infant-parent attachment. Furthermore, AAI classifications for mothers were related to maternal sensitivity: Secure mothers are more sensitive to their daughters than insecure mothers, but for boys this was not true. In addition, AAI classifications for parents were related to their children's socio-emotional development in the pre-school years. Secure mothers have children with more ego-resilience and less ego-undercontrol. Dismissing fathers have children who are rated as more aggressive, less social, and less timid than secure or preoccupied fathers. The AAI appears to be a promising instrument for measuring parental state of mind with respect to attachment relationships in a variety of natural settings.

Assessing Attachment: Convergent Validity of the Adult Attachment Interview and the Parental Bonding Instrument

1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Manassis ◽  
Mary Owens ◽  
Kenneth S. Adam ◽  
Malcolm West ◽  
Adrienne E. Sheldon-Keller
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Parental Bonding ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Role Reversal ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Parental Bonding Instrument ◽  
Child Attachment

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether or not the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) can provide information about parent-child attachment that is comparable to information obtained from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), a more complex measure of attachment. Method: One hundred and thirty emotionally and/or behaviourally disturbed adolescents (73 male, 57 female; ages 13–19 years, × = 15.3 ± 1.47 years) participating in a study of attachment and suicidality completed the PBI and the AAI. Data from these measures were compared within participants. Results: Maternal care and overprotection on the PBI differed significantly by AAI attachment classification (F3,122 = 2.79, p = 0.012), with autonomous participants showing the most optimal and unresolved participants the least optimal PBI results. Maternal love and maternal involvement/role reversal on the AAI were significant predictors of maternal care and maternal overprotection, respectively, on the PBI (R2 = 0.15; R2 = 0.16). These predictions improved when AAI scales measuring idealisation and involving anger towards the mother were included in the regression analyses (R2 = 0.35; R2 = 0.20). Autonomous participants on AAI showed the highest scale correlations across instruments. Conclusions: Attachment information obtained from the PBI and the AAI is comparable in participants with optimal attachment histories, but not in participants showing idealisation or anger towards their mothers. Caution is, therefore, advisable when using the PBI to obtain attachment information in clinical samples where suboptimal attachment histories are likely.

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.

Investigation of the Relationships Between Paranormal Beliefs, Parental Bonding, and Adult Attachment of University Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-290
Author(s):  
Saban Karayagiz ◽  
Timucin Aktan
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Parental Attachment ◽  
Parental Bonding ◽  
Paranormal Belief ◽  
Paranormal Beliefs ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Belief Scale ◽  
The Relationship

Paranormal beliefs are of interest for the college students especially studying psychology and philosophy. In addition, attitudes such as parental bonding and adult attachment affect levels of paranormal beliefs. Exploring the relationships among these principal themes is of great importance in illuminating possible effects of students’ attachments and bonding toward the development of paranormal beliefs. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among students’ parental attachment, relationship attitude, and paranormal beliefs; 239 university students responded to the items in three separate questionnaires, the Paranormal Belief Scale, parental bonding, and adult attachment survey. The research findings showed that a significant relationship exists between paranormal beliefs and attachment attitudes in the favor of females. In terms of the relationship between paranormal beliefs and adult attachment, the results also revealed that they have akin relationships between adult attachment and parental bonding. Although adult relationships affect paranormal beliefs, no significant correlation was found among three areas possible because the effect of parental bonding is limited in the long term.

Incarcerated Adolescents' Distress and Suicidality in Relation to Parental Bonding Styles

Crisis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 164-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L McGarvey ◽  
Ludmila A Kryzhanovskaya ◽  
Cheryl Koopman ◽  
Dennis Waite ◽  
Randolph J Canterbury
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Parental Bonding ◽  
Psychosocial Problems ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Suicidal Thoughts ◽  
Parental Bonding Instrument ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Incarcerated Adolescents

This study examines the relationships between the bonding style of an incarcerated adolescent with parents and his/her current feelings of self-esteem, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts and attempts. It also investigates differences between bonding to mother and bonding to father. Some 296 incarcerated adolescents were interviewed using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Significant relationships were found between youths' self-esteem, hopelessness, and suicidal behavior and their bonding style. Youths whose parent(s) had a parental bonding style of affectionless control reported the greatest distress, and youths whose parent(s) had an optimal bonding style reported the least distress. Differences were found between bonding styles with the mother and with the father. Attachment theory may be useful in targeting incarcerated youths who have affectionless control bonding with parent(s) for special interventions since these youths are most at risk for psychosocial problems.

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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