Is attachment transmitted across generations? The plot thickens

Studies have demonstrated a strong relation between adult attachment security, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and infant security, using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). This suggests that a mother’s representations of attachment may influence the development of her infant’s attachment to her. This study both confirms and modifies that finding in a cohort of 47 first-time mothers and their infants. The AAIs were administered during the third trimester of pregnancy and the SSPs were performed when the infant was 14 months of age. The AAIs were classified using Crittenden’s Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) and the SSPs using both the DMM and also Main and Solomon’s ABC+D methods. There was a significant match of patterns for secure mothers and babies, but a tendency for inversion of insecure patterns of attachment, that is Type A mothers often had infants with a Type C pattern and vice versa. No significant relation was seen between the DMM adult and ABC+D infant patterns of attachment. A significant, but modest, association was found between the DMM and ABC+D infant SSP classifications. These findings may help guide treatment of insecure mother—infant dyads by individualizing interventions to include a focus on maternal representations of the infant and maternal responses to infant behavior.

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Major depression as a predictor of the intergenerational transmission of attachment security: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/00048674211060749 ◽

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.

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Ecological Constraints for Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1080/016502597385342 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 287-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Abraham Sagi ◽

Marinus H. van IJzendoorn ◽

Miri Scharf ◽

Tirtsa Joels ◽

Nina Koren-Karie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Intergenerational Transmission ◽

Adult Attachment ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Child Rearing ◽

Attachment Representations ◽

Ecological Constraints ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Home Based ◽

Sleeping Arrangements

To determine whether the transmission of attachment across generations is free from contextual constraints, adult attachment representations were assessed in two kibbutz settings, home-based and communal sleeping. It was hypothesised that under extreme child-rearing circumstances, such as the communal sleeping arrangement, the transmission of attachment is not evident, whereas in the more regular home-based environment the expected transmission of attachment will be found. The participants were 45 mothers and 45 infants, about equal numbers of boys and girls, from 20 kibbutz infant houses with communal sleeping arrangements, and from 25 kibbutz infant houses with home-based sleeping arrangements. Mothers were administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and infants were assessed through the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Among the home-based pairs, a correspondence of 76% was found between AAI and Strange Situation classifications, whereas the correspondence was only 40% in the communal sleeping group. It is argued that living in a communal sleeping arrangement reduces the expected transmission of attachment.

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Intervention in Transmission of Insecure Attachment: A Case Study

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1997.80.2.531 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 80 (2) ◽

pp. 531-543 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Femmie Juffer ◽

Marinus H. van Ijzendoorn ◽

Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg

Keyword(s):

Adult Attachment ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Insecure Attachment ◽

Short Term ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Parental Sensitivity ◽

Home Based ◽

Mother Attachment ◽

Home Based Intervention

Several attachment-based intervention studies have been performed, with varying success. An important question is whether short-term interventions can be successful in promoting parental sensitivity and security of infant-parent attachment as well as in changing parental representations of attachment. We investigated this issue in an exploratory way in a case study. A short-term home-based intervention with written material and video feedback, which was effective regarding parental sensitivity and infant security in a former study, was provided a parent who revealed an insecure attachment representation in the Adult Attachment Interview. The intervention sessions were expanded with discussions about past and present experiences of attachment. After four intervention sessions the mother's behavior towards her child was rated as more sensitive than before the intervention. Also, the infant-mother attachment, as observed in the Strange Situation, appeared to be more secure. Nevertheless, in a second Adult Attachment Interview administered after the intervention, the mother showed again an insecure representation of attachment. Possible implications of these results are discussed.

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Japanese mothers’ prebirth Adult Attachment Interview predicts their infants’ response to the Strange Situation Procedure: The strange situation in Japan revisited three decades later.

Developmental Psychology ◽

10.1037/dev0000577 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (11) ◽

pp. 2007-2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kiyomi Kondo-Ikemura ◽

Kazuko Y. Behrens ◽

Tomo Umemura ◽

Shigeru Nakano

Keyword(s):

Adult Attachment ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Japanese Mothers ◽

Strange Situation Procedure

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Attachment in adolescence: A move to the level of emotion regulation

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships ◽

10.1177/0265407509360898 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 181-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 81

Author(s):

Joseph P. Allen ◽

Erin M. Miga

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Adult Attachment ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Unexpected Finding ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Social Emotion ◽

State Of Mind ◽

Interactions With Peers

The early adolescent’s state of mind in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is more closely linked to social interactions with peers, who are unlikely to serve as attachment figures, than it is to (i) qualities of the adolescent’s interactions with parents, (ii) the AAI of the adolescent’s mother, or (iii) the adolescent’s prior Strange Situation behavior. This unexpected finding suggests the value of reconceptualizing AAI autonomy/ security as a marker of the adolescent’s capacity for emotion regulation in social interactions. Supporting this, we note that the AAI was originally validated not as a marker of attachment experiences or expectations with one’s caregivers, but as a predictor of caregiving capacity sufficient to produce secure offspring. As such, the AAI may be fruitfully viewed as primarily assessing social emotion regulation capacities that support both strong caregiving skills and strong skills relating with peers.

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Atypical maternal behavior, maternal representations, and infant disorganized attachment

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579403000130 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 239-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

SUSAN GOLDBERG ◽

DIANE BENOIT ◽

KIRSTEN BLOKLAND ◽

SHERI MADIGAN

Keyword(s):

Maternal Behavior ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Maternal Attachment ◽

Disorganized Attachment ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Attachment Representations ◽

Strange Situation ◽

Infant Attachment ◽

Maternal Representations ◽

Risk Categories

The data for 197 mother–infant pairs from two longitudinal studies were analyzed to assess relations between maternal attachment representations; atypical maternal behavior, coded with a new tool, Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE), and infant attachment. Both maternal and infant attachment were systematically related to atypical maternal behavior: mothers who were Unresolved on the Adult Attachment Interview and those whose infants were disorganized in the Strange Situation Procedure engaged in more atypical behaviors than those who were not Unresolved and whose infants showed organized patterns of attachment, respectively. Regression analyses indicated that when tested as a mediator, atypical maternal behavior as measured on the AMBIANCE did not reduce the association between maternal Unresolved status and infant disorganized attachment. This may, in part, reflect the fact that our low-risk sample did not include enough cases in the risk categories. These data provide preliminary empirical validation for the AMBIANCE and strengthen the evidence for links between atypical maternal behavior and disorganized attachment but indicate that in addition to maternal attachment representations, other factors must contribute to atypical maternal behavior.

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Psychophysiological responses underlying unresolved loss and trauma in the Adult Attachment Interview

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579420001492 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Lianne Bakkum ◽

Mirjam Oosterman ◽

Marije L. Verhage ◽

Florentina C. Kunseler ◽

R. M. Pasco Fearon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Adult Attachment ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Multilevel Modelling ◽

Adult Attachment Interview ◽

Sinus Arrhythmia ◽

Unresolved Loss ◽

First Time

Abstract Unresolved loss/trauma in the context of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been theorised to result from dissociative processing of fear-related memories and ideas. To examine the plausibility of this model, this study tested hypothesised associations between unresolved loss/trauma and indicators of autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity. First-time pregnant women (N = 235) participated in the AAI while heart rate (interbeat interval; IBI) and indicators of parasympathetic reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) and sympathetic reactivity (pre-ejection period; PEP, skin conductance level; SCL) were recorded. Using multilevel modelling, ANS reactivity was examined in relation to topic (loss/trauma versus other questions); discussion of actual loss/trauma; classification of unresolved/disorganised; and unresolved responses during the interview. Responses to loss/trauma questions and discussion of loss were associated with respectively larger and smaller IBIs. There was no moderation by unresolved/disorganised status. Unresolved responses about loss were associated with smaller IBIs. Participants classified as unresolved/disorganised showed decreasing PEP and blunted SCL throughout the whole interview. The findings suggest that unresolved speech about loss co-occurs with physiological arousal, although the inconclusive findings regarding parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system responses fail to clearly support the role of fear.

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