Attachment, the Reflective Self, and Borderline States: The Predictive Specificity of the Adult Attachment Interview and Pathological Emotional Development

2013 ◽  
pp. 245-290
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Emotional Development ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview

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.

Comparative validity of the Adult Attachment Interview and the Adult Attachment Projective

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 429-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Jones-Mason ◽  
I. Elaine Allen ◽  
Steve Hamilton ◽  
Sandra J. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Adult Attachment Projective

scholarly journals Vinculação em mães adolescentes e seus bebés

Psicologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Ines Jongenelen ◽  
Isabel Soares ◽  
Karin Grossmann ◽  
Carla Martins
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview

Neste artigo, as autoras apresentam uma investigação empírica com mães adolescentes e seus bebés, conduzida sob a perspectiva da Teoria da Vinculação de Bowlby. Quarenta adolescentes e seus bebés foram avaliados na gravides e 12º mês do pós-parto, com base, respectivamente, na Adult Attachment Interview e na Situação Estranha. Os resultados revelam que a maioria dos bebés apresenta uma organização de vinculação segura à mãe, aos 12 meses de idade. Não foi encontrada uma associação significativa entre a classificação das mães na AAI e a classificação dos seus bebés na Situação Estranha, quer ao nível dos três padrões, quer em função da dimensão segurança versus insegurança da vinculação. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v20i1.375

Earned- and continuous-security in adult attachment: Relation to depressive symptomatology and parenting style

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane L. Pearson ◽  
Deborah A. Cohn ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn Pape Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Model Classification ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Earned Security ◽  
Early Relationships

AbstractThe secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk.

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.

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