Effects of family risk on early attachment security: Gender-specific susceptibility and mediation by parenting behavior

Growing up in high-risk environments is detrimental to children’s development of attachment security. Parenting behavior is hypothesized to be the mechanism through which risks exert their influence. However, risk influences can vary between individuals by gender. Aim of this study was to explore specific pathways of family risk on early attachment security and additionally examine the transmission via parenting behavior. The sample consisted of 197 children and their primary caregivers. Children’s age ranged between 10 and 21 months ( M = 15.25, SD = 3.59). Data assessment included 21 distal and proximal family risk factors, children’s attachment security, and parental responsivity and supportive presence. Whereas distal risk factors had an adverse effect only on girls’ attachment security, proximal risks negatively affected only boys’ attachment security. Additionally, patterns of risk factors occurring in our sample were analyzed using an exploratory principal component analysis. Regardless of the child’s gender, a low socio- economic status was negatively related to attachment security of all children. Migration and crowding and a high emotional load of the primary caregiver both negatively predicted girls’ but not boys’ attachment security. However, the attachment security of boys was affected by a negative family climate. Most of the adverse risk effects on attachment security were mediated by parental responsivity and supportive presence so that the transmission of risk occurs through parenting behavior. Results revealed a different susceptibility of family risks for girls and boys. The consideration of a gender-sensitive approach in developmental psychopathology and interventions of developmental child welfare services is recommended.

Early Attachment Network to Multiple Caregivers: A Brief History of Research and Assessment Models

Early attachment has been commonly hypothesized to predict children’s future developmental outcomes, and robust evidence relying on assessments of single caregiver-child attachment patterns has corroborated this hypothesis. Nevertheless, most often children are raised by multiple caregivers, and they tend to form attachment bonds with more than one of them. In this paper, we briefly describe the conceptual and empirical roots underlying the notion of attachment network to multiple caregivers. We describe potential reasons for researchfocusing on a single caregiver (most often mothers, but recently also fathers) and the historical attempts to establish a more ecologically valid assessment of attachment to multiple caregivers. Finally, we describe a recently developed organizational framework that includes testable models on which future research may rely for assessing the predictive power of attachment networks to multiple caregivers on children’s developmental outcomes.

What Does It Take for Early Relationships to Remain Secure in the Face of Adversity?

Attachment relationships as bipersonal, dynamic systems of interaction and meaning-making, can be understood as a resilient mechanism, a level of resilience in itself. A resilient early attachment relationship may facilitate resilience across development and interact with other factors to promote healthier, more resilient societies at different ecological levels. In this chapter, first, the concept of attachment resilience and its constituent factors are developed within the framework of resilience literature. Second, the ecological nature of attachment resilience is posited, and a set of four principles for the ecological study and enhancement of attachment resilience is presented and applied to a case study. Finally, a discussion of the implications of these ideas for interventions with families is developed.

Attachment characteristics and emotion regulation difficulties among maladaptive and normal daydreamers

Maladaptive daydreaming is an excessive form of daydreaming which causes significant distress and functional impairment to the affected individuals. Research on maladaptive daydreaming has intensified in recent years, but its pathogenesis has not yet been clearly elucidated. The aim of the study was to examine the attachment characteristics and the difficulties in emotion regulation among maladaptive and normal daydreamers. 717 individuals were recruited online, 106 of whom were screened as maladaptive daydreamers. The results of the Attachment Style Questionnaire revealed a specific attachment style among maladaptive daydreamers, who were characterized by ‘Ambivalent-fearful’ attachment characteristics, while normal daydreamers showed ‘Secure-independent’ attachment style. Regarding emotion regulation difficulties, maladaptive daydreamers showed a significantly higher level of deficit on each subscale of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale compared to normal daydreamers. The findings highlighted the potential role of early attachment experiences in the etiology and pathogenesis of maladaptive daydreaming, as well as the presence of severe emotion regulation deficits among problematic daydreamers. The results revealed by the present study might give contributions to the development of psychotherapeutical treatment of maladaptive daydreaming.

Development and use of the Early Attachment Observation tool for infant mental health

The Early Attachment Observation (EAO) is a simple assessment tool that has been developed by the Leeds Infant Mental Health service in collaboration with Leeds Health Visiting Service for use by health visitors to identify emerging attachment difficulties. The EAO is delivered as part of the universal offer at the routine 6–8-week health visitor contact. The EAO protocol requires the health visitor to ask the primary caregiver three questions about the emerging relationship between themselves and their infant: Describe your relationship with your baby in three words; What is the best thing about your relationship with your baby?; and What is your biggest fear about your relationship with your baby? The health visitor completes a 2-minute observation of the interactions between the infant and parent. The purpose of the EAO is to screen for emerging attachment difficulties, in line with the WAVE report Conception to Age 2: The Age of Opportunity. The EAO is now a crucial element of the Leeds Early Start infant mental health pathway. The purpose of this article is to outline the development, pilot, implementation and evaluation of the use of the EAO in Leeds.