Einschätzungen zu Bindungsbeziehungen und geäußerter Kindeswille in einer Stichprobe von Sachverständigengutachten zu Sorgerechtsstreitigkeiten (§ 1671 BGB)

For a sample of 103 court cases with parental conflicts regarding custody and residence results on attachment diagnostics by psychological court experts are reported. Attachment diagnostics was performed using multiple methods with two observations per parent. It was coded whether there were indications for a similar level of emotional security with both parents or more emotional security with one parent than the other. In addition, indications for attachment disorganization, manipulation of the child by one or both parents and children’s views regarding residence were coded. About 55% of the children showed indications for more emotional security with one than the other parent. 38% of the children did not express any preference regarding their preference. If a preference was expressed and if there were indications for more emotional security with one than the other parent, children most often wanted to live with the parent to whom they showed comparably more indications for emotional security. Manipulation, especially manipulation by both parents was associated with indications for attachment disorganization.

Adult Attachment Representations and Body Image

In modern literature, the body image is interpreted as a multidimensional construct, which is considered important for both individual development and quality of life. The body image is central to the self-concept and has important consequences for mental functioning. A negative body image can result in adverse psychosocial consequences for both sexes. For a long time in the professional literature the study of socio-cultural factors on the development of the body image has prevailed. This line of research creates social constructivism, in which the earliest attachment relations are eliminated, and instead the idea is suggested that external sources have a direct influence. The present text proposes an approach to the body image as a development construct, arising and developing in the attachment relations, related to the provision of security and protection. Attachment disturbances, as well as attachment disorganization, are defined as the inability to provide security and protection. Attachment relationships in connection with the development of body image develop through the mechanisms of reflection, sensitive responses to the child’s signals and synchronous relationships. In the first months of human life, the attachment needs are first and foremost the needs of the body, which are satisfied by the responses of the primary caregiver. The topic of body image discusses attachment disorganization, the understanding of attachment trauma, and the “enactment” of the loss on the body’s territory. Trauma always involves loss. Griefs that cannot be mourned and injuries that cannot be represented seem to be central to understanding the body’s problematization.

CCPP’s contribution to the maturing of the DMM

Over a decade, CCPP published many articles, a special issue and two special sections that enabled the DMM to become established as an alternative to both attachment disorganization and psychiatric diagnoses. New clinical authors from many countries contributed to an empirical set of assessment validity studies and findings regarding troubled and highrisk children and families. The outcome was a validated life-span series of assessments of attachment, a coherent body of important clinical findings, especially regarding school-aged children, and family functional formulations as laying the basis for DMM Integrative Treatment.

Preconception and perinatal predictors of offspring attachment disorganization: Advancing the replicated evidence

Attachment disorganization in early childhood is an influential yet modifiable risk factor for later mental health problems. Beyond established transmission through parents’ unresolved attachment representations and caregiving sensitivity, little replicated evidence exists for wider determinants of offspring attachment disorganization. This study examined the replicated evidence for psychosocial risk factors in the preconception, prenatal, and postnatal periods. We identified all relevant longitudinal studies, and examined all risk relationships for which evidence existed in two or more cohorts (48 effects, 17 studies, N = 6,099). Study-specific and pooled risk associations were estimated and a range of moderators evaluated. Mothers’ low socioeconomic status (r = .28, k = 2), perinatal loss of a child (r = .26, k = 2), caregiving intrusiveness (r = .31, k = 2), and infant male sex (r = .26, k = 4) predicted offspring attachment disorganization. Maternal sensitivity (r = –.25, k = 6) and higher metacognition during pregnancy (r = –.23, k = 3) predicted lower risk of offspring attachment disorganization. Findings suggest the origins of offspring disorganized attachment include but extend beyond maternal unresolved attachment representations and caregiving. We discuss implications for theory and for identification of modifiable risk pathways in the perinatal window.

An initial investigation of neonatal neuroanatomy, caregiving, and levels of disorganized behavior

Attachment disorganization is a risk factor for difficulties in attention, social relationships, and mental health. Conceptually, attachment disorganization may indicate a breakdown in fear regulation resulting from repeated exposure to frightening maternal care. In addition, past research has examined the influence of stress-inducing contextual factors and/or child factors upon the development of disorganization. However, no past work has assessed whether infant neuroanatomy, important to stress regulation, moderates the association between maternal care and levels of disorganized behavior. Here, utilizing data from a subsample of 82 dyads taking part in the “Growing Up in Singapore towards Healthy Outcomes” (GUSTO) cohort, we assessed the prediction from maternal sensitive caregiving at 6 mo and levels of attachment disorganization at 1.5 y, as moderated by hippocampal and amygdala volume determined within the first 2 weeks of life. Results indicate a significant interaction between neonatal left hippocampal volume and maternal sensitivity upon levels of disorganized behavior. Although these results require substantiation in further research, if replicated, they may enable new strategies for the identification of processes important to child mental health and points for intervention. This is because neonatal neuroanatomy, as opposed to genetic variation and sociodemographic risk, may be more directly linked to stress responses within individuals.