Results indicated that the two subtypes of
disorganized infant attachment behavior differed in age of emergence, maternal childhood history, severity of associated family risk factors, and the extent of the mother's lack of involvement with the infant at home.
Disorganized infant attachment strategies and helpless - fearful profiles of parenting: Integrating attachment research with clinical intervention
Maternal disrupted affective communication, maternal frightened or frightening behavior, and
disorganized infant attachment strategies
Results are discussed in relation to Main and Hesse's (1990) theory of the role of fear - inducing parental behavior in the genesis of
disorganized infant attachment behavior and in relation to Aber, Allen, Carlson, and Cicchetti's (1989) concept of secure readiness to learn.
A later review by the same team (Bakermans - Kranenburg et al., 2005) was restricted to studies which measured
disorganized infant attachment (the most disturbed infant response to the strange situation test with the poorest prognosis for the future).
[jounal] Lyons - Ruth, K. / 1999 / Maternal frightened, frightening, or atypical behavior and
disorganized infant attachment patterns / Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 64: 67 ~ 96
Maternal frightened, frightening, or atypical behaviour and
disorganized infant attachment patterns.
TRAINING IN Cambridge, England Coding
Disorganized Infant Attachment (in the Strange Situation Procedure) Location: Cambridge, UK Dates: June 4 - 8, 2018 Trainer: Prof. Marinus van Ijzendoorm
Frightening maternal behavior linking unresolved loss and
disorganized infant attachment.
Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile — aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom
Frightened, frightening, and atypical maternal behavior and
disorganized infant attachment strategies
The current series of meta - analyses have established the reliability and discriminant validity of
disorganized infant attachment.
[jounal] Bakermans - Kranenbert,, M. J. / 2005 /
Disorganized infant attachment and preventive interventions: A review and meta - analysis / Infant Mental Health Journal 26 (3): 191 ~ 216
Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile - aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom.
Not exact matches
According to Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., psychiatrist and leading expert on trauma and how it affects the brain, as many as 80 % of abused and neglected
infants and children develop
disorganized / disoriented
attachment relationships, which are expressed as unpredictable approach and avoidance patterns towards mother, the inability to accept comfort from caregivers, rage at
attachment figures, and pathological self - regulatory behaviors.
[3] Carlson V, Cicchetti D, Barnett D, Braunwald K.
Disorganized / disoriented
attachment relationships in maltreated
infants.
There have been, over the years, four different types of
attachment patterns that we can see between
infant and parent: secure, avoidant, anxious, and
disorganized [2][3].
For example, approximately 15 % of
infants (or 82 % of mistreated
infants) display features of unresolved /
disorganized attachment (Carlson et al., 1989).
Claussen, A. H., 2002, Joint attention and
disorganized attachment status in
infants at risk, Development and Psychopathology 14: 279 ~ 292
(Alternating custody, e.g. week - on / week - off, was associated with
disorganized attachment in 60 percent of
infants under 18 months; older children and adults who had endured this arrangement as youngsters exhibited what the researcher described as «alarming levels of emotional insecurity and poor ability to regulate strong emotion.»)
A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80 % of abused and maltread
infants exhibited
attachment disorder symptoms (
disorganized subtype).
Attachment quality has been linked with later problem behaviours, with disorganized attachment especially predictive of dissociative symptoms (e.g. seeming spacey, «in a fog» etc.), 7 and internalizing and externalizing problems.6,8 - 10 A number of prevention and intervention programs have been developed that aim to improve infant attachmen
Attachment quality has been linked with later problem behaviours, with
disorganized attachment especially predictive of dissociative symptoms (e.g. seeming spacey, «in a fog» etc.), 7 and internalizing and externalizing problems.6,8 - 10 A number of prevention and intervention programs have been developed that aim to improve infant attachmen
attachment especially predictive of dissociative symptoms (e.g. seeming spacey, «in a fog» etc.), 7 and internalizing and externalizing problems.6,8 - 10 A number of prevention and intervention programs have been developed that aim to improve
infant attachmentattachment quality.
Parents» unresolved traumatic experiences are related to
infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and / or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism?
An
infant must be fed by the primary parental figure, usually the mother, and must have the mother present during severely physically painful events in order for a parental
attachment bond to form, and either a consistent omission of the mother from this process or an alteration between two people (the original mother and the adoptive mother) can cause either an insecure
attachment or
disorganized attachment from the parent to the child.
Infant disorganized attachment: Clarifying levels of analysis.
Parents» unresolved traumatic experiences are related to
infant disorganized attachment status: is frightened and / or frightening parental behaviour the linking mechanism?
Regarding the parenting background, Main and Hesse [47] proposed that caregivers of
infants displaying
disorganized attachment showed bouts of «frightened, threatening, and dissociative» behaviour in interactions with their
infants, and this was confirmed by later studies [48 — 50].
These data suggest that a disturbance in the tendency to initiate episodes of joint attention with others may be indicative of early social — cognitive and social — emotional disturbance among
infants affected by
disorganized attachment status.
As predicted, mothers who experienced more serious partner violence were more likely to have
infants with
disorganized attachments to them.
At the beginning of her paper, she notices that of the four patterns of
infant attachment (secure, avoidant, resistant,
disorganized), the
disorganized classification has been identified as a powerful childhood risk for later psychopathology.
Future studies should also focus on evaluating interventions that are explicitly directed at parental frightening or frightened behaviour as the empirically derived determinant of
infant disorganized attachment.
In addition, some
infants display a
disorganized attachment style characterized by contradictory behaviours toward parents (e.g., strong avoidance with strong contact - seeking, distress or anger).
As a first step, it is important to evaluate the effects of
attachment - based interventions that include
infant attachment disorganization as an outcome measure (see below), but in the next step interventions that are specifically designed to prevent insecure
disorganized attachment should be tested.
As an example, a preventive intervention in families with internationally adopted
infants significantly enhanced maternal sensitivity and also significantly reduced
disorganized attachment: in the intervention group there were only 6 %
disorganized - attached children compared with 22 % in the control group.11 This study used a brief intervention of three home - based sessions of video feedback focusing on parental sensitivity, with the intervention starting when the child was six months old.
Recently, a narrative review and quantitative meta - analysis has been completed including 15 preventive interventions that included
infant disorganized attachment as an outcome measure.9 Although the overall effect of all interventions combined was not significant, some interventions did succeed in preventing
disorganized attachment in children.
At baseline,
infants in the maltreatment groups showed higher levels of
disorganized attachment.
The underpinnings of the current model are trauma theory (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, neurobiology of stress and trauma); family systems theory (dynamic, structural, strategic approaches);
attachment theory and research (internal working model, developmental research,
disorganized - disoriented
attachment, parent -
infant bonding); experiential therapy (affective expression, process orientation); cognitive - behavioral treatment (cognitive rescripting, developing coping skills); psychoanalytical theory (object relations); and positive psychology (signature strengths, resilience).
During the past 10 years nearly 80 studies on
disorganized attachment involving more than 6,000
infant — parent dyads have been carried out.
[jounal] Hertsgaard, L / 1995 / Adrenocortical responses to the Strange Situation in
infant with
disorganized / disoriented
attachment relationships / Child Development 66: 1100 ~ 1106
Up to 65 % of maltreated children develop PTSD; as many as 90 % of
infants and children acquire anxious and
disorganized attachment patterns.
Alternating custody, e.g. week - on / week - off, was associated with
disorganized attachment in 60 percent of
infants under 18 months; older children and adults who had endured this arrangement as youngsters exhibited what the researcher described as «alarming levels of emotional insecurity and poor ability to regulate strong emotion.»
These various contradictory and un-integrated behaviours are thought to indicate the
infant's inability to organize a coherent strategy for eliciting comfort from the caregiver and are differentially associated with increased release of stress hormones.1, 2
Disorganized attachment behaviours may occur in combination with other insecure behaviours that are part of an avoidant or ambivalent
attachment strategy.
The sensitivity - focused
attachment interventions that changed
disorganized attachment started after
infant age six months (rather than during pregnancy and before
infant age six months), focused on children at risk (rather than parents at risk), and were conducted by professionals rather than non-professionals.
Insecure -
disorganized infant - caregiver
attachment evidently develops when the caregiver displays unusual and ultimately frightening behaviours in the presence of the child.
Research reviewed by Hennighausen and Lyons - Ruth has also demonstrated that certain parental behaviours, such as withdrawal, negative - intrusive responses, role - confused responses, disoriented responses, frightened or frightening behaviours and affective communication errors, which include contradictory responses to
infant signals, are likely to be more evident in the context of certain types of parental psychopathology, and have been documented to be associated with
disorganized attachment.3, 4
The intervention resulted in a substantial reduction in
infant disorganized attachment, and an increase in
attachment security.
Of the studies evaluating the effectiveness of
attachment - theory - based intervention programs, only two have dealt exclusively with maltreated children and parents who had been reported to child protection services.4, 5 These two studies, noteworthy for their randomized trial method, found a substantial reduction in
disorganized attachment behaviours and an increase in secure
attachment behaviours among
infants and young children resulting from
attachment - theory - based interventions.
A recent meta - analysis of early childhood interventions asserted that brief interventions (< 5 sessions) focusing on increasing maternal sensitivity and enhancing
infant attachment security were more effective than long - term intervention.23 In contrast, Hennighausen and Lyons - Ruth cited evidence that
disorganized attachment responds best to home - based, intensive and long - term interventions.
Parental behaviours related to
disorganized / controlling
attachment strategiesAn increased incidence of infant disorganization is observed in the context of parental psychopathology, but not in the context of infant illness or physical disability.8, 9 A meta - analysis has also confirmed that parental lapses of reasoning or discourse style during loss or trauma - related portions of the Adult Attachment Interview (termed an Unresolved State of mind) are associated with infant disorganization, r =.31.10 However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain to be es
attachment strategiesAn increased incidence of
infant disorganization is observed in the context of parental psychopathology, but not in the context of
infant illness or physical disability.8, 9 A meta - analysis has also confirmed that parental lapses of reasoning or discourse style during loss or trauma - related portions of the Adult
Attachment Interview (termed an Unresolved State of mind) are associated with infant disorganization, r =.31.10 However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain to be es
Attachment Interview (termed an Unresolved State of mind) are associated with
infant disorganization, r =.31.10 However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain to be established.
Finally, Hennighausen and Lyons - Ruth rightly emphasize that early intervention for
infants and toddlers with
disorganized attachment will likely reduce the need for more expensive interventions once psychopathology has emerged.