Showing papers by "Carlo Schuengel published in 2008"

Attachment in foster children associated with caregivers' sensitivity and behavioral problems

Abstract: This study focused on attachment of foster children by examining factors associated with attachment relationships of children raised from birth by the same parents. The sample included 61 children between 26 to 88 months of age and their foster caregivers. Attachment security and caregiver sensitivity were coded on the basis of, respectively, a home-observation (Attachment Q-Set) and a laboratory procedure (Three boxes). Other measures included caregiver reports of child externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and symptoms of attachment disorder, including inhibited and disinhibited attachment as well as secure base distortions. For a subsample of children, teacher ratings of behavior problems also were available. Foster parent sensitivity was positively associated with attachment security, but only if symptoms of disordered attachment were partialled out. Symptoms of inhibited and disinhibited attachment as well as secure base distortions were positively related to parent reports of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems whereas attachment security was negatively related to teacher reports of externalizing behavior problems. Attachment theoretical tenets appeared valid with foster parent-child relationships, except for children with symptoms of attachment disorder.

Attachment and problem behavior of adolescents during residential treatment

Abstract: Attachment theory suggests that representations of previous attachment experiences may explain differences in psychosocial functioning. However, the nature of the association in clinical populations is unclear. Attachment representations were classified on the basis of Adult Attachment Interviews with 61 adolescents (13-20 years old; 70% female) admitted to a residential treatment institution. Group care workers rated their problem behavior. Compared to dismissing and autonomous adolescents and adolescents unresolved/disorganized with respect to trauma, adolescents with preoccupied attachment representations showed the highest levels of truancy and rule breaking, according to the institution's records, and externalizing behaviour, according to the group care workers. Unresolved/disorganized adolescents displayed lower levels of violence to staff than dismissing and autonomous adolescents. The effectiveness of residential treatment might be enhanced by taking account of the attachment strategies with which adolescents enter institutions.

The Effect of an Attachment‐Based Behaviour Therapy for Children with Visual and Severe Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract: Background: A combination of an attachment-based therapy and behaviour modification was investigated for children with persistent challenging behaviour., Method: Six clients with visual and severe intellectual disabilities, severe challenging behaviour and with a background of pathogenic care were treated. Challenging behaviour was recorded continuously in the residential home and during therapy sessions. Alternating treatments were given by two therapists. In phase 1, the experimental therapist attempted to build an attachment relationship in sessions alternating with sessions in which a control therapist provided positive attention only. In phase 2, both therapists applied the same behaviour modification protocol., Results: Across clients, challenging behaviour in the residential home decreased during the attachment therapy phase. The behaviour modification sessions conducted by the experimental therapist resulted in significantly more adaptive target behaviour than the sessions with the control therapist., Conclusion: For these clients with a background of attachment problems, attachment-based behaviour modification treatment may have important advantages over standard behaviour modification., Copyright (C) 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Change in psychopathology in referred children: the role of life events and perceived stress

Abstract: Background: This study examined the relation between stress and change in emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents referred for mental health services. Method: At three waves across four years, children and their parents (N = 310, mean age at the first wave = 11.26 years, SD = 3.18) reported emotional and behavioural problems, as well as stressful life events (parent report) and perceived stress (child report). Results: Major life events before referral were associated with higher levels of parent-reported internalising and externalising problems at referral. Life events after referral were associated with a slower recovery from internalising problems. The associations between stressful life events and the course of parent- and self-reported problems were mediated by children's subjective feelings of stress. Conclusion: Stressful life events appear to interfere with recovery from internalising problems in the years after referral through increasing the experience of stress in daily life.

Inter-generational relationships at different ages: an attachment perspective

Abstract: This study examines the characteristics of parent-child relationships after childhood from a theoretical attachment perspective. It describes how relationships between adult children and their parents vary by age group of the child on three dimensions that were derived from attachment theory: direction, penetration and quality. Data from 4,589 respondents to the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study were analysed to describe relationships between adult-children and their parents. Analyses of covariance were used to specify differences by age group. The results showed that age had notable effects on relationships between adult children and parents, especially their direction and penetration or centrality. The direction was reversed for parents of children in the two oldest age groups. The level of penetration was lower for the older age groups, and quality was higher in the younger age groups, but the effect size was small. The age effects on the dimensions were qualified by the personal circumstances of the adult children. Having one's own children was associated with different patterns of attachment at different ages. Adult children may be an important source of support for their elderly parents and may even become 'attachment figures'. Given the current increases in longevity, there could be increasing pressure on adult children to support their parents. Attachment theory is a useful framework for studying the characteristics of inter-generational relationships, also after childhood. © 2008 Cambridge University Press.

Developing a therapeutic relationship with a blind client with a severe intellectual disability and persistent challenging behaviour.

Abstract: Purpose. A blind, severely intellectually impaired boy aged 17 with Down syndrome and persistent serious challenging behavior received attachment-based behavior modification treatment. The aim was to study the effect of the treatment and the development of the therapeutic attachment relationship. Method. In a single-case study, attachment therapy sessions alternated with control sessions. Treatment started with attachment therapy (phase 1), followed by behavior modification (phase 2). The instruments used were: Residential observation lists for challenging behavior, video analyses of attachment behavior in therapy sessions and physiological indicators of affect regulation measuring the pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as indices of cardiac sympatho-vagal activity. Results. The client exhibited less frequent and less intensely challenging behavior. The data indicated more appropriate replacement behavior and less PEP arousal during the behavior modification treatment given by the attachment therapist compared to the control therapist who used the same protocol. The client showed more active and longer-lasting attachment behavior, especially proximity seeking, towards the attachment therapist than towards the control therapist. Conclusions. Attachment-based psychotherapy proved successful in eliciting attachment behavior in a severely intellectually disabled, socially deprived, behaviorally and affectively dysregulated adolescent. The resulting relationship proved to be a therapeutic platform conducive to behavior change.

Physiological reactivity to stress and parental support: comparison of clinical and non-clinical adolescents.

Abstract: An Alarm Stress Task was developed to study affect regulation in the context of parent-child interactions in adolescents (mean age = 12.72, standard deviation = 2.06) with (n = 20) and without (n = 20) mental health problems. Changes in heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were used as indicators of affect regulation. HR increased, and PEP and RSA decreased significantly in reaction to a suggested failure on a simple task, indicating that this procedure induced affective arousal in adolescents. During reunion with the parent, RSA increased significantly. Support seeking on reunion was associated with stronger parasympathetic reactivity during stress and reunion, consistent with the model that the parasympathetic system is involved when affect is regulated by social engagement. Quality of parent-adolescent interactive behaviour was overall lower in the clinical sample. Individual and relationship-based processes of affect regulation may be simultaneously assessed, highlighting the continuing importance of the parent-child relationship in adolescence for affect regulation and mental health. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.