Attachment--and loss.

Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Childhood and Society.

The cultural origins of human cognition

During the past 10 years nearly 80 studies on disorganized attachment involving more than 6,000 infant-parent dyads have been carried out. The current series of meta-analyses have established the reliability and discriminant validity of disorganized infant attachment. Although disorganized attachment behavior is necessarily difficult to observe and often subtle, many researchers have managed to become reliable coders. Furthermore, disorganized attachment shows modest short- and long-term stability, in particular in middle class environments, and it is not just a concomitant of constitutional, temperamental, or physical child problems. The predictive validity of disorganized attachment is established in terms of problematic stress management, the elevated risk of externalizing problem behavior, and even the tendency of disorganized infants to show dissociative behavior later in life. In normal, middle class families, about 15% of the infants develop disorganized attachment behavior. In other social contexts and in clinical groups this percentage may become twice or even three times higher (e.g., in the case of maltreatment). Although the importance of disorganized attachment for developmental psychopathology is evident, the search for the mechanisms leading to disorganization has just started. Frightening parental behavior may play an important role but it does not seem to be the only causal factor involved in the emergence of disorganized attachment.

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Disorganized attachment in early childhood: meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae

A central tenet of attachment theory is that a person's attachment pattern in adulthood is a reflection of his or her attachment history—-beginning with the person's earliest attachment relationships. However, the precise way in which early representations might shape adult attachment patterns is ambiguous, and different perspectives on this issue have evolved in the literature. According to the prototype perspective, representations of early experiences are retained over time and continue to play an influential role in attachment behavior throughout the life course. In contrast, the revisionist perspective holds that early representations are subject to modification on the basis of new experiences and therefore may or may not reflect patterns of attachment later in life. In this article, I explore and test mathematical models of each of these theoretical processes on the basis of longitudinal data obtained from meta-analysis. Results indicate that attachment security is moderately stable across the first...

Attachment Stability From Infancy to Adulthood: Meta-Analysis and Dynamic Modeling of Developmental Mechanisms

This longitudinal study of forty-four families explored fathers’ as compared to mothers’ specific contribution to their children's attachment representation at ages 6, 10, and 16 years. In toddlerhood, fathers’ and mothers’ play sensitivity was evaluated with a new assessment, the sensitive and challenging interactive play scale (SCIP). Fathers’ SCIP scores were predicted by fathers’ caregiving quality during the first year, were highly consistent across 4 years, and were closely linked to the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment. Qualities of attachment as assessed in the Strange Situation to both parents were antecedents for children's attachment security in the Separation Anxiety Test at age 6. Fathers’ play sensitivity and infant–mother quality of attachment predicted children's internal working model of attachment at age 10, but not vice versa. Dimensions of adolescents’ attachment representations were predicted by fathers’ play sensitivity only. The results confirmed our main assumption that fathers’ play sensitivity is a better predictor of the child's long-term attachment representation than the early infant–father security of attachment. The ecological validity of measuring fathers’ sensitive and challenging interactive play behavior as compared to infant proximity seeking in times of distress is highlighted. Findings are discussed with respect to a wider view on attachment in that both parents shape their children's psychological security but each in his or her unique way.

The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship: Fathers’ Sensitive and Challenging Play as a Pivotal Variable in a 16‐year Longitudinal Study

A cross-cultural replication of concordance between attachment patterns to mother in infancy and patterns of reunion responses to mother at age 6 was tested for 40 children in Regensburg, South Germany. Concordance between the 4 types of attachment status (A, B, C, D) in infancy and at age 6 was 82%. When observed in preschool at age 5, children classified securely attached (B) at age 6 were more competent in their play quality and conflict resolution, showed fewer behavior problems, and attributed less hostility in a social perception picture test compared to the insecurely attached (A, D) children. Children classified disorganized (D) at age 6 were found almost as often in the incompetent preschool behavior groups as the avoidantly attached (A) children, independent of best-fitting alternative attachment pattern. Thus, disorganization at age 6 may be considered as an insecure attachment.

Attachment Patterns at Age Six in South Germany: Predictability from Infancy and Implications for Preschool Behavior.

This study investigates whether attachment quality at ages 1, 6 and 16 is related to autonomy and relatedness behavior in adolescence. In a follow-up of the Regensburg Longitudinal Study, forty-three 16-year-old adolescents and their mothers were assessed in a revealed differences task and a planning a vacation task. Attachment was assessed during infancy using the Ainsworth Strange Situation and at age six with the reunion procedure. Adolescent attachment representation was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview. Results provided no evidence for significant continuity between infant or childhood attachment behavior and adolescent attachment representation. Instability of attachment organization, however, was linked to a higher number of experienced risk factors. Substantial relations between adolescent attachment representation and adolescent autonomy and relatedness behavior were found in both interaction tasks with their mothers. Further, significant relations between attachment qualities at ages 1 and 6 and adolescent interaction behavior during the planning a vacation task at age 16 were found. Thus, independent of attachment stability or instability, both early attachment in infancy and childhood and concurrent attachment representation were significantly related to autonomy and relatedness behavior in adolescence.

Is attachment at ages 1, 6 and 16 related to autonomy and relatedness behavior of adolescents in interaction towards their mothers?:

Le but de cette etude etait d'evaluer les antecedents individuels et sociaux de la securite de l'attachement et de la desorganisation de l'attachement de nourrissons, evaluee par la situation inhabituelle Des observations a partir de deux etudes longitudinales avec un emploi du temps d'evaluation parallele donnant un echantillon total de 88 paires nourrisson-mere constitua la base de donnees de l'etude L'organisation comportementale du nourrisson, en matiere de capacite a s'orienter et de reglement de l'etat, et la sensibilite matemelle, evalues a plusieurs reprises pendant la premiere annee de l'enfant, ont ete utilises pour predire la securite de l'attachement enfant-mere et le statut de desorganisation de strategies de comportement d'attachement a l'âge de 12 mois Alors que la securite de l'attachement etait associee de maniere significative avec la seule sensibilite matemelle, le statut de desorganisation n'etait predit que par l'organisation comportementale du nourrisson Les resultats sont examines pour ce qui conceme des suppositions specifiques sur la contribution individuelle et sociale au developpement de l'attachement enfant-mere dans le cadre de la representation de l'attachement matemel

Social and individual determinants of infant attachment security and disorganization

Bindung (attachment) ist die besondere Beziehung eines Kleinkindes zu seinen Eltern oder bestandigen Betreuungspersonen. Die Bindungstheorie wurde von John Bowlby, einem englischen Psychoanalytiker, formuliert. Sie ist im ethologischen Denken der 60er Jahre entstanden und versucht, traditionell entwicklungspsychologisches und klinisch-psychoanalytisches Wissen mit evolutionsbiologischem Denken zu verbinden. Daraus ergeben sich drei Betrachtungsebenen: 


die biologische Bereitschaft zur Bindung auf der Grundlage stammesgeschichtlicher Selektionsbedingungen der Art (Phylogenese),


die psychologischen Gegebenheiten bei der individuellen Verwirklichung von Bindung des Kindes an seine Eltern zu Beginn des Lebens und ihre Konsequenzen fur das Individuum wahrend des Lebenslaufs (Ontogenese) und


die individuelle Verinnerlichung (Reprasentanz) unterschiedlicher Bindungserfahrungen und ihre Auswirkungen auf den Umgang mit Gefuhlen als Quelle des Erlebens und Schnittpunkt von Erfahrungen, vor allem im Zusammenhang mit Beziehungen zu anderen Menschen.

Elisabeth Fremmer-Bombik

Papers

The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship: Fathers’ Sensitive and Challenging Play as a Pivotal Variable in a 16‐year Longitudinal Study

Attachment Patterns at Age Six in South Germany: Predictability from Infancy and Implications for Preschool Behavior.

Is attachment at ages 1, 6 and 16 related to autonomy and relatedness behavior of adolescents in interaction towards their mothers?:

Social and individual determinants of infant attachment security and disorganization

Die Bindungstheorie: Modell und entwicklungspsychologische Forschung