Lisbeth Alpern

Bio: Lisbeth Alpern is an academic researcher from Harvard University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Psychosocial & Object Attachment. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 556 citations.

Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom.

Abstract: This study of 62 low-income families examined the relation between maternal and infant measures assessed at 18 months infant age and child behavior problems at age 5 as rated by preschool teachers. The infancy assessments included measures of mother-infant interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security, including the disorganized/disoriented classification. The strongest single predictor of deviant levels of hostile behavior toward peers in the classroom was earlier disorganized/disoriented attachment status, with 71% of hostile preschoolers classified as disorganized in their attachment relationships in infancy. Maternal psychosocial problems independently predicted hostile aggression in preschool and combined additively with infant attachment security in prediction. Results are discussed in relation to the asymmetry of forward and backward prediction that characterized the findings and in relation to the potential significance of disorganized attachment behavior as a precursor to later maladaptation.

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

Abstract: 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.

Behavior Problems in Preschool Children: A Review of Recent Research

Abstract: Research on the prevalence, course, and correlates of behavior problems in preschool children was examined. Prospective epidemiological studies and follow-up studies of clinical/high risk samples indicate that serious externalizing problems identified early often persist. Negative, inconsistent parental behavior and high levels of family adversity are associated with the emergence of problems in early childhood and predict their persistence to school age. Studies are examined from a developmental perspective and integrated with research on optimal parent-child relationships. The severity of initial problems and family context are related to different developmental outcomes.

The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: a meta-analytic study.

Abstract: This study addresses the extent to which insecure and disorganized attachments increase risk for externalizing problems using meta-analysis. From 69 samples (N = 5,947), the association between insecurity and externalizing problems was significant, d = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.23, 0.40). Larger effects were found for boys (d = 0.35), clinical samples (d = 0.49), and from observation-based outcome assessments (d = 0.58). Larger effects were found for attachment assessments other than the Strange Situation. Overall, disorganized children appeared at elevated risk (d = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.50), with weaker effects for avoidance (d = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21) and resistance (d = 0.11, 95% CI: −0.04, 0.26). The results are discussed in terms of the potential significance of attachment for mental health.

The effects of early relational trauma on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health.

Abstract: A primary interest of the field of infant mental health is in the early conditions that place infants at riskfor less than optimal development. The fundamental problem of what constitutes normal and abnormal development is now a focus of developmental psychology, infant psychiatry, and devel- opmental neuroscience. In the second part of this sequential work, I present interdisciplinary data to more deeply forge the theoretical links between severe attachment failures, impairments of the early develop- ment of the right brain's stress coping systems, and maladaptive infant mental health. In the following, I offer thoughts on the negative impact of traumatic attachments on brain development and infant mental health, the neurobiology of infant trauma, the neuropsychology of a disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern associated with abuse and neglect, trauma-induced impairments of a regulatory system in the orbitofrontal cortex, the links between orbitofrontal dysfunction and a predisposition to posttraumatic stress disorders, the neurobiology of the dissociative defense, the etiology of dissociation and body- mind psychopathology, the effects of early relational trauma on enduring right hemispheric function, and some implications for models of early intervention. These findings suggest direct connections between traumatic attachment, inefficient right brain regulatory functions, and both maladaptive infant and adult mental health.

A prospective longitudinal study of attachment disorganization/disorientation.

Abstract: The research explores the antecedents and consequences of attachment disorganization from a prospective longitudinal perspective. The relations of attachment disorganization/disorientation to endogenous (e.g., maternal medical history, infant temperament) and environmental (e.g., maternal caregiving quality, infant history of abuse) antecedents and to behavioral consequences from 24 months to 19 years are examined. For the 157 participants in the longitudinal study, attachment disorganization was correlated significantly with environmental antecedents (e.g., maternal relationship and risk status, caregiving quality, and infant history of maltreatment), but not with available endogenous antecedents. Infant history of attachment disorganization was correlated with consequent variables related to mother-child relationship quality at 24 and 42 months, child behavior problems in preschool, elementary school and high school, and psychopathology and dissociation in adolescence. Structural models suggest that disorganization may mediate the relations between early experience and later psychopathology and dissociation. The findings are considered within a developmental view of psychopathology, that is, pathology defined in terms of process, as a pattern of adaptation constructed by individuals in their environments.