Attachment--and loss.

Beliefs about beliefs: representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception.

Pedagosko i psiholosko testiranje i procjenjivanje spadaju među najvažnije doprinose znanosti o ponasanju nasem drustvu i pružaju temeljna i znacajna poboljsanja u odnosu na ranije postupke. Iako se ne može ustvrditi da su svi testovi dovoljno usavrseni niti da su sva testiranja razborita i korisna, postoji velika kolicina informacija koje ukazuju na ucinkovitost kvalitetnih instrumenata u onim situacijama u kojima je njihovo koristenje potkrijepljeno validacijskim podacima. Pravilna upotreba testova može dovesti do boljih odluka o pojedincima i programima nego sto bi to bio slucaj bez njihovog koristenja, a također i ukazati na put za siri i pravedniji pristup obrazovanju i zaposljavanju. Međutim, losa upotreba testova može dovesti do zamjetne stete nanesene ispitanicima i drugim sudionicima u procesu donosenja odluka na temelju testovnih podataka. Cilj Standarda je promoviranje kvalitetne i eticne upotrebe testova te uspostavljanje osnovice za ocjenu kvalitete postupaka testiranja. Svrha objavljivanja Standarda je uspostavljanje kriterija za evaluaciju testova, provedbe testiranja i posljedica upotrebe testova. Iako bi evaluacija prikladnosti testa ili njegove primjene trebala ovisiti prvenstveno o strucnim misljenjima, Standardi pružaju okvir koji osigurava obuhvacanje svih relevantnih pitanja. Bilo bi poželjno da svi autori, sponzori, nakladnici i korisnici profesionalnih testova usvoje Standarde te da poticu druge da ih također prihvate.

Standards for educational and psychological testing

Research demonstrates that rejection sensitivity develops through early, continuing, or acute experiences of rejection from caregivers and significant others. Rejection sensitivity refers to individuals who anxiously or angrily expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection. The question regarding why rejection is feared by rejection sensitive individuals remains unanswered by existing rejection sensitivity literature. Therefore, the current study answers this question using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyse 8 participants' experiences of rejection sensitivity. Four superordinate themes emerged: `experiences of parenting'; `impact of rejection'; `coping with the concept of rejection'; and `identity'. The primary fundamental finding indicates that rejection sensitivity is the same concept as abandonment anxiety. Participants in the current study demonstrate both rejection sensitivity and abandonment anxiety. Furthermore, the origins and characteristics of both concepts are identified as the same. Therefore, these findings indicate that rejection is feared for the same reason that abandonment is feared. In childhood, abandonment is experienced as terrifying and therefore defences are adopted to avoid further abandonment. The concept of `past in present' means that childhood feelings can be timelessly re-experienced in adulthood as actual and unchanged. Therefore, later rejection situations are perceived as abandonment and accordingly alert an individual to impending danger. As a result, rejection is feared because it is perceived as abandonment and as a threat to survival. This finding is fundamental to the fields of rejection sensitivity and abandonment anxiety, in terms of research and therapeutic work with clients. Integrating existing literature provides much greater depth of knowledge and support for these concepts. Recommended therapeutic approaches for abandonment anxiety can also inform interventions for rejection sensitive clients. Findings also suggest that participants experience annihilation anxiety in relation to perceived rejection, which further increases fear. Clinical applications and implications with respect to the findings arc discussed.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis

Attachment theory is extended to pertain to developmental changes in the nature of children's attachments to parents and surrogate figures during the years beyond infancy, and to the nature of other affectional bonds throughout the life cycle. Various types of affectional bonds are examined in terms of the behavioral systems characteristic of each and the ways in which these systems interact. Specifically, the following are discussed: (a) the caregiving system that underlies parents' bonds to their children, and a comparison of these bonds with children's attachments to their parents; (b) sexual pair-bonds and their basic components entailing the reproductive, attachment, and caregiving systems; (c) friendships both in childhood and adulthood, the behavioral systems underlying them, and under what circumstances they may become enduring bonds; and (d) kinship bonds (other than those linking parents and their children) and why they may be especially enduring.

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/44/4/709.pdf

Attachments beyond infancy.

The Circle of Security intervention protocol is a 20-week, group-based, parent education and psychotherapy intervention designed to shift patterns of attachment-caregiving interactions in high-risk caregiver-child dyads to a more appropriate developmental pathway. All phases of the protocol, including the pre- and post-intervention assessments, and the intervention itself, are based on attachment theory and procedures, current research on early relationships, and object relations theory. Using edited videotapes of their interactions with their children, caregivers are encouraged: 1. to increase their sensitivity and appropriate responsiveness to the child's signals relevant to its moving away from to explore, and its moving back for comfort and soothing; 2. to increase their ability to reflect on their own and the child's behavior, thoughts and feelings regarding their attachment-caregiving interactions; and 3. to reflect on experiences in their own histories that affect their current caregiving patterns. In this paper we describe the conceptual background of the protocol, and the protocol itself. We then present a case study from our current data set of 75 dyads who have completed the protocol.

/pdf/the-circle-of-security-project-attachment-based-intervention-45kcs2ao53.pdf

The Circle of Security project: attachment-based intervention with caregiver-pre-school child dyads.

The Circle of Security intervention uses a group treatment modality to provide parent education and psychotherapy that is based on attachment theory. The purpose of this study was to track changes in children’s attachment classifications pre- and immediately postintervention. Participants were 65 toddler– or preschooler–caregiver dyads recruited from Head Start and Early Head Start programs. As predicted, there were significant within-subject changes from disorganized to organized attachment classifications, with a majority changing to the secure classification. In addition, only 1 of the 13 preintervention securely attached children shifted to an insecure classification. Results suggest that the Circle of Security protocol is a promising intervention for the reduction of disorganized and insecure attachment in high-risk toddlers and preschoolers.

/pdf/changing-toddlers-and-preschoolers-attachment-202s56gbwr.pdf

Changing toddlers' and preschoolers' attachment classifications: the Circle of Security intervention.

Normative development: The ontogeny of attachment.

Child-parent attachment quality with an adoptive caregiver at age 4 years was examined in a sample of 111 children adopted into the United Kingdom following early severe deprivation in Romania and a comparison group of 52 nondeprived within-United Kingdom adoptees. Findings indicated that, compared with nondeprived adoptees, children who experienced early severe deprivation were less likely to be securely attached and more likely to show atypical patterns of attachment behavior; ordinary forms of insecure attachment were not associated with deprivation. Within the sample of deprived adoptees, there was a dose-response association between duration of deprivation and disturbances in attachment behavior. In addition, a minority of children who experienced severe early deprivation were classified as avoidant, secure, or dependent using conventional classification strategies, despite also exhibiting atypical patterns of attachment behaviors, and this was also more likely among children exposed to prolonged deprivation. The results raise both theoretical and methodological implications for attachment research on very deprived children.

Child-parent attachment following early institutional deprivation.

Presents a theoretical model based on attachment theory as a framework for understanding the processes involved in parents' resolution versus nonresolution of their reaction to receiving their child's diagnosis of cerebral palsy. The Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (RDI), a 15-min interview designed to assess parental resolution of a child's diagnosis, is described. To assess the validity of the RDI, 70 mothers of infant and preschool children with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy were administered the RDI, and the security of each child's attachment to his or her mother was assessed using the Strange Situation. Results indicate that parental resolution versus nonresolution of the child's diagnosis is strongly associated with secure versus insecure child-parent attachment. Results are discussed in terms of the validity of the RDI, implications for clinical research and theory, and the potential use of the RDI as a clinical assessment procedure.

Robert S. Marvin

Papers

The Circle of Security project: attachment-based intervention with caregiver-pre-school child dyads.

Changing toddlers' and preschoolers' attachment classifications: the Circle of Security intervention.

Normative development: The ontogeny of attachment.

Child-parent attachment following early institutional deprivation.

Mothers' reactions to their child's diagnosis: Relations with security of attachment