Journal•ISSN: 1461-6734
Attachment & Human Development
Taylor & Francis
About: Attachment & Human Development is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Attachment theory & Object Attachment. It has an ISSN identifier of 1461-6734. Over the lifetime, 814 publications have been published receiving 42144 citations. The journal is also known as: Attachment and human development.
Topics: Attachment theory, Object Attachment, Attachment measures, Maternal sensitivity, Strange situation
Papers published on a yearly basis
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TL;DR: Findings are overviewed concerning the complex links between attachment and ultimate outcomes and the preservation of early patterns even during times of change and have implications both for future research and for clinical application.
Abstract: There is much to digest in a 30 year longitudinal study of the developing person (Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, & Collins, 2005a). The following paper summarizes some key points regarding the place of ...
1,348 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that considerable progress has been made in testing central hypotheses derived from attachment theory and in exploring unconscious, psychodynamic processes related to affect-regulation and attachment-system activation.
Abstract: Because there has been relatively little communication and cross-fertilization between the two major lines of research on adult attachment, one based on coded narrative assessments of defensive processes, the other on simple self-reports of 'attachment style' in close relationships, we here explain and review recent work based on a combination of self-report and other kinds of method, including behavioral observations and unconscious priming techniques. The review indicates that considerable progress has been made in testing central hypotheses derived from attachment theory and in exploring unconscious, psychodynamic processes related to affect-regulation and attachment-system activation. The combination of self-report assessment of attachment style and experimental manipulation of other theoretically pertinent variables allows researchers to test causal hypotheses. We present a model of normative and individual-difference processes related to attachment and identify areas in which further research is needed and likely to be successful. One long-range goal is to create a more complete theory of personality built on attachment theory and other object relations theories.
1,122 citations
TL;DR: The construct of parental reflective functioning, which refers to the parent's capacity to hold the child's mental states in mind, is introduced, and a review of Fonagy and his colleagues' essential ideas regarding the reflective function is reviewed.
Abstract: Reflective functioning refers to the essential human capacity to understand behavior in light of underlying mental states and intentions. The construct, introduced by Fonagy, Steele, Steele, Moran, and Higgitt in 1991, and elaborated by Fonagy and his colleagues over the course of the next decade, has had an enormous impact on developmental theory and clinical practice. This paper introduces the construct of parental reflective functioning, which refers to the parent’s capacity to hold the child’s mental states in mind, and begins with a review of Fonagy and his colleagues’ essential ideas regarding the reflective function. Next, the applicability of this construct to parental representations of the child and the parent‐child relationship is considered. A system for coding parental reflective functioning, which will serve as the organizing framework for this special issue, is described. Finally, the three papers that make up this special section are introduced.
929 citations
TL;DR: Depressive symptomatology was associated with insecurity but not with unresolved loss or trauma, whereas adults with abuse experiences or PTSD were mostly unresolved, and future AAI studies may make more fruitful use of continuous AAI scales in addition to the conventionally used categorical classifications.
Abstract: More than 200 adult attachment representation studies, presenting more than 10,500 Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) classifications, have been conducted in the past 25 years. In a series of analyses on the distributions of the AAI classifications in various cultural and age groups, fathers, and high-risk and clinical samples, we used the distribution of the combined samples of North American non-clinical mothers (23% dismissing, 58% secure, 19% preoccupied attachment representations, and 18% additionally coded for unresolved loss or other trauma) to examine deviations from this normative pattern, through multinomial tests and analyses of correspondence. The analyses were restricted to AAI classifications coded according to the Main, Goldwyn, and Hesse (2003) system. We did not find gender differences in the use of dismissing versus preoccupied attachment strategies, and the AAI distributions were largely independent of language and country of origin. Clinical subjects showed more insecure and unresolved attachment representations than the norm groups. Disorders with an internalizing dimension (e.g., borderline personality disorders) were associated with more preoccupied and unresolved attachments, whereas disorders with an externalizing dimension (e.g., antisocial personality disorders) displayed more dismissing as well as preoccupied attachments. Depressive symptomatology was associated with insecurity but not with unresolved loss or trauma, whereas adults with abuse experiences or PTSD were mostly unresolved. In order to find more reliable associations with clinical symptoms and disorders, future AAI studies may make more fruitful use of continuous AAI scales in addition to the conventionally used categorical classifications.
802 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that a parent's capacity to understand the nature and function of her own as well as her child's mental states allows her to create both a physical and psychological experience of comfort and safety for her child.
Abstract: The notion that maternal reflective functioning, namely the mother's capacity to hold her baby and his mental states in mind, plays a vital role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment is investigated (Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002; Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, this volume). A parent's capacity to understand the nature and function of her own as well as her child's mental states, thus allowing her to create both a physical and psychological experience of comfort and safety for her child, is proposed. In this study of 40 mothers and their babies, maternal reflective functioning is measured using the Parent Development Interview (PDI; Aber, Slade, Berger, Bresgi, & Kaplan, 1985), and scored for reflective functioning using an addendum to Fonagy, Target, Steele, & Steele's (1998) reflective functioning scoring manual (Slade, Bernbach, Grienenberger, Levy, & Locker, 2004). The relations between maternal reflective functioning and both adult (measured in pregnancy) and infant attachment (measured at 14 months) are examined. The findings indicate that relations between adult attachment and parental reflective functioning are significant, as are relations between parental reflective functioning and infant attachment. A preliminary mediation analysis suggests that parental reflective functioning plays a crucial role in the intergenerational transmission of attachment.
646 citations