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Primary headache is a common somatic disorder in childhood that significantly affects quality of life. The condition is strongly associated with a variety of internalizing and externalizing disorders, and several dimensions are recognized to play a role in its development and expression, including attachment bonds. The present study aimed at exploring the associations between somatic symptoms, internalizing and externalizing problems, and attachment dimensions in a group of children and adolescents suffering from headache. The predictive effect of internalizing/externalizing problems and attachment dimensions on somatic symptoms was also explored. A sample of 50 children/adolescents with a headache diagnosis (i.e., 36 girls, 14 boys; mean age 13.18 years; SD = 2.85) participated in the study and completed the Children's Somatization Inventory-24, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale–Revised Child version, and a brief sociodemographic questionnaire. Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist 6–18. The correlational analysis revealed positive associations between child somatic symptoms and age, internalizing problems, and attachment anxiety and avoidance to the mother and the father, respectively; and a negative association between child somatic symptoms and secure attachment to the father. The regression analysis highlighted the significant effect of ECR-RC Avoidance-Father and CBCL Internalizing Problems in predicting greater somatic symptoms in young headache patients. The present findings highlight avoidant attachment to fathers and internalizing problems as risk factors for greater somatic symptoms in children/adolescents with headache. The results suggest that greater somatic symptoms in this clinical population may represent a learned maladaptive behavior to satisfy attachment needs. Clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research concerning the development of generativity, the capacity to provide care and guidance to future generations, has primarily focused on the role of sociodemographic variables. However, one important feature that might be of importance for the study of generativity is insecure romantic attachment, given its influence on how people establish relationships with others. Still, the role of the two dimensions of insecure romantic attachment (i.e., anxiety and avoidance) on the most studied aspects of generativity (i.e., generative concern and generative acts) remains largely underexplored. Therefore, the present study investigates what contributes to generativity by exploring the role of sociodemographic features (i.e., age, gender, having children, years of education) and above all the two dimensions of insecure romantic attachment on generative concern and acts. A sample of 427 adults (age range: 25–65 years old) completed an online survey including romantic attachment and generativity measures. Afterwards, correlational and regression analyses were conducted to explore the data. Results showed that years of education positively predicted generative concern, whereas both anxiety and avoidance negatively predicted it. Yet, no sociodemographic feature nor dimension of insecure romantic attachment predicted generative acts. Thus, insecure romantic attachment could be a useful key to understanding generative concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies reported an inconsistency between verbal extracts and emotional physiological activation in dismissing individuals when narrating their early caregiving experience at the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). This study aimed to explore this discrepancy by analyzing the degree of concordance between verbal content and prosodic characteristics, index of physiological activation, when dismissing and secure individuals discuss negative childhood memories during the AAI. Results showed that secure participants presented a high coherence between verbal content and emotional activation, as expressed by prosody, revealing a reprocess of negative experiences that is the core feature of the development of secure working models. In contrast, dismissing participants' prosodic characteristics were discrepant with the verbal content. These individuals downplayed the nature and impact of negative experiences and emotions, but used a prosody that revealed a high emotional arousal. The difference between the two groups was more evident for participants who had experienced more rejecting parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although conscious aspects of attachment representations can be effectively assessed in middle childhood, the few available self-reports are based on different operationalizations of attachment and do not always show adequate psychometric properties. The current study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Attachment in Middle Childhood Questionnaire (AMCQ). Using three independent samples of Italian children (M age = 10 years, 52% = girls), in three interrelated studies we (1) selected a pool of items from existing questionnaires, adapted them to the same response format, and subjected them to exploratory factor analysis; (2) performed confirmatory factor analyses on the retained items; and (3) used structural equation modeling to assess the factor structure, external validity, and invariance across gender and age groups. The final 15-item questionnaire comprised two dimensions (anxiety and avoidance) and a supplementary scale (security). Overall, results supported the reliability and validity of the AMCQ for Italian children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-report questionnaires based on Harter's response format ("Some kids... but other kids... ") are commonly used in developmental and clinical research settings, but the reliability and validity of this format in middle childhood are still under debate. The current study aimed to test the psychometric proprieties of Harter versus Likert response formats as applied to two attachment questionnaires in a sample of 410 Italian children aged 8 to 10 years. Participants completed the Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised Child version (n = 102, 4-point Likert-type scale; n = 104, adapted Harter version) and the Security Scale (n = 95, Harter's format; n = 109 adapted 4-point Likert version). Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the two response formats exhibited comparable reliability and factorial validity, although a slight superiority of Harter's format emerged for the Security Scale. External validity was supported for both answer formats. Implications for developmental theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Security Scale (SS) is a widely used questionnaire measuring attachment towards mother and father in school-aged children. Whilst existing evidence supports concurrent and discriminant validity of the SS, its factorial structure remains largely underexplored. The current study examined the factorial structure of the SS, explored its measurement invariance across mother and father, and evaluated its convergent validity with the Coping Strategies Questionnaire in a sample of 149 Italian children aged 8-10 years. In statistical analyses, we accounted for the ordinal nature of the data and adopted an ad hoc bootstrap procedure for the estimation of measurement invariance. Results supported the factorial validity of the SS and the structural invariance of its underlying construct across parents. Evidence for convergent validity was also found. Overall, the Italian version of the SS is a promising tool to assess attachment in school-aged children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attachment refers to the innate tendency to form strong and close interpersonal bonds, from infancy through adulthood. Many different ways to assess attachment have been developed, one of them being the use of self-report questionnaires. The Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised is one of the most commonly used instruments to assess adult and late adolescent attachment. Recently, a new and brief child version of this instrument has been published, the 12-item ECR-RC short form. The purpose of the current study was threefold: (1) to test the factorial structure of this form in a sample of Italian adolescents, (2) to test the loadings overlap between the mother and the father forms, and (3) to investigate factors reliability. Using a sample of 961 adolescents (Mage = 14.25, SDage = 1.57), a series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed. The Avoidance - Anxiety structure was not supported, whereas a factor structure including Anxiety, Avoidance, and Security, had a very good fit. Item loadings on these factors were largely equal across mother and father, and internal reliability was high. The results of this study show that the ECR-RC short form is a quick and reliable way to assess attachment in early adolescents. This study also initiates the proposal of an ECR-RC Security factor, to be further validated in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the contribution of children’s age at adoption (M = 46.52 months, SD = 11.52 months) and parents’ attachment on post-institutionalized children’s attachment and social–emotional adjustment. A total of 132 subjects, 48 post-institutionalized children aged 3–5 years, and their adoptive parents, took part in the study. One year from adoption, children’s attachment distribution was as follows: 31% secure, 42% disorganized, and 27% insecure. Parents’ secure attachment increased children’s probability of presenting a secure attachment pattern; specifically, mothers’ attachment patterns were most strongly associated with those of their adopted children, with fathers’ making an additional contribution. Two years from adoption, secure children showed more adequate social competences than their insecure and disorganized peers and presented better emotional comprehension. The effect of age at adoption was delimited to a marginal association with behavioral problems. This pattern of associations suggests that attachment – both of adoptive parents and of children – substantially fosters social–emotional adjustment of post-institutionalized children who have experienced a period in emotionally neglecting environments beyond their first year of life, regardless of their age at adoption. Implications for policies and practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: To determine the influence of adult attachment orientations on infant preference. Methods: We adopted eye-tracking technology to monitor childless college women's eye movements when looking at pairs of faces, including one adult face (man or woman) and one infant face, with three different expressions (happy, sadness, and neutral). The participants (N D 150; 84% Han ethnicity) were aged 18-29 years (M D 19.22, SD D 1.72). A random intercepts multilevel linear regression analysis was used to assess the unique contribution of attachment avoidance, determined using the Experiences in Close Relationships scale, to preference for infant faces. Results: Women with higher attachment avoidance showed less infant preference, as shown by less sustained overt attentional bias to the infant face than the adult face based on fixation time and count. Conclusion: Adult attachment might be related to infant preference according to eye movement indices. Women with higher attachment avoidance may lack attentional preference for infant faces. The findings may aid the treatment and remediation of the interactions between children and mothers with insecure attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective.To examine whether parent’s attachment states of mind and parenting alliance contribute to parental stress in the potentially demanding context of adoption.Design.Fifty mother–father pairs (n= 100) completed the Adult Attachment Interview within six months of adoption to investigate attachment states of mind. The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI/SF) and the Parenting Alliance Measure questionnaires were administered two years after adoption to evaluate stress and the parenting alliance.Results.Multivariate regression models showed that unresolved attachment predicted stress to a greater extent than insecure attachment and, together with low parenting alliance, significantly contributed to explaining levels of stress perceived by parents. In mothers, but not in fathers, parenting alliance moderated the effect of an unresolved state of mind on parenting stress.Conclusion.Unresolved attachment states of mind and the parenting alliance singly, and even more so jointly, influence stress experienced by parents. Understanding of the family’s adjustment to adoption may benefit from an in-depth analysis of the role of individual and dyadic variables involved in childrearing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Life before adoption is characterized by the lack of sensitive and stable caregiving, putting infants at risk for non-secure attachment patterns. What leads to adoptees’ attachment security in their adoptive families has not been conclusively determined. We investigated the roles of children’s temperament and adoptive parents’ attachment on adoptees’ attachment security. The variables were studied in a sample of 30 early-placed adoptees (age at adoption placementM = 5.37 months,SD = 4.43) and their adoptive mothers and fathers. Attachment patterns were investigated by means of the Strange Situation Procedure and the Adult Attachment Interview, and temperament via the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Results showed that mothers’ secure attachment, but not fathers’ attachment or adoptees’ temperament, increased the chance of secure attachment in adoptees. Temperament moderated the mother–child attachment match. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]