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Recent studies showed that attachment security can change within persons, suggesting that there might be an interplay between a rather stable (trait) and rather variable (state) part of attachment. The study's first aim was to investigate whether attachment priming could influence the level of state attachment. The second aim was to explore possible moderators explaining individual differences in the relation between state attachment responses to attachment versus neutral primes. This can shed light on individual differences in attachment prime-induced state attachment. We conducted a within-subjects priming study in which children (9-13 years) were allocated to three priming procedures (neutral, secure, avoidant). Results showed an increase in secure state attachment after secure attachment priming. Individual differences in the strength of this effect were moderated by trait attachment and state attachment volatility. First findings cautiously suggest that state attachment security can change in response to environmental cues under certain circumstances.

Grandmothers are important in Chinese families. This study explored the early emerging mother-grandmother-infant network and its association with child's socioemotional development in multigenerational families in a non-WEIRD country. The analytic sample included 60 children (T1: M[subscript age] = 6.5 months) and their caregivers residing in Beijing. Measures used were the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP), the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (MBQS), and the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Structural equation and path modeling revealed that (1) more grandmaternal neutral/watching coparenting behaviors at the first assessment were related to more secure infant-mother attachment relationships at the second assessment (T2: M[subscript age] = 1 year); (2) maternal sensitivity at T2 was a partial mediator between earlier undermining and neutral/watching coparenting behaviors and young children's externalizing problems at the final assessment (T3: M[subscript age] = 2 years). Findings are discussed in terms of the roles played by mother-grandmother coparenting network in the children's socioemotional development.

An unsettled question in attachment theory and research is the extent to which children's attachment patterns with mothers and fathers "jointly" predict developmental outcomes. In this study, we used individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess whether early attachment networks with mothers and fathers are associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Following a pre-registered protocol, data from 9 studies and 1,097 children (mean age: 28.67 months) with attachment classifications to both mothers and fathers were included in analyses. We used a linear mixed effects analysis to assess differences in children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems as assessed via the average of both maternal and paternal reports based on whether children had two, one, or no insecure (or disorganized) attachments. Results indicated that children with an insecure attachment relationship with one or both parents were at higher risk for elevated internalizing behavioral problems compared with children who were securely attached to both parents. Children whose attachment relationships with both parents were classified as disorganized had more externalizing behavioral problems compared to children with either one or no disorganized attachment relationship with their parents. Across attachment classification networks and behavioral problems, findings suggest (a) an increased vulnerability to behavioral problems when children have insecure or disorganized attachment to both parents, and (b) that mother-child and father-child attachment relationships may not differ in the roles they play in children's development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. [This article was co-authored by the Collaboration on Attachment to Multiple Parents and Outcomes Synthesis.]

Research Findings: Two longitudinal studies are reported examining the effects of full-time day care in Mapuche and non-Mapuche families in Chile. First, the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study (MLCS) used a sample of 95 mothers with children younger than 1 year old (n = 36 in day care). Second, we partially cross-validated our results in a large and representative sample of 10,723 mothers and their children from the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia (Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey). In both studies, the quality of care for children provided at home was measured with the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. In the MLCS study, additional indicators of the mother-child relationship were measured. Day care was not negatively associated with the mother-child relationship and maternal sensitivity, compared to maternal care, or with the quality of the home environment. Positive changes in attachment security were found in Mapuche children who attended day care centers. Practice or Policy: We were able to confirm that type of care was not differentially associated with quality of the home environment.

In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the early intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI) with 78 primary caregivers and their child (16-61 months) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. VIPP-AUTI is a brief attachment-based intervention program, focusing on improving parent-child interaction and reducing the child's individual Autism Spectrum Disorder-related symptomatology in five home visits. VIPP-AUTI, as compared with usual care, demonstrated efficacy in reducing parental intrusiveness. Moreover, parents who received VIPP-AUTI showed increased feelings of self-efficacy in child rearing. No significant group differences were found on other aspects of parent-child interaction or on child play behavior. At 3-months follow-up, intervention effects were found on child-initiated joint attention skills, not mediated by intervention effects on parenting. Implementation of VIPP-AUTI in clinical practice is facilitated by the use of a detailed manual and a relatively brief training of interveners.

Reviewing the studies on differential susceptibility presented in this section, we argue that the time is ripe to go beyond correlational designs to differential susceptibility experiments. In such experiments, randomization prevents hidden moderator effects on the environment and guarantees the independence of moderator and outcome, while the environment is manipulated and assessed in standard ways. Correlational studies generate a priori expectations about crucial moderators (e.g., temperament, biological sensitivity, and genetics). We discuss the differential susceptibility experiments available up until now and conclude that these experiments are feasible and contribute in unique ways to our conceptions of differential susceptibility. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This meta-analytic review examines the association between attachment and internalizing symptomatology during childhood, and compares the strength of this association with that for externalizing symptomatology. Based on 42 independent samples (N = 4,614), the association between insecurity and internalizing symptoms was small, yet significant (d = 0.15, CI 0.06-0.25) and not moderated by assessment age of internalizing problems. Avoidance, but not resistance (d = 0.03, CI -0.11-0.17) or disorganization (d = 0.08, CI -0.06-0.22), was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (d = 0.17, CI 0.03-0.31). Insecurity and disorganization were more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms. Discussion focuses on the significance of attachment for the development of internalizing versus externalizing symptomatology.

Background: The rearing environment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children is often compromised, putting these children at additional risks. Positive caregiving may ameliorate the impact of adverse circumstances and promote attachment security. The goal of the present study was to examine the attachment relationships of HIV-infected children in biological families and institutions; to examine the effects of HIV infection and institutional rearing on attachment security and indiscriminate friendliness; and to assess the role of caregiving in the face of HIV-related adversities. Methods: We studied 64 Ukrainian uninfected and HIV-infected children reared in families and institutions (mean age 50.9 months). Physical and cognitive development of children as well as attachment-related domains and indiscriminate friendliness were assessed. Results: Institutional care but not the presence of HIV was associated with lower levels of attachment security and higher levels of indiscriminate friendliness. On average, the level of indiscriminate friendliness among institution-reared children was more than twice as high as among family-reared children. Only 24% of institution-reared children had clearly developed attachment patterns, as opposed to 97% among family-reared children. Controlling for physical and cognitive development, type of care (institution or family), and HIV status, positive caregiving was associated with higher levels of attachment security. Indiscriminate friendliness was associated with lower levels of attachment security among family-reared children, but with higher levels of positive caregiving among institution-reared children. Conclusions: Etiology and function of indiscriminate friendliness may differ for family-reared versus institution-reared children. The findings of this study suggest the necessity of early interventions improving the quality of care for HIV-infected children. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

In this paper we argue that moral behaviour is largely situation-specific. Genetic make-up, neurobiological factors, attachment security and rearing experiences have only limited influence on individual differences in moral performance. Moral behaviour does not develop in a linear and cumulative fashion and individual morality is not stable across time and situations. To illustrate our position we present two studies on children's willingness to donate their money to a charity (UNICEF) as a prime example of pro-social behaviour. In two samples of seven-year-old children we found no evidence for a role of attachment, temperament or parenting. Using a twin design we did not find any evidence for a genetic component either. The most striking finding in both studies was that very few children were inclined to donate any money after viewing a promotional UNICEF film about children suffering from poverty. Only after gentle probing by an experimenter were most children willing to donate some of their money. The situation appeared to be a much more powerful determinant of donating behaviour than any other factor. These findings are discussed in the broader context of evidence for situational canalisation of moral behaviour. We conclude that moral competence may be a universal human characteristic, but that it takes a situation with specific demand-characteristics to translate this "competence" into actual prosocial "performance". (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 1 note.)

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.

In this study, children's attachment relationships with their professional caregivers in center day care were observed for 48 children. We explored whether more positive caregiving was associated with a more secure attachment relationship and whether this association was stronger for more temperamentally irritable children compared to less irritable children. Trained observers coded the attachment relationship in the day care setting using the attachment Q-sort. The observational record of the caregiving environment was used to assess children's individual experience of positive caregiver-child interaction in the classroom. When caregivers showed more frequent positive caregiving behavior, children showed more secure attachment behavior toward their primary professional caregiver. Temperament was not related to attachment security, nor did it serve as a moderator. Consequently, no support for Belsky's susceptibility hypothesis was found.

Play helps to develop social skills. Children with autism show deviances in their play behavior that may be associated with delays in their social development. In this study, we investigated manipulative, functional and symbolic play behavior of toddlers with and without autism (mean age: 26.45, SD 5.63). The results showed that the quality of interaction between the child and the caregiver was related to the development of play behavior. In particular, security of attachment was related to better play behavior. When the developmental level of the child is taken into account, the attachment relationship of the child with the caregiver at this young age is a better predictor of the level of play behavior than the child's disorder.

The current study examined whether adolescents' attachment representations were associated with differences in emotion regulation during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1996) and during a mother-adolescent conflict interaction task (Family Interaction Task [FIT]; J. P. Allen et al., 2003). Participants were one hundred and fifty-six 14-year-old adolescents. Dismissing adolescents showed less interbeat interval (IBI) reactivity (indicating less stress) during the AAI than secure adolescents. However, during the FIT, dismissing adolescents showed more IBI reactivity. No differences in physiological reactivity were found between individuals with resolved or unresolved loss or trauma during the AAI or FIT. The results indicate that dismissing adolescents may effectively use a defensive strategy during the AAI but less so in direct conflict interaction with their attachment figure.

Gene-environment interactions interpreted in terms of differential susceptibility may play a large part in the explanation of individual differences in human development. Reviewing studies on the behavioral and molecular genetics of attachment, we present evidence for interactions between genetic and environmental factors explaining individual differences in attachment security and disorganization. In particular, the DRD4 7-repeat polymorphism seems associated with an increased risk for disorganized attachment, but only when combined with environmental risk. Gene-environment (G x E) interactions may be interpreted as genetic vulnerability "or" differential susceptibility. We found support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis predicting not only more "negative" outcomes for susceptible children in unfavorable environments, but also "positive" outcomes for susceptible children in "favorable" environments.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have severe and pervasive impairments in the development of social interaction, which may affect the attachment relationship with their parents and may have an impact on parenting. In the current investigation 89 families with young children (mean age 26.5 months) were involved, who were diagnosed as ASD, mentally retarded (MR), or language delayed (LD), or part of a non-clinical comparison group. Attachment security was observed with the Brief Attachment Screening Questionnaire, and several parental self-report questionnaires assessed the parenting style, parental efficacy, parental experiences of daily hassles, social support, and psychological problems. Children with ASD were rated as less secure compared to the other clinical and normal comparison groups. Parents of non-clinical children reported higher levels of authoritative parenting than parents in the ASD group and in the total clinical group, and they also received less social support. Parents of children with ASD coped remarkably well with the challenges of raising a child with ASD.

Attachment was assessed in toddlers with Autistic Disorder (n = 20), Pervasive Developmental Disorder (n = 14), Mental Retardation (n = 12), Language Development Disorder (n = 16), and a non-clinical comparison group (n = 18), using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). Children in the clinical groups were more often disorganized and less often securely attached. Severity of autism was associated with more attachment insecurity, and lower developmental level increased the chance for disorganized attachment. Attachment disorganization was related to increased heart rate during the SSP. Controlling for basal cortisol and developmental level, more autistic symptoms predicted lower cortisol responses to the SSP. The findings support the importance of disorganized attachment for children with autism.

Children with autism are able to show secure attachment behaviours to their parents/caregivers. Most studies on attachment in children with autism used a (modified) Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to examine attachment security. An advantage of the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS) over the SSP is that it can be attuned to the secure-base behaviour of children from special populations. In this study experts in the field of autism (both clinicians and researchers: N = 59) defined an AQS criterion sort for children with autism and tested its content validity. Separate criterion sorts were defined for the social subtypes aloof and active-but-odd, but the two criterion sorts could be combined into one AQS criterion sort for children with autism. It is concluded that with minor amendments the original Attachment Q-Sort is applicable in observing the attachment behaviour of children with autism. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study on sensitivity and attachment included 55 toddlers and their parents. Samples included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental retardation, language delay, and typical development. Children were diagnosed at 4 years of age. Two years before diagnosis, attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and parental sensitivity and child involvement during free play were assessed with the Emotional Availability Scale. Parents of children with ASD were equally sensitive as parents of children without ASD, but their children showed more attachment disorganization and less child involvement. More sensitive parents had more secure children, but only in the group without ASD. Less severe autistic symptoms in the social domain predicted more attachment security. Autism challenges the validity of attachment theory.

The home-based intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) was tested in a randomized controlled trial with 237 families screened for their 1- to 3-year-old children's relatively high scores on externalizing behavior. VIPP-SD, based on attachment theory and coercion theory, focuses on mirroring and discussing actual parent-child interactions in six 1.5-hr sessions with individual families at home. VIPP-SD proved to be effective in enhancing maternal attitudes toward sensitivity and sensitive discipline and in promoting sensitive discipline interactions in the intervention group as compared with the control group. Moreover, in families with more marital discord and in families with more daily hassles, the intervention resulted in a decrease of overactive problem behaviors in the children. The authors conclude that VIPP-SD should become an important module in attachment-based interventions.

Background: Adopted children have been said to be difficult children, scarred by their past experiences in maltreating families or neglecting orphanages, or by genetic or pre- and perinatal problems. Is (domestic or international) adoption an effective intervention in the developmental domains of physical growth, attachment security, cognitive development and school achievement, self-esteem, and behaviour problems? Method: Through a series of meta-analyses on more than 270 studies that include more than 230,000 adopted and non-adopted children and their parents an adoption catch-up model was tested. Results: Although catch-up with current peers was incomplete in some developmental domains (in particular, physical growth and attachment), adopted children largely outperformed their peers left behind. Adoptions before 12 months of age were associated with more complete catch-up than later adoptions for height, attachment, and school achievement. International adoptions did not lead to lower rates of catch-up than domestic adoptions in most developmental domains. Conclusions: It is concluded that adoption is an effective intervention leading to massive catch-up. Domestic and international adoptions can be justified on ethical grounds if no other solutions are available. Humans are adapted to adopt, and adoption demonstrates the plasticity of child development.

The current article presents results from a twin study of genetic and environmental components of maternal sensitivity and infant attachment and their association. The sample consisted of 136 twin pairs from 2 sites: Leiden, the Netherlands, and London, UK. Maternal sensitivity was assessed in the home at 9-10 months, and infant attachment security was observed in the laboratory at 12 months. The study yielded little evidence that genetic factors are involved in variations between twins in maternal sensitivity ratings but did find that shared variance in maternal sensitivity was able to account for some of the similarity between twins in attachment security. Weak nonshared associations between sensitivity and attachment appeared to suppress the magnitude of the correlation between attachment and sensitivity in twin children. The results could indicate that the attachment security of one twin may depend on the relationship the parent has with the other twin. The results are brought to bear on the validity of attachment theory as a theory of primarily shared environmental effects in children's development and the continuing challenge posed to attachment theory by within-family differences in socioemotional processes.

Background: As infant disorganized attachment is a serious risk factor for later child psychopathology, it is important to examine whether attachment disorganization can be prevented or reduced. Method: In a randomized intervention study involving 130 families with 6-month-old adopted infants, two attachment-based intervention programs were tested. In the first program, mothers were provided a personal book, and in the second program mothers received the same personal book and three home-based sessions of video feedback. The third group did not receive intervention (control group). Results: The intervention with video feedback "and" the personal book resulted in enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness (d = 0.65). Children of mothers who received this intervention were less likely to be classified as disorganized attached at the age of 12 months (d = 0.46), and received lower scores on the rating scale for disorganization than children in the control group (d = 0.62). In the book-only intervention group children showed lower disorganization ratings compared to the control group, but no effect on the number of infants with disorganized attachment classifications was found. Conclusion: Our short-term preventive intervention program with video feedback and a book lowered the rate of disorganized attachment. The effectiveness of our intervention documents the importance of parenting in the development of infant attachment disorganization.

Method: Sixteen studies on attachment in children with autism were reviewed, and ten studies with data on observed attachment security (N = 287) were included in a quantitative meta-analysis. Results: Despite the impairments of children with autism in reciprocal social interaction, the majority of the studies found evidence for attachment behaviours in these children. In four samples using the Strange Situation procedure the average percentage of secure attachments amounted to 53% (n = 72). Meta-analytic results showed that children with autism were significantly less securely attached to their parents than comparison children, and the combined effect size for this difference was moderate (r = 0.24). Children with autism displayed less attachment security than comparisons without autism, but this difference disappeared in samples with children with higher mental development, and in samples in which autism was mixed with less severe symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders. Conclusions: It is concluded that attachment security is compatible with autism, and can be assessed with Strange Situation type of procedures. The co-morbidity of autism and mental retardation appears to be associated with attachment insecurity.

Followed from infancy to age 7 internationally adopted children placed before 6 months. Found that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament related to higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Attachment security and maternal sensitivity uniquely predicted better social and cognitive development. Attachment disorganization combined with difficult temperament predicted less optimal ego-control and lower cognitive development. (Author/KB)

This longitudinal study examined the development, antecedents, and concomitants of empathic concern in the second year of life among 125 first-born girls. Findings indicated that empathic concern for mother's simulated distress increased from 16 to 22 months, whereas empathy for a stranger's simulated distress decreased. Fearful temperament and less attachment security predicted less empathic concern for stranger distress. Antecedent and concurrent parenting measures had weak associations with girls' empathic concern. (Author/KB)

Pooled sibling attachment data to compare attachment relationships to mothers for 138 sibling pairs. Found that sibling relationships were significantly concordant when classified as secure/nonsecure but not when further subcategorized. Maternal insensitivity to both siblings was associated with concordance of sibling nonsecurity. Same gender siblings were more likely to form concordant relationships with mothers than opposite gender siblings. (Author/KB)

Explores specific characteristics of insecure-avoidant, secure, and insecure-ambivalent mother-infant dyads (N=82) in the context of sharing a picturebook. Results support the view that early literacy skills are connected to a fundamentally social process. The learning/instruction process depends on the affective dimension of the infant-mother relationship. (RJM)

A study was done extending work on children's literacy by relating quality of parent-child interactive exchange during book reading to assessments of infant-parent attachment security. Compared to secure mother-child pairs, insecure-avoidant pairs and insecure-resistant pairs were more inclined to encounter distraction and ambivalence on the part of the children. Results differed for father-child dyads. (MK)

Conducted meta-analysis of 66 studies on parental antecedents of attachment security. Found that maternal sensitivity was an important but not exclusive condition of attachment security in normal settings. Mutuality, Synchrony, Stimulation, Positive Attitude, and Emotional Support were associated with security. Advocated a contextual level to interpret complex transactions between context and sensitivity in less stable, more stressful settings. (Author/KB)

Presents meta-analysis evidence of the association between paternal sensitivity and infant-father attachment from eight studies with 546 families (combined effect size r = 0.13). A meta-analysis of 950 families from 14 studies found an overall correlation of 0.17 between infant-mother and infant-father attachment. Presents a data-based model of attachment within the family system. (Author/KB)

Distributions of child attachment classifications in mother-child dyads in which the mother evidenced physical or mental problems were highly divergent from distributions for normal samples. Distributions of child attachment classifications in mother-child dyads in which the child evidenced physical problems were similar to distributions in normal samples. (BC)

The validity of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and its relation to toddlers' social and emotional adaptation, were investigated. The AAI and the Parental Bonding Instrument were related, but only the AAI yielded classifications that corresponded to the quality of infant-parent attachment. (Author/LB)

Studied attachment behaviors in indigenous Dutch and Surinam-Dutch immigrant mothers and infants. In the Surinam-Dutch group, maternal responsiveness was related to quality of attachment. Surinam-Dutch mothers scored significantly lower on a responsiveness scale than did Dutch mothers. Other cultural differences are noted. (Author/BB)

Infants were observed three times in the strange situation with their professional caregivers, mothers, and fathers to examine relationships between infant-parent attachment, day care characteristics, and the quality of infants' attachments to professional caregivers. (PCB)

Examines 2,000 Strange Situation classifications obtained in eight different countries. Differences and similarities between distributions in classifications of samples are investigated using correspondence analysis. Substantial intracultural differences are established; data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences. (Author/RWB)

Studied interactions which are related to written language, attachment security, and emergent literacy between 45 mothers and their children, aged one-and-a-half to five-and-a-half years. Results suggest that mothers give reading instruction to small children by naming letters and well-known words which contain those letters. Mother-child interaction is related to attachment security and emergent literacy. (RJC)

Emotional empathy has been linked to prosocial behaviors and is deemed crucial for parenting and caring for infants. This study examined whether emotional empathy (dispositional and in response to infant crying) is associated with sensitive responsiveness, as observed in 221 heterosexual couples (half of whom were expecting their first child) during a standardized caregiving situation. Simulators resembling real infants were used. Caregiving performed by each partner individually and as a couple was observed using the Ainsworth sensitivity scale. The partners rated their own empathy and their perceived partner's empathy toward the infant simulator. The Polish version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used to measure dispositional emotional empathy (empathic concern, EC; personal distress, PD). Multilevel modeling showed that self-reported and partner-reported empathy elicited by the infant simulator mediated the association between dispositional empathic concern and sensitive responsiveness during caretaking. Women were more empathic and responsive while caring for the infant simulator, and couple sensitive responsiveness was predicted by higher dispositional EC and lower PD in women but not in men. Our findings suggest that dispositional empathy and empathic reactions toward an infant simulator might translate into better adjustment to parenthood and more responsive parenting and coparenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergenerational transmission of attachment is one of the core hypotheses of attachment theory. How parents or other caregivers look back on their childhood attachment experiences is suggested to shape their infants' attachments. In the current paper, we show that a new twist to correspondence analysis (Canonical Correlation Analysis [CCA]) of cross-tabulated attachment classifications with oblique rotation Correspondence Analysis (CA) may uncover the latent structure of intergenerational transmission showing the unique role of parental Unresolved representations in predicting infant Disorganized attachments. Our model of intergenerational transmission of attachment supports predicted associations between parental and infant attachments. Despite growing skepticism about the validity of parental Unresolved trauma and infant Disorganized attachment, we come to an evidence-based statistical defense of these generative clinical components of attachment theory awaiting a substantive experimentum crucis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the COVID-19 pandemic seems to affect both the physical and mental health of parents and children. Topics include examines the "Stress in America" pandemic survey found large weight gains in the population, with parents being among those who gained the most weight during lockdowns.