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Abstract: This research explores the stability of attachment representations, assessed by the Attachment Story Completion Task, within early childhood. Hypotheses were also formed about the influence of parenting, externalizing behavior and intelligence quotient (IQ) on the developmental course of children's attachment representations. Data were collected from 358 French-speaking Belgian children. Security and disorganization showed a linear improvement with age. The effect of time on the two growth curves was influenced by the child's externalizing behavior. When language abilities were controlled for in a subsample of referred children for externalizing behavior, the growth in security was found to be influenced by reasoning IQ, but the effects for disorganization were unchanged. The implications of the results for both research and clinical purposes are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent disorders in childhood and adolescence. Both neurocognitive and environmental factors have been related to ADHD. The current study contributes to the documentation of the predictive relation between early attachment deprivation and ADHD. Method: Data were collected from 641 adopted adolescents (53.2 % girls) aged 11-16 years in five countries, using the DSM oriented scale for ADHD of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach and Rescorla, Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth and Families, Burlington, ). The influence of attachment deprivation on ADHD symptoms was initially tested taking into consideration several key variables that have been reported as influencing ADHD at the adoptee level (age, gender, length of time in the adoptive family, parents' educational level and marital status), and at the level of the country of origin and country of adoption (poverty, quality of health services and values). The analyses were computed using the multilevel modeling technique. Results: The results showed that an increase in the level of ADHD symptoms was predicted by the duration of exposure to early attachment deprivation, estimated from the age of adoption, after controlling for the influence of adoptee and country variables. The effect of the age of adoption was also demonstrated to be specific to the level of ADHD symptoms in comparison to both the externalizing and internalizing behavior scales of the CBCL. Conclusion: Deprivation of stable and sensitive care in infancy may have long-lasting consequences for children's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Externalizing behaviour is related to hard to manage behaviour in children and adolescents displaying agitation, impulsivity, aggressiveness or non compliance. Numerous pediatric and psychiatric counseling situations for children and adolescents are motivated by such behaviour patterns. The current paper presents an etiological multi factorial framework for these patterns focusing on epigenetic and developmental background. It provides neurological, psychodynamic and developmental theoretical purposes. The developmental theory designs the child development through a sequence of stages and suggests the importance of its interactions with life environments: attachment figures — its parents —, siblings and peers. The diagnostic process is examined by mean of differential diagnostic and by highlighting importance of multidisciplinary assessment procedure. The paper finally proposes a brief review of available treatments for children, adolescents and their family. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]