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Internationally healthcare organisations and governments are grappling with the issue of upskilling healthcare workforces in relation to digital health. Significant research has been undertaken in relation to documenting essential digital health capability requirements for the workforce. In 2019 the Australian Digital Health Agency funded work by the Australasian Institute of Digital Health to develop a National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework. This paper describes the methodological approach used in the development of the Framework.

BackgroundCommunity engagement is crucial for the design and implementation of community-based early childhood development (ECD) programmes. This paper aims to share key components and learnings of a community engagement process for an integrated ECD intervention. The lessons shared are drawn from a case study of urban informal settlement with embedded refugees in Nairobi, Kenya.MethodsWe conducted three stakeholder meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Health at County and Sub-County, actors in the ECD sector, and United Nations agency in refugee management, a transect walk across five villages (Ngando, Muslim, Congo, Riruta and Kivumbini); and, six debrief meetings by staff from the implementing organization. The specific steps and key activities undertaken, the challenges faced and benefits accrued from the community engagement process are highlighted drawing from the implementation team’s perspective.ResultsContext relevant, well-planned community engagement approaches can be integrated into the five broad components of stakeholder engagement, formative research, identification of local resources, integration into local lives, and shared control/leadership with the local community. These can yield meaningful stakeholder buy-in, community support and trust, which are crucial for enabling ECD programme sustainability.ConclusionOur experiences underscore that intervention research on ECD programmes in urban informal settlements requires a well-planned and custom-tailored community engagement model that is sensitive to the needs of each sub-group within the community to avoid unintentionally leaving anyone out.

Research on attachment transmission has focused on variable-centered analyses, where hypotheses are tested by examining linear associations between variables. The purpose of this study was to apply a relationship-centered approach to data analysis, where adult states of mind, maternal sensitivity, and infant attachment were conceived as being three components of a single, intergenerational relationship. These variables were assessed in 90 adolescent and 99 adult mother–infant dyads when infants were 12 months old. Initial variable-centered analyses replicated the frequently observed associations between these three core attachment variables. Relationship-based, latent class analyses then revealed that the most common pattern among young mother dyads featured maternal unresolved trauma, insensitive interactive behavior, and disorganized infant attachment (61%), whereas the most prevalent adult mother dyad relationship pattern involved maternal autonomy, sensitive maternal behavior, and secure infant attachment (59%). Three less prevalent relationship patterns were also observed. Moderation analyses revealed that the adolescent–adult mother distinction differentiated between secure and disorganized intergenerational relationship patterns, whereas experience of traumatic events distinguished between disorganized and avoidant patterns. Finally, socioeconomic status distinguished between avoidant and secure patterns. Results emphasize the value of a relationship-based approach, adding an angle of understanding to the study of attachment transmission.

MOOCs are massive open online courses that are globally accessible, free of charge. Given their cost-free and open accessibility, it is surprising that only a few institutions have offered MOOCs from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Pakistan recently made this short list of LMICs as the first two MOOCs were launched from the country, in 2014 and 2016. Drawing from that experience, the organizers of that course present a roadmap for LMIC institutions for developing a MOOC, focusing especially on the technological and pedagogical limitations that an LMIC institution might find deterring.

The way an individual attends to social information has implications for his/her ability to regulate behavior in social settings. The results of the present investigation suggest that early experiences in parent–child relationships contribute to later differences in the deployment of attention to social information. The quality of the mother–child relationship was assessed at one-year-of-age. At seven to eight years of age, a dot-probe paradigm assessed immediate and delayed attention to pictures of faces vs. pictures of neutral objects. Children who were more avoidant with their mother in infancy attended to neutral objects over social stimuli at delayed but not immediate time frames. This finding suggests that individual differences in attention to social stimuli in childhood are associated with the quality of the prior attachment relationship with a primary caregiver.

Expanded newborn screening (NBS) for genetic disorders has improved diagnosis of numerous treatable diseases, positively impacting children’s health outcomes. However, research about the psychological impact of expanded NBS on families, especially mothers, has been mixed. Our study examined associations between maternal experiences of expanded NBS and subsequent psychosocial functioning and parenting stress in mothers whose infants received either true negative (TN), true positive (TP) or false positive (FP) results after a 4- to 6-month period. The Parenting Stress Index and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale were used to assess symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression in 3 sets of mothers, whose infants received TN (n = 31), TP (n = 8) or FP (n = 18) results. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) results revealed no significant differences among these three groups of mothers regarding overall anxiety, stress and depression. However, FP mothers experienced lower levels of stress related to their own health compared to TN group. Two potential trends were also identified; results suggested TN mothers might experience higher levels of isolation than mothers in the TP group and that FP mothers might report higher stress levels in relation to spousal relationships compared to the TN group. FP mothers seemed to report similar or better levels of psychosocial functioning than TN mothers. Our findings are encouraging with respect to impacts of NBS on maternal well-being. We also identify key areas for improvement (parental education) and research (isolation and spousal relationships).

The relationship between infant behaviors during routine immunization, pre- and post-needle, and infant attachment was explored.A total of 130 parent-infant dyads were recruited from a larger longitudinal study and videotaped during routine immunization at 12 months and the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) at 14 months. Six infant behaviors were coded for 1-minute pre-needle and 3-minutes post-needle. Attachment was operationalized according to the secure/avoidant/resistant/disorganized categories.As expected, none of the pre-needle behaviors predicted attachment. Proximity-seeking post-needle significantly discriminated attachment categorizations. Secure infants were more likely to seek proximity to caregivers post-needle in comparison with avoidant and disorganized infants. Proximity-seeking following immunization was positively correlated with proximity-seeking during the SSP and negatively correlated with avoidance and disorganization during the SSP.Infant proximity-seeking during immunization is associated with attachment security and parallels behaviors observed during the SSP. More research is needed to identify behavioral markers of disorganization.

The prototype hypothesis suggests that attachment representations derived in infancy continue to influence subsequent relationships over the life span, including those formed with one's own children. In the current study, we test the prototype hypothesis by exploring (a) whether child-specific representations following actual experience in interaction with a specific child impacts caregiver-child attachment over and above the prenatal forecast of that representation and (b) whether maternal attachment representations exert their influence on infant attachment via the more child-specific representation of that relationship. In a longitudinal study of 84 mother-infant dyads, mothers' representations of their attachment history were obtained prenatally with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; M. Main, R. Goldwyn, & E. Hesse, 2002), representations of relationship with a specific child were assessed with the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; C.H. Zeanah, D. Benoit, & L. Barton, 1986), collected both prenatally and again at infant age 11 months, and infant attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation Procedure (M.D.S. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Walters, & S. Wall, 1978) when infants were 11 months of age. Consistent with the prototype hypothesis, considerable correspondence was found between mothers' AAI and WMCI classifications. A mediation analysis showed that WMCI fully accounted for the association between AAI and infant attachment. Postnatal WMCI measured at 11 months' postpartum did not add to the prediction of infant attachment, over and above that explained by the prenatal WMCI. Implications for these findings are discussed.

The goal of this longitudinal study was to elucidate aspects of maternal cognition associated with maternal sensitivity and the development of infant attachment. Seventy-seven mothers were administered a number of measures over the course of the infant’s first year, including the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), secure base scripts, and a measure of maternal insight about her infant’s behavior. Maternal sensitivity was assessed using the maternal sensitivity Q-Sort and infant attachment using the Strange Situation Procedure. Associations were found between AAI coherence, secure base scripts, and maternal sensitivity; however, no direct association was found between maternal insight and sensitivity. A mediator-moderator model suggested that: 1) AAI coherence mediated the association between secure base scripts and maternal insight; and 2) maternal insight and sensitivity interacted to predict secure attachment. Findings suggest the need to further investigate the role of cognitive factors implicated in the intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Children of adolescent mothers are at risk for a variety of developmental difficulties. In the present study, the effectiveness of a brief intervention program designed to support adolescent mothers' sensitivity to their infants' attachment signals was evaluated. Participants were adolescent mothers and their infants who were observed at 6, 12, and 24 months of age. The intervention conducted by clinically trained home visitors consisted of eight home visits between 6 and 12 months in which mothers were provided feedback during the replay of videotaped play interactions. At 12 months, 57% of the mother-infant dyads in the intervention group and 38% of the comparison group dyads were classified as secure in the Strange Situation. Seventy-six percent of the mothers in the intervention group maintained sensitivity from 6 to 24 months compared with 54% of the comparison mothers. Further analyses indicated that the intervention was effective primarily for mothers who were not classified as Unresolved on the Adult Attachment Interview.

Background Clear recognition of the damaging effects of poverty on early childhood development has fueled an interest in interventions aimed at mitigating these harmful consequences. Psychosocial interventions aimed at alleviating the negative impacts of poverty on children are frequently shown to be of benefit, but effect sizes are typically small to moderate. However, averaging outcomes over an entire sample, as is typically done, could underestimate efficacy because weaker effects on less susceptible individuals would dilute estimation of effects on those more disposed to respond. This study investigates whether a genetic polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene moderates susceptibility to a psychosocial intervention. Methods and findings We reanalyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of a home-visiting program delivered by community health workers in a black, isiXhosa-speaking population in Khayelitsha, South Africa. The intervention, designed to enhance maternal-infant attachment, began in the third trimester and continued until 6 mo postpartum. Implemented between April 1999 and February 2003, the intervention comprised 16 home visits delivered to 220 mother–infant dyads by specially trained community health workers. A control group of 229 mother–infant dyads did not receive the intervention. Security of maternal-infant attachment was the main outcome measured at infant age 18 mo. Compared to controls, infants in the intervention group were significantly more likely to be securely attached to their primary caregiver (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7, p = 0.029, 95% CI [1.06, 2.76], d = 0.29). After the trial, 162 intervention and 172 control group children were reenrolled in a follow-up study at 13 y of age (December 2012–June 2014). At this time, DNA collected from 279 children (134 intervention and 145 control) was genotyped for a common serotonin transporter polymorphism. There were both genetic data and attachment security data for 220 children (110 intervention and 110 control), of whom 40% (44 intervention and 45 control) carried at least one short allele of the serotonin transporter gene. For these 220 individuals, carrying at least one short allele of the serotonin transporter gene was associated with a 26% higher rate of attachment security relative to controls (OR = 3.86, p = 0.008, 95% CI [1.42, 10.51], d = 0.75), whereas there was a negligible (1%) difference in security between intervention and control group individuals carrying only the long allele (OR = 0.95, p = 0.89, 95% CI [0.45, 2.01], d = 0.03). Expressed in terms of absolute risk, for those with the short allele, the probability of secure attachment being observed in the intervention group was 84% (95% CI [73%, 95%]), compared to 58% (95% CI [43%, 72%]) in the control group. For those with two copies of the long allele, 70% (95% CI [59%, 81%]) were secure in the intervention group, compared to 71% (95% CI [60%, 82%]) of infants in the control group. Controlling for sex, maternal genotype, and indices of socioeconomic adversity (housing, employment, education, electricity, water) did not change these results. A limitation of this study is that we were only able to reenroll 49% of the original sample randomized to the intervention and control conditions. Attribution of the primary outcome to causal effects of intervention in the present subsample should therefore be treated with caution. Conclusions When infant genotype for serotonin transporter polymorphism was taken into account, the effect size of a maternal-infant attachment intervention targeting impoverished pregnant women increased more than 2.5-fold when only short allele carriers were considered (from d = 0.29 for all individuals irrespective of genotype to d = 0.75) and decreased 10-fold when only those carrying two copies of the long allele were considered (from d = 0.29 for all individuals to d = 0.03). Genetic differential susceptibility means that averaging across all participants is a misleading index of efficacy. The study raises questions about how policy-makers deal with the challenge of balancing equity (equal treatment for all) and efficacy (treating only those whose genes render them likely to benefit) when implementing psychosocial interventions. Trial Registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN25664149, In light of genetic information Barak Morgan and colleagues re-analyze data from a randomized controlled trial to explore the genetic susceptibility to a psychosocial intervention., Author summary Why was this study done? It has been shown that individuals with the short form of a gene involved in nerve signaling in the brain are generally sensitive, or “susceptible,” to psychosocial interventions (i.e., they benefit), whereas individuals with the long form of the gene are insensitive, or “nonsusceptible,” deriving little benefit from the same intervention. This study was conducted to investigate whether such a gene × intervention interaction was present in a previously conducted randomized controlled home-visiting intervention trial designed to increase levels of secure maternal-infant attachment at 18 mo of age in a population in South Africa. What did the researchers do and find? Genotyping revealed that 40% of the study sample (n = 89) carried at least one short allele of the serotonin transporter gene, while 60% of the sample (n = 131) carried two long alleles of this gene. We reanalyzed the original maternal-infant attachment results and found that the increase in secure attachment found for the intervention in the original trial (odds ratio = 1.7, effect size d = 0.29) was almost entirely attributable to children with the short form of the gene (odds ratio = 3.86, effect size d = 0.75). For children not carrying the short allele, there was no significant increase in secure attachment with the intervention (odds ratio = 0.95, effect size d = 0.03). Children carrying the short form of the gene whose mothers received the intervention were 3.86 times more likely to be securely attached at 18 mo (84% were secure) than children carrying the short form whose mothers did not receive the intervention (58% were secure). Among children without the short form, the number who were securely attached did not differ based on whether their mothers received the intervention (71% were secure) or not (70% were secure). What do these findings mean? These results indicate the importance of genetic differences when considering the efficacy of psychosocial interventions aimed at improving developmental outcomes in children living in the context of socioeconomic adversity. The findings also raise complex questions regarding spending limited resources implementing costly interventions on individuals who may not benefit because of their genetic makeup and who may comprise the majority of the population (60% in this case), but where these same interventions may nevertheless confer large benefit for a subgroup of genetically susceptible individuals (40% in this case).

The goal of the present study was to examine how quality of the child-caregiver attachment relationship related to children's cardiac vagal reactivity in response to a novel social stressor. Children's (N = 48; M age = 3 years 9 months) cardiac data were collected as they participated in an ambiguous and potentially threatening social situation together with their mothers. Their degree of behavioral inhibition also was observed. Attachment classifications were assessed separately. Children classified as Secure showed vagal withdrawal from baseline to the stressor, whereas children classified as Ambivalent did not show vagal withdrawal in response to the stressor. There was a marginally significant moderation of attachment-related differences in vagal withdrawal by level of behavioral inhibition. Among highly behaviorally inhibited children, those classified as Ambivalent demonstrated little or no vagal withdrawal compared to their Secure counterparts. In contrast, no attachment-related differences were found among those who appeared less behaviorally inhibited. Findings are discussed in relation to children's emerging self-regulation skills in the context of their attachment relationship.

Background Associations between maternal sensitivity and child attachment have been established in many samples, but the strength of the association varies across populations. The sensitivity–attachment link has never been examined at the level of representations nor among premature samples. Objective The present study is aimed at exploring associations between maternal interactive behaviour and children's attachment representations in a population of preterm and full-term infants. Method Maternal interactive behaviour was assessed at 6 and 18 months (Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale & Care Index) and children's attachment representations were measured at 42 months (Attachment Story Completion Task) in a sample of preterm (N = 48) and full-term (N = 23) infants. Results Maternal unresponsiveness at 6 months and sensitivity at 18 months explained 54% of the variance of disorganized attachment representations in the full-term group but was not significantly related to attachment patterns in the preterm group. Conclusion These results corroborate previous work on the causes of disorganized attachment and also point to the need to consider the development of attachment differently for children evolving in specific developmental contexts. They especially stress the importance of distinguishing between risk factors associated with the mother as opposed to the child.

This paper examines the theory and research linking attachment relationships to cognitive vulnerability to depression and assesses evidence that early attachment experiences contribute to the development of these cognitive processes. Most research in this area has involved adult participants using self-report measures of both attachment and depressive vulnerabilities and thus cannot convincingly speak to the existence of such a developmental pathway. Several studies, however, have followed individuals from infancy and examined the emergence of self-esteem and responses to failure throughout childhood and adolescence. These studies suggest that early experiences in non-secure attachment relationships place an individual at-risk for developing a cognitive framework that increases their vulnerability to depression following stressful life events. The paper concludes with a discussion of how future research might best explore specific mechanisms through which distinct attachment relationships may lead to divergent developmental pathways sharing the common outcome of cognitive processes that place individuals at risk for depression.

and Summary At least one member of captive groups of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) typically is situated in a prominent, elevated location. This study provides an initial description of this pattern of behaviour and evidence to suggest that it serves a vigilance function. While on the ledges, animals behaved in an alert and watchful fashion and emitted two particular classes of vocalization in response to potential dangers to the colony. Other group members responded to these alarm vocalizations with a range of alerting and retreating patterns. The vigilance behaviour system provides a useful model for the investigation of several sociobiological hypotheses and of a sophisticated alarm vocalization network. Zusammenfassung In jeder gefangen gehaltenen Gruppe von Erdmannchen (Suricata suricatta) gab es mindestens ein Tier, das sich gewohnlich auf eine erhohte Stelle mit guter Aussicht setzte. In jeweils halbstundigen Beobachtungen, die in drei Serien von je 20mal uber 3 Jahre verteilt waren, sas im Mittel in uber 95 % der Zeit mindestens ein Tier auf solchem Posten. Ausnahmen betrafen Zeiten nach dem Tod eines Koloniemitglieds. Alle Tiere sasen haufig auf solchen Posten, aber in den letzten beiden Beobachtungsperioden vor allem das erwachsene Mannchen. Es verharrte in den beiden letzten Jahren auch jeweils fur langere Zeit auf diesem Posten als die anderen Tiere. Die auf dem Aussichtsposten befindlichen Tiere verbrachten mehr Zeit aufgerichtet und die Umgebung musternd als die Tiere, die sich anderswo aufhielten. Die meisten Alarmrufe kamen von Tieren auf dem Aussichtsposten. Sowohl die Alarmrufe der Individuen wie die Reaktionen der anderen darauf sind verschieden. Auf Tonbandrufe reagieren die Tiere zunachst mit Deckungsuche, doch verliert sich die Reaktion mit haufigerer Wiederholung. Das Sitzen an erhohter Stelle scheint ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Sozialstruktur zu sein und als Wachter-Amt zu dienen. Wachesitzen ist unvertraglich mit Fressen und anderem Selbsterhaltungs-Verhalten. Das Wachter-Amt der Surikaten weist auf einen hohen Verwandtschaftsgrad innerhalb der Gruppen hin.

This study examined the similarities and differences in maternal and observer Attachment Behavior Q-Sort ratings (AQS; Waters, 1995) and their relations to dimensions of the developmental ecology – maternal sensitivity, infant irritability, parental stress and psychosocial risk. Data was gathered from low risk (adult mothers; N = 44) and high risk mother–infant dyads (adolescent mothers; N = 83) when infants were aged 6, 10 and 15 months old, attachment being assessed at 15 months by both mothers and independent observers. A common factor was extracted from both sorts and served to operationalize the similarities between mother and observer ratings. Regressions were conducted to extract maternal and observer AQS scores that were unrelated to each other to represent the difference between the two sorts. Correlation analyses indicated that the common AQS factor was moderately linked to maternal sensitivity and parental stress, and showed a weak association to psychosocial risk and infant irritability. Residual maternal scores showed greater correlations with infant irritability and parental stress than did observer residual scores. Observer scores showed a greater correlation with psychosocial risk than maternal scores. Results suggest that common AQS variance presents a pattern of associations with ecological variables that is coherent with attachment research. Variance related to irritability, stress and risk appear to drive the differences between maternal and observer observations.

The prototype hypothesis suggests that attachment representations derived in infancy continue to influence subsequent relationships over the life span, including those formed with one's own children. In the current study, we test the prototype hypothesis by exploring (a) whether child-specific representations following actual experience in interaction with a specific child impacts caregiver-child attachment over and above the prenatal forecast of that representation and (b) whether maternal attachment representations exert their influence on infant attachment via the more child-specific representation of that relationship. In a longitudinal study of 84 mother-infant dyads, mothers' representations of their attachment history were obtained prenatally with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; M. Main, R. Goldwyn,E. Hesse, 2002), representations of relationship with a specific child were assessed with the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; C.H. Zeanah, D. Benoit,L. Barton, 1986), collected both prenatally and again at infant age 11 months, and infant attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation Procedure (M.D.S. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Walters,S. Wall, 1978) when infants were 11 months of age. Consistent with the prototype hypothesis, considerable correspondence was found between mothers' AAI and WMCI classifications. A mediation analysis showed that WMCI fully accounted for the association between AAI and infant attachment. Postnatal WMCI measured at 11 months' postpartum did not add to the prediction of infant attachment, over and above that explained by the prenatal WMCI. Implications for these findings are discussed.

The relationship between attachment, temperamental fear, and pain-related distress was examined in a sample of 130 caregiver-infant dyads to explore the differential susceptibility hypothesis.Infant distress was measured during routine immunization at 12 months, and attachment and temperamental fear were measured at 12 to 18 months (meanage = 13.74, SD = 1.35) using the Strange Situation Procedure and parent-rated Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised, respectively.Immediately before immunization, avoidant infants exhibited significantly less distress than secure infants. Temperamental fear moderated the relationship between attachment and regulation; under conditions of high temperamental fear, avoidant infants regulated distress more slowly than secure infants, whereas under conditions of low temperamental fear, secure infants regulated distress more slowly than avoidant and disorganized infants.The findings suggest that attachment interacts with extremes in temperamental fear to produce differences in the regulation of distress. The results partially support the differential susceptibility hypothesis.

Research on the attachment-dialogue link has largely focused on infant-mother attachment. This study investigated longitudinal associations between infant-mother attachment and maternal attachment representations and subsequent mother-child emotion dialogues (N = 50). Maternal attachment representations were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview when children were 3 months, infant-mother attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation Procedure at 13 months, and mother-child emotion dialogues were assessed using the Autobiographical Emotional Events Dialogue at 3.5 years. Consistent with past research, the three organized categories of infant-mother attachment relationships were associated with later mother-child emotion dialogues. Disorganized attachment relationships were associated with a lack of consistent and coherent strategy during emotion dialogues. Autonomous mothers co-constructed coherent narratives with their children; Dismissing and Preoccupied mothers created stories that were less narratively organized. Although the Unresolved category was unrelated to classifications of types of mother-child discourse, mothers' quality of contribution to the dialogues was marginally lower compared to the quality of their children's contributions to the emotion discussion. Secure children showed highest levels of child cooperation and exploration. Autonomous mothers displayed highest levels of maternal sensitive guidance during emotion dialogues. We provide preliminary evidence for role reversal in dialogues between Preoccupied and Unresolved mothers and their children.

On the basis of extensive home observations, Ainsworth proposed that a mother's sensitivity to her infant's signals is the primary determinant of attachment security. Although subsequent research has found a relationship between sensitivity and attachment security, the effect sizes are much smaller than those reported by Ainsworth. In addition to the amount of observation time that might account for the effect size difference, we consider Ainsworth's focus on understanding the organizational structure of relationships. We coded 30 minute video records of interactions between 64 mother-infant dyads from semi-structured home observations conducted at 10 months of age. Coding consisted of writing a narrative summary of the interactions, annotating a completion of Ainsworth's rating scales of acceptance, accessibility, cooperation and sensitivity and then describing the mother's behavior using the Maternal Behaviour Q-set. Sensitivity scores derived from the Q-sort descriptions were robustly related (r = .65) to secure-insecure classifications in the Strange Situation conducted at 13 months. We reflect on the process of assessing Ainsworth's construct of sensitivity.

S. Goldberg, J. E. Grusec, and J. M. Jenkins (1999) argued that an evolutionary model restricted to the protective function of parent-infant relationships provides a distinctive focus for attachment theory. An alternative model that assumes that the evolutionary advantage of the attachment system is based on the imperative that parents and infants develop a stable relationship may be more consistent with modern evolutionary theory as well as current advances in attachment research.

Mothers of preterm and full term infants completed Abidin's Parenting Stress Index at 8 months, Waters' Attachment Behavior Q-sort at 12 months, and Bates' Infant Characteristics Questionnaire at 18 months. These instruments provided assessments of fussy and difficult infant behaviors that were moderately stable over the 10 months ( r 's > .48). On the basis of home observations at 12 months, the infant-mother relationships were classified as secure, avoidant and ambivalent. Cassidy has proposed that infants in ambivalent relationships may have poor affect regulation. Consistent with Cassidy's view, mothers in ambivalent relationships reported more fussy and difficult infant behavior at each age than did mothers in secure or avoidant relationships. Mothers of preterm infants reported higher scores on the Child Domain of the Parenting Stress Index than mothers of full term infants. The birth groups did not differ on the 12- and 18-month assessments.

This report concerns the similarities and differences between maternal and observer Attachment Q-Set (AQS) security scores for 41 preterm and 38 fullterm infants. The following variables were assessed: maternal sensitivity (8 months); parental stress (8 months); mother- and observer-derived AQS measures of attachment security and dependency (12 months); and infant temperament (18 months). “Strange situations” were recorded at 18 months. Previous analyses of these data had shown that although mother and observer AQS security scores were correlated ( r = .55), only observer scores converged with the strange situation. Two additional series of analyses were carried out. The first revealed that AQS security scores of sensitive mothers, but not those of less sensitive mothers, are correlated with those of observers. Maternal sensitivity was unrelated to the lack of correspondence between mothers’ AQS scores and strange situation classification. Second, a factor analysis of the above variables revealed that while observers’ sensitivity and attachment security scores and mothers’ security scores loaded on to a Relationship Security factor, mothers’ security ratings also loaded on to an Infant Fussiness factor. This finding suggests that although both mothers and observers focus on items indicative of security when completing the AQS, mothers may place an additional emphasis on fussiness-related items. Further support for this suggestion was found in an analysis of covariance. When variance attributed to fussiness-related items of the AQS was partialed out of the mother-derived security score, the residual mapped on to the secure/nonsecure distinction in the strange situation. However, fussiness was unrelated to the mother-observer AQS correlation, indicating that different sources of variance may be involved in the mother-observer AQS correlation and in the correspondence between mothers’ AQS scores and the strange situation.

Background: Current psychometric measures of childhood trauma history generally fail to assess the relational-socioecological context within which childhood maltreatment occurs, including the relationship of abusers to abused persons, the emotional availability of caregivers, and the respondent’s own thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to maltreatment. Objective: To evaluate a computerized approach to measuring the relational-socioecological context within which childhood maltreatment occurs. Method: The psychometric properties of a Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS) were evaluated as a retrospective survey of childhood maltreatment history designed to be appropriate for completion by adults. Participants were undergraduates (n=222), an internet sample (n=123), and psychiatric outpatients (n=30). Results: The internal reliability, convergent, and concurrent validity of the CARTS were supported across samples. Paired differences in means and correlations between rated item-descriptiveness to self, mothers, and fathers also accorded with findings of prior attachment and maltreatment research, illustrating the utility of assessing the occurrence and effects of maltreatment within a relational-socioecological framework. Conclusions: Results preliminarily support a new survey methodology for assessing childhood maltreatment within a relational-socioecological framework. Further psychometric evaluation of the CARTS is warranted. Keywords: Child abuse and neglect; child maltreatment; trauma; attachment; family relationships; scale development (Published: 9 April 2013) For the abstract or full text in other languages, please see Supplementary files in the column to the right (under Article Tools). Citation: European Journal of Psychotraumatology 2013, 4 : 20232 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.20232

Reforms to improve the management of counterparty credit risk in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets are underway globally. A key pillar of the reforms is the migration of these markets to central counterparties (CCPs), while higher capital charges and increased collateralisation will apply to derivatives that remain non-centrally cleared. One class of OTC derivatives that could be significantly affected by these reforms are cross-currency swaps. These instruments are particularly important to the Australian financial system because Australian banks raise a significant proportion of their funding by issuing foreign currency bonds in offshore markets and using cross-currency swaps to hedge the associated foreign exchange (FX) risk. No CCP yet offers a central clearing solution for cross-currency swaps, which means that Australian banks will continue to manage counterparty credit risk in this market on a bilateral basis for the time being. Regardless of whether cross-currency swaps are centrally or non-centrally cleared, it is important when implementing the reforms in this market to examine how market participants will adjust to the new environment.

The development of the Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1971; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978) shifted the focus of the study of attachment relationships from the infant's natural environment to the assessment of individual differences in novel laboratory environments. Paradoxically, as Bretherton (1992) suggested, the dramatic success of this assessment method in supporting investigations of the sequelae of individual differences in early social development may have inhibited the study of the origins of distinct attachment relationships in naturalistic contexts. The success of the Strange Situation served to move research out of the naturalistic domain of the home and into the world of structured separations and reunions, where there are few opportunities to study the dynamics of mother-infant interaction. Yet, according to attachment theory, it is these interactions-particularly the sensitivity and responsiveness of the mother-that are the fundamental precursors to variations in patterns of attachment (Ainsworth et al., 1971; Sroufe & Fleeson, 1986). In this report, we describe a system of classifying attachment relationships at home and relate these classifications to descriptions of maternal and infant attachmentrelevant behavior.

Tiering occurs when an institution does not participate directly in the central payment system but instead settles its payments through an agent. A high level of tiering can be a significant issue for payment system regulators because of the increased credit and concentration risk. This paper explores the impact of payment system design on institutions' incentives to tier using simulation analysis. Some evidence is found to support the hypothesis that the liquidity-saving mechanisms in Australia's real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system – the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS) – reduce the liquidity cost of direct participation. This may have contributed to the low level of tiering in RITS relative to RTGS systems in other countries. We find no clear relationship between system design and the size of the substantial two-way exposures tiering creates between clients and their settlement banks. Our data suggest that more tiering would result in only small increases to the level of concentration in RITS.

In the last four years nearly one dozen groups have formed with the stated purpose of developing space ight systems as open source hardware. A review of the open source software movement reveals insights into what it means to develop open source hardware, and a review of the history of nineteenth century aviation connects modern open source spaceight organizations to historical precedent. Finally, a review of the current open source spaceight hardware organizations reveals a set of common challenges and opportunities.

Attachment theorists assume that maternal mental representations influence responsivity, which influences infant attachment security. However, primary studies do not support this mediation model. The authors tested mediation using 2 mother-infant samples and found no evidence of mediation. Therefore, the authors explored sensitivity as a moderator, studying the (a) interaction of mental representation and sensitivity as it predicts infant attachment security and (b) level of sensitivity in mothers whose infants' attachment security is either concordant or discordant with their own. The interactional analyses were not significant. But the match-mismatch data showed that when mother-infant attachment strategies were discordant, maternal sensitivity was more consistent with infant than maternal attachment strategy. These findings are congruent with an interpretation of sensitivity as a moderator that can block transmission of attachment strategy.

The links between unresolved maternal attachment status, disrupted maternal interaction in play situations, and disorganized attachment relationships were examined in a study of 82 adolescent mother-infant dyads. Maternal interactive behavior was measured using the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification coding system. Additional rating scales were developed to correspond to the 5 dimensions of disrupted maternal behavior outlined by E. Bronfman, E. Parsons, and K. Lyons-Ruth (1999). A robust association was observed between disrupted maternal behavior and disorganized attachment. Ratings of disrupted maternal behavior revealed that disorganized attachment relationships were strongly related to ratings of fearful/disoriented behavior. Moreover, mothers who were unresolved were more likely than not-unresolved mothers to show disrupted patterns of interaction with their infants. Regression analyses suggested that disrupted behavior statistically mediated the association between unresolved status and disorganized attachment relationships.

A 25 item version of the maternal behavior Q-set (MBQS) was validated with 40 adolescent mother–infant dyads. Observations were made from 10 min play interactions when infants were 10 months old. Results show that the short MBQS is reliable (ri = .94), is related to assessments using the full MBQS at 6 months (r = .35), to cognitive development at 10 and 15 months (r = .48), and attachment security at 15 months (r = .34), indicating appropriate psychometric characteristics.

The current meta-analysis examines the links between unresolved representations of attachment, anomalous parental behavior, and disorganized attachment relationships in 12 studies including 851 families. We found moderate effect sizes for the associations between unresolved states of mind and anomalous behavior (r = .26), unresolved states of mind and infant disorganized attachment relationships (r = .21), and anomalous behavior and disorganized attachment relationships (r = .34). Sample characteristics, observational context, and observational measure were not associated with differences in effect sizes. Only a small part of the association between unresolved states of mind and disorganized attachment relationships was explained by the mediation of anomalous parental behavior (.26* .34 = .09). Other factors yet to be uncovered must mediate the influence of unresolved states of mind on infant disorganized attachment; thus, further exploration of infant, parental, ecological, and genetic factors are warranted.

Extant theory holds that variation in attachment security is largely determined by caregiver sensitivity whereas disorganization has its roots in atypical interactions that frighten the infant. These hypotheses were confirmed in the current study of a high-risk sample but, contrary to current theory, both atypical maternal behavior and maternal sensitivity were also significant independent predictors of attachment disorganization and security.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews attachment theory and research with an eye to those features that are most relevant to current accounts of depression and its developmental origins. The attachment relationship between infant and caregiver, which is the first human relationship, plays a significant role in placing an individual at risk for depression in adulthood. In doing so, the chapter identifies the place that attachment might fill in existing theories of vulnerability to depression and reviews the aspects of attachment theory that are likely to be most relevant to understanding the developmental processes proposed to underlie depression vulnerability. This background allows specification of those aspects of attachment that might contribute to risk for depression. Early attachment experiences and their cognitive, emotional, and social consequences are compelling candidate contributors to risk for depression in later life. Many aspects of insecure and, especially, disorganized attachment processes align with our understanding of the social and cognitive mechanisms that increase the risk of depression. Theoretical integration is supplemented with references to existing empirical evidence; where such evidence is lacking in this relatively uncharted area, critical questions and suggestions that need empirical validation and exploration are addressed

40 mothers and their 12-month-old infants were observed twice at home by 2 observers for 2 hours. After the second visit, the observers described the infant using the Waters Attachment Behavior Q-sort and the mother's interactive behavior with the Maternal Behavior Q-sort developed by the present authors and Ainsworth's rating scales. Maternal sensitivity was unrelated to maternal age, income, or SES, but correlated positively with maternal education. Mothers of more difficult children were less sensitive. A strong relation was found between infant attachment and maternal sensitivity as measured by the Maternal Behavior Q-sort and by the Ainsworth scales. Using the Q-sort procedure, mothers of more secure infants were more frequently characterized as noticing their babies' signals and using these signals to guide their behavior; they also were more knowledgeable about their infant and appeared to enjoy them more than mothers of less secure infants.