Browsing by Subject "attachment"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Attachment Relationships and Adoption Outcome
    (St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Extension Service, Children, Youth and Family Consortium, 2009-08) Michaels, Cari
    Research has demonstrated the powerful influence of the attachment relationship between parents and their children. How does the nature of this relationship affect children who have experienced trauma in the past or newly developing parent-child relationship with adoptive parents? How does it affect the parent’s experience of parenting? This review summarizes recent research that examines these questions and reveals implications for practice and policy.
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    Early Adversity on Post-Adoption Functioning
    (2016-04) Tang, Jennifer; Kroupina, Maria
    Adopted children are known to being prone to a variety of mental health and behavioral problems. Less is known about the effects of early adversity on adopted children's later attachment and behavioral problems with their caregiver. It is imperative for clinicians and caregivers to fully understand how these children's history can impact their overall functioning. This study aims to better understand how factors in pre-adoption history can predict later attachment and behavior problems with the caregiver post-adoption. The variables used for pre-adoption were: age at adoption, number of transitions in care, number/severity of adversity experiences reported (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and pre-birth exposure to drugs/alcohol), and the timing between adoption and initial visit in the U.S. The study analyzed these variables with attachment and behavior functioning with the caregiver by looking at: overall attachment from the Disturbance of Attachment Interview (DAI) administered at the mental health visit, problems in Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) domains taken from the DAI, and parent concerns reported at the initial visit. The results found that the majority of adopted children (90%) had a emotional regulation issue in their attachment with their caregiver, and 75% displayed problems in the RAD domain of seeking comfort from their parent. It was also found that children who went through more transitions in care pre-adoption were reported to having more attention problems post-adoption by their caregiver. Additionally, there were no significant differences in any of the pre-adoption history measures with the overall attachment with the caregiver. This suggests for more focus to be placed on clinical observations, questionnaires, and coming in for services as early as possible after adoption. Pre-adoption history may not be the best indicator for later functioning, and individual resilience should be taken into account to further understand how adopted children function and attach to their caregiver.
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    The Effect of Stress Susceptibility on the Relationship Between Attachment and Internet Gaming
    (2020-04) Ait Daoud, Imane
    The prevalence of gaming in the United States has increased dramatically in the last decade (Entertainment Software Association [ESA], 2019). Excessive gaming, however, has also become problematic, with negative effects on relationship development, emotional wellbeing, stress susceptibility and more (Kaess et al., 2017; Monacis et al., 2017; Griffiths, 2005). Excessive gaming or the pathological use of internet games is referred to as Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) (American Psychological Association [APA], 2013). While there is an abundance of research assessing the consequences of excessive gaming, there is still much left to discover about the etiology and development of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Recently, the connection between attachment security and IGD has been increasingly explored, with several studies suggesting a positive correlation between insecure attachment and IGD (Eichenberg et al., 2017; Tavakoli et al., 2014; Benarous et al.,2019). This study sought to expand on the current literature by assessing the relationship between both attachment and stress susceptibility, and IGD and stress susceptibility. Additionally, a potential mediation model was also assessed. Participants (N = 423) completed self-report assessments regarding gaming addiction, attachment, perceived stress, trauma, and other demographics. Results indicated that significant differences between attachment groups on Internet gaming disorder scores (F (3,419) = 70.80, p < .001, w = .33), with the secure group (M=6.13, SD = 4.75) reporting the fewest IGD symptoms. Secure individuals (M=51.21, SD = 23.90) also reported significantly lower levels of perceived stress than insecure individuals, F (2,418) = 61.61, p < .001. A Tukey's post-hoc analysis showed that the secure group differed significantly from the preoccupied group (p <.001), and the Anxious-Avoidant group (p <.001) but not the Dismissive group (p = ns.). IGDS scores were significantly associated with Attachment Anxiety (r = .63, p < .01), Attachment Avoidance (r = .26, p < .01), and ACE trauma scores (r = .69, p <.01). Lastly, a mediation analysis showed that while controlling for perceived stress, attachment type was still a significant predictor of gaming addiction scores, b = -3.17, SE = .72, consistent with partial mediation. The findings of this study indicate that attachment security, as well as stress, may have significant implications in the understanding of the development and etiology of gaming addiction. Further research is called for on the pathways through which attachment may influence gaming addiction and treatment of psychopathology.
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    Examining the Nature, Origins, and Health Consequences of Attachment-Related Individual Differences in the Emotion Regulation Process
    (2014-07) Fillo, Jennifer
    Individuals vary in their tendency to habitually adopt different emotion-regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and suppression (Gross & John, 2003). These strategies have implications for individuals' subjective, expressive, and physiological reactions to emotions, with certain emotional profiles being considered "healthier" than others (John & Gross, 2004). A key direction for research in this area is the identification of individual differences that can explain how and why individuals develop these tendencies. This information could help researchers and clinicians better predict and potentially curtail the negative consequences associated with some emotion-regulation tendencies. The present research examines individual differences in attachment orientations as one such explanation. According to attachment theory, individuals' histories of interactions with caregivers throughout life shape their relational orientations, as well as their motivations and abilities for coping with stressful events (Bowlby, 1969). Study 1 examined relations between attachment orientations and self-reported emotion-regulation tendencies, as well as experimentally tested attachment-based individual differences in the emotion regulation process by examining subjective, expressive, and physiological emotional responses to an emotion-eliciting film clip. Attachment avoidance and anxiety were associated with a number of similar emotion-regulation difficulties, but specific approaches to regulating emotions. In the experimental portion, the nature and effectiveness of specific emotion-regulation strategies varied across levels of avoidance and anxiety. Additionally, avoidant individuals showed some evidence of spontaneous emotion-regulation attempts, even when they were given no specific emotion-regulation instructions. Study 2 replicates and extends Study 1 by examining the developmental antecedents and long-term health consequences of these individual differences in emotion regulation, using data collected as part of the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation. It examined the potential mediating role of emotion-regulation difficulties in the link between attachment representations and later substance use (i.e., alcohol consumption, tobacco use). There was an indirect effect of attachment representations on later alcohol consumption through impulse control difficulties and limited access to emotion-regulation strategies. Attachment representations directly predicted tobacco use, but this relation was not mediated by difficulties with emotion regulation. As a whole, this research reveals important information about the nature, origins, and health consequences of attachment-based individual differences in emotion regulation.
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    Secure infant-mother attachment buffers the effect of early-life stress on age of menarche
    (2017-01) Sung, Sooyeon
    Prior research indicates that being reared in stressful environments is associated with earlier onset of menarche in girls. In this research, we examined (a) whether these effects are driven by exposure to certain dimensions of stress (harshness or unpredictability) during the first 5 years of life, and (b) whether the negative effects of stress on the timing of menarche are buffered by secure infant-mother attachment. Results revealed that (a) exposure to greater harshness (but not unpredictability) during the first 5 years of life predicted earlier menarche, and (b) secure infant-mother attachment buffered girls from this effect of harsh environments. By connecting attachment research to its evolutionary foundations, these results illuminate how environmental stressors and relationships early in life jointly affect pubertal timing.