No abstract

Recent years have seen the emergence of accounts of the origins of the Disorganized attachment relationship in early mother-infant interaction, each building on the pioneering work of Main and Hesse-dysfunctional emotional processes figure prominently in all these accounts. This paper applies a framework based on two complementary theories of emotion socialization, Gianino and Tronick's (1992) Mutual Regulation Model and Gergely and Watson's (1996) Social Biofeedback Theory, to suggest an emotion-based mechanism consistent with recently proposed models of the development of Disorganized attachment. The framework is used to generate hypothetical accounts of the role of dysfunctional emotional processes and maladaptive emotion socialization in early mother-infant interaction in the development of Disorganized attachment along two distinct pathways, one associated with actual abuse of the infant and the other associated with maternal unresolved trauma.Over the past several years an increasing number of researchers in the field of parentchild attachment have recognized the importance of a consideration of Disorganized/ Disoriented attachment behavior to a thorough understanding of the precursors and outcomes of the attachment relationship. While the Secure attachment pattern has been portrayed most often as optimal, the Avoidant and Ambivalent attachment strategies may also be viewed as adaptive and organized, each reflecting a coherent behavioral strategy to maximize caregiver availability and regulate emotions based on expectations of caregiver availability and responsiveness (Cassidy, 1994;Main, 1991). Disorganized attachment behavior, in contrast, suggests the breakdown or absence of a strategy for enlisting the caregiver support necessary for the infant when confronted with stressful situations (Main & Solomon, 1990). Physiological evidence suggests that children in Disorganized relationships are overwhelmed by negative emotions,

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between maternal representations of attachment, as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996), and mothers' thoughts and feelings about their own emotions and emotions emerging in their toddlers. Eighty-nine adolescent mothers completed the AAI and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D;Radloff, 1977) and Katz, Gottman, Shapiro, and Carrere's (1997) metaemotion interview for parents of toddlers. Autonomous mothers demonstrated the most open and flexible mindset around a variety of emotions in themselves and their toddlers. Dismissing mothers exhibited a tendency to minimize internalizing emotions in themselves and their children, while unresolved mothers described the most emotion regulatory difficulties.

No abstract