Attachment security representations in institutionalized children and children living with their families: links to problem behaviour

Abstract

The present work analyses differences in the attachment representations of institutionalized children as compared with children from low and high educational level living with their natural families. Participants were 91 Portuguese children, 52% girls, aged 48-96 months. There were three different groups: 19 institutionalized children, 16 low educational level families' children and 56 from high educational level families'. Attachment representations were assessed for Security of the narratives of the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). Psychopathological symptoms were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist for parents and caretakers. Verbal skills were assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised. Results show that institutionalized children have signifi cantly lower security of attachment representations, less verbal skills and higher aggressive behaviour than the other two groups. Attachment representations were associated with social/withdrawal and aggression, independently of age, verbal skills and parents' education. The main effect of institutionalization on externalizing aggressive behaviour was completely mediated by the security of attachment representations.

When the Primary Caregiver is Missing: Investigating Proximal and Distal Variables Involved in Institutionalised Children's Adjustment

“…To develop an attachment relationship is a right for all human infants, but in institutional contexts this a difficult task because the high child: caregiver ratio impacts on the opportunity for establishing a stable and continuing attachment bond with a caregiver. Among the variables contributing to the adjustment of institutionalised children, attachment is a fundamental one, given its relevance for the quality of subsequent social‐emotional development: different attachment patterns are involved in actualising developmental potential both in family‐reared (FR) and previously institutionalised children (Cassidy and Shaver, ; Lionetti, ; Torres et al ., ). So far, a few but noteworthy studies have investigated attachment distribution towards the favourite caregiver in institutionalised children, reporting higher rates of insecure, disorganised and cannot classify attachment patterns (Vorria et al ., ; Zeanah et al ., ).…”

Attachment in institutionalized children: A review and meta-analysis

“…Table 1). In sum, to the studies included in Bakermans-Kranenburg et al's review (2011) on attachment in children in institutions, we added the studies of Katsurada (2007), Torres and colleagues (Torres et al, 2012), and Barone and colleagues ; all investigated attachment using a representational assessment method. Adding these articles allowed us to include the type of assessment procedure as a moderator in the data analysis.…”

“…Given that not all studies differentiate between insecure attachment subcategories (see Torres et al, 2012), the insecureambivalent (C) and insecure-avoidant (A) patterns were collapsed into a more general insecure category (A/C). Similarly, as both the disorganized and thecannot/classify pattern are considered at risk for the quality of subsequent development and have potentially common developmental pathways, following the convention in the field (Zeanah et al, 2005), the two categories were collapsed into a single disorganized pattern (D/CC).…”

Singularidades de género nas representações de vinculação durante o período pré-escolar

“…Benavente, Justo, & Veríssimo, 2009;Carvalho et al, 2010;Custódio & Cruz, 2008;Maia, Ferreira, Veríssimo, Santos, & Shin, 2008;Silva et al, 2008;Torres, Maia, Veríssimo, Fernandes, & Silva, 2011), o presente estudo teve como principal objectivo averiguar a existência de diferenças significativas de género na performance de uma amostra normativa de crianças em idade pré-escolar.…”