Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae

Abstract

Dunng the past 10 years nearly 80 studies on disoigamzed attachment mvolvmg moie than 6 000 mfanl-paient dyads have been cained out The cunent series ot meta-analyscs have estabhshed the lehabihty and disuimmant vahdity of disoigamzed mfant attachment Although disorganized attachment behavioi is necessanly difficult to observe and often subtle, many reseaichers have managed to become rehable codeis Fuitheimoie, disoigamzed attachment shows modest shoit-and long term stabihty, in paiticular in middle class envnonments and it is not just a concomitant of constitutional, temperamental, or physical child pioblems The prediclive vahdity of disorganized attachment is estabhshed in terms of pioblematic strcss management, the elevated nsk of externahzmg problem behavior, and even the tendency of disorganized infants to show dissociative behavioi later in life In noimal middle class families about 15% of the infants develop disorganized attachment behavioi In other social contexts and in chnical groups this percentage may become twice 01 even thiee times highei (e g in the case of maltreatment) Although the importance of disorganized attachment foi developmental psychopathology is evident the seatch foi the mechanisms leading to disoiganization has just started Fiightemng parental behavioi may play an important role but it does not seem to be the only causal factoi mvolved in the emergence of disoigamzed attachment

Joint Attention and Attachment in Toddlers with Autism

“…These three 'organized' strategies (Ainsworth et al 1978) may be considered as adaptive to the infants' environment, and each is supposed to allow for a maximum of proximity to the specific attachment figure (Main and Solomon 1990). Children who show disorganized attachment are characterized by a (momentary) breakdown of any organized strategy of emotion regulation during the SSP (Main and Solomon 1990;Van IJzendoorn et al 1999). The SSP was coded by two trained observers (SWS & MBK), who were unaware of the children's diagnoses.…”

Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

“…A first is that a significant proportion of maltreated infants do not receive a classification of disorganized attachment with the maltreating caregiver in the Strange Situation. Although meta-analytic data show that maltreated infants are much more likely to receive a disorganized attachment classification than infants drawn from samples with few risk factors (Cyr, Euser, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2010), such data also show that a large proportion of maltreated infants do not receive a disorganized classification (van IJzendoorn et al, 1999). …”

“…However, as mentioned in the previous section, a classification of disorganized attachment with one caregiver does not have an association with disorganized attachment with another (van IJzendoorn et al, 1999). This suggests that much of the variance can be accounted for by relationship-specific factors, or by interactions between infant disposition and the caregiving environment.…”

“…disorganized/avoidant attachment). This convention has led to a particularly marked decrease in primary resistant category assignments; when resistance is present to a significant degree, the child also often receives a disorganized classification due to marked display of disorganized behaviors (van IJzendoorn, Schuengel, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999). …”

“…Thus, disorganized attachment is not a fixed property or trait of the individual child but tends to be relationship specific. Even within a child’s relationship with a particular caregiver, disorganized attachment displays only modest stability over time (van IJzendoorn et al, 1999). …”