Maternal attachment avoidance is linked to youth diurnal cortisol slopes in children with asthma

Abstract

Prior evidence suggests that an individual's attachment orientation is linked to the health and health-related biology of his/her romantic relationship partners. The current study examined whether this effect extends to parent-child relationships. Specifically, we investigated the association between maternal attachment anxiety and avoidance and diurnal cortisol of offspring. In a sample of 138 youth with asthma and their primary caregivers, caregivers reported their attachment orientations, and their children (aged 10-17) supplied four saliva samples per day over four days to assess diurnal cortisol patterns. Growth curve analyses revealed no links to caregiver attachment anxiety, but caregiver attachment avoidance was significantly associated with children's diurnal cortisol slopes, such that greater attachment avoidance predicted flatter diurnal cortisol slopes. Maternal warmth did not mediate this link. These results support the possibility that an individual's adult attachment orientation may "get under the skin" of family members to influence their health-related biology. Future research should seek to determine the causal direction of this association and mechanisms of this effect.

Buffering and spillover of adult attachment insecurity in couple and family relationships

“…Poor parental responsiveness and low parent-child relationship quality are known risk factors for poor child and adolescent outcomes, including low well-being and low socio-emotional competence 113,114 . Moreover, parents being high in romantic attachment insecurity and the associated low parental warmth can contribute to poor health and emotion dysregulation in their children [115][116][117][118][119] . These poor child outcomes are also likely to compound the parenting challenges and stress experienced by parents high in romantic attachment insecurity 113,120,121 , creating reinforcing cycles of destructive responses within parent-child interactions that amplify the negative long-term effects on children.…”

Structural Relationship of Anxious Attachment Style with Pain Catastrophizing, Fear of Pain, and Vigilance to Pain in Non-clinical Pain Cases

“…There are various theories about chronic pain and the causes of acute or chronic pain. In recent years, a new line of research claims that the internal working models of attachment theory, as a bio-psychosocial factor, are related to physical health throughout life (18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Una aproximación al significado del amor en una población infantil en Lima, Perú

“…Por otra parte, algunos estudios demuestran que el no sentirse amado tiene implicancias en diferentes esferas de la vida del niño. Por ejemplo, desde una perspectiva biológica, Harvey et al (2019) demuestran que la evitación del apego materno tiene un efecto en la pendiente de cortisol diurna; es decir, que una mayor evitación del apego materno predice una pendiente de cortisol diurna más plana, lo que implica problemas de salud. Incluso, Anderson et al (2018) señalan que la falta de cuidado materno se asocia con una mayor circunferencia de la cintura, altos niveles de insulina y menor distensibilidad arterial; y Bernard et al (2019) señalan que la calidad de apego en niños en servicio de protección infantil predice significativamente la cantidad de proteína Creactiva (pcr) -niveles altos de esta proteína denotan inflamación en el cuerpo-.…”