Understanding the link between maternal adult attachment classifications and thoughts and feelings about emotions

DeOliveira, Carey Anne; Moran, Greg; Pederson, David R.

doi:10.1080/14616730500135032

Cited by 57 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In the relationship with their children they appear over-involved and over-stimulating; an active but not synchronized pattern of behaviors emerged (George and West, 2012). Furthermore, they expressed difficulties in tuning with their children positive affects, in line with studies conducted both on mothers with preoccupied attachment pattern (Haft and Slade, 1989; Deoliveira et al, 2005) and on BPD mothers (Crandell et al, 2003; Newman et al, 2007). In particular, these women reported difficulties in sharing expressions of infant’s happiness, linked to infant’s aspects of autonomy.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Parenting quality in drug-addicted mothers in a therapeutic motherâ€“child community: the contribution of attachment and personality assessment

Palo

Capra²,

Simonelli

et al. 2014

Front. Psychol.

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Growing evidence shows that attachment is a key risk factor for the diagnosis and treatment of clinical diseases in Axis I, such as drug addiction. Recent literature regarding attachment, psychiatric pathology, and drug addiction demonstrates that there is a clear prevalence of insecure attachment patterns in clinical and drug addicted subjects. Specifically, some authors emphasize that the anxious-insecure attachment pattern is prevalent among drug-addicted women with double diagnosis (Fonagy et al., 1996). The construct of attachment as a risk factor in clinical samples of drug-addicted mothers needs to be studied more in depth though. The present explorative study focused on the evaluation of parenting quality in a therapeutic mother–child community using attachment and personality assessment tools able to outline drug-addicted mothers’ profiles. This study involved 30 drug addicted mothers, inpatients of a therapeutic community (TC). Attachment representations were assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview; personality diagnosis and symptomatic profiles were performed using the Structured Clinical Interview of the DSM-IV (SCID-II) and the Symptom Check List-90-R (SCL-90-R), respectively. Both instruments were administered during the first six months of residence in a TC. Results confirmed the prevalence of insecure attachment representations (90%), with a high presence of U patterns, prevalently scored for dangerous and/or not protective experiences in infanthood. Very high values (>5) were found for some experience scales (i.e., neglect and rejection scales). Data also showed very low values (1–3) in metacognitive monitoring, coherence of transcript and coherence of mind scales. Patients’ different profiles (U vs. E vs. Ds) were linked to SCID-II diagnosis, providing insightful indications both for treatment planning and intervention on parenting functions and for deciding if to start foster care or adoption proceedings for children.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Parenting quality in drug-addicted mothers in a therapeutic motherâ€“child community: the contribution of attachment and personality assessment

Palo

Capra²,

Simonelli

et al. 2014

Front. Psychol.

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“…Likewise, autonomous mothers were more aware of and responsive to their toddlers' fear and sadness than were dismissing mothers and were more aware of and responsive to their toddlers' anger and sadness than were unresolved mothers (DeOliveira, Moran, & Pederson, 2005). AAI classifications are related to general emotional styles also such that preoccupied adults experience more extreme positive and negative affect, dismissive adults experience less positive affect, and autonomous adults experience a moderate range of both positive and negative affect (Adam, Gunnar, & Tanaka, 2004).…”

Section: Predictors Of Emotional and Cognitive Responses To Distressmentioning

confidence: 95%

Attachment linked predictors of women's emotional and cognitive responses to infant distress

Leerkes

Siepak

2006

Attachment & Human Development

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The purpose of this study was to examine associations among women's emotional and cognitive responses to infant fear and anger and to identify attachment linked predictors of these responses. Four hundred and forty Caucasian and African American undergraduate college women viewed video clips of two crying infants, one displaying anger and the other displaying fear. They identified what the infants were feeling, made causal attributions about the cause of crying, rated their own emotional reactions to the crying infants, and reported on the extent to which their parents met their emotional needs in childhood and their current adult attachment patterns. Emotional and cognitive responses to infant fear and anger were interrelated. Consistent with prediction, a history of parental emotional rejection and adult attachment anxiety and avoidance correlated negatively with accurate identification of emotions and positively with negative attributions, amusement, and neutral responses to infant distress. Adult attachment security moderated the effects of early parental rejection on emotional and cognitive responses to infant distress, and these results varied based on race and parent gender. Results are discussed from an attachment theory perspective.

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“…Attachment representations assist individuals in organizing and interpreting emotionally salient information and influence the way that information is processed. These representations influence the nature of emotion regulation, the appraisal of others' responses, and mothers' own responses (Cassidy, 1994;Collins & Read, 1994;DeOliveira, Moran, & Pederson, 2005;Haft & Slade, 1989;Moran, Bailey, Gleason, DeOliveira, & Pederson, 2008). While maternal responsiveness in positive emotional contexts undoubtedly contributes to the quality of the interaction, maternal responsiveness in the context of threat, danger, illness, and distress are of greater relevance for the attachment system (Goldberg, Grusec, & Jenkins, 1999a, 1999b.…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

Maternal attachment and mind-mindedness: the role of emotional specificity

Milligan

Khoury

Benoit

et al. 2015

Attachment & Human Development

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We explored the relation between maternal mind-mindedness (i.e., a mother's tendency to verbally refer to her infant's mental world through use of infant-directed mental state terms) and maternal attachment. Mothers (N = 76), classified prenatally as Autonomous, Dismissing, Preoccupied, and Unresolved using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), simulated speaking to their 6-month-old infants in positive and negative emotion contexts. Mothers' utterances were coded for frequency of use of emotion and cognition-related mind-minded terms. Results indicated a significant negative relation between coherence of mind scores on the AAI and emotion mind-mindedness in the positive emotion context. When differences between insecure attachment categories and mind-mindedness were explored, results indicated that mothers with Preoccupied attachments were significantly more likely to use emotion-related terms than mothers with Dismissing attachments and that these differences were most pronounced in the negative emotion context. A similar pattern was found for mothers with Unresolved attachments compared to those with organized (Autonomous, Dismissing, Preoccupied) attachment classifications, however use of emotion mind-minded terms did not differ by emotional context. Future research directions highlighting the importance of exploring the unique contribution of Preoccupied, Dismissing and Unresolved attachment and emotional context in the exploration of mind-mindedness are discussed.

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Understanding the link between maternal adult attachment classifications and thoughts and feelings about emotions

Cited by 57 publications

References 32 publications

Parenting quality in drug-addicted mothers in a therapeutic motherâ€“child community: the contribution of attachment and personality assessment

Parenting quality in drug-addicted mothers in a therapeutic motherâ€“child community: the contribution of attachment and personality assessment

Attachment linked predictors of women's emotional and cognitive responses to infant distress

Maternal attachment and mind-mindedness: the role of emotional specificity

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