Background

Research data documenting a high risk of insecure and disorganized attachment among children with intellectual disability (ID) in infancy and early childhood raises the question of mutual influences between ID and attachment in later childhood.

Aims

The objectives of the present study were to examine attachment among school-age children with ID and whether attachment varies according to level of intellectual functioning, adaptative functioning, and presence of a genetic syndrome (i.e. Down syndrome).

Methods

Attachment among 54 children with ID aged 8−12 years (30 with Down Syndrome, 24 with non-specific ID) was assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task, and compared with that of 108 typically developing children, 54 of the same chronological age and 54 of the same mental age.

Outcomes

Results show (1) less security among children with ID than among same-age controls (2) more disorganization among children with ID compared to the two control groups, (3) a link between attachment disorganization and level of adaptive functioning among children with ID and (4) no difference in attachment between children with DS and children with non-specific ID.

Conclusions

Children with ID remain vulnerable to disorganization during late childhood. More research is needed to understand the factors underlying disorganized attachment representations.

中文翻译：

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学龄智障儿童的依恋表征

背景

研究数据记录了婴儿期和幼儿期智力障碍 (ID) 儿童存在不安全和无组织依恋的高风险，这提出了 ID 和童年后期依恋之间相互影响的问题。

宗旨

本研究的目的是检查智障学龄儿童的依恋，以及依恋是否因智力功能水平、适应性功能和遗传综合征（即唐氏综合征）的存在而异。

方法

使用依恋故事完成任务评估了 54 名 8-12 岁智力障碍儿童（30 名患有唐氏综合症，24 名患有非特异性智力障碍）的依恋关系，并与 108 名正常发育儿童、54 名相同年龄和54 相同的心理年龄。

结果

结果显示 (1) 智障儿童的安全性低于同龄对照组 (2) 与两个对照组相比，智障儿童的混乱程度更高，(3) 智障儿童的依恋混乱与适应功能水平之间存在联系(4) DS儿童与非特定ID儿童的依恋没有差异。

结论

有智力障碍的儿童在童年后期仍然容易受到混乱的影响。需要更多的研究来了解杂乱无章的依恋表现背后的因素。