(2021). Attachment in retrospect and prospect. Attachment & Human Development: Vol. 23, Attachment in Retrospect and Prospect, Guest Edited by: Kazuko Y. Behrens, pp. 351-354.

ABSTRACT Attachment concepts are used in diverging ways, which has caused confusion in communication among researchers, among practitioners, and between researchers and practitioners, and hinders their potential for collaboration. In this essay we explore how attachment concepts may vary in meaning across six different domains: popular discourses, developmental science, social psychological science

ABSTRACT Cornerstones in attachment research is a landmark history of five major research groups that have helped establish the empirical foundations of the Bowlby-Ainsworth attachment tradition. This essay highlights Duschinsky’s use of historical methodology rather than the narrative-style review more familiar to psychologists. We then turn to a recurring theme in the book, the inconsistent use of

ABSTRACT In the biomedical, behavioral and neurobiological sciences reproducibility and replicability of research results have become a major issue. The question is whether attachment research is also plagued by lack of replicability, and if so whether one can speak of a crisis? Furthermore, discussions about the applicability of attachment research findings to policy and (clinical) practice have recently

ABSTRACT In commemorating Robbie Duschinsky’s publication of Cornerstones of Attachment Research, I have decided that I could best serve this special issue by revisiting the founder of attachment theory, John Bowlby, and portraying him as a man above and beyond the founder of attachment theory based on my personal and intellectual relationship with him. The goal is to provide the reader, even those

ABSTRACT Attachment is a motivational system promoting felt security to a caregiver resulting in a persistent internal working model of interpersonal behavior. Attachment styles are developed in early social environments and predict future health and development outcomes with potential biological signatures, such as epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation (DNAm). Thus, we hypothesized infant

ABSTRACT Data from a multi-method, longitudinal study involving a community sample (N = 120) of pregnant women aged 18–42 were used to examine disrupted maternal representations of the child as a mechanism of the transmission of trauma from mother to infant. Using structural equation modeling, the best fitting model indicated that severity of mothers’ childhood interpersonal trauma was associated with

ABSTRACT Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is a core element in the parent–child relationship. This study set out to investigate changes in PRF following the DUET program, a 12-week group intervention program. We proposed that the DUET intervention would enhance maternal reflective capacities, resulting in better mother-child emotional availability, better child self-regulation, and decreased child

ABSTRACT This paper prospected the evidence synthesized in meta-analyses on child–parent attachment to discuss its implications for the future of attachment research. Based on the 75 identified meta-analyses, effect size benchmarks may need to be adjusted to small (r = .10), medium (r = .20), and large (r = .30). Topics of attachment meta-analyses predominantly (53%) reflected interest in testing theory

ABSTRACT In this special issue paper we reflect on the next generation of attachment research with a focus on disorganization, a central but still poorly understood topic in this area. We suggest that progress will be facilitated by a return to attachment theory’s evolutionary roots, and to the emphasis on biological function that inspired Bowlby’s original thinking. Increased interdisciplinary cross-fertilization

ABSTRACT In response to Cornerstones of attachment research and the target articles, I reflect on three questions. First, what is “attachment”? Although a natural kind, I argue against an essentialist understanding (i.e. in terms of necessary/sufficient conditions for class membership). Instead, the attachment concept must be allowed to have fuzzy boundaries, partly because of how attachments transform

ABSTRACT Researchers have long discussed the rich clinical applications of attachment theory. Specifically, clinicians have been compelled by the idea that insecure attachment, broadly speaking, may bring about stressful (real or perceived) interpersonal experiences that increases risk for internalizing symptoms. However, recent meta-analyses examining the links between attachment representations and

ABSTRACT The current study investigated whether variations at the level of the cortisol stress response moderate the association between parental support and attachment development. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a one-year longitudinal study with two waves in which 101 children (56% girls, Mage = 11.15, SDage = 0.70) participated. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were measured at baseline (Wave

ABSTRACT Attachment theory rescued psychology from the choice between an untestable psychoanalytic, drive reduction theory and behaviorist positions that were incapable of accounting for development. Theory and research on attachment over the last 5 decades advanced knowledge on vital topics such as the emergence of the self, emotion regulation, resilience, and mental representations. The success of

ABSTRACT In this study, we sought to expand on what is currently known regarding autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity in middle childhood as a function of attachment. ANS activity includes multiple indices – respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is an index of parasympathetic nervous system activation (PNS) and electrodermal activity (EDA) is an index of sympathetic nervous system activation (SNS)

ABSTRACT Early security plays a major role in inaugurating the child’s receptive, positive orientation – a foundation for cooperative parent-child relationships and successful socialization. However, few studies have considered the association between children’s attachments with both mothers and fathers and multiple aspects of children’s receptive, positive orientation, or compared all four attachment

ABSTRACT To assess young people’s attachment hierarchy, the Important People Interview (IPI) was developed based on Bowlby’s conceptualization of ethological behavioral systems. The present study examined the validity of the IPI in a sample of Japanese young adults (N = 472; Mage = 20.34, SD = 1.28; females = 53.81%), because Bowlby’s behavioral systems conceptualization has been assumed to be universal

ABSTRACT We examined the links between mothers’ prenatal attachment dimensions, parental mentalization and mother-infant relational patterns. The sample consisted of 68 mother-infant dyads. During pregnancy, mothers reported on attachment-related anxiety and avoidance. When the infants were three months old, the mothers’ parental reflective functioning (PRF) was assessed via the PDI-R2-S interview

ABSTRACT In this study, 117 adolescents (12–19 years) from three groups (39 each), two groups from adverse caregiving environments as placed in residential-care (RC; i.e. istitutions) or late-adopted (LA; i.e. adopted after 12 months), and one of low-risk community adolescents (COM), were compared for the attachment distribution of categories in the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), and in several

ABSTRACT Children’s attachments to their parents may help regulate their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes. Prior research has largely focused on children with relatively consistent and low-risk caregiving histories, resulting in limited knowledge about the associations between attachment quality and HPA axis reactivity among children who have experienced early adversity. This study investigated

ABSTRACT The present two-study investigation is the first to examine whether experimentally boosting attachment security (security priming) affects attitudes in the parenting domain for both parents and non-parents. Mothers (n = 72) and childless undergraduates (n = 82) were randomly assigned to a neutral or a secure prime condition and then completed measures of implicit attitudes (a child-focused

ABSTRACT Maternal attachment security is an important predictor of caregiving . However, little is known regarding the neurobiological mechanisms by which attachment influences processing of infant cues, a critical component of caregiving. We examined whether attachment security, measured by the Adult Attachment Interview, might relate to neural responses to infant cues using event-related potentials

ABSTRACT Little is known about the significance of mothers’ attachment for neurobiological responding during interactions with infants. To address this gap, this study examined links between mothers’ (N = 139) attachment representations and dynamic change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while interacting with infants in the Still-Face Procedure (SFP). Mothers higher on secure base script knowledge

Little is known about the significance of mothers' attachment for neurobiological responding during interactions with infants. To address this gap, this study examined links between mothers' (N = 139) attachment representations and dynamic change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while interacting with infants in the Still-Face Procedure (SFP). Mothers higher on secure base script knowledge (SBSK)

ABSTRACT Physical separation from caregivers activates attachment-related behaviors. However, neural underpinnings of this biological mechanism in humans and their development are poorly understood. We examined via functional MRI brain responses to pictorial representations of separation as a function of attachment-security, attachment-avoidance, and attachment-anxiety measured using the Child-Attachment-Interview

ABSTRACT This study examined changes in parental reflective functioning (PRF) among mothers enrolled in Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting (IMH-HV) and explored whether parental risk, treatment dosage or therapist experience predicted change in PRF. Participants included 75 mothers and their children who were enrolled in IMH-HV delivered by Community Mental Health therapists. Results indicated significant

ABSTRACT Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard

ABSTRACT The goal of the two studies reported here was to examine the contribution of adolescents’ attachment orientations (anxiety, avoidance) and their perception of teacher’s responsiveness to persistence in academic tasks. In Study 1 (N = 160), we assessed self-reports of persistence in schoolwork. In Study 2 (N = 240), we manipulated the symbolic presence of participants’ teacher (teacher priming)

ABSTRACT Brain-to-brain coupling during co-viewing of video stimuli reflects similar intersubjective mentalisation processes. During an everyday joint activity of watching video stimuli (television shows) with her child, an anxiously attached mother’s preoccupation with her child is likely to distract her from understanding the mental state of characters in the show. To test the hypothesis that reduced

ABSTRACT Parental Embodied Mentalizing (PEM) captures the parent’s capacity to extrapolate the child’s mental states from movement and respond on a nonverbal level. Little is known about PEM’s relation to other established measures of parent-child interactive behavior, such as maternal sensitivity and attachment. This is investigated in a sample of four months old infants and mothers with (n = 27)

ABSTRACT Previous studies reported an inconsistency between verbal extracts and emotional physiological activation in dismissing individuals when narrating their early caregiving experience at the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). This study aimed to explore this discrepancy by analyzing the degree of concordance between verbal content and prosodic characteristics, index of physiological activation

ABSTRACT Children in foster care are at risk of developing insecure and disorganized attachment, which is problematic for establishing new relationships in foster families. However, most previous studies have focused on attachment behaviors in young children rather than on attachment representations. We compared foster children’s attachment representations with those of a community group, analyzing

ABSTRACT Although parenting interventions aiming to improve parental RF have been developed, there have been conflicting results in regard to intervention effectiveness. This meta-analytic review seeks to synthesize the available evidence that group-based parenting interventions improve parental RF, in order to provide conclusive evidence regarding their effectiveness. A systematic search was performed

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to

This study examined changes in parental reflective functioning (PRF) among mothers enrolled in Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting (IMH-HV) and explored whether parental risk, treatment dosage or therapist experience predicted change in PRF. Participants included 75 mothers and their children who were enrolled in IMH-HV delivered by Community Mental Health therapists. Results indicated significant improvements

ABSTRACT Human newborn infants are evolutionarily predisposed to communicate. Caretakers may interpret their signals, more or less correctly, as meaningful and intentional. Reliable responsiveness is the essence of the attachment system; appropriate and prompt responses to instant’s’ signals support secure quality of attachment. Other signals, if sensitively responded to, support curiosity for the

ABSTRACT Maternal sensitivity to infant distress is a key predictor of infant attachment security and social-emotional development. Preventive interventions that support mothers’ sensitive responses to infant distress are crucial, as are rigorous evaluations that test for whom such interventions are effective. The current randomized controlled trial tested main and moderated effects of an attachment-based

ABSTRACT Increasingly, attachment representations are being assessed via secure base script knowledge – the degree to which individuals show awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes the basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers during times of need. Limited research has assessed the links between secure base script knowledge and aspects of adult functioning

ABSTRACT This study represents the first video observation of parenting practices conducted in Yemen, where women are generally fully veiled, showing only their eyes, in the presence of strangers. A total of 62 mothers and children (aged 2–6 years) were filmed in their homes for 15 minutes during free interaction. The mothers’ veils did not hamper the coding of sensitivity. Consistent with the socioeconomically

ABSTRACT In the current study, we observed 12 mothers with a 4–21-month-old infant for around 3 hours during their daily activities such as feeding, bathing, and soothing in the multiple-caregiver cultural contexts of rural Peru. Overall, sensitivity levels were high, with an average of 7.33 (out of 9), and seven of the twelve mothers scoring in the high range (scores 7–9), and the remaining five in

ABSTRACT Attachment theory posits that early experiences with caregivers are made portable across development in the form of mental representations of attachment experiences. These representations, the secure base script included, are thought to be stable across time. Here, we present data from two studies. Study 1 (N = 141) examined the degree of empirical convergence between the two major measures

ABSTRACT Researchers returned to the home of Mary Ainsworth’s original attachment study to explore the contributions of Ugandan children’s representations of attachment interactions with their caregivers to their perceptions about gender. Researchers administered the Attachment Story-Completion Task (ASCT) and applied three attachment narrative coding systems and a gender stereotypes typology to the

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a study of maternal sensitivity in 22 primiparous women and their infants from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sociodemographic risk was assessed through an interview, and videotaped naturalistic home observations were used to assess maternal sensitivity, and its relation with warmth, verbal and physical engagement, and camera awareness. A K-means cluster analysis was performed

ABSTRACT This integrative discussion of the special issue on video observations of sensitive caregiving in different cultural communities provides a reflection on the seven empirical studies that comprise this special issue. The two main aims of this special issue are highlighted in terms of their overall conclusions: (1) video observations can be useful and reliable tools to assess sensitivity in

ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue on video observations of sensitive caregiving in different cultural communities provides a general theoretical and methodological framework for the seven empirical studies that are at the heart of this special issue. It highlights the cross-cultural potential of the sensitivity construct, the importance of research on sensitivity “off the beaten track

ABSTRACT There is evidence that sensitive responsiveness is manifested differently in varying cultural contexts. This exploratory study examines a sample of 50 South African mothers in the context of a socioeconomically deprived Township, and investigates differences between the Ainsworth sensitivity scale (that does not specify particular manifestations of sensitivity) and the Maternal Behavior Q-sort

ABSTRACT Aiming to contribute to the cross-cultural understanding of the nature and meaning of the sensitivity construct, this exploratory study observed 26 mothers and their 18–60-month-old children in rural (15) and urban Iran (11) for 30 minutes of free interaction in the home context. This first study to use video observations of parenting in Iran showed that mothers were generally comfortable

ABSTRACT In the context of urban slums in Makassar in Indonesia, this study aimed to test whether maternal sensitivity was associated with maternal history of childhood maltreatment, and whether this association was mediated by current partner conflict and current cumulative sociodemographic risk. A total of 98 mothers and their 2–4 year-old children were videotaped in a naturalistic observation. Maternal

ABSTRACT The Gusii in rural Kenya represent a particularly interesting community for the study of sensitivity, as they have previously been described as not showing sensitive care. This study focuses on the observation of sensitivity in seven families with a 7-to 23-month-old infant, with extensive naturalistic video observations (ca. 2–4 hours per infant) described qualitatively and quantitatively

ABSTRACT How and why should attachment researchers engage in research on attachment and culture? How should they strive to develop a theoretical perspective that is both contextually sensitive and also reflecting species-typical processes of evolutionary adaptation? These comments on the remarkable empirical papers of this special issue consider what is learned from these studies, what more is needed

ABSTRACT Attachment theory suggests that insecurely attached individuals will have more difficulty seeking and receiving support from others. Such struggles in adolescence may reinforce negative expectations of others and contribute to relationship difficulties into adulthood. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from age 13 to 27, along with friends and romantic partners, this

ABSTRACT The Circle of Security Intensive intervention (COS-I) aims to improve child attachment security and reduce disorganisation by improving caregiver capacities, including caregiving behavior and representations. Research on COS-I effectiveness with these goals is limited and none examines if positive changes are sustained. A recently revised hybrid COS-I protocol (COS-I-RH) incorporates Circle

ABSTRACT Examining degrees of stability in attachment throughout early childhood is important for understanding developmental pathways and for informing intervention. Updating and building upon all prior meta-analyses, this study aimed to determine levels of stability in all forms of attachment classifications across early childhood. Attachment stability was assessed between three developmental epochs

ABSTRACT Research is demonstrating the effectiveness of attachment-based interventions for maltreating families. However, parents’ own traumatic childhood experiences may interfere with treatment effects. The current study investigated in a sample of maltreating families whether effects of the Attachment Video-feedback Intervention (AVI) on parent–child interactive quality were moderated by parental

ABSTRACT Understanding how a mother’s traumatic experiences influence her interactions with her infant may have importance for understanding infant development and mental health. Data for this study were drawn from an Australian pregnancy cohort, the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study. Maternal trauma from Childhood, Childbirth Experiences, and Stressful Life Events were examined. At six-months

ABSTRACT In a randomized controlled trial with 25 Colombian rural low-SES mothers and their children (aged 1–3 years), the effectiveness of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) in enhancing maternal sensitivity and food habits was tested pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 6-month follow-up. The study further verified whether maternal

ABSTRACT In this paper, newly uncovered archival material from the Bowlby archives is presented on Bowlby’s own dreams and dream interpretation. Although he was critical of orthodox psychoanalysis, Bowlby appears to have been seriously involved in Freudian dream interpretation in the 1930s and 1940s. Here, we present in annotated form his own interpretations of several of his dreams from that time

ABSTRACT Prior research described three stable patterns of organized behavior employed by infants to manage stressful interactive situations with their mothers in the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm (FFSF) at 3 and 9 months postpartum. The current longitudinal study expands this research by examining the extent to which these patterns predict infants’ later attachment quality. For that purpose, 108

ABSTRACT A meta-analytic approach was used to examine associations between student-teacher dependency and students’ school adjustment (engagement, achievement, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, and prosocial behavior). Furthermore, we investigated whether associations between dependency and school adjustment were moderated by student and teacher characteristics. In total, the meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Dependency is a scarcely investigated dimension of teacher-child (T-C) relationships that can reflect a lack of security and obstruct children’s autonomous exploration in the school context. We examined the within- and cross-time associations between T-C dependency, closeness, and conflict, and children’s effortful control, an ability related to children’s self-regulation. Data were collected