Being there: a family centre worker's role as a secure base for adolescent girls in crisis

Childcare social work practice with troubled adolescent girls can benefit from drawing on attachment theory, not only as a frame-work for understanding their relationship history and current behaviour but also as a framework for defining the nature and potential value of a specific kind of relationship provided by the social worker. This paper offers an analysis of the relevance of attachment theory for work with adolescent girls, particularly models of secure and insecure attachments, and examines practice experience in a family centre setting. The young women referred to the family centre had experienced a range of adversities, including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, which had seriously affected their development. They were drifting outside the systems of family, education and local authority care, because none of these could hold onto them. The paper describes how the social worker aimed to change their internal working model by offering them a different kind of relationship experience. She provided a secure base from which they could begin to develop trust, to repair their self-esteem and to build a sense of self-efficacy – the necessary ingredients for resilience and for more successful future relationships.     

中国小说理论与批评的哲性因子

“依经论文”、“依道论文”在中国古代小说评论中是一个重要的角度和原则,这些论述都在强调小说的思想性即哲性因子。那么,这是否就意味着中国古代文化人对小说就不采取“依史论文”的视角和原则呢?当然不是。余虹先生以及持相同见解的先生的观点是有大量史料为基础的,我们之所以特别突出地强调中国古代小说理论与批评中的哲性因子,是意在与余虹先生的见解构成互补,以防止偏误和片面的认识。     

Gender,Family Structure,and Adolescents’ Primary Confidants

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (N = 4,190), this study examined adolescents’ reports of primary confidants. Results showed that nearly 30% of adolescents aged 16 – 18 nominated mothers as primary confidants, 25% nominated romantic partners, and 20% nominated friends. Nominating romantic partners or friends was related to increased risk‐taking behaviors, supporting the attachment notion that shifting primary confidants to peers in adolescence may reflect premature autonomy from parents. Tendencies to prefer romantic partners over parents varied by gender and family structure, which were greater for those from single‐father families and girls from mother‐stepfather families, but less for those from single‐mother families and boys from mother‐stepfather families, compared with their counterparts from two‐biological‐parent families.     

The Uniqueness of the Child–Father Attachment Relationship: Fathers' Sensitive and Challenging Play as a Pivotal Variable in a 16-year Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study of forty‐four families explored fathers’ as compared to mothers’ specific contribution to their children's attachment representation at ages 6, 10, and 16 years. In toddlerhood, fathers’ and mothers’ play sensitivity was evaluated with a new assessment, the sensitive and challenging interactive play scale (SCIP). Fathers’ SCIP scores were predicted by fathers’ caregiving quality during the first year, were highly consistent across 4 years, and were closely linked to the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment. Qualities of attachment as assessed in the Strange Situation to both parents were antecedents for children's attachment security in the Separation Anxiety Test at age 6. Fathers’ play sensitivity and infant–mother quality of attachment predicted children's internal working model of attachment at age 10, but not vice versa. Dimensions of adolescents’ attachment representations were predicted by fathers’ play sensitivity only. The results confirmed our main assumption that fathers’ play sensitivity is a better predictor of the child's long‐term attachment representation than the early infant–father security of attachment. The ecological validity of measuring fathers’ sensitive and challenging interactive play behavior as compared to infant proximity seeking in times of distress is highlighted. Findings are discussed with respect to a wider view on attachment in that both parents shape their children's psychological security but each in his or her unique way.     

A Home-based Description of Attachment in Physically Disabled Infants

This study investigated attachment security and behavior in 34 physically disabled infants and 26 non‐disabled infants by using convergent, categorical (secure, avoidant and ambivalent) and continuous (Attachment Behavior Q‐Set) measures of the relationship, based on the same set of home observations. Proportions of attachment classifications were not different for disabled and non‐disabled infants, but insecure infants in the disabled group scored consistently lower on the AQS security score than non‐disabled insecure infants. This result suggests that while proportions of attachment classifications may not vary as a function of infant status, insecure disabled infants are more insecure than insecure non‐disabled infants. An analysis of 5 behavioral dimensions of the AQS showed that secure infants emitted the same kinds of attachment behaviors without regard for infant status. Insecure disabled infants, however, showed lower levels of secure base behavior and physical contact with mother than their non‐disabled counterparts, and showed a marginal tendency to fuss more as well. Discussion focuses on the potential benefits of using convergent, categorical and continuous measures of attachment in the study of both typical and atypical groups of infants.     

Disorganized Attachment: A Compass for Navigating the Confusing Behavior of the “Difficult-to-Treat” Patient

The concept of disorganized attachment gives a framework with which to understand patients who present a confusing pattern of relatedness. The therapist may experience feeling connected with the patient only to see a sudden retreat, expressed by silence, argumentativeness, or missed sessions. After presenting a theoretical summary of disorganized attachment, I give two clinical examples. The first illustrates the theoretical material that is presented and gives the reader an idea of what a disorganized attachment pattern looks like in the clinical setting, while the second briefly shows how use of this framework increased my comfort level.     

Maternal and Child Anxiety: Do Attachment Beliefs or Children's Perceptions of Maternal Control Mediate Their Association?

This study tested a model of the association between maternal and child anxiety that views mother and child attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control as mediators of the association. The study was conducted with mothers and their children aged 6 to 17 (N = 88). Maternal anxiety was significantly associated with child anxiety and maternal anxious attachment beliefs, whereas child anxiety was associated with maternal anxious attachment beliefs, child insecure attachment beliefs, and children's perceptions of maternal control. Maternal anxious attachment beliefs mediated the association between maternal and child anxiety; however, child attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control did not. The influence of age and gender is also addressed. The findings are discussed in terms of elucidating the role of attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control on the association between maternal and child anxiety.     

生命的笺注--张晓风诗性解释散文解读

张晓风以其独特的诗性解释散文在台湾文坛独树一帜.生命和生存本体论的诗性阐释是她奉献给现代散文的最大功绩.对自然与生命的宗教般感恩、对故乡与人文家园的不舍情结、对生命意义的执着追问成为张晓风散文思想情感内涵渐次展开、互为渗透整合的三个层面.她的诗性思维和鲜活独到的艺术表现给散文带来了一个更为广阔的审美视界.     

Beyond attachment theory and therapy: Towards sensitive and evidence-based interventions with foster and adoptive families in distress

Elements of attachment theory have been embraced by practitioners endeavouring to assist foster and adopted children and their parents. Attachment theory articulates the potential risks of experiencing multiple caregivers; emphasizes the importance of close social relationships to development; and recognizes that substitute parents may not always have close relationships with children who have experienced adversities before joining them. Attachment theory offers concerned parents what they believe to be a scientific explanation about their lack of the close, satisfying parent–child relationship they desire. Yet the scientific base of attachment theory is limited both in terms of its ability to predict future behaviours, and especially with regard to its use as the underpinning theory for therapeutic intervention with children experiencing conduct problems. There is a critical need to review the role of attachment theory in child and family services and to consider its place among other explanations for children's disturbing behaviour. An important step towards pursuing alternative approaches is for researchers and practitioners to understand the reasons the attachment paradigm appeals to so many adoptive and foster parents, given the apparent widespread prevalence of attachment‐based interventions. Such understanding might assist in the development of adoption‐sensitive uses of appropriate evidence‐based treatment approaches.     

School attachment and official delinquency status in the People's Republic of China

This research examines the effect of school attachment on the likelihood of being an officially sanctioned delinquent using data for a sample of youths in Tianjin, China. Our statistical analyses are organized around a conventional, integrated causal model that draws upon Western criminological theories of delinquency. The results of multivariate regression analyses reveal that school attachment and school quality are inversely related to an indicator of official delinquency status. A measure of association with delinquent peers similarly exerts a significant but positive effect on official delinquency status. Our analyses are consistent with perspectives on delinquency developed in the West, suggesting that these perspectives are reasonably generalizable. We conclude with a discussion of new directions for further comparative research on delinquency in China.