The Effect of Support Expectations on Prenatal Attachment: An Evidence-Based Approach for Intervention in an Adolescent Population

This study was designed to determine the significant variables predicting prenatal attachment in an adolescent population. Scientifically supported knowledge of the factors enhancing attachment plays a crucial role in assisting social workers and other health care professionals to accurately assess and intervene to decrease pregnancy risks. Previous prenatal attachment studies demonstrated conflicting findings due to problems from using different theoretical frameworks and research methodologies. In order to ensure consistency, this study infused an attachment theory perspective. Bowlby’s attachment theory, Levitt’s support expectations model, and research from prenatal relationship studies were integrated. The social survey sampled 129 minority status pregnant adolescents attending public school. Measurements included the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI) and the Support Expectations Index (SEI). Regression analyses revealed that support expectation was a powerful predictor of prenatal attachment with pregnancy planning and less stress adding importantly to explain over 33% of the variance. Support expectation was a greater predictor of prenatal attachment than the actual support available. Findings also supported the construct of prenatal attachment as the initial stage of development of the life cycle. Janis B. Feldman is an Assistant Professor, University, of Texas-Pan American.     

Hidden Eating Disorders: Attachment and Affect Regulation in the Therapeutic Relationship

From the time I began working at a clinic that specialized in therapy with individuals with eating disorders, I have repeatedly encountered cases of clients hiding these symptoms from their therapists. When they finally do reveal the disorder, their therapists often worry that their clients are more disturbed than they thought and that, they, the therapists, did something wrong in the therapy. Although some therapeutic rupture can be part of the picture, I have found that these disclosures often reflect a client’s growing trust in the therapist’s presence and ability to help with feelings that have been, until now, dealt with through the eating behaviors themselves. In my attempts to understand what happens before and after an individual shares a hidden eating disorder with a therapist, I have found ideas from attachment theory, in particular those that explore links between attachment, affect regulation, and self-reflection, to be very helpful. Many authors have noted that eating disorders are related to problems with attachment, loss and separation, and affect regulation. Difficulties in these areas make it hard for clients to be self-reflective or use insight productively. In this article, I discuss my experience with the integration of these dynamics, which I have found to be key to successful psychotherapy with clients who hide their eating disorders.

Au Revoir: An Attachment and Loss Perspective on Termination

Traditional views of psychotherapy hold that termination allows both for a consolidation of therapeutic work and an opportunity to work through issues of separation and loss. Such a view suggests not only that those issues will resolve in treatment, but also that endings are inevitable, permanent, and that the feelings invoked can and should be mastered and worked through. Recent research on termination, attachment, loss and grieving suggests a different conception. Consideration of that research can better ground therapists in more nuanced techniques for ending treatment in both child and adult psychotherapy.

Homecoming as Safe Haven or the New Front: Attachment and Detachment in Military Couples

Traumatized military couples represent a new population for the application of attachment theory constructs. An innovative clinical social work practice model, grounded in a synthesis of social and psychological theories, aims to assist these couple and families who are navigating very difficult transitions. Since social support is known to be a central protective factor in mediating the long-term adverse effects of combat trauma, this therapeutic focus addresses two compelling problem areas: the disruption of secure attachments and affect dysregulation. The effects of deployment stressors on soldiers, their intimate partners, and their families are discussed in depth. Clinical illustrations highlight the utility of a phase-oriented culturally responsive couple therapy practice approach that has clear clinical implications for military couples.

The language and policy of care and parenting: Understanding the uncertainty about key players’ roles in foster care provision

Recent debates about the care provided to looked-after children have been characterised by uncertainty about the differing roles and responsibilities of foster carers, birth parents, and social workers. To explore the assumptions underlying these uncertainties, we drew upon Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and compared the discourses used by professionals (social workers in a group discussion about foster placement breakdown) with those used by policy-makers (in the Governmental green paper ‘Care Matters’). In both cases, a discourse based upon Attachment Theory was used to explain why placements succeed and fail, and to predict the repercussions of failure. However, there was a key difference in the way that professionals and policy-makers constructed the roles of key players in foster placements. The social workers constructed the birth parents as the parental figures for children in care, constructing themselves in a non-parental role. ‘Care Matters’ largely ignores the role of birth parents, and instead constructs social workers as parental figures. Neither source viewed foster carers as parental and ‘Care Matters’ positions this group as strictly professional. We discuss the incongruence of foster placements being understood through Attachment Theory, while foster carers are understood as non-parental figures, and also the repercussions of labelling a social worker as a parent, and the professionalization of the role of the foster carer.     

A Review of Adult Attachment Measures: Implications for Theory and Research

There has been increasing interest in adult attachment from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Because the test of a theory is based on our ability to assess theoretical constructs, the review is organized around assessment techniques. Delineating the content, focus, assumptions, and correlates of different attachment measures highlights central issues and problems in conducting research in adult attachment. In this review, we present theoretical issues related to adult attachment, in particular, individual differences, working models, and the role of attachment in adult life. A summary of the measures commonly used in the study of adult attachment follows. The literature review is organized by measure, examining topics such as relations between childhood experiences and adult attachment status, and adult attachment and adult personality and functioning, parenting and partnership behavior. Studies which explore relations between measures are discussed before concluding with thoughts about future directions.     

Romantic Attachment and Life Satisfaction in a Sample of Gay Men and Lesbians in Chile

ABSTRACT

This study intended to assess the relationship between romantic attachment and life satisfaction (LS) in a gay men and lesbian sample in Chile. It also aimed to identify the effect of attachment dimensions on life satisfaction for both gay men and lesbians. Through a cross-sectional study with a non-experimental design, a total of 460 homosexual adults completed the Experiences in Close Relationships and the Life Orientation Test, Revised Version. According to the results obtained, greater attachment insecurity (e.g., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) was linked to lower levels of LS in both gay men and lesbians. Furthermore, the model was found to be more predictive for lesbians than for gay men. Implication of these results are discussed.     

Attachment Disturbances Delay Language Acquisition in Internationally Adopted Children

Cross-sectional research on internationally adopted children has indicated an association between early attachment disturbances and language deficits. Raaska et al. (2013 Raaska, H., Elovainio, M., Sinkkonen, J., Stolt, S., Jalonen, I., Matomäki, J., … Lapinleimu, H. (2013). Adopted children's language difficulties and their relation to symptoms of reactive attachment disorder: FinAdo study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 34(3), 152–160.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) have speculated that this relationship is likely bidirectional. In an attempt to elucidate the causal relationship between these two risk factors, the attachment disturbances and language skills of 44 internationally adopted children were assessed in a cross-lagged structural equation model. Greater attachment disturbances at wave 1 predicted less gain in language by wave 2. In contrast, language at wave 1 was not predictive of attachment disturbances at wave 2. These results suggest that early attachment problems may present an important risk for later language development and should be an immediate and primary focus of post-adoptive intervention for families adopting internationally.     

Attachment and leader's development via experiences

Apart from biographies and memoirs of outstanding leaders, studies on the development of leaders in everyday life from childhood to maturity are rare. We propose a developmental model of leaders in which certain variables formed in early childhood are the basic components for leadership development in later life. These are a low level of trait anxiety [Spielberger, C.D. (1972). Conceptual and methodological issues in anxiety research. In C.D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research. New York: Academic Press, vol. 1] and openness to experiences [Costa, P.T. Jr., & McCrae, R.R. (1992a). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources]. We argue that secure attachment style [Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books] explains the formation and influence of these basic components, which in turn affect the leader's development through experience in leadership roles. Questionnaires were administered to 286 subjects. The data obtained were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM).The findings show that trait anxiety and openness to experience affect leaders' development via experiences. Alternative models in which formative variables may affect the magnitude and intensity of leadership experiences are discussed.     

South African social workers' knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in foster care supervision

Despite the prominence of attachment theory in international foster care literature and the importance of attachment relationships in successful foster care, attachment theory and practices do not feature prominently in South African foster care research. Against this backdrop, we interviewed twenty South African social workers' about their knowledge of attachment theory and their perceptions of attachment relationships in their own foster care work. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews. We found that the social workers had limited knowledge of attachment theory and interventions; experienced most biological parents as unmotivated to improve their circumstances and attachment relationships with children; indicated that family reunifications were rare occurrences; reported foster parents were mostly kin; and experienced constraining contextual factors that hindered optimal consideration of attachment relationships in foster care supervision.