Hours in non-parental child care are related to language development in a longitudinal cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The effects of child care services on several domains of child development have been extensively investigated, but evidence regarding the effects of child care on language development remains inconclusive. METHODS: Within a large-scale population-based study, we examined the longitudinal associations between non-parental child care and language development from 1 to 6 years (n = 5375). RESULTS: Results showed that more hours in non-parental child care were associated with better language abilities. However, more hours in care in the first year of life were associated with less language proficiency at ages 1 to 1.5. At later ages, this effect disappeared and language proficiency increased. Furthermore, children who spent more hours in centre-based care had better language scores than children in home-based care. Ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender or parity did not change these results. CONCLUSIONS: This large, multi-ethnic study demonstrates beneficial effects of non-parental child care, particularly centre-based care, on language proficiency later in childhood.

Another way of thinking about ADHD: the predictive role of early attachment deprivation in adolescents' level of symptoms.

PURPOSE: Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent disorders in childhood and adolescence. Both neurocognitive and environmental factors have been related to ADHD. The current study contributes to the documentation of the predictive relation between early attachment deprivation and ADHD. METHOD: Data were collected from 641 adopted adolescents (53.2% girls) aged 11-16 years in five countries, using the DSM oriented scale for ADHD of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach and Rescorla, Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth and Families, Burlington, 2001). The influence of attachment deprivation on ADHD symptoms was initially tested taking into consideration several key variables that have been reported as influencing ADHD at the adoptee level (age, gender, length of time in the adoptive family, parents' educational level and marital status), and at the level of the country of origin and country of adoption (poverty, quality of health services and values). The analyses were computed using the multilevel modeling technique. RESULTS: The results showed that an increase in the level of ADHD symptoms was predicted by the duration of exposure to early attachment deprivation, estimated from the age of adoption, after controlling for the influence of adoptee and country variables. The effect of the age of adoption was also demonstrated to be specific to the level of ADHD symptoms in comparison to both the externalizing and internalizing behavior scales of the CBCL. CONCLUSION: Deprivation of stable and sensitive care in infancy may have long-lasting consequences for children's development.

Attachment insecurity predicts child active resistance to parental requests in a compliance task.

AIM: We studied the effects of early mother-child relationship quality and child temperament on the development of child compliance and active resistance in a large population-based cohort study (n = 534). BACKGROUND: Parenting and the quality of the parent-child relationship can either hamper or support the development of child compliance directly or in interplay with child temperament. METHODS: Mother-infant dyads were observed at 14 and 36 months and maternal and child behaviours were independently coded. The quality of compliance was assessed at 36 months in a clean-up task. Child behaviour was coded using a system differentiating between two dimensions: Compliance and Active Resistance. RESULTS: Controlling for concurrent maternal sensitivity, child temperament, and gender children with a more insecure attachment relationship showed higher levels of active resistance during Clean-Up than more securely attached children. The effect was stronger for boys than for girls and mainly driven by attachment avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: Early attachment is an important contributor to child socialization of moral behaviour.

Emotional availability and attachment across generations: variations in patterns associated with infant health risk status.

BACKGROUND: The presence of limits or distortions in the children's communicative behaviours (due to a chronic illness) may interfere with the possibility to build secure attachment relationships. Moreover, the distress that the atypical chronic illness condition brings to family life may interfere the intergenerational transmission of attachment. METHODS: This study evaluated the associations between maternal attachment representations, emotional availability and mother-child attachment in a clinical and in a comparison group. Forty infants (23 female) in their 14th month of life and their mothers participated in this study, 20 dyads with clinical infants (10 premature infants and 10 infants affected by atopic dermatitis) and 20 full-term and healthy comparison infants. The Adult Attachment Interview, the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS) and the Strange Situation Procedure were used to assess, respectively, the security of mothers' attachment representations, the emotional availability and the quality of mother-child attachment. RESULTS: We found that the two groups (clinical vs. comparison) did not differ with respect to the Adult Attachment Interview and the Emotional Availability Scales measures. A significant difference was found in the distribution of the infant-mother attachment patterns, with a higher incidence of insecure infants in the clinical group. In the typically developing group, more secure maternal attachment representations predicted more emotional availability in mother-infant interactions, which predicted more secure infant-mother attachments. However, we did not find similar support for intergenerational transmission of attachment in the clinical group. CONCLUSIONS: We speculate that constant concerns about the child's health condition and communicative difficulties of clinical infants may hamper or even mitigate the intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Stress, cortisol and well-being of caregivers and children in home-based child care: a case for differential susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: We examined whether children cared for by stressed caregivers show lower socio-emotional well-being and more stress, compared with children cared for by less stressed caregivers. METHODS: Perceived stress and cortisol levels of professional caregivers (n = 44), and associations with children's (n = 44) well-being and cortisol levels in home-based child care were examined. RESULTS: Caregiver perceived stress and cortisol levels were related to children's well-being but not to children's cortisol levels. Children's social fearfulness acted as a moderator between caregivers' mean ratio of diurnal change in cortisol and children's well-being. When caregiver cortisol levels decreased, more fearful children were reported higher on well-being than less fearful peers. In contrast, when caregiver cortisol levels increased, more fearful children were reported lower on well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The findings point to differential susceptibility. Child care organizations and parents need to notice that a non-stressful child care environment is in particular important for children with a difficult temperament.

Supporting insensitive mothers: the Vilnius randomized control trial of video-feedback intervention to promote maternal sensitivity and infant attachment security.

OBJECTIVE: This randomized control trial examined the effects of a short-term, interaction-focused and attachment-based video-feedback intervention (VIPP: video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting). Design VIPP effect on mothers' sensitive responsiveness and infant-mother attachment security was evaluated in a sample (n = 54) of low sensitive, non-clinical, middle class Lithuanian mothers. METHODS: Maternal sensitivity was assessed in a free play session with the Ainsworth's sensitivity scale, and attachment security was observed using the Attachment Q sort for home observations. RESULTS: We found that the intervention mothers indeed significantly improved their sensitive responsiveness through participation in our VIPP. The effect size was large according to Cohen's criteria, d = 0.78. VIPP enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness even when maternal age, educational level, depression, daily hassles, efficacy, infant gender, and infant negative and positive affect were controlled for. However, attachment security in the VIPP infants was not enhanced after the intervention, compared with the control infants, and the infants did not seem to be differentially susceptible to the increase in maternal sensitivity dependent on their temperamental reactivity. CONCLUSION: We suggest that a relatively brief and low-cost programme can provide effective support for mothers who lack sensitivity in the interactions with their infants.

Attachment representations in Dutch veterans with and without deployment-related PTSD.

In this study we tested for a protective effect of secure attachment representations in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In a design with a control group, we replicated and extended a recent study that found no underrepresentation of secure attachment representations in veterans with PTSD (Nye, Katzman, Bell, Kilpatrick, Brainard, & Haaland, 2008). Furthermore, we examined the association of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classification of unresolved loss or trauma and PTSD symptomatology. The Adult Attachment Interview and the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) were administered with 31 veterans with PTSD and 29 trauma-exposed veterans without PTSD of similar age and country of deployment. Patient and control groups did not differ in the prevalence of secure attachment representations, neither did unresolved and not unresolved subjects differ in prevalence of secure attachment representations. Unresolved state of mind with respect to deployment related trauma was found to correlate strongly with total CAPS score. This study shows no protective effect of secure attachment representations in the development of PTSD. AAI unresolved state of mind with respect to deployment related trauma and PTSD correlate strongly, due to the common core phenomenon of lack of integration.

Testosterone reactivity to infant crying and caregiving in women: The role of oral contraceptives and basal cortisol.

Several studies have shown that mothers and fathers have significant lower levels of testosterone (T) than non-mothers and non-fathers, and that in men caregiving is related to a decrease in T. To date, only a few studies have examined T in women. We examined T reactivity to a crying infant simulator in 160 women. Use of oral contraceptives (OC), basal cortisol (CORT) levels and childhood experiences of maternal love withdrawal were taken into account. T levels were consistently significantly higher in women not using OC. In women not using OC, high basal CORT was related to higher initial T levels and larger decreases of T during caregiving. No effect of basal CORT was found in women with OC use. Childhood experiences of maternal love withdrawal did not affect T levels. This is the first study to show support for a decrease of T in women while taking care of a crying infant, supporting the Challenge hypothesis and the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds.

Towards a neural model of infant cry perception.

Previous work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the reward pathway and the medial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, gender and parenthood have been proposed to modulate processing of infant cries. The present meta-analysis (N = 350) confirmed involvement of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the dorsal anterior insula, the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus in infant cry perception, but not of the reward pathway. Structures related to motoric processing, possibly supporting the preparation of a parenting response, were also involved. Finally, females (more than males) and parents (more than non-parents) recruited a cortico-limbic sensorimotor integration network, offering a neural explanation for previously observed enhanced processing of infant cries in these sub-groups. Based on the results, an updated neural model of infant cry perception is presented.

General psychopathology factor and unresolved-disorganized attachment uniquely correlated to white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging.

BACKGROUND: A dimensional approach of psychopathology focuses on features and risk factors that are shared across diagnoses. In support for this dimensional approach, studies point to a general psychopathology factor (GPF) associated with risk for multiple psychiatric disorders. It is, however, unknown how GPF relates to white matter integrity (WMI). In the current diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study, we examined how GPF relates to abnormalities in a skeleton representation of white matter tracts, taking into account a trans-diagnostic risk factor: unresolved-disorganized attachment (Ud) resulting from loss or trauma. METHODS: Unique associations between GPF, Ud, and WMI were examined in a combined sample of adolescents (N = 63) with childhood sexual abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder (N = 18), anxiety and depressive disorders (N = 26) and without psychiatric disorder (N = 19). WMI was measured using DTI. Ud was measured using the Adult Attachment Interview. We controlled for puberty stage, gender, age, and IQ. RESULTS: Controlling for GPF, Ud was associated with reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in the splenium and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). Controlling for Ud, GPF was associated with reduced FA in the genu and body of the corpus callosum. CONCLUSIONS: Decreasing WMI in the genu and body with increasing psychopathology across diagnoses suggests demyelinization in these areas and may underlie comorbidity and presence of symptoms that transcend psychopathological diagnoses. In contrast, trauma-related WMI reductions in the splenium and IFOF may account for heterogeneity within diagnostic categories as a function of childhood trauma. These findings support the importance of a dimensional approach in addition to traditional diagnostic classifications in clinical research and practice.

As tears go by: Baby tears trigger more brain activity than adult tears in nulliparous women.

The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examines brain activity during the perception of infant and adult tears. Infant tears evoke stronger responses in the visual cortex than adult tears, indicating that infant tears are highly salient. In addition, our study shows that infant tears uniquely activate somatosensory pain regions, which could stimulate actions directed at the elimination of the source of pain. Shedding tears may be a strong means to elicit the parent's sharing of the infant's feelings, thereby strengthening caregiver-infant bonding and securing infant survival.

The Role of Oxytocin in Parenting and as Augmentative Pharmacotherapy: Critical Issues and Bold Conjectures.

Despite the sometimes heated debate about the validity of human oxytocin studies, experimental oxytocin research with intranasal administration is a growing field with promising preliminary findings. The effects of intranasally administered oxytocin compared to placebo on brain neural activity have been supported in animal studies and in human studies of neural resting state. In several studies, oxytocin sniffs have been shown to lead to down-regulation of amygdala activation in response to infant attachment vocalisations. Meta-analytic evidence shows that oxytocin enhances the salience of (emotional) stimuli, lowers stress and arousal, and elevates empathic concern and tender care, in particular for offspring and in-group members. Less firm evidence points at the amnestic effects of oxytocin. We also note that the average effect sizes of oxytocin experiments are small to modest, and that most studies include a small number of subjects and thus are seriously underpowered, which implies a high risk for publication bias and nonreplicability. Nevertheless, we argue that the power of within-subjects experiments with oxytocin has been underestimated. Much more work is needed, however, to create a firm knowledge base of the neural and behavioural effects of oxytocin. Human oxytocin research is still taking place in the context of discovery, in which bold conjectures are being generated. In the context of justification, these conjectures should subsequently be subjected to stringent attempts at refutations before we jump to theoretical or clinical conclusions. For this context of justification, we propose a multisite multiple replications project on the social stimuli salience enhancing effect of oxytocin. Clinical application of oxytocin is premature. Meta-analytically, the use of oxytocin in clinical groups tends to show only effectiveness in changing symptomatology in individuals with autism spectrum disorders but, even then, it is not yet a validated therapy and its use is premature because safety and long-term side-effects have not been sufficiently studied, in particular in children.

Adult attachment representation moderates psychotherapy treatment efficacy in clinically depressed inpatients.

BACKGROUND: We explored in a sample of clinically depressed patients the influence of attachment security and unresolved trauma on psychotherapeutic outcome as well as changes in attachment representation through psychotherapeutic intervention. METHODS: The sample consisted of 85 women (aged 19-52), 43 clinically depressed patients from a psychosomatic inpatient unit, and 42 healthy control subjects matched for age and education. Average length of hospitalization in the patient group was eight weeks. Attachment representations were assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview at the time of admission (baseline) and at discharge. Depressive symptoms were measured using the PHQ-9 at T1 and T2. RESULTS: Insecure attachment representations were overrepresented in depressed patients. Treatment effects were moderated by baseline attachment representation: patients with higher attachment security scores at admission benefited more from the inpatient treatment and were less depressed at time of discharge than less secure patients (η(2)=.07). Generally, attachment security increased (η(2)=.19) and depressive symptoms decreased (η(2)=.23) after inpatient psychotherapy treatment in the patient group. No significant effects for unresolved symptoms were found. LIMITATIONS: The study is not a randomized controlled study, but used a quasi-experimental matched control group design with female subjects only. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that attachment representations play a major role in both the development and treatment of clinical depression. Baseline attachment security may influence psychotherapeutic outcome, perhaps through relational factors such as therapeutic working alliance. Inpatient psychotherapy may also need to address psychological issues associated with depression such as attachment insecurity.

Methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene in clinically depressed patients compared to controls: The role of OXTR rs53576 genotype.

The emerging field of epigenetics provides a biological basis for gene-environment interactions relevant to depression. We focus on DNA methylation of exon 1 and 2 of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) promoter. The research aims of the current study were to compare OXTR DNA methylation of depressed patients with healthy control subjects and to investigate possible influences of the OXTR rs53576 genotype. The sample of the present study consisted of 43 clinically depressed women recruited from a psychosomatic inpatient unit and 42 healthy, female control subjects - mean age 30 years (SD = 9). DNA methylation profiles of the OXTR gene were assessed from leukocyte DNA by means of bisulfite sequencing. Depressed female patients had decreased OXTR exon 1 DNA methylation compared to non-depressed women. The association between depression and methylation level was moderated by OXTR rs53576 genotype. Exon 2 methylation was associated with OXTR rs53576 genotype but not with depression. Our findings suggest exon-specific methylation mechanisms. Exon 1 methylation appears to be associated with depressive phenotypes whereas exon 2 methylation is influenced by genotype. Previously reported divergent associations between OXTR genotype and depression might be explained by varying exon 1 methylation. In order to further understand the etiology of depression, research on the interplay between genotype, environmental influences and exon-specific methylation patterns is needed.

Attachment representations in mothers, fathers, adolescents, and clinical groups: a meta-analytic search for normative data.

This meta-analysis on 33 studies, including more than 2,000 Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classifications, presents distributions of AAI classifications in samples of nonclinical fathers and mothers, in adolescents, in samples from different cultures, and in clinical groups. Fathers, adolescents, and participants from different countries show about the same distribution of AAI classifications as nonclinical mothers do. The distribution of nonclinical mothers is as follows: 24% dismissing, 58% autonomous, and 18% preoccupied mothers. About 19% of the nonclinical mothers are unresolved with respect to loss or trauma of other kinds. Mothers from low socioeconomic status show more often dismissing attachment representations and unresolved loss or trauma. Autonomous women and autonomous men are more often married to each other than can be expected by chance, and the same goes for unresolved men and women. Clinical participants show highly deviating distributions of AAI classifications, with a strong overrepresentation of insecure attachment representations, but systematic relations between clinical diagnosis and type of insecurity are absent.

Frightening maternal behavior linking unresolved loss and disorganized infant attachment.

Main and Hesse's (1990) model in which frightening (threatening, frightened, or dissociated) parental behavior explains why infants of parents with unresolved loss develop disorganized attachment relationships was tested. Unresolved loss using the Adult Attachment Interview in a nonclinical middle-class sample of 85 mothers who had experienced the loss of someone important was assessed. Disorganized attachment was examined in the Strange Situation. Parental behavior was recorded during 22-hr home visits. The model applied to mothers with currently insecure attachment representations. Secure mothers with unresolved loss displayed less frightening behavior than other mothers, and unresolved loss in secure mothers did not predict disorganized attachment of their infants. Frightening behavior predicted infant disorganized attachment irrespective of maternal security.

Dynamics of behaviour in the Strange Situation: a structural equation approach.

In this paper, we present a structural equation approach to modelling infant behaviour in the Strange Situation. A model was developed on a Dutch data set, and was subsequently cross-validated for an American data set containing the original Ainsworth data. Model building is reported in some detail as no previous similar analyses of the Strange Situation exist in the literature. The latent variables in the preferred model are stranger wariness, minimization or deactivation of attachment concerns, and maximization or hyperactivation of attachment concerns. Stranger wariness influences only the subsequent behaviour towards the mother, and behaviour in the second reunion episode is dependent on the same mother behaviour in the first reunion episode, and not on other mother behaviours. Structural equation modelling behaviour in the Strange Situation is shown to provide further insight into the dynamics of the procedure.

Attachment representations of personality-disordered criminal offenders.

The relation between attachment representations and personality disorders was examined in a sample of 40 Dutch men held in a forensic psychiatric hospital for the commission of serious crimes. Secure attachment representations were virtually absent in the sample; separation from attachment figures in childhood was related to current insecure attachment as well as to personality disorders. Use of attachment theory in research and clinical work with criminals is discussed.

The relationship between quality of attachment in infancy and IQ in kindergarten.

In this study, we hypothesized that securely attached infants would in kindergarten perform better on an intelligence test than anxiously attached children. No difference was expected between children of working mothers (working more than 15 hours outside the home) and children of full-time homemakers. Mother-child pairs (N = 77; average age of child was 24 months) were observed during the Strange Situation procedure; three years later, 65 children completed the Leiden Diagnostic Test for measuring intelligence level. Results showed that the securely attached reference group attained the highest IQ. The working status of the mother did not appear to make a difference.

Attachment and early reading: a longitudinal study.

The relationship between quality of attachment in infancy and preschooler's reading interests and skills was explored. At 24 months, 77 children and their mothers were tested using the Strange Situation procedure. In a follow-up study 3 years later, 65 mothers completed a questionnaire about the reading interests and skills of their children. Preschool teachers completed a questionnaire about preparatory reading instruction, and the children's intelligence was measured with the Leiden Diagnostic Test. After 3 years, the securely attached children showed more interest in written material than did the insecurely attached children, regardless of their intelligence and the amount of preparatory reading instruction.