Configurations of mother-child and father-child attachment relationships as predictors of child language competence: An individual participant data meta-analysis.

An individual participant data meta-analysis was conducted to test pre-registered hypotheses about how the configuration of attachment relationships to mothers and fathers predicts children's language competence. Data from seven studies (published between 1985 and 2014) including 719 children (Mage : 19.84 months; 51% female; 87% White) were included in the linear mixed effects analyses. Mean language competence scores exceeded the population average across children with different attachment configurations. Children with two secure attachment relationships had higher language competence scores compared to those with one or no secure attachment relationships (d = .26). Children with two organized attachment relationships had higher language competence scores compared to those with one organized attachment relationship (d = .23), and this difference was observed in older versus younger children in exploratory analyses. Mother-child and father-child attachment quality did not differentially predict language competence, supporting the comparable importance of attachment to both parents in predicting developmental outcomes.

The development and validation of the S-scan-parental self-management support (S-scan - PS): A self-reflection tool for child healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND: Professionals providing self-management support to parents regarding the care for their child with a chronic condition nowadays is an important aspect of child healthcare. This requires professionals to orient themselves towards partnership and collaboration with parents. The aims of the current study were the development and validation of the S-Scan-Parental self-management Support (S-scan - PS) as a tool for healthcare professionals to reflect on their attitude and practices regarding the support for parental self-management. METHODS: An existing instrument was adapted together with field experts for professionals to self-evaluate their support for self-management of parents. The resulting 36-item self-report questionnaire was filled in by healthcare professionals in the Netherlands working with children and their parents. Cognitive interviews, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and test-retest reliability analysis were part of the development and validation process. RESULTS: In total, 434 professionals, including physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and nurses, from 13 rehabilitation institutes and 5 medical centres participated. The cognitive interviews with child healthcare professionals indicated adequate face and content validity. The S-scan - PS scale had acceptable internal consistency (0.71 ≤ α ≤ 0.91) for the total score as well as the domain scores. CFA showed acceptable root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) model fit (0.066), though not on other tested goodness-of-fit indices. Test-retest reliability of the instrument was moderate with an average intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.61. CONCLUSIONS: The S-scan - PS fulfils important psychometric criteria for use by child healthcare professionals to reflect on parental self-management support. Such self-reflection might help to improve their approach towards supporting self-management of parents in the care for their child with a chronic condition. Further research is needed into the construct validity and test-retest reliability of the instrument.

Mary Main's written legacy: a bibliometric analysis.

Mary Main's written work profoundly changed the direction of attachment research through her publications and through her teachings. The current study describes the scientific impact of her her published and unpublished work. We identified 85 such works. Web of Sciences contained k = 7,571 citations to these works from by 13,398 unique authors. The topics of citing work clustered around clinical psychological research, early dyadic relationships, romantic attachment, traumatic experiences, and the adult attachment interview itself. Based on co-citation patterns, Main shared an intellectual space with authors known for developmental psychopathology and child development, parent-child relationships, adult attachment, psychodynamic theorizing, and reciprocity in interaction and infant mental health. We discuss the impact of the "move to the level of representation" and how new ties with researchers unfamiliar with these ideas will be important to realize unused potential in the ideas and methods given to the field by Mary Main.

Testing reliability and validity of practitioner-rated parental sensitivity: A novel tool for practice.

Improving parental sensitivity is an important objective of interventions to support families. This study examined reliability and validity of parental sensitivity ratings using a novel package of an e-learning tool and an interactive decision tree provided through a mobile application, called the OK! package. Independent raters assessed parental sensitivity using the OK! package (N = 11 raters) and the NICHD Parental Sensitivity rating scales (N = 22 raters) on the basis of videotaped mother-child interactions at 10- or 12-months-old (N = 294) and at 24-months-old (N = 204) from the Dutch longitudinal cohort study Generation2 . Mothers reported on children's externalizing and internalizing problems and social competence when children were 4 and 7 years old. Results showed excellent single interrater reliability for raters using the OK! package (mean ICC = .79), and strong evidence for convergent validity at 10- or 12-month-old (r = .57) and 24-month-old (r = .65). Prospective associations of neither parental sensitivity rated using the OK! package or the NICHD Parental Sensitivity rating scales with child developmental outcomes were statistically significant (p > .05), with overlapping 95% confidence intervals for both measures. The OK! package provides a promising direction for testing alternatives to current training and instruction modalities.

Mejorar la sensibilidad de progenitores es un objetivo importante de intervenciones para ayudar a las familias. Este estudio examinó la confiabilidad y validez de los puntajes de sensibilidad de progenitores usando un novedoso paquete de una herramienta de e-aprendizaje y un árbol interactivo de decisión, ofrecido a través de una aplicación móvil llamada ¡Paquete OK! Calificadores independientes evaluaron la sensibilidad de progenitores usando el ¡Paquete OK! (N = 11 calificadores) y las escalas de puntajes de Sensibilidad del Progenitor de NICHD (N = 22 calificadores) sobre la base de las interacciones madre-niño grabadas en video a los 10 o 12 meses de edad (N = 294) y a los 24 meses de edad (N = 204) del grupo holandés de estudio longitudinal Generación 2. Las madres reportaron sobre los problemas de externalización e internalización de los niños y la competencia social cuando los niños tenían 4 y 7 años. Los resultados muestran una excelente sola confiabilidad entre calificadores para los calificadores que usaron el ¡Paquete OK! (media ICC = .79), y una fuerte evidencia para la validez convergente a los 10 o 12 meses de edad (r = .57) y a los 24 meses de edad (r = .65). Las asociaciones probables, ni de la sensibilidad del progenitor evaluada usando el ¡Paquete OK! ni de las escalas de puntajes de Sensibilidad del Progenitor NICHD, con los resultados del desarrollo del niño, fueron estadísticamente significativas (p > .05), con intervalos de confiabilidad que coincidían 95% para ambas medidas. El ¡Paquete OK! Ofrece una prometedora directriz para examinar alternativas al entrenamiento y modalidades de instrucción actuales.

L'amélioration de la sensibilité parentale est un objectif important d'interventions pour soutenir les familles. Cette étude a examiné la fiabilité et la validité de la sensibilité parentale utilisant une nouvelle approche combinant un outil de formation en ligne et un arbre de décision interactif offert au travers d'une application mobile, appelée l'approche OK!. Des évaluateurs indépendants ont évalué la sensibilité parentale en utilisant l'approche OK! (N = 11 évaluateurs) et les échelles d'évaluation de le sensibilité parentale NICHD (N = 22 évaluateurs) sur la base d'interactions mère-enfant filmées à la vidéo à 10- ou 12 mois N = 294) et à 24 mois (N-204) de l'étude de cohorte longitudinale hollandaise Generation2. Les mères ont signalé les problèmes d'externalisation et d'internalisation des enfants et leur compétence sociale lorsque les enfants avaient 4 et 7 ans. Les résultats ont démontré une excellente fiabilité entre les évaluateurs pour les évaluateurs utilisant l'approche OK! (moyenne ICC = ,79(, et de fortes preuves d'une validité convergente à 10 ou 12 mois (r = ,57) et à 24 mois (r = ,65). Les associations prospectives d'aucune sensibilité parentale évaluée en utilisant l'approche OK! ou les échelles d'évaluation de la sensibilité parentale NICHD ave des résultats développementaux de l'enfant étaient statistiquement significatives (p . ,05) avec un chevauchement des intervalles de confiance de 95% pour les deux mesures. L'approche OK! offre une direction prometteuse d'alternatives des tests aux modalités de formation et d'instruction actuelles.

Accessibility and feasibility of experience sampling methods for mental health research with people with intellectual disability: Scoping of research and stakeholder views.

BACKGROUND: Experience sampling may be useful for mental health research with people with intellectual disability, and evidence of the potential benefits is starting to emerge. This multiple-method study identified potential avenues for tailoring this method to the needs of people with intellectual disability. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted. Five databases were searched for experience sampling studies involving people with intellectual disability. In addition, seven adults with an intellectual disability tested experience sampling apps with standardised questions about mental health and were interviewed about their experiences in semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Seven studies were included in the scoping review. Two studies investigated acceptability and feasibility. In the interviews, participants reported on the acceptability, availability, and appropriateness of experience sampling applications. CONCLUSIONS: There are still important gaps in knowledge about acceptability, availability, and appropriateness of experience sampling for this population. Researchers are recommended to tailor experience sampling applications to the needs and interests of individual users.

Parent-perceived autonomy-supportive experiences and basic psychological needs of people with complex support needs: Development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of two questionnaires.

Background: Understanding and supporting basic psychological needs of persons with complex support needs is important but difficult because of communicative challenges . We developed and tested questionnaires to obtain parents' perspectives on autonomy support and basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Method: Two parent-informant questionnaires were developed, administered, and subjected to psychometric property analyses. Participants were 63 Dutch parents of persons diagnosed with severe or profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Results: Principal component analyses revealed a one-factor structure for the Parental Perceptions on Autonomy-Supportive Experiences questionnaire, while the Parental Perceptions on Basic Psychological Need Signals questionnaire yielded two-factors interpreted as Noticing Signals of Autonomy and Noticing Signals of Competence/Relatedness. Evidence for construct validity was found for both instruments. Conclusions: Preliminary evaluation of the new questionnaires is encouraging, but further validation with a larger sample size is warranted.

The association between delinquent peer affiliation and disruptive behavior interacts with functional brain correlates of reward sensitivity: a biosocial interaction study in adolescent delinquents.

BACKGROUND: Affiliating with delinquent peers may stimulate the development of antisocial behavior, especially for adolescents who are sensitive to social rewards. The current study examines whether the association between delinquent peer affiliation (DPA) and disruptive behavior interacts with functional brain correlates of reward sensitivity in early onset male adolescents delinquents. METHODS: Childhood arrestees (n = 126, mean age = 17.7 [s.d. 1.6]) completed a DPA questionnaire, and participated in an fMRI study in which reward sensitivity was operationalized through responsiveness of the ventral striatum (VS), amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during the monetary incentive delay paradigm (reward anticipation and outcome). Symptoms of disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) were assessed through structured psychiatric interviews (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children) with adolescents. RESULTS: DPA had a main effect on DBD symptoms. Adolescents with high VS reward responses showed a stronger significant positive association between DPA and DBD symptoms compared to low VS responders. No evidence for an interaction effect was found for the amygdala and mPFC. Post-hoc analyses revealed the positive association between DPA and DBD was only present in males, with a diminishing effect as age increased. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence for a biosocial interaction between DPA and reward sensitivity of the VS in relation to DBD symptom severity. This study provides the first evidence of an interaction effect between a brain mechanism and an environmental factor in relation to DBD symptoms, implying that susceptibility to influences of delinquent peers may intertwine with individual biological differences.

Editorial: Generative artificial intelligence and the ecology of human development.

Commercial applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI have taken centre stage in the media sphere, business, public policy, and education. The ramifications for the field of child psychology and psychiatry are being debated and veer between LLMs as potential models for development and applications of generative AI becoming environmental factors for human development. This Editorial briefly discusses developmental research on generative AI and the potential impact of generative AI on the hybrid social world in which young people grow up. We end by considering that the rapid developments justify increasing attention in our field.

Improving parenting, child attachment, and externalizing behaviors: Meta-analysis of the first 25 randomized controlled trials on the effects of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline.

Improving parenting, child attachment, and externalizing behaviors: Meta-analysis of the first 25 randomized controlled trials on the effects of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD). VIPP-SD combines support of parental sensitive responsiveness with coaching parents in sensitive limit setting. Here, we present meta-analyses of 25 RCTs conducted with more than 2,000 parents and caregivers. Parents or children had various risks. We examined its effectiveness in promoting parental cognitions and behavior regarding sensitive parenting and limit setting, in promoting secure child-parent attachment, and reducing externalizing child behavior. Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, and recent reviews were searched for relevant trials (until May 10, 2021). Multilevel meta-analysis with META, METAFOR, and DMETAR in R took account of the 3-level structure of the datasets (studies, participants, measures). The meta-analyses showed substantial combined effect sizes for parenting behavior (r = .18) and attitudes (r = .16), and for child attachment security (r = .23), but not for child externalizing behavior (r = .07). In the subset of studies examining effects on both parenting and attachment, the association between effect sizes for parenting and for attachment amounted to r = .48. We consider the way in which VIPP-SD uses video-feedback an active intervention component. Whether VIPP-SD indeed stimulates secure attachment through enhanced positive parenting remains an outstanding question for further experimental study and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Exploring the meaning of unresolved loss and trauma in more than 1,000 Adult Attachment Interviews.

Unresolved states of mind regarding experiences of loss/abuse (U/d) are identified through lapses in the monitoring of reasoning, discourse, and behavior surrounding loss/abuse in response to the Adult Attachment Interview. Although the coding system for U/d has been widely used for decades, the individual indicators of unresolved loss/abuse have not been validated independently of the development sample. This study examined the psychometric validity of U/d, using individual participant data from 1,009 parent-child dyads across 13 studies. A latent class analysis showed that subsets of commonly occurring U/d indicators could differentiate interviewees with or without unresolved loss/abuse. Predictive models suggested a psychometric model of U/d consisting of a combination of these common indicators, with disbelief and psychologically confused statements regarding loss being especially important indicators of U/d. This model weakly predicted infant disorganized attachment. Multilevel regression analysis showed no significant association between ratings of unresolved other trauma and infant disorganized attachment, over and above ratings of unresolved loss/abuse. Altogether, these findings suggest that the coding system of U/d may have been overfitted to the initial development sample. Directions for further articulation and optimization of U/d are provided.

Adapting Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up for infants and young children with intellectual disabilities and developmental delays in South Africa: Reflections and recommendations from local stakeholders.

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) is an intervention targeted at enhancing the socioemotional and regulatory functioning of at-risk infants. However, to use the ABC for infants/toddlers with intellectual disabilities/developmental delays (ID/DD) and in novel cultural contexts, such as South Africa, adaptations may be required. This study aimed, therefore, to explore the opinions of clinical experts and perceptions of caregivers regarding the use of ABC for children with ID/DD in South Africa. It also sought to incorporate the experiences of families of children with ID/DD who received, and intervenors who delivered, ABC in its first implementation in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 participants. Thematic analysis explicated 12 main themes: Intervention Strengths, Points of Concern, and Recommendations (Experts); Focus on Caregiver-child Relationship, and Intervention Targets and Duration (Caregivers); Benefits of ABC, and Cultural Considerations (ABC Recipients); Focused and Targeted, Value of Feedback, Supportive Supervision, Working Alliance, and Challenges Experienced (ABC Intervenors). Practice and training recommendations include psychoeducation for parents and training for intervenors that is ID/DD-specific, expanding supervision capacity, building intervenors' cultural/linguistic sensitivity and competence, accessing referral networks, including local Community Health Workers as intervenors, and greater flexibility in how the sessions are organized.

La intervención de Afectividad y Alcance del Bio-comportamiento (ABC) está dirigida a mejorar el funcionamiento socioemocional y regulatorio de los infantes bajo riesgo. Sin embargo, para usar el ABC para infantes y niños pequeñitos con discapacidades intelectuales / retrasos en el desarrollo (ID/DD) y dentro de nuevos contextos culturales, tal como en Sudáfrica, se requieren adaptaciones. Este estudio se propuso, por tanto, explorar las opiniones de expertos clínicos y las percepciones de quienes prestan el cuidado acerca del uso del ABC con niños con ID/DD en Sudáfrica. También buscaba incorporar las experiencias de familias de niños con ID/DD que recibían, así como de practicantes de la intervención que ofrecían el servicio de ABC durante su primera implementación en Sudáfrica. Se llevaron a cabo entrevistas semiestructuradas con 18 participantes. Análisis temáticos explicaron los 12 principales temas: Puntos Fuertes de la Intervención, Puntos que Preocupan y Recomendaciones (Expertos); Enfoque en la Relación Cuidador-Niño y Metas de Enfoque y Duración de la Intervención (Cuidadores); Beneficios del ABC y Consideraciones Culturales (Quienes recibían el ABC); Lo Enfocado y Diseñado como Meta, Valor de Ideas Recibidas, Supervisión con Apoyo, Alianza de Trabajo y Retos Experimentados (Practicantes de la Intervención ABC). Las recomendaciones de práctica y entrenamiento incluyen la psico-educación de padres, entrenamiento a quienes practican la intervención específicamente orientada a ID/DD, expandir la capacidad de supervisión, formar la sensibilidad y competencia cultural/lingüística de quienes practican la intervención, acceso a los sistemas de referencias, incluir Trabajadores de Salud Comunitarios como practicantes de la intervención y mayor flexibilidad en cómo organizar las sesiones.

L'attachement et le rattrapage bio-comportemental (en anglais Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, soit ABC) est une intervention ciblée sur l'amélioration du fonctionnement socio-émotionnel et régulatoire de bébés à risques. Cependant, pour utiliser l'ABC pour des bébés/jeunes enfants avec des retards intellectuels et des retards du comportement (ID/DD) et dans des contextes culturels nouveaux, comme l'Afrique du Sud, des adaptations pourraient être nécessaires. Par conséquent cette étude s'est donné pour but d'explorer les opinions d'experts cliniques et les perceptions des personnes prenant soin d'un bébé quant à l'utilisation de l'ABC pour des enfants avec ID/DD en Afrique du Sud. On a aussi cherché à incorporer les expériences de familles d'enfants avec ID/DD qui ont reçu l'ABC, ainsi que des intervenants qui l'ont facilité, dans sa première mise en oeuvre en Afrique du Sud. Des entretiens semi-structurés ont été faits avec 18 participants. Une analyse thématique a explicité 12 thèmes principaux: Forces de l'Intervention, Points d'Inquiétude, et Recommandations (Experts); Accent sur la Relation Personne prenant soin de l'enfant-enfant et Cibles d'Intervention et Durée d'Intervention (Personnes prenant soin d'un bébé); Bénéfices de l'ABS, et Considérations Culturels (personnes ayant reçu l'ABC); Ciblé et Centré, Valeur du Retour, Supervision de Soutien, Alliance entre entités, et Défis Vécus (Intervenants ABC). Les recommandations de pratique et de formation incluent une psychoéducation pour les parents, une formation pour les intervenants qui est spécifique à l'ID/DD, l'élargissement de la capacité de supervision, le développement de la sensibilité et de la compétence culturelle/linguistique des intervenants, l'accès aux réseau d'orientation, y compris des Travailleurs de Santé Communautaires en tant qu'intervenants, et une plus grande flexibilité dans la manière dont les sessions sont organisées.

Effects of the Attune & Stimulate-checklist for caregivers of people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities: A randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Sensitive responsiveness is an important aspect in affect-regulation of people with severe to profound intellectual disabilities. AIM: This randomized controlled trial evaluated the Attune & Stimulate-checklist, a tool for detecting subtle and idiosyncratic communicative behaviours and responding adequately. METHODS: Effects on the sensitive responsiveness of professional caregivers and the arousal and valence of adults with severe to profound intellectual disabilities were investigated. Video recordings of 102 interactions were analysed with several observation instruments. RESULTS: Although no significant effect was found on the checklist-suggestions of responsive behaviours (d = 0.33, p = .052), the intervention increased caregivers' sensitive responsive and affective behaviour (d = 0.94 - 1.10, p < .001) and clients' optimal arousal (d = 0.48, p = .019) and interactive engagement (d = 0.40 - 0.48, p = .018 - .050). CONCLUSION: This low-intensity intervention had a medium to large immediate effect on the interaction. Future research should investigate medium- and long-term effects.

Using Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up with young children with developmental delays: A multiple-baseline trial of attachment, sensitivity, and cortisol.

The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catchup intervention potentially offsets psychosocial risks facing dyads in which children have intellectual disability or developmental delays. In this single-case multiple-baseline study the efficacy of this intervention was tested across three such South African families. Maternal sensitivity, attachment security, and child affect regulation were measured weekly during a baseline and intervention period, using the Ainsworth Maternal Sensitivity Scales, Attachment Q-sort and salivary cortisol, respectively. Furthermore, post-intervention interviews invited parents' and intervenors' evaluations of the intervention. Visual analysis broadly indicated improvement in maternal sensitivity and attachment security across subjects over time following the introduction of the intervention, although randomisation tests were not statistically significant. Effects on affect regulation were not clearly observed and may have been influenced by case-specific variables. Parent-participants and intervenors also identified particularly helpful contributions from the intervention. Findings underscore the importance of individual-level effects evaluation, especially when implementing interventions outside the original population.

Piloting attachment psychoeducation provided to parents of children with severe disabilities: Testing the feasibility of a digital micro-intervention.

BackgroundA digital micro-intervention offering attachment psychoeducational videos was explored regarding its feasibility in parents of children with severe disabilities. Method: A mixed-methods study (including daily diaries and one-time questionnaires) with 16 parents (75.0% female) of children with severe disabilities (up to 10 years of age) was done during a three-week intervention. Results: Parents were positive about the video series and almost no drop-out occurred. The videos stimulated their learning and thinking and offered parents some personal meaning. Preliminary efficacy tests showed no major changes in parents' parenting self-efficacy (PSE) or perceptions of statements on parent-child attachment. Conclusions: The study showed promising results regarding the micro-interventions' acceptability and implementation. The limited efficacy testing did not show major changes in parents' PSE. Further research is needed to investigate the differential relevance of the micro-intervention, based on parents' needs, as well as its optimal embeddedness in a broader intervention trajectory.

Pushing the boundaries of digital social contact: Experiences of people with disabilities and their social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people with intellectual disabilities living in care facilities could not receive visitors. Health authorities suggested the use of digital social contact as an alternative for in-person visits. We examined how people with intellectual disabilities living in care facilities experienced the use of digital social contact with their informal social network throughout 2020. Residents, their relatives, volunteer visitors, direct support staff, and care facility managers (N = 283) completed an online questionnaire, of whom 35 participated in an interview. Video calling and in-person visits were among the most common forms of staying in touch. Experiences with digital social contact depended on residents' abilities and support needs, and on preconditions, such as staff availability. The first phases of the pandemic led to experiences of possibilities and benefits of using digital social contact as complementary to in-person contact for people with different levels of intellectual disability, also after the pandemic.

Trauma and loss in the Adult Attachment Interview: Situating the unresolved state of mind classification in disciplinary and social context.

This article examines how 'trauma' has been conceptualised in the unresolved state of mind classification in the Adult Attachment Interview, introduced by Main and Hesse in 1990. The unresolved state of mind construct has been influential for three decades of research in developmental psychology. However, not much is known about how this measure of unresolved trauma was developed, and how it relates to other conceptualisations of trauma. We draw on previously unavailable manuscripts from Main and Hesse's personal archive, including various editions of unpublished coding manuals, and on Main-Bowlby correspondence from the John Bowlby Archive at the Wellcome Trust in London. This article traces the emergence of the unresolved state of mind classification, and examines the assumptions about trauma embedded in the construct. These assumptions are situated both in the immediate context of the work of Main and Hesse and in terms of wider discourses about trauma in the period. Our analysis considers how a particular form of trauma discourse entered into attachment research, and in doing so partly lost contact with wider disciplinary study of trauma.

Learning to love the null.

Children's behaviour and mental health has the power to surprise us, readers and authors of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and laymen alike, if not for the endless variation among people, then for the ever-changing context in which they develop. The hypothetico-deductive method in combination with null-hypothesis significance testing has turned surprise into scientific knowledge. Null effects may in themselves also be surprising and informative, but appear less well represented in the literature. This editorial highlights emerging methodological practices for studying null effects in the most informative way.

Psychophysiological responses underlying unresolved loss and trauma in the Adult Attachment Interview.

Unresolved loss/trauma in the context of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has been theorised to result from dissociative processing of fear-related memories and ideas. To examine the plausibility of this model, this study tested hypothesised associations between unresolved loss/trauma and indicators of autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity. First-time pregnant women (N = 235) participated in the AAI while heart rate (interbeat interval; IBI) and indicators of parasympathetic reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) and sympathetic reactivity (pre-ejection period; PEP, skin conductance level; SCL) were recorded. Using multilevel modelling, ANS reactivity was examined in relation to topic (loss/trauma versus other questions); discussion of actual loss/trauma; classification of unresolved/disorganised; and unresolved responses during the interview. Responses to loss/trauma questions and discussion of loss were associated with respectively larger and smaller IBIs. There was no moderation by unresolved/disorganised status. Unresolved responses about loss were associated with smaller IBIs. Participants classified as unresolved/disorganised showed decreasing PEP and blunted SCL throughout the whole interview. The findings suggest that unresolved speech about loss co-occurs with physiological arousal, although the inconclusive findings regarding parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system responses fail to clearly support the role of fear.

The latent structure of the adult attachment interview: Large sample evidence from the collaboration on attachment transmission synthesis.

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a widely used measure in developmental science that assesses adults' current states of mind regarding early attachment-related experiences with their primary caregivers. The standard system for coding the AAI recommends classifying individuals categorically as having an autonomous, dismissing, preoccupied, or unresolved attachment state of mind. However, previous factor and taxometric analyses suggest that: (a) adults' attachment states of mind are captured by two weakly correlated factors reflecting adults' dismissing and preoccupied states of mind and (b) individual differences on these factors are continuously rather than categorically distributed. The current study revisited these suggestions about the latent structure of AAI scales by leveraging individual participant data from 40 studies (N = 3,218), with a particular focus on the controversial observation from prior factor analytic work that indicators of preoccupied states of mind and indicators of unresolved states of mind about loss and trauma loaded on a common factor. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that: (a) a 2-factor model with weakly correlated dismissing and preoccupied factors and (b) a 3-factor model that further distinguished unresolved from preoccupied states of mind were both compatible with the data. The preoccupied and unresolved factors in the 3-factor model were highly correlated. Taxometric analyses suggested that individual differences in dismissing, preoccupied, and unresolved states of mind were more consistent with a continuous than a categorical model. The importance of additional tests of predictive validity of the various models is emphasized.

Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues.

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 child protection and child custody decision-making. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify factors that have hindered accurate implementation. In the second part, we provide recommendations for the application of attachment theory and research. To this end, we set out three attachment principles: the child's need for familiar, non-abusive caregivers; the value of continuity of good-enough care; and the benefits of networks of attachment relationships. We also discuss the suitability of assessments of attachment quality and caregiving behaviour to inform family court decision-making. We conclude that assessments of caregiver behaviour should take center stage. Although there is dissensus among us regarding the use of assessments of attachment quality to inform child custody and child-protection decisions, such assessments are currently most suitable for targeting and directing supportive interventions. Finally, we provide directions to guide future interdisciplinary research collaboration.