Attachment, parental incarceration and possibilities for intervention: an overview.

Incarceration of parents and pregnant women, which is quite common in the United States, creates problems for the incarcerated individuals' children. Here we summarize attachment research related to this issue and explain how attachment-related interventions might reduce both the negative effects on children of having their parents incarcerated and the likelihood of future crime and incarceration on the part of both the adults and their children. We consider the intergenerational transmission of attachment insecurity, the practice of having an incarcerated adult's parent take custody of the children, and the multitude of problems associated with incarcerated adults' attachment insecurity (including perpetrated and received abuse, drug and alcohol problems, a history of educational and employment difficulties, and inadequate models of parenting). We discuss validated attachment intervention programs that might be used with incarcerated parents, as well as barriers to implementing such programs.

The quality and frequency of mother-toddler conflict: links with attachment and temperament.

The goal of this study was to examine the links among attachment, child temperament, and the quality and frequency of mother-toddler conflict. Sixty-four mothers and children took part in a series of laboratory tasks when the child was 30 months of age and an audiorecorded home observation when the child was 36 months of age. All episodes of conflict were identified from the videotapes/audiotapes, transcribed, and coded for conflict strategies, resolution, and themes. Mothers also completed measures of attachment security and child temperament. Concurrent attachment security was related to the quality of mother-toddler conflict (including resolution, justification, and compromise) at both periods but not to the frequency of conflict. In addition, aspects of child temperament (i.e., negative reactivity and activity level/impulsivity) were related to both the quality and the frequency of mother-toddler conflict.