Can the family drawing be a useful tool for assessing attachment representations in children? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the quality and validity of Family Drawings (FD) with an Attachment-Based Coding System in assessing attachment representations among pre-school and school-age children. A literature search in notable databases identified 645 records, of which 20 were eligible after screening and quality assessment. Results showed: 1) ABCD attachment distribution in community children was: 48% secure, 20% avoidant, 21% ambivalent, 11% disorganized. Security prevailed both in classifications and Fury et al.' scales. 2) No significant differences according to the cultural background; 3) At-risk/clinical children showed higher insecurity than community ones using scales; 4) Girls were more secure than boys. In conclusion, FD may be a culture-fair method to assess attachment representations in children. Global scales seem more reliable than ABCD classifications for discriminating at-risk and clinical children, but further studies on these groups are needed.

The role of community resilience as a protective factor in coping with mental disorders in a sample of psychiatric migrants.

Background: Over the past decade migration to Italy has increased significantly for various reasons including armed conflicts. Generally, the migration process is exposed to different risk factors during different periods of migration, which can compromise well-being and promote the onset or exacerbation of mental disorders. A community with resources and the perception of one's community as resilient can be important protective factor in the context of migration. Purpose: This study aims to understand which variables in migration predict an increase in perceived community resilience and to understand the role of community resilience in the relationship between mental disorders and subjective well-being in a sample of 100 adult migrants at the first consultation interview in the ambulatories of Psychiatry Unit. Methods: After defining the inclusion and exclusion criteria, migrants were asked to fill out self-report questionnaires to collect socio-demographic data and to assess perception of mental disorders, perceived community resilience and perception of subjective well-being. Descriptive analysis, simple regression, and moderation analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results: The results show that the variable meaning attributed to the community with reference to the host community, migration with someone, and longer duration of stay in Italy contribute to increased perceptions of community resilience. In addition, a direct negative effect of mental disorders on subjective well-being and the moderating role of community resilience in relationship between mental disorders and subjective well-being have been demonstrated. Conclusions: This result underscores the importance of perceived community resilience in mitigating the negative effects of mental disorders on subjective well-being. Perceiving one's community as more resilient seems to protect against the impact of mental disorders on subjective well-being. Our results support an ecological model of migrants' mental health that values the community and its resources in coping with mental disorders in the context of migration.

Emotional-behavioral problems, attachment and verbal skills in late-adopted adolescents: The role of pre-adoption adversities and adoption variables.

BACKGROUND: There are few studies on late-adopted adolescents' outcomes -e.g., emotional-behavioral problems, attachment and cognitive status- and their possible predictive factors, none from Italy. OBJECTIVE: This paper aimed to investigate emotional-behavioral problems, attachment representations, and verbal skills in late-adopted adolescents in Italy and to explore the predictive role of pre-adoption adversities and adoption variables for worse adoptees' outcomes. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The study included N = 79 late-adopted (mean age at adoption = 6 years) adolescents, between 11 and 18 years, placed via both intercountry and domestic adoption. METHODS: Parents provided information about pre-adoption and adoption history and filled the Children's Behavior Checklist 6-18 for measuring participants' emotional-behavioral problems. Attachment representations were assessed through the Friend and Family Interview administered directly to adolescents, like the verbal comprehension index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (4th edition) for measuring participants' verbal IQ. RESULTS: Maltreatment and its interaction with multiple placements were the main predictors of other problems-i.e., social, thought, and identity difficulties (respectively, p = .007 and p = .029)-while intercountry adoption was the unique predictor of both externalizing and total problems (respectively, p = .047 and p = .015). However, domestic adoption was the most important predictor both for higher insecurity and disorganized attachment representations and lower verbal skills (all p < .044); even stronger if domestic adoption interacted with pre-adoptive institutionalization. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-adoption adversities as well as domestic vs. intercountry adoption, but not the age at placement, contributed to adolescent adoptees' developmental outcomes.