Object Attachment

Fraternal incest, due to its transgressive nature, is a form of sexual abuse with severe psychological
repercussions. This study aimed to explore the relationships between post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), dissociative symptoms, and attachment styles among female victims of fraternal incest in
Tunisia. Seventy adult women with a history of fraternal incest participated in the study. PTSD
symptoms were assessed using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist -DSM-5 (PCL-5),
dissociative experiences with the Dissociative Experiences Scale -Second Edition (DES-II), and
attachment styles with the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised (ECR-R16). The results
indicate a substantial mental health impact of Sibling Incest. Nearly three-quarters of participants
met the clinical threshold for post-traumatic stress, and a substantial proportion exhibited insecure
attachment patterns and notable dissociative symptoms. Significant positive correlations were found
between PTSD symptoms, dissociative experiences, and insecure attachment. Age and duration of abuse
were significantly associated with higher PCL-5 scores, while no significant effects were observed
for DES-II or ECR-R16. Younger participants and those exposed for more than two years had higher
PCL-5 scores. These findings emphasise the interconnected roles of PTSD, dissociation, and insecure
attachment among survivors of sibling incest, highlighting the need for integrative, trauma-informed
approaches and for further research specifically on sibling incest to better understand its dynamics.
Key words: sibling incest, attachment, dissociative experiences, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
How to cite this paper: Saadi SE (2025). Psychological Consequences of Fraternal Incest. International
Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 25, 3, 301-308.

This study undertakes quantitative research using the Full Range Leadership as a measurement model to depict the various patterns and ramifications of the leadership style in Moroccan public universities. For this thesis, survey research has been deemed adequate for conducting a quantitative study. Therefore, semi-structured questionnaires have been administered to collect data systematically. The survey strategy has a unique possibility to account for higher education performance based on a designated population (senior executives, managers, administrators, academics, etc.) in predetermined settings (universities) during a particular point in time (the duration of data collection). The structural equation modeling (SEM) path modeling approach has been implemented to account for the statistical data by running the Smart PLS 3 software. This paper attributes a positive effect on leadership style to transformational style and effectiveness. In contrast, it associates a negative influence on employee performance with the transactional and passive-avoidant (laissez-faire) leadership styles. Therefore, the findings related to idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation manifested positive correlations between these practices and employee performance. However, the findings depict the three subscales of transactional leadership: Contingent Reward, Management-by-Exception (active), and Management-by-Exception (passive), as conducive to the negative perception of the employees to their leaders, which leads to inferior performance on the part of the university administrators, middle managers, and subordinates.

This study undertakes quantitative research using the Full Range Leadership as a measurement model to depict the various patterns and ramifications of the leadership style in Moroccan public universities. For this thesis, survey research has been deemed adequate for conducting a quantitative study. Therefore, semi-structured questionnaires have been administered to collect data systematically. The survey strategy has a unique possibility to account for higher education performance based on a designated population (senior executives, managers, administrators, academics, etc.) in predetermined settings (universities) during a particular point in time (the duration of data collection). The structural equation modeling (SEM) path modeling approach has been implemented to account for the statistical data by running the Smart PLS 3 software. This paper attributes a positive effect on leadership style to transformational style and effectiveness. In contrast, it associates a negative influence on employee performance with the transactional and passive-avoidant (laissez-faire) leadership styles. Therefore, the findings related to idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation manifested positive correlations between these practices and employee performance. However, the findings depict the three subscales of transactional leadership: Contingent Reward, Management-by-Exception (active), and Management-by-Exception (passive), as conducive to the negative perception of the employees to their leaders, which leads to inferior performance on the part of the university administrators, middle managers, and subordinates.

Objective: To evaluate whether Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is more effective than Enhanced Usual Care (EUC) for reducing suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Method: Randomized controlled trial of suicidal adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, identified in primary care and emergency departments. Of 341 adolescents screened, 66 (70% African American) entered the study for 3 months of treatment. Assessment occurred at baseline, six weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks. ABFT consisted of individual and family meetings, and EUC consisted of a facilitated referral to other providers. All participants received weekly monitoring and access to a 24-hour crisis phone. Trajectory of change and clinical recovery were measured for suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms. Results: Using intent-to-treat, patients in ABFT demonstrated significantly greater rates of change on selfreported suicidal ideation at post-treatment and benefits were maintained at follow-up, with a strong overall effect size (ES = .97). Between-group differences were similar on clinician ratings. Significantly more patients in ABFT met criteria for clinical recovery on suicidal ideation posttreatment (87%; 95% CI, 74.6-99.6) than patients in EUC (51.7%; 95% CI, 32.4-54.32). Benefits were maintained at follow-up (ABFT, 70%; 95% CI, 52.6-87.4; EUC 34.6%; 95% CI, 15.6-54.2), with a strong effect size (OR = 4.41). Patterns of depressive symptoms over time were similar, as were results for a subsample of adolescents with diagnosed depression. Conclusions: ABFT is more efficacious than EUC in reducing suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Additional research is warranted to confirm treatment efficacy and test the proposed mechanism of change.

The authors explored the predictive influence of both parental attachment and parental control on early onset of alcohol consumption in adolescence by use of a longitudinal sample of 1,012 young adolescents. Whether the relationship between parental control and adolescents' drinking is moderated by parental attachment was also examined. Consistent with other studies, attachment and strict control were cross-sectionally related to adolescents' alcohol use at all 3 measurements. However, the longitudinal results of structural equation modeling analyses suggest that a good attachment relationship between parent and child does not prevent adolescents from drinking. In addition, strict control was related to lower engagement in alcohol use. Furthermore, with regard to the moderating effect, parental attachment did not moderate longitudinally the association between parental control and an early development of alcohol use. Implications for further research are discussed.

Background: The attachment model, as assessed by means of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), is crucial for understanding emotion regulation and feelings of security in human interactions as well as for the construction of the caregiving system. The caregiving system is a set of representations about affiliative behaviors, guided by sensitivity and empathy, and is fully mature in young‐adulthood. Here, we examine how different attachment models influence brain responses in areas related to empathy and emotions in young‐adult subjects with secure and dismissing attachment models. Methods: By means of AAI, we selected 11 nulliparous young‐adult females with a secure model and 12 with a dismissing model. Subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance, whereas imitating or observing and empathizing with infant facial expressions. Subjects were tested for alexithymia and reflective functioning. Results: Dismissing subjects activated motor, mirror, and limbic brain areas to a signifi...

Concerns with women's and children's health -which today take their place in the epicenter of health care knowledge and deeds -have not always been present in academic scenes, caregiving, governmental policies, and in the hierarchy of scientific production developed in different disciplinary arenas. Such concerns have bent themselves, in degrees, in plural methods of producing knowledge and creating varying impacts in what plucks the consumption of such production, according to present interests and objectives in the diverse historical moments and socio-cultural contexts. This theme has inspired the most diverse positions and arguments, in a yet permanent tension between the reiterated meaning focused on the women/maternity and child/ project of sources of power and the resulting conceptions of the socially ubiquitous look which in both appear contextualized and included in the realities of health care scenarios, where infancy and woman's health are valued, entangled in the conceptions of feminist studies, of reproductive rights and of the relationships of the species. The object of women's and children's health is worked through distinct lenses, spanning different disciplinary fields and bringing knowledge and practice closer together. The present edition of the Texto & Contexto Nursing Journal in different sections lays out various current positions about this theme, involving national and international publications that focus upon a specific horizon of nursing with the health of the woman and the child, but also upon looks that find each other in interdisciplinary and multi-professional exercise, the example of the necessary convergences with anthropology, orthodontics, psychology, and philosophy. However, the intentions are the same, that is, they have as they principal objective to attend to the needs of women and children, in various levels of assistance, and in different phases and specialty areas, hoping to contribute, above all, to the health and the exercise of citizenship. In the following synthesis, one can observe that the most part of the contributions of this publication are related to reproductive health when one considers women's and children's health. They pose questions that involved birth and the birthing process, excluding two articles that among them explore other themes that are also relevant within this issue. For example, they deal with women who have migrated and women who need to submit themselves to mastectomies. As for the contributions for children's health, the majority of the articles focus their attention upon attention to newborns, in various approaches, excepting research which involves risk factors for malnutrition in children and perceptions of the professional in pediatrics. The publication also counts on the important theoretical reflection that encompasses the attention to maternal-infant health and environmental factors. The Research section begins with an analysis of the impact of migration upon the health of Brazilian women in Australia, pointing out the multiple difficulties that they live with, principally in

Variation in attachment is associated with differences in arousal to infant crying. • In secure adoptees experiential arousal and physiological arousal to infant crying are integrated. • In insecure adoptees experiential arousal and physiological arousal to infant crying are dissociated. • Insecure adoptees use a deactivating style in response to infant crying.

Variation in attachment is associated with differences in arousal to infant crying. • In secure adoptees experiential arousal and physiological arousal to infant crying are integrated. • In insecure adoptees experiential arousal and physiological arousal to infant crying are dissociated. • Insecure adoptees use a deactivating style in response to infant crying.

This study examined the links among adolescents’ representations of their relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Sixty‐eight adolescents were interviewed three times to assess their working models for each of these types of relationships. Working models of friendships were related to working models of relationships with parents and romantic partners. Working models of relationships with parents and romantic partners were inconsistently related. A similar pattern of results was obtained for self‐report measures of relational styles for the three types of relationships. Perceived experiences were also related. Specifically, support in relationships with parents tended to be related to support in romantic relationships and friendships, but the latter two were unrelated. On the other hand, self and other controlling behaviors in friendships were related to corresponding behaviors in romantic relationships. Negative interactions in the three types of relationships al...

Authors review the early Hungarian descriptions of eating disorders. Among medieval fasting saints the ascetic eating disorder of Princess Margaret of Hungary is presented from the 13 th century as well as the anorectic features of the Austro-Hungarian Em-press Elisabeth from the 19 th century. The phenomena of anorexia and bulimia are mentioned in publications at the turn of the century. Among early data mental causes of the emaciation are generally discussed, supposing mostly hysterical state. The first case report of an anorec-tic woman was published by internists in 1955 without mentioning the role of mental factors. In the '50s and '60s somatic treatment and electroconvulsive therapy were used in anorexia. The first epidemiological studies on eating disorders were performed in 1988, while the first articles about bulimia nervosa as a new disease entity were published only in 1989.

Survivors of intimate partner violence often suffer from a number of serious aftereffects, but current prevalent treatments lack effectiveness for this population. Along with typical trauma symptoms such as avoidance and constriction, other common challenges unique to survivors include a loss of sense of self, negative self-appraisal, and a lack of selfefficacy. Therapeutic Assessment is well-suited to this population due to its potential for helping clients to replace distorted beliefs about the self with more adaptive ones, engaging clients as equals, and helping clients to form cohesive life narratives. The proposed study will measure the effectiveness of this approach with three to five subjects using a time-series design. Subjects will provide daily ratings of their personal experiences evaluating five areas of concern, three to be shared across subjects and two tailored to the priorities of each specific participant. The resulting indices will be tested using Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA), controlling for autocorrelation using the Lag 1 correlation, to see whether statistically significant changes occur in the desired directions.

BACKGROUND: Oxytocin is a promising biomarker for psychiatric conditions arising from early relational trauma, childhood maltreatment, and attachment dysregulation, including posttraumatic stress and dissociative disorders. OBJECTIVE: This exploratory pilot study examined plasma oxytocin as a biomarker for alterations in the attachment system. DESIGN: We used a single group, repeated-measures design with 15 women. The protocol used a film clip previously validated as a provocation to the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. RESULTS: The repeated-measures ANOVA showed differences in oxytocin across the three time points. Correlations with oxytocin indicated that measures of dissociation and somatization correlated most strongly with higher levels of oxytocin measured during exposure to the film’s bonding scene and posttraumatic stress disorder correlated most strongly with lower levels at the film’s abandonment scene. Post hoc analyses revealed differences in oxytocin response relate...

Factorial structure and criterion validity of an enlarged version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI-E) were evaluated in a community sample of young adults. This enlarged version was obtained by adding parental favouritism (FAV) and put-down/shaming (PUT_D) to the original care and overprotection (OV) scales as recalled by the offspring. Factor analysis suggested a five factor model as the best solution, identifying CARE, FAV and PUT_D and splitting the overprotection items into two factors, denial of psychological autonomy (DPA) and discouragement of behavioural freedom, (DBF) with Cronbach's alphas ranging from .77 to .92. These five scales were correlated with depression and anxiety of the offspring, measured by BDI and STAI. Both of them correlated negatively with care and positively with the other parental scales, as expected by Parker's theory on the role of affectionless control for the psychopathological vulnerability of the children. A series of hierarchical regression analyses, including CARE, DPA and DBF at the first step and FAV and PUT_D at the second step, showed that the latter enhanced the predictive power of the instrument. Overall these findings: (1) suggest a five factor structure for the PBI-E and (2) confirm the criterion validity of the PBI scales in respect to children's depression and anxiety, providing also compelling evidence for the incremental validity of Gilbert's scales.

This paper explores the psychology of physical symptoms; how they present in the psychotherapy room and their underlying dynamics. From the beginning of psychoanalysis there has been an interest in those physical symptoms that do not seem to have a biological origin and, in particular, those physical illnesses that appear to be related to the patient’s psychopathology. In order to explore such symptoms and illnesses further, this paper reviews the concepts of conversion and somatisation. The two concepts are compared and contrasted with specific attention paid to their genesis, to the meaning in the particular form that the symptoms take and to the therapeutic task associated with treating patients who present with these two types of pathology. Illustrative case material is introduced and the paper concludes that the distinction between the two pathologies can be understood in terms of relative mentalizing capacity. This understanding, it is argued, is clinically useful as it helps ...

This paper explores the psychology of physical symptoms; how they present in the psychotherapy room and their underlying dynamics. From the beginning of psychoanalysis there has been an interest in those physical symptoms that do not seem to have a biological origin and, in particular, those physical illnesses that appear to be related to the patient's psychopathology. In order to explore such symptoms and illnesses further, this paper reviews the concepts of conversion and somatisation. The two concepts are compared and contrasted with specific attention paid to their genesis, to the meaning in the particular form that the symptoms take and to the therapeutic task associated with treating patients who present with these two types of pathology. Illustrative case material is introduced and the paper concludes that the distinction between the two pathologies can be understood in terms of relative mentalizing capacity. This understanding, it is argued, is clinically useful as it helps the therapist to make sense of the presenting problem as well as any shifts and changes occurring in the presentation of the physical symptoms during the course of therapy.

In the past few years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of psychoanalytic publications on the topic of psychosomatic illness, including edited collections and special editions of psychoanalytic journals. This paper is a critical conceptual review of the topic of psychosomatic illness using the material contained in a number of these recent publications as a basis, but also drawing on other works by the key authors of the publications discussed herein. This paper proposes that currently there appear to be two schools of thought around the origin, development, and treatment of psychosomatic symptoms. The first of these is the well-established "Paris School of Psychosomatics." The second approach does not formally exist, but is referred to in this paper as the "Attachment approach" since there are a number of authors who theorize about the treatment of psychosomatic symptoms in a similar and important way. The paper will compare and contrast the two a...

To my supervisor Prof Susan van Zyl, thank you so much for your endless hours of work. Your interest in the subject and passion for excellence in academic writing inspired me and gave me direction when I lost my way. Thank you so much for minding this body (of work) with me. I would like to acknowledge my patients, both those who took part in the study and the others. I learn so much from them every day -sometimes the work is frustrating and difficult and sometimes rewarding beyond measure, but it is always interesting. Working with my three dear PhD classmates, Nicola Dugmore, Yael Kadish and Clinton van der Walt not only provided support and encouragement, but also made the experience fun. They are all excellent clinicians and academics of the highest order. In looking for an education, I found a family. Prof Carol Long and her writing group provided a safe place to take ideas, early drafts and rejected papers. I always found the discussions supportive and helpful and feel like there is a little of each member in the final papers and thesis. To my partner Xavier, who tirelessly and meticulously proofread version after version of each paper, thank you so much for supporting me so completely in the endeavour and for understanding how much this project meant to me. Declaration .

The goal of the study was to examine the relation between dimensions which lie in the basis of maternal attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and the development of children's competences in the emotional domain (reflective functioning, mixed emotions understanding, sequential emotion understanding) and cognitive development (verbal comprehension, logic, graphomotor skills and understanding quantities). For this purpose, 60 children and their mothers were tested. Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS; , was used to assess the two attachment dimensions. The Affect Task contains several subscales, including those intended to assess children's reflective functioning, mixed emotions understanding and sequential emotion understanding. Children's cognitive competences were assessed through their success on the Readiness for Elementary School Test (POŠ; Tolčić, 1986). Results indicate significant negative correlations between dimensions of maternal attachment and emotional competences. Also, avoidance is a significant predictor of mixed emotions understanding and sequential emotion understanding. Furthermore, anxiety negatively correlates with the success of children in logic, and avoidance is in a negative correlation, and is also a significant predictor of children's verbal comprehension from the cognitive domain. Also, better emotional competences of the child, especially reflective functioning, predict better cognitive competences. Our results emphasize the role of the father figure, more precisely the education of the father, in prediction of children's success in verbal comprehension and logic. It is justified to conclude that the obtained results indicate that the phenomena of attachment, emotional, and cognitive competences are essentially interrelated aspects of psychological life.

It was the goal of this exploratory study to assess the feasibility and potential use of the Computerized Text Analysis for Reflective Functioning (CTA RF) in the measurement of mentalizing capacities in clinical practice and research. For this exploration, we utilized archival data from a research study examining the process of couple therapy with childhood sexual abuse survivors and their partners. The CTA RF is a computerized method of scoring reflective functioning by analyzing narratives to assess mentalizing capacities. It is cost effective, requires little training to administer and score and can be applied to any form of transcript including psychoanalytic sessions and research participant interviews. In this first clinical research application of the CTA for RF in couple therapy sessions with trauma survivors we identified that the CTA RF is a time and cost efficient method of measuring mentalizing that does not require extensive training to administer and score and a method of measuring mentalizing that shows promise in broadening the scope of future research in mentalizing and the role of mentalizing in psychotherapy.

This cross-sectional study examined three social determinants (sociodemographics, chronic stress, and social support) and the quality of attachment among a community-based sample of Latina mother-daughter dyads (N = 158 dyads) to document the relationship between those factors and their respective drug use. Hypotheses were: (a) the quality of mother-daughter attachment will mediate the relationship between their social support and drug use and (b) the effects of mothers' and daughters' chronic stress on their drug use is mediated by their social support which, in turn, is also mediated by the quality of their attachment after taking into account socio-demographic variables. Structural equation modeling was used with dyads as the units of analyses. Our preliminary results show: (a) transgenerational dyadic concordance among the variables, (b) mothers' higher quality of attachment scores mediated the relationship between their chronic stress and social support scores on their lower drug use scores, and (c) daughters' attachment scores mediated the relationship between their social support scores and their lower drug use scores. Limitations are discussed. Our preliminary results provide a useful first step towards understanding the processes linking stress, social support, and attachment with drug use behaviors among Latina mothers and daughters from a culturally relevant and transgenerational perspective.

L'attachement systémique est une approche qui considère l'attachement non pas comme un simple lien entre un enfant et son parent, mais comme un phénomène complexe impliquant l'ensemble des interactions au sein de la famille. Cette perspective élargit la théorie classique de l'attachement, en reconnaissant que la dynamique entre tous les membres de la famille (parents, frères et sœurs, grands-parents) influence la manière dont chacun développe ses modèles d'attachement.

L'attachement dans le système familial
Dans une approche systémique, les blessures d'attachement ne sont pas uniquement le résultat de l'interaction avec un seul "donneur de soins" principal. Elles sont le produit d'un système entier.

L'interdépendance des relations : La qualité de la relation entre les parents (le couple parental) est un facteur clé. Un père qui insécurise la mère peut rendre cette dernière moins disponible pour l'enfant, créant ainsi une insécurité chez l'enfant. Les désaccords parentaux ou une autorité dysfonctionnelle renforcent l'insécurité pour tous.

La transmission intergénérationnelle : Les styles d'attachement des parents, souvent hérités de leur propre enfance, sont reproduits et influencent les modèles d'attachement de leurs enfants. Un parent avec un attachement évitant peut, par exemple, avoir du mal à répondre aux besoins émotionnels de son enfant.

Les "blessures d'attachement" dans le système : Ces blessures sont des ruptures ou des schémas relationnels qui engendrent une insécurité chronique. Elles se manifestent par des schémas relationnels instables, de la méfiance, et une difficulté à se connecter aux autres. Par exemple, un enfant peut développer un attachement désorganisé s'il perçoit son parent comme une source à la fois de sécurité et de peur (comme dans les cas de maltraitance ou de négligence).

Blessures d'attachement et dynamique familiale
Les blessures d'attachement sont les conséquences de ces dynamiques insécurisantes.

Blessure d'attachement évitant : L'enfant a appris que ses signaux de détresse ne recevaient pas de réponse appropriée ou étaient rejetés. Pour se protéger, il minimise l'expression de ses émotions et se construit une fausse autonomie.

Blessure d'attachement anxieux-ambivalent : L'enfant a eu des réponses parentales incohérentes, parfois disponibles, parfois non. Il vit dans une anxiété constante, s'accroche et s'agrippe à ses figures d'attachement pour éviter une potentielle séparation.

Blessure d'attachement désorganisé : C'est le style le plus souvent associé aux traumas familiaux (maltraitance, négligence). L'enfant n'a pas de stratégie cohérente, car sa figure de sécurité est aussi une source de peur. Cela se manifeste par un chaos émotionnel et relationnel, où l'enfant approche la figure d'attachement puis la repousse avec désorientation.

En thérapie systémique, le traitement des blessures d'attachement ne se concentre pas uniquement sur l'individu, mais sur la compréhension et la modification des schémas relationnels qui opèrent au sein de la famille. L'objectif est de rendre le système familial plus fonctionnel pour que les membres puissent se connecter de manière plus saine et plus sécurisante.

Parental alienation (PA) is a contested yet increasingly recognised phenomenon at the cutting edge of contemporary families. The PA field straddles the intersection of family dynamics, power, gender and politics. Defined by behaviours one parent adopts to manipulate a child into rejecting the other parent without reasonable grounds, PA is a form of social and psychological abuse and coercive control with significant public health implications. Critics often dismiss PA as a pseudo-concept or patriarchal discourse. Yet, according to extensive research, alienating behaviours are agnostic to gender. They result in adverse outcomes for children regardless of the family member's gender. This article situates PA as a form of "discursive violence" that restructures family relationships and undermines children's needs and rights. It traces the evolution of the concept from Gardner's "Parental Alienation Syndrome" to contemporary nonmedicalised approaches, noting how ideological disputes-particularly with gendered theories of domestic violence-shape its reception in law and policy. Globally, some jurisdictions have policies and laws to address PA, while others, such as Australia, maintain ambivalence, influenced by ideological contestation. Drawing on international experience and policy debates, the article argues for recognising PA as a gender agnostic form of relational abuse requiring integrated evidence-based policy and legal reform. It concludes that policy should adopt a childcentred, needs and rights-based framework that acknowledges the harms of alienation, balances protection from abuse with maintaining parental relationships. It should resist

Objectives: To describe inductively women's perceptions of the effects of miscarriage on their interpersonal and sexual couple relationships (IR and SR); and, guided by the Lazarus Emotions and Adaptation Model, to compare IR and SR patterns 1 year after loss for differences in backgrounds, contexts, appraisals, reappraisals, and emotions. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data gathered at 1, 6, 16, and 52 weeks postmiscarriage from 185 women. Text data were content-analyzed. Relationship differences were examined using MANCOVA with Bonferroni adjusted pairwise comparisons. Results: There were three relationship patterns: closer, as it was, and more distant. At 1 year, women whose IR (44%) was as it was (vs. closer [23%] or more distant [32%]) or whose SR (55%) was as it was (vs. more distant [39%]) coped less passively and appraised less miscarriage impact. Women whose IR or SR was as it was (vs. closer) were more likely to have children and (vs. more distant), miscarried at an earlier gestation, conceived again, and experienced fewer negative events. Those whose IR was closer or as it was and whose SR was as it was (vs. IR or SR more distant) had less disturbed emotions, more emotional strength, and partners who performed more caring acts. Women whose IR was closer and whose SR was as it was (vs. more distant) had partners who engaged in more mutual sharing. Conclusions: Women differed in perceptions of how miscarriage affected their IR and SR. The Lazarus Model helped explain those differences.

This exploratory investigation sought to gain a better understanding of the mental representations of attachment in maltreated adolescents, and how, if at all, unresolved attachment representations are related to cognitive processes in this population. Measures of cognitive functioning, attachment state of mind and parent ratings on attention were obtained from 38 adolescents with a history of maltreatment. Results showed that maltreated adolescents with unresolved states of mind in regard to attachment scored significantly lower on measures of cognitive processes of attention, working memory and cognitive efficiency, even when intelligence was controlled for in the analyses. Theoretical considerations, implications for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Purpose-This study examined attachment styles in patients with lung cancer and their spouses and associations between attachment styles and patient and spouse adjustment. Methods-One hundred twenty-seven patients with early stage lung cancer completed measures of attachment style, marital quality, self-efficacy, pain, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. Their spouses completed measures of attachment style, marital quality, self-efficacy, caregiver strain, and mood. Results-Analyses indicated that, among patients, those high in either attachment anxiety or avoidance had significantly higher levels of anxiety and poorer social well-being. Attachment avoidance was also significantly associated with higher levels of depression and poorer marital quality and functional well-being. Spouse avoidant attachment was significantly associated with patient reports of increased pain and poorer functional well-being, and spouse anxious attachment was associated with poorer patient marital quality. Among spouses, those high in attachment avoidance reported significantly higher levels of caregiver strain, anger, depressed mood, and poorer marital quality; those high in attachment anxiety reported higher anxious mood. Dyads in which both partners were insecurely attached had significantly poorer adjustment compared to dyads in which both partners reported secure attachment. Conclusions-These preliminary findings raise the possibility that attachment styles of cancer patients and their spouses as individuals and as a dyad may be important factors affecting adjustment in multiple domains.

A multiple year project to understand visitor and community benefits, values, and conflict at US Army Corps of Engineers (CE) recreation areas was undertaken by the University of Minnesota (UofMN) and CE. This first effort focused on the Kaskaskia watershed in Illinois (Kaskaskia River, Carlyle Lake, Lake Shelbyville, and the Navigation project) and included onsite visitor questionnaires, marina member questionnaires, community member interviews, and community surveys. This report focuses on visitor experiences at Lake Shelbyville, Illinois. The methods for the on-site and mail questionnaires implemented at Lake Shelbyville are presented in the following sections: study site, sample, questionnaire, and analysis. Lake Shelbyville, located in central Illinois, stretches 172 miles through Shelby and Moultrie counties. This lake, the third largest inland lake in Illinois, includes three marinas, six campgrounds, three day-use areas, six beaches, two state parks, and a fish and wildlife management area. Lake Shelbyville provides a variety of recreation opportunities throughout the four seasons and hosts more than 2.7 million visitors annually. Lake Shelbyville visitors with a range of interests in outdoor recreational activities were the target sample. Visitors were systematically selected in 2003 and 2004 through an onsite contact at four locations: campgrounds, spillway areas, day use/sightseer areas, and boat ramps. Onsite questionnaires were administered across 16 days of sampling with sampling times varying to maximize user variability. Visitors were invited to participate in a mail survey at the time of contact. To obtain potential respondents for the marina member mail survey, watershed marinas were invited to share their member lists. Onsite: An onsite questionnaire was designed, approved by Office of Management and Business (OMB) and by the UofMN Institutional Review Board (IRB), and pretested in 2003. Questionnaire sections focused on (1) experience use history with the CE area, (2) place attachment to the CE area, and (3) demographics.

Older persons prefer to age in place or stay put in their current dwellings and move less frequently than any other age group. However, current residential mobility theories do not fully account for these preferences and behaviors because they focus on why older people move rather than on why they remain in their dwellings and do not consider the temporal or human developmental context of these residential decisions. It is essential to understand why older persons are reluctant to move because their ability to age successfully-have healthy, independent, active, and enjoyable lives-depends on where they live. When they stay put, they also rely more on family caregivers and paid home care providers to maintain their independence, rather than on the supportive services offered by senior group facilities, such as assisted living. They demand more home modification and financial service products, and their residential decisions influence the supply of housing that younger populations can potentially buy or rent. This paper's theoretical analysis proposes that Carstensen's socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), a lifespan theory of motivation, improves our understanding of why older persons age in place-either in their dwellings or more broadly in their communities. It offers an alternative interpretation of how life-changing events, such as retirement, lower incomes, spousal death, physical limitations, and health declines, influence their residential decisions. Whereas residential mobility theories view these transitions as disruptions that change the appropriateness or congruence of where older people live, SST proposes that older persons perceive these events as signs or cues that they are closer to death and must differently prioritize their goals and emotional experiences. Feeling their time is "running out," older persons are motivated to stay put because moving requires preparations that are physically and emotionally trying and they are able to adapt to their current housing shortcomings. Their residential environments are now also a source of difficult-to-replace positive emotions and provide them with a supportive network of intimate and reliable interpersonal relationships. It is challenging for them to learn how to safely and efficiently conduct their usual activities and routines in another location and to establish new residential attachments and social connections. They would benefit from any net positive emotional payoffs only in a distant future, an unattractive prospect when they perceive a limited time left to live. Empirical studies must test the theoretical propositions presented in this paper. However, the disproportionally large projected future growth of the age 75 and older population with a heightened awareness of their limited time left to live should be a strong rationale for such investigations.

Attachment research so far rarely has focused on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study is the first to examine the distribution of the attachment representation in mothers of children with ADHD. Considering results of clinical attachment studies we formulated the following hypothesis: the prevalence of maternal insecure and unresolved attachment representations increases with the degree of severity of children’s ADHD symptoms. Therefore it is highest in mothers of children with ADHD who are treated clinically (group A). It is expressed less strongly in mothers of children with ADHD symptoms without need for clinical treatment (group B). In a control group of mothers whose children have no ADHD diagnosis (group C), there is the lowest prevalence of insecure and disorganized attachment representations. Within a period of 6 months from a total of 72 recruited children and their mothers screened according to participation criteria (e.g. ICD-10: F90 Hyperkinetic dis...

Objective: Close contact of mother and child in the first hours after birth is essential for the establishment of a secure attachment behavior in term infants. To date, studies investigating whether a 'sensitive period' also exists for very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants are lacking. Study Design: Attachment patterns of 62 VLBW infants were assessed using the 'strange situation' setting and correlated with the time mothers saw their child for the first time. Furthermore, maternal and infant covariates possibly influencing the attachment behavior were analyzed. As maternal factors the mother's age, social status and pregnancy history were recorded and at three time points (time 1, 2 and 3 (t-1, t-2 and t-3)), a semi-structured interview, a depression and a social support questionnaire were performed. As infant factors neonatal basic data, ventilation time and length of hospital stay were recorded. Disease severity was scored using the clinical risk index for babies, score for neonatal acute physiology (SNAP), SNAP perinatal extension and nursery neurobiological risk score. At time points t-2 and t-3, the infants were examined using the second edition of Bayley scales of infant development. Results: In all, 53.2% of the children showed a secure, 33.9% an insecure-avoidant, 3.2% an insecure-ambivalent and 9.7% an insecuredisorganized attachment behavior. Preterm infants whose mothers had seen them within 3 h after birth had a higher rate of secure attachment than preterm infants with no early contact (76 versus 41%, P ¼ 0.009). Firstborns showed a significantly higher rate of insecure attachment behavior (93 versus 67%, P ¼ 0.01). No influence on attachment behavior was shown for any other maternal or infant factor. Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that the first hours after birth are a 'sensitive period' for the development of attachment behavior in VLBW infants. When a mother is enabled to see her infant shortly after birth, the 'sensitive period' right after birth may be used to help forming an important basis for the secure attachment of the preterm infant.

This article considers links between clinical hypnosis, attachment theory, and oxytocin. First, it proposes that commonalities between clinical hypnosis and attachment theory may improve our understanding of the hypnotherapeutic process. Then, it suggests that an integrative model unifying clinical hypnosis and attachment theory may constitute a link between clinical hypnosis and a neurobiological factor such as oxytocin. Finally, it discusses the implications of these hypotheses for clinical practice and future researches. Nowadays an abundant scientific literature acknowledges the therapeutic value of clinical hypnosis (for a review, see Barabasz, Olness,

According to the literature about developmental changes, periods of instability and disorganization in the social and emotional behavior in both human and non-human primate, infancy precedes major developmental achievements or transitions (Heimann, 2003; Sparrow & Brazelton, 2006). Developmental investigators have observed a more frequent and prolonged crying, clinging and bids for physical contact with mother during these periods of instability and disorganization. Some authors, according to Horwich (1974), called these periods regression periods. Rijt-Plooij and Plooij (1992) claimed that 10 regression periods could be identified during the first 20 months of human life. In an early study, Sadurní and Rostan (2002) confirmed the presence of 8 such regression periods during the first year of life of 18 Catalan babies. Their 8 regression periods were comparable to the first 8 of the 10 regression periods found by Van de Rijt Plooij and Plooij. The aim of the present study is to see ...

The current study tests a novel latent construct reflecting psychological absence and examines its relations with maternal depression, mother-toddler interactions, and toddlers' social-emotional outcomes in a low-income sample (N = 2,632). Structural equation modeling confirmed a psychological absence construct and revealed that psychological absence, measured at the child's 36-month birthday-related assessment, is a significant predictor of children's social-emotional development at 36 months, mediated by motherchild interaction. Results are interpreted within a boundary ambiguity framework.

The division of child-care tasks is a critical element of the family system that has already received considerable attention from researchers and practitioners. The psychological and relational dynamics involved in coping together and sharing in their roles as parents with young children are at the forefront of this study. The purpose of this research was to determine the predictors of child-care task division and shared parenting attitudes in families with youthful children. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. The study population was consisted of couples with at least one three years child or younger. The couples were selected by a random sampling method. Data were collected using the Child Care Tasks and Shared Parenting Attitudes in Families Scale and an additional form for demographic characteristics of participants. The CCTS was designed to measure what percentages of times specific child-care tasks are completed by the mother alone, the father alone, and parents together. Respondents were asked to estimate the percentages for each task jointly. The alpha coefficient for the total CCT was 0.74. A total of 177 parent couples self-completed the instruments. This procedure took approximately 20-30 minute for each study participant. Predictor variables of the study were mother's age, father's age, mother's education level, father's education level, mother's occupation, father's occupation, monthly income, number of children, age of the youngest child, and gender of the youngest child. Pearson's correlation, factor, and reliability analyses, paired t-tests, multiple regression analyses were used CCT. Results: Mothers spent a more significant proportion of their time completing independently child-care tasks than fathers. Considering all child-care tasks together, the average percentages of time that couples' estimated mothers spent on child-care tasks were between 40 and 60%, fathers' average percentages were 20 to 40%, and parents worked together approximately 20 to 40% in completing the tasks. Parenting goals of employed mothers were similar to their partners. Also, employed mothers were flexible with their partners regarding the division of child care. Conclusions: Demographic variables of the couples and their child were significant predictors for CCT and shared parenting attitudes in families. It is possible that mothers who tend to share this responsibility feel a greater sense of commitment to their families.

In this paper, we highlight the need for acknowledging the importance and impact of both physical and emotional closeness between the preterm infant and parent in the neonatal intensive care unit. Physical closeness refers to being spatially close and emotional closeness to parental feelings of being emotionally connected to the infant (experiencing feelings of love, warmth and affection). Through consideration of the literature in this area, we outline some of the reasons why physical closeness and emotional closeness are crucial to the physical, emotional and social well‐being of both the infant and the parent. These include positive effects on infant brain development, parent psychological well‐being and on the parent–infant relationship. The influence of the neonatal unit environment and culture on physical and emotional closeness is also discussed.Conclusions:  Culturally sensitive care practices, procedures and the physical environment need to be considered to facilitate paren...

This investigation presents two studies with the goal of adapting and validating a short version of the Group Environment Questionnaire in the Spanish sport context with professional players. Study 1 used a sample of 377 male soccer players aged between 18 and 39 years ( M = 24.51, SD = 3.73), in a preliminary study using exploratory factor analysis. Study 2 used a sample of 604 professional male and female athletes, ages between 15 and 38 years ( M = 24.34, SD = 4.03). The data analyzed were collected at three moments of the season. For each measurement, we developed seven first- and second-order structures that were analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis. Study 1 indicated appropriate factorial validity (> .60) and internal consistency (> .70), with only Item 3 presenting a low factor loading (.11), so its drafting was modified in the next study. Study 2 revealed that the Spanish version of the GEQ has high levels of internal consistency (> .70) and acceptable fit ind...

Theory suggests that early experiences may calibrate the "threshold activity" of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in childhood. Particularly challenging or particularly supportive environments are posited to manifest in heightened physiological sensitivity to context. Using longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we tested whether links between maternal sensitivity and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity aligned with these predictions. Specifically, we tested whether the magnitude of the within-person relation between maternal sensitivity and children's cortisol levels, a proxy for physiological sensitivity to context, was especially pronounced for children who typically experienced particularly low or high levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Our results were consistent with these hypotheses. Between children, lower levels of mean maternal sensitivity (7-24 months) were associated with higher mean cortisol levels across this period (measured as a basal sample collected at each visit). However, the magnitude and direction of the within-person relation was contingent on children's average levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Increases in maternal sensitivity were associated with contemporaneous cortisol decreases for children with typically low-sensitive mothers, whereas sensitivity increases were associated with cortisol increases for children with typically

Theory suggests that early experiences may calibrate the "threshold activity" of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in childhood. Particularly challenging or particularly supportive environments are posited to manifest in heightened physiological sensitivity to context. Using longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we tested whether links between maternal sensitivity and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity aligned with these predictions. Specifically, we tested whether the magnitude of the within-person relation between maternal sensitivity and children's cortisol levels, a proxy for physiological sensitivity to context, was especially pronounced for children who typically experienced particularly low or high levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Our results were consistent with these hypotheses. Between children, lower levels of mean maternal sensitivity (7-24 months) were associated with higher mean cortisol levels across this pe...

Background: Maternal distress influences her own wellbeing and shapes her offspring’s psychosocial adjustment and neurodevelopment across childhood. The aim of this study was to analyze multivariate trajectories of maternal postpartum distress using a latent class modeling approach and to find genetic and psychosocial factors that predict membership within a given group (latent class).Methods: Maternal self-reports of depressive symptoms, parenting stress, general stress, and marital stress were measured at regular intervals during the first six years postpartum in 261 mothers participating in the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment Study. Genetic risk was determined by calculating a polygenic risk score for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD-PRS). Additionally, we assessed maternal history of early life adversity (mELA), educational level, and prenatal symptoms of depression as psychosocial risk factors. Using Latent Gold® Software, we identified latent classes of mo...

Prenatal adversity shapes child neurodevelopment and risk for later mental health problems. The quality of the early care environment can buffer some of the negative effects of prenatal adversity on child development. Retrospective studies, in adult samples, highlight epigenetic modifications as sentinel markers of the quality of the early care environment; however, comparable data from pediatric cohorts are lacking. Participants were drawn from the Maternal Adversity Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN) study, a longitudinal cohort with measures of infant attachment, infant development, and child mental health. Children provided buccal epithelial samples (mean age = 6.99, SD = 1.33 years, n = 226), which were used for analyses of genome-wide DNA methylation and genetic variation. We used a series of linear models to describe the association between infant attachment and (a) measures of child outcome and (b) DNA methylation across the genome. Paired genetic data was used to de...

Background: Maternal distress influences her own wellbeing and shapes her offspring’s psychosocial adjustment and neurodevelopment across childhood. The aim of this study was to analyze multivariate trajectories of maternal postpartum distress using a latent class modeling approach and to find genetic and psychosocial factors that predict membership within a given group (latent class).Methods: Maternal self-reports of depressive symptoms, parenting stress, general stress, and marital stress were measured at regular intervals during the first six years postpartum in 261 mothers participating in the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment Study. Genetic risk was determined by calculating a polygenic risk score for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD-PRS). Additionally, we assessed maternal history of early life adversity (mELA), educational level, and prenatal symptoms of depression as psychosocial risk factors. Using Latent Gold® Software, we identified latent classes of mo...

The present study was concerned with the relationship between young adults and their parents. Subjects were 95 male and female volunteers aged between sixteen and twenty-five years, who were doing an undergraduate or postgraduate psychology course at the University of Canterbury. A questionnaire was completed which requested basic demographic,information and assessed such factors as happiness, financial support from parent(s), contact with parent(s), quality of relationship with parent(s), stress with parent(s) and communication with parents(s). Twenty-four of the subjects were selected for an extensive interview about their relationship. Frequency counts, and multiple regression, discriminant function and content analyses were used to examine the wide range of information which was gathered. Two fairly salient results emerged. Firstly that a young adults global level of happiness was a significant predictor of a subject's relationship with his/her parents. Secondly, that from e...

For almost two decades now, cities around the country have been demolishing traditional public housing and relocating residents to subsidized private market rental housing. In this paper, we examine sense of place, consisting of both community and place attachment, among a sample of Atlanta public housing residents prior to relocation (N=290). We find that 41% of the residents express place attachment, and a large percentage express some level of community attachment, though residents of senior public housing are far more attached than residents of family public housing. Positive neighborhood characteristics, such as collective efficacy and social support, are associated with community attachment, and social support is also associated with place attachment. Negative neighborhood characteristics, such as social disorder and fear of crime, are not consistently associated with sense of place. We argue that embodied in current public housing relocation initiatives is a real sense of loss among the residents. Policy makers may also want to consider the possibilities of drawing upon residents' sense of place as a resource for renovating and revitalizing public housing communities rather than continuing to demolish them and relocating residents to other neighborhoods.

Research in mammals has demonstrated the involvement of oxytocin (OT) in social bond formation; yet, its role in human bonding remains unclear. Plasma OT has been used as a proxy for central activity and studies indicate its association with human affiliative behaviors. Molecular genetic studies also reveal a role for OT neuropathways in shaping the social brain. However, the links between peripheral OT, genetic markers, and their combined contribution to human parenting are unknown. Methods: Participants included 352 individuals: 272 mothers and fathers and their 4-to 6-month-old-infants and 80 nonparents. Plasma OT was assayed from adults who were genotyped for oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and CD38 risk alleles associated with social dysfunctions. CD38 is an ectoenzyme that mediates the release of brain OT. Parent-infant interactions were microcoded for parental touch and gaze synchrony and participants reported on parental care in childhood. Results: OXTR (rs2254298 and rs1042778) and CD38 (rs3796863) risk alleles were each associated with lower plasma OT. Reduced plasma OT and both OXTR and CD38 risk alleles were related to less parental touch. The interaction of high plasma OT and low-risk CD38 alleles predicted longer durations of parent-infant gaze synchrony. Parents reporting greater parental care showed higher plasma OT, low-risk CD38 alleles, and more touch toward their infants. Results indicate that peripheral and genetic markers of the extended OT pathway are interrelated and underpin core behaviors associated with human parenting and social engagement. These findings may have important implications for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders marked by early social dysfunctions.

This study examines the relationships between attachment styles and responsibility in male and female adolescents while considering the mediating role of emotion regulation. Methods: This study employed a descriptive-correlational research design using path analysis. Our statistical population comprised all high school students (second level) in Tehran City, Iran. Following Kline's (2016) recommendations, 353 students were selected through random sampling of the multi-stage cluster. Assessment tools included the revised adult attachment scale, the emotion regulation questionnaire for children and adolescents, and the personal responsibility assessment. The data were analyzed using the AMOS software, version 24.0, with maximum likelihood estimations. Results: The findings revealed a positive and significant indirect path coefficient between secure attachment style and responsibility through reappraisal strategies (β=0.105, P=0.001) and suppression (β=0.091, P=0.001). The indirect path coefficient between avoidant attachment style and responsibility through reappraisal strategies (β=-0.099, P=0.001) and suppression (β=-0.068, P=0.007) showed negative and significant associations. Similarly, the indirect path coefficient between ambivalent attachment style and responsibility through reappraisal strategies (β=-0.105, P=0.001) and suppression (β=-0.065, P=0.012) demonstrated negative and significant relationships. Conclusion: The structural model exhibited an equivalent fit for both male and female groups. Attachment style significantly influences adolescents' responsibility, and emotion regulation and management contribute to increased responsibility in adolescents.