{"title":"The legacy of Mary Main in attachment and developmental research in Israel.","authors":"Sarit Alkalay, Abraham Sagi-Schwartz","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2422044","DOIUrl":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2422044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article examines Mary Main's impact on attachment research in Israel and <i>vice versa</i>, focusing on her contributions: the disorganized attachment classification (D) and the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Israeli research spans Jewish and Arab populations, individuals with special needs, and trauma-affected groups, testing the Normativity, Sensitivity, and Competence hypotheses. While confirming traditional findings, some studies revealed deviations, possibly influenced by Israel's unique sociocultural/historical context. Some studies found an overrepresentation of disorganized and ambivalent attachment classifications, possibly linked to regional conflicts. The absence of a distinction between these two classifications in certain outcomes, especially disrupted maternal communication-a precursor to D-challenges the clear-cut classifications found in Western studies. Finally, a Holocaust Project provides unique insights, identifying the absence of intergenerational transmission of an unresolved state of mind from Holocaust survivors to descendants and revealing distinctive AAI classifications, namely, Absence of Attachment Representations and Failed Mourning, all inviting further study.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"34-66"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142613916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carlo Schuengel, Lianne Bakkum, Sheri Madigan, Pasco Fearon
{"title":"Mary Main's written legacy: a bibliometric analysis.","authors":"Carlo Schuengel, Lianne Bakkum, Sheri Madigan, Pasco Fearon","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2377733","DOIUrl":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2377733","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>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.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"3-17"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141578877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to the double issue, the first and second issues of 2025, in honor of the legacy of Mary Main.","authors":"Howard Steele, Jude Cassidy","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2025.2455820","DOIUrl":"10.1080/14616734.2025.2455820","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143027921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bhavya Arya, Madeline Patrick, Huang Pei, Evelyn Law, Birit Broekman, Helen Chen, Madeline Chan Hiu Gwan, Fabian Yap, Lee Yung Seng, Kok Hian Tan, Chong Yap-Seng, Anqi Qiu, Marielle Valerie Fortier, Peter Gluckman, Michael Meaney, Ai Peng Tan, Anne Rifkin-Graboi
{"title":"Toddler disorganized attachment in relation to cortical thickness and socioemotional problems in late childhood.","authors":"Bhavya Arya, Madeline Patrick, Huang Pei, Evelyn Law, Birit Broekman, Helen Chen, Madeline Chan Hiu Gwan, Fabian Yap, Lee Yung Seng, Kok Hian Tan, Chong Yap-Seng, Anqi Qiu, Marielle Valerie Fortier, Peter Gluckman, Michael Meaney, Ai Peng Tan, Anne Rifkin-Graboi","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2404591","DOIUrl":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2404591","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Disorganized attachment is a risk for mental health problems, with increasing work focused on understanding biological mechanisms. Examining late childhood brain morphology may be informative - this stage coincides with the onset of many mental health problems. Past late childhood research reveals promising candidates, including frontal lobe cortical thickness and hippocampal volume. However, work has been limited to Western samples and has not investigated mediation or moderation by brain morphology. Furthermore, past cortical thickness research included only 33 participants. The current study utilized data from 166 children from the GUSTO Asian cohort, who participated in strange situations at 18 months and MRI brain imaging at 10.5 years, with 124 administered the Child Behaviour Checklist at 10.5 years. Results demonstrated disorganization liked to internalizing problems, but no mediation or moderation by brain morphology. The association to internalizing (but not externalizing) problems is discussed with reference to the comparatively higher prevalence of internalizing problems in Singapore.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"135-155"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142340206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Behavioral problems, dissociative symptoms, and empathic behaviors in children adopted in infancy from institutional and foster care in the Czech Republic.","authors":"Petra Winnette, Lior Abramson","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2444722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2024.2444722","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined if considerably different caregiving experiences in infancy influence socio-emotional development later in childhood. We included children aged 6-9 years who were, immediately after birth, placed in quality state-run institutions (N = 24) or quality state-run foster care with one family (N = 23). All children have lived in stable families since their adoption before 15 months of age. Children in the comparison group have always lived with their biological parents (N = 25). We found that the previously institutionalized group had significantly more behavioral problems, more dissociative symptoms, and lower empathic behavior scores than the comparison group. The previously fostered group also exhibited more behavioral problems and dissociative symptoms than the comparison group but, notably, significantly fewer behavioral problems than the previously institutionalized group. The findings underscore the beneficial role of foster care compared to institutional care and that quality and consistency of early caregiving play a crucial role in later socio-emotional development.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143021826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alejandra Perez, Miriam Steele, Peter Fonagy, Pasco Fearon, Francesca Segal, Howard Steele
{"title":"Predictions of adolescents' responses to the Youth Self-Report from parental attachment interviews collected during pregnancy: a 17-year longitudinal study.","authors":"Alejandra Perez, Miriam Steele, Peter Fonagy, Pasco Fearon, Francesca Segal, Howard Steele","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2448916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2024.2448916","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the influence of parents' Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) responses prior to the birth of a first child, on self-reported mental health symptoms of the first-born child in mid-adolescence. The sample comprised 51 first-born children aged 16 years, their mothers and fathers from a low-risk community urban sample, White, British and 70% middle class. Mothers' responses to the AAI were the strongest predictor of their adolescent children's self-reported mental health symptoms. Children's infant-mother or infant-father attachment patterns were not predictive of these 16-year outcomes, but mothers' insecure (primarily dismissing) attachment representations predicted children's externalizing, aggressive, and delinquent difficulties (though not internalizing difficulties) at 16 years. If one or both parents were autonomous-secure in their response to the AAI then their adolescent children reported significantly fewer mental health problems. Discussion focuses on thepredictive validity of the Adult Attachment Interview, Mary Main's legacy, and possible meanings (and limitations) of the results.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142999191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the link between parental relationship functioning and parent sensitivity: a meta-analysis.","authors":"Jenney Zhu, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Harshita Seal, Gabrielle Lucchese-Lavecchia, Sheri Madigan, Jean-François Bureau","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2441146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2024.2441146","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Fathers remain neglected in attachment research, despite paternal sensitivity being important for children's development. Past research suggested that fathers' parenting may be influenced by contextual factors, including relationship functioning between parents.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This meta-analysis examined the association between paternal sensitivity and parental relationship functioning, and compared the magnitude of associations to those of maternal sensitivity.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A search conducted across five databases up to February 2023 yielded 44 studies and <i>N</i> = 4,616 fathers (mean father age: 31.7 years; mean child age: 19.1 months). All studies included an observational measure of paternal sensitivity and a measure of parental relationship functioning.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Paternal sensitivity was positively associated with the quality of the co-parenting relationship (<i>r</i> = .13, 95% CI [.01, .25]) and parental romantic relationship (<i>r</i> = .09, 95% CI [.03, .15]).. Associations were similar for mothers and fathers.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study contributes to our understanding of factors that enhance paternal sensitivity.</p><p><strong>Implications: </strong>The results of this research may inform family-wide intervention and prevention efforts to support child well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-28"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142891567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A call to represent the current diversity of family forms in attachment research.","authors":"Audrey-Ann Deneault, Nicola Carone, Sheri Madigan","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2441990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2024.2441990","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As family forms become increasingly diverse, their underrepresentation in attachment research is glaring. Although attachment theory aims to explain the influence of early relationships, studies have disproportionately focused on mothers. Even when other attachment figures are considered, the research is typically limited to fathers in biparental mother-father families. In this piece, we report on the wide variety of family configurations worldwide, and how children experience care from multiple attachment figures. Drawing from the <i>Child Attachment Studies Catalogue and Data Exchange</i> (CASCADE), we assess the current state of attachment research with regard to diverse family configurations. Out of the available records in CASCADE, only four of 2,320 studies (0.2% of available studies) involved samples of diverse families. We conclude by issuing an explicit call for research that acknowledges and explores diverse family forms and propose strategies to improve reporting and research practices to promote more inclusivity of diverse family forms.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142852364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring the cross-cultural validity of attachment theory: a study of Egyptian mother-child dyads using the Strange Situation Procedure.","authors":"Nour M Zaki, Maya A Shehata, Merihan E Eissa","doi":"10.1080/14616734.2024.2443476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2024.2443476","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Given the dearth of literature on attachment theory in the Arab world, this study explores the cross-cultural validity of attachment theory within an Egyptian sample of 60 mother-child dyads through the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). The study examines the applicability of attachment theory's universality, normativity, and secure base hypotheses, as well as the prevalence and manifestations of insecurity in an Egyptian sample. The findings supported attachment theory's universality, normativity and secure base hypotheses, while simultaneously pointing towards cultural variations in attachment manifestations. Specifically, this study found that all children were classifiable according to the ABC classification system, and that secure attachment was the most prevalent within the sample. Additionally, trends of exploration and crying highly aligned with Ainsworth's findings in the Baltimore study, supporting the secure base phenomenon within this Egyptian sample. Nevertheless, resistant attachment was more common than avoidant attachment, which differs from the global prevalence. Resistant attachment also primarily took the form of inconsolability rather than anger.</p>","PeriodicalId":8632,"journal":{"name":"Attachment & Human Development","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142852365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}