Couple members separating and not separating from each other in a public airport completed a questionnaire designed to assess relationship length, attachment style, and degree of subjective distress. After they completed these measures, their attachment behavior was observed unobtrusively. Analyses suggested that adult attachment behavior is organized in a manner similar to that observed in chi...

This article reviews recent attachment-related studies of early aggression. That aggressive behavior toward peers is related to disorganized or controlling patterns of attachment behavior toward parents but not to avoidant or ambivalent patterns. Longitudinal attachment studies indicate that risk factors identified in cross-sectional studies of aggressive school-age children, such as family adv...

Nonverbal behavior and sensitivity to a relationship partner’s nonverbal behavior importantly influence the quality of interpersonal interactions and relationships, including attachment relationships. The abilities to encode, or express, and to decode, or understand, nonverbal cues are crucial to effective communication of emotions and are associated with social adjustment and relationship sati...

BACKGROUND Some contend that attachment insecurity increases risk for the development of externalizing behavior problems in children. METHOD Latent-growth curve analyses were applied to data on 1,364 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care to evaluate the association between early attachment and teacher-rated externalizing problems across the primary-school years. RESULTS Findings...

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a psychiatric disorder developing in early or middle childhood as a consequence of significant failures in the caregiving environment. RAD results in children failing to relate socially, either by exhibiting markedly inhibited behaviour or by indiscriminate social behaviour and is associated with significant socio-behavioural problems in the longer term. Th...

Early adverse caregiving experiences constitute an important risk factor for the development of disorganized attachment in infancy, especially extreme insensitivity and frightening behavior associated with an unresolved loss or trauma. Using existing measures for frightening parenting and disrupted communication, we developed a new measure assessing Disconnected and extremely Insensitive Parent...

BACKGROUND Child maltreatment is a major risk factor for psychopathology, including reactive attachment disorder (RAD). AIMS To examine whether neural activity during reward processing was altered in children and adolescents with RAD. METHOD Sixteen children and adolescents with RAD and 20 typically developing (TD) individuals performed tasks with high and low monetary rewards while undergo...

This study investigated whether insecure adolescent attachment organization (i.e., preoccupied and dismissing) longitudinally predicted self- and peer-reported externalizing behavior in emerging adulthood. Secondarily, maladaptive coping strategies were examined for their potential role in mediating the relationship between insecure attachment and future externalizing behaviors. Target particip...

This parameter reviews the current status of reactive attachment disorder with regard to assessment and treatment. Attachment is a central component of social and emotional development in early childhood, and disordered attachment is defined by specific patterns of abnormal social behavior in the context of "pathogenic care." Clinically relevant subtypes include an emotionally withdrawn/inhibit...