Attachment working models as unconscious structures: An experimental test

Internal working models of attachment (IWMs) are presumed to be largely unconscious representations of childhood attachment experiences. Several instruments have been developed to assess IWMs; some of them are based on self-report and others on narrative interview techniques. This study investigated the capacity of a self-report measure, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987), and of a narrative interview method, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), to measure unconscious attachment models. We compared scores on the two attachment instruments to response latencies in an attachment priming task. It was shown that attachment organisation assessed by the AAI correlates with priming effects, whereas the IPPA scales were inversely or not related to priming. The results are interpreted as support for the assumption that the AAI assesses, to a certain degree, unconscious working models of attachment

Spectrometric attachment

Cílem práce bylo navrhnout mobilní spektrometr s vysokým rozlišením. V úvodu je diskutováno, proč je spektrometrie důležitým oborem bádání a jak mohou být spektrometry užitečné v různých oblastech života. Teoretická část vysvětluje optický princip spektrometrie a jak navrhnout spektrometr jako předsádku mobilného telefonu. Navržený spektrometr je optimalizovaný s ohledem na malé rozměry a požadovanou přesnost. Dosažené rozlišení mělo být 0,6nm, ale vzhledem k dostupným prvkům bylo dosaženo jen 1,9nm. Po dokončení návrhu a výrobě dílů byla provedena kalibrace a testovací měření, kerá prokázala, že spektrometr funguje dle předpokladů.The goal of the experiment was to construct a mobile spectrometer with high resolving power. In the introduction part it was discussed why spectrometry is an important field of study and spectrometers might be useful in different areas of life. The research was conducted in order to explain how spectrometry works from the optical point of view, and to calculate all necessary dimensions to create a device that would attach to the mobile phone with the camera. The design was made so that the device would be as small as possible with the sufficient precision. The desired resolving power was chosen to be 0.6 nm, but due to limited resources, the resolving power appeared to be 1.887 nm. After the design was completed and it was tested, the calibration was conducted to determine if the constructed spectrometer works correctly

The attachment system and physiology in adulthood: normative processes, individual differences, and implications for health.

Attachment theory provides a conceptual framework for understanding intersections between personality and close relationships in adulthood. Moreover, attachment has implications for stress-related physiology and physical health. We review work on normative processes and individual differences in the attachment behavioral system, as well as their associations with biological mechanisms related to health outcomes. We highlight the need for more basic research on normative processes and physiology and discuss our own research on individual differences in attachment and links with physiology. We then describe a novel perspective on attachment and physiology, wherein stress-related physiological changes may also be viewed as supporting the social-cognitive and emotion regulatory functions of the attachment system through providing additional energy to the brain, which has implications for eating behavior and health. We close by discussing our work on individual differences in attachment and restorative processes, including sleep and skin repair, and by stressing the importance of developing biologically plausible models for describing how attachment may impact chronic illness

Christians' attachment to God and mental health : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

Irregular pagination: page 4 missingThis study used a prospective design to examine the relationship between attachment to God and certain aspects of mental health on a Christian sample. 1265 participants responded to a survey which assessed their attachment to God, attachment to others, mental health variables, such as depression, positive and negative affect and well-being. Three to five months later, the same survey was re-administered to 437 of the initial participants who agreed to take part a second time. Hypotheses predicted that higher levels of anxious and avoidant attachment to God would be associated with poorer levels of mental health, that the results would remain significant after controlling for attachment to others and initial mental health, and that higher levels of stress would moderate the relationship between attachment to God and mental health variables. Findings provided support for a strong association between attachment to God and mental health, and a less strong association between avoidant attachment to God and mental health. Attachment to God showed stability over time, and stress only moderated the relationship between anxious attachment to God and well-being. This result remained significant after controlling for attachment to others and time 1 mental health

Association between attachment and mental health symptoms among school-going adolescents in Northern Uganda: the moderating role of war-related trauma

Background: The association between attachment and mental health symptoms in adolescents in a post-conflict low resource setting has not been documented. Methods: We investigated the relationship between parent and peer attachment and posttraumatic stress, depression and anxiety symptoms in a sample of 551 adolescents aged 13-21 years old. Attachment quality was assessed using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Impact of Events Scale Revised (IESR) and Hopkins Symptom Checklist for Adolescents (HSCL-37A) respectively. Gender differences in attachment relationships were determined using independent t-tests. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess whether attachment relationships were independently associated with posttraumatic stress, depression and anxiety symptoms. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the moderating role of war-related trauma. Results: Our analyses revealed gender differences in attachment to parents, with males reporting stronger attachment than females. Parental attachment was protective against depression and anxiety symptoms but not posttraumatic stress symptoms after adjusting for potential confounders. Alienation by parents was independently associated with an increase in these mental health symptoms while peer attachment was not associated with any of these symptoms. However, in situations of severe trauma, our analyses showed that peer attachment was significantly protective against post-traumatic stress symptoms. Conclusions: Secure parental attachment is associated with better psychosocial adjustment in adolescents affected by war. Further, adolescents with secure peer attachment relationships in situations of severe war trauma may be less likely to develop posttraumatic stress symptoms. Interventions to enhance peer support in this post conflict setting would benefit this vulnerable population

A Multilevel Meta‑Analysis

Insecure attachment to primary caregivers is associated with the development of depression symptoms in children and youth. This association has been shown by individual studies testing the relation between attachment and depression and by meta-analyses focusing on broad internalizing problems instead of depression or adult samples only. We therefore meta-analytically examined the associations between attachment security and depression in children and adolescents, using a multilevel approach. In total, 643 effect sizes were extracted from 123 independent samples. A significant moderate overall effect size was found (r = .31), indicating that insecure attachment to primary caregivers is associated with depression. Multivariate analysis of the significant moderators that impacted on the strength of the association between attachment security and depression showed that country of the study, study design, gender, the type of attachment, and the type of instrument to assess attachment uniquely contributed to the explanation of variance. This study suggests that insecure attachment may be a predictor of the development of depression in children and adolescents. When treating depression in children, attachment should therefore be addressed

A proposal for a brief-term post-adoption intervention in the attachment-perspective. A single case study with a late-adopted child and his adoptive mother

A growing body of attachment literature has focused on bridging the gap between research and clinical applications, even in clinical work with adoptive families. A brief-term clinical intervention focused on a multi-method assessment of attachment relationships and representations was performed in the first year after placement. This single case study aimed at analysing the attachment outcomes, through a long-term follow-up, both for the adoptive mother and her late-adopted son. We assumed that this five-session attachment oriented intervention could help the mother enhance her sensitivity skills and her ability to understand both her own past attachment experiences and her child’s insecure attachment as a consequence of the failures of his previous experiences of care, supporting her six year old child in acquiring a positive image of himself and of others and the security of the caregiver’s availability up to adolescence

An exploratory study of the association between reactive attachment disorder and attachment narratives in early school-age children

To explore attachment narratives in children diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Method: We compared attachment narratives, as measured by the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, in a group of 33 children with a diagnosis of RAD and 37 comparison children. Results: The relative risk (RR) for children with RAD having an insecure attachment pattern was 2.4 (1.4-4.2) but 30% were rated as securely attached. Within the RAD group, children with a clear history of maltreatment were more likely to be Insecure-Disorganised than children without a clear history of maltreatment. Conclusions: Reactive attachment disorder is not the same as attachment insecurity, and questions remain about how attachment research informs clinical research on attachment disorders