Anxiety as a cause of attachment avoidance in women with Turner Syndrome

Working models of attachment are internal depictions of self relative to others and have been described in terms of two dimensions: (1) attachment avoidance and (2) attachment anxiety. An exploratory qualitative study was carried out to build understandings about women with Turner Syndrome (TS) and the psychosocial impact their infertility has upon salient relationships. In one-to-one semi-structured interviews, five women with TS were asked: How do you perceive your womanhood and infertility status has affected your relationships with: (1) the opposite sex, (2) siblings and (3) peers? In opposite-sex relationships, infertility status was found to arouse fear of ending up alone and anxiety over engaging in romantic relationships. In sibling relationships, jealousy was expressed in relation to disparity with sister(s) more natural maturation to womanhood, and, within peer relationships, consequences from divulging infertility status created attachment avoidance with friends. Further investigation in this area is merited

FRAXE and mental retardation.

Mental impairment and instability of the CCG repeat at FRAXE is described in six kindreds. Cosegregation of FRAXA and FRAXE was found within one of these kindreds. Cytogenetic expression of FRAXE was shown to skip a generation when associated with a reduction in size of the CCG expansion when transmitted through a male; however, in general, transmission occurred through females and a copy number increased from one generation to the next. In these respects the behaviour of FRAXE paralleled that of FRAXA. A relationship between FRAXE and non-specific mental impairment is strongly suggested by the occurrence in these families of more mentally impaired male and female carriers, after removal of index cases, than could reasonably be expected by chance