Adult attachment style across individuals and role-relationships: Avoidance is relationship-specific, but anxiety shows greater generalizability

A generalisability study examined the hypotheses that avoidant attachment, reflecting the representation of others, should be more relationship-specific (vary across relationships more than across individuals), while attachment anxiety, reflecting self-representation, should be more generalisable across a person’s relationships. College students responded to 6-item questionnaire measures of these variables for 5 relationships (mother, father, best same-gender friend, romantic partner or best opposite-gender friend, other close person), on 3 (N = 120) or 2 (N = 77) occasions separated by a few weeks. Results supported the hypotheses, with the person variance component being larger than the relationship-specific component for anxiety, and the opposite happening for avoidance. Anxiety therefore seems not to be as relationship-specific as previous research suggested. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the current and previous studies are discussed

Genetic, abiotic and social influences on sex differentiation in cichlid fishes and the evolution of sequential hermaphroditism

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73799/1/j.1467-2979.2005.00184.x.pd

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

What do evolutionary models teach us about sensitive periods in psychological development?

Sensitive periods in development are widespread in nature. Many psychologists and biologists regard sensitive periods as byproducts of developmental processes. Although this view may be correct in some cases, it is unlikely to be the whole story. There is large variation in sensitive periods (a) between species in the same trait (Beecher & Brenowitz, 2005), (b) between individuals of the same species (Frankenhuis, Panchanathan, & Belsky, 2016), and (c) between different traits within a single individual (Zeanah, Gunnar, McCall, Kreppner, & Fox, 2011). In this article, we discuss recent insights provided by formal models of the evolution of sensitive periods. These models help to identify the conditions in which sensitive periods are likely to evolve, and make predictions about the factors that affect their development. We conclude by discussing future directions for empirical research

A taxometric study of the adult attachment interview

This study is the first to examine the latent structure of individual differences reflected in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1985), a commonly used and well-validated measure designed to assess an adult's current state of mind regarding childhood experiences with caregivers. P. E. Meehl's (1995) taxometric methods (i.e., MAXCOV-HITMAX) were applied to data from 504 AAIs. Analyses revealed that the variation underlying secure versus dismissing states of mind was more consistent with a dimensional than a taxonic model. (Taxometric analyses of preoccupation were indeterminate.) In addition, variation in secure adults' (n = 278) reports about their early experiences revealed little evidence for qualitative groups of earned- and continuous-secures. Rather, the inferred life experiences of secure adults appeared to be distributed continuously. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications regarding the phenomenon of earned-security specifically and variation underlying secure and insecure states of mind more generally. The consequences of these analyses for AAI reliability training and coding are also explored

Mothers' attachment style as a predictor of breastfeeding and room-sharing practices

Contains fulltext : 219596.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)Objective: To prospectively assess breastfeeding and room-sharing practices during the infant's first 6 months and investigate whether mothers' own adult attachment style predicts the initiation and course of these recommended parenting behaviors. Method: This study included 193 mother-infant dyads living in the Netherlands. Diary methodology was used to generate 27 weekly measures of breastfeeding and room-sharing during the infant's first 6 months. Multilevel mixed effects models were used to examine trajectories of breastfeeding and room-sharing and to test whether mothers' own adult attachment style predicted the initiation and course of these behaviors, adjusting for covariates. Results: Most (86%) mothers initiated breastfeeding immediately after birth and the rates of breastfeeding declined steadily over the 6 months (b = -2.47, SE = 0.19, p < .001). Mothers with higher attachment avoidance showed faster decreases in breastfeeding than less avoidant mothers (b = -1.07, SE = 0.21, p < .001). Sixty-four percent of mothers engaged in room-sharing after birth which also decreased steadily over the 6 months (b = -3.51, SE = 0.21, p < .001). Mothers' attachment style did not predict the initiation or course of room-sharing. Conclusions: Given the major implications of breastfeeding and room-sharing for infants' health, safety, and development, the pediatrics community has issued clear guidelines encouraging these behaviors. Yet many new parents do not adhere to the recommended practices. This study identifies mothers' adult attachment style as a predictor of breastfeeding over time that could be incorporated into interventions for parents.9 p