Contributos da teoria da vinculação para a prática clínica desenvolvimental

Variations in the quality of attachment represent initiation conditions that, in the context of interaction between biological and environmental factors, play a dynamic role in the bio-psycho-social functioning of the individual. This article presents a literature review of the theory and investigation of attachment in childhood and aims to contribute to a developmental perspective in the practice of clinical practice. Binding research has clarified the effects on children of early experiences associated with: a) out-of-home care routines (eg nursery schools); b) separations (e.g., hospitalizations); c) significant disruption of care (eg adoption and foster families); d) the characteristics of children with special needs. In this developmental perspective, the question of the disorders of the bonding relationships, as well as the specificities of this type of relationship in children with certain pathologies is discussed. Clinical guidelines are presented for clinicians since relational aspects are central to the development of children and consequently to intervention.As variações da qualidade da vinculação representam condições de iniciação que, em contexto de interação entre factores biológicos e ambientais, desempenham um papel dinâmico no funcionamento bio-psico-social do indivíduo. Este artigo apresenta uma revisão de literatura da teoria e investigação da vinculação na infância e pretende contribuir para uma perspectiva desenvolvimental no exercício da pratica clinica. A investigação na vinculação tem-nos esclarecido, sobre os efeitos nas crianças de experiências precoces associadas: a) a rotinas de cuidados fora de casa (e.g., infantários); b) separações (e.g., hospitalizações); c) perturbações significativas de prestação de cuidados (e.g., adopção e famílias de acolhimento); d) às características das crianças com necessidades especiais. Nesta perspectiva desenvolvimental, a questão das perturbações das relações de vinculação,  assim como as especificidades deste tipo de relação em crianças com determinadas patologias é discutida. São apresentadas orientações clinicas para os clínicos uma vez que os aspectos relacionais são centrais para o desenvolvimento das crianças e consequentemente para a intervenção

The Time of the Infant, Parent-Infant Desynchronization and Attachment Disorganization, or How Long Does it Take for a Preventive Action to be Effective?

The classical version of early development by psychoanalysis has been largely challenged by developmental psychology, and particularly by attachment theory. Psychopathology appears to be much more linked with a sequence of events involving interpersonal relationship disorders rather than with intra psychic conflicts, as hypothesised by drive theory. Establishing synchrony between parent and infant is probably one of the major tasks of the first year of life. Attachment theory appears to be the modern paradigm to understand how the several types of answers from caregivers to stressing situations in the infant give way to different emotional and cognitive regulatory strategies, with impact on the effectiveness of the stress buffer systems. This paper presents what we can figure out about what is time to the infant, the importance of synchronization within infant and caregiver, the key concept of attachment disorganization, the concept of sustained social withdrawal as a defence mechanism and an alarm signal when synchronisation fails, and finally the key issue of conditions for effectiveness of early parent- infant preventive intervention.Parent- infant synchrony, Attachment Disorganization, Parenting, infant social withdrawal behaviour, early prevention and intervention

Intergenerational approach of attachment, the contribution of intimate marital representations

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia Clínic

Attachment, Feeding Practices, Family Routines and Childhood Obesity: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Childhood obesity is considered a major public health problem. To help prevention and intervention programs targeting families with obese children, this paper is aimed at synthesizing multifactorial and transactional data resulting from studies and reviews assessing relational factors between the child and his or her parents and the child’s obesity risk, including the child’s and CG’s attachment quality, parental feeding practices, and family routines. It is also aimed at assessing the mediation of these links by specific self-regulatory capacities across different developmental periods (0–2, 2–8, and 8–18 years old). The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were applied in the review methodology. Ten papers were analyzed, including seven empirical studies and three reviews proposing etiological models of childhood obesity. The quality of empirical studies was assessed, and a synthetical model of the results was proposed. This literature review showed that the caregiver’s (CG) and the child’s attachment quality, along with controlling or permissive feeding practices, and few family routines are mostly mediated by appetite dysregulation and emotional regulation strategies with the development of child obesity. New research topics are proposed to understand other facets of childhood obesity, as well as how to better prevent and treat it

A Controlled Trial Evaluating the Impact of a Home-Visiting Program on Maternal Disruptive Communication in a Vulnerable Population

Attachment disorganization is a significant high-risk factor for infant mental health. Its association with high-risk psychosocial contexts has been clearly identified, but the link between these difficult social contexts and maternal disruptive communication has been poorly explored. The CAPEDP (Compétences Parentales et Attachement dans la Petite Enfance; Parental competences and attachment in early childhood) study assessed the effects of a manualized home-intervention on the mental health of children and its major determinants. In this controlled trial, 440 young, first-time mothers belonging to socially vulnerable populations were recruited. Mothers in the intervention group received psychological support from the 27th week of pregnancy through to their child’s second birthday, while both groups received assessment visits at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 18th, and 24th months of age of the child and benefited from assistance by the research team. When the children reached 12 months of age, an ancillary study, the CAPEDP-Attachment (n = 119) evaluated the effects of this intervention on attachment. The current paper describes the program’s impact on this subsample concerning maternal disruptive behavior, while exploring the role of socioeconomic risk factors. Our results showed that: (a) mothers in the intervention (IG) group presented significantly less disruptive communication than those in the control group (CG), even though the CG received a significant level of care over and above that which is available to the public in the French health system as ‘care as usual’; (b) having a “low income” and “having given birth prematurely” was associated with maternal disruptive communication; and (c) the intervention impact increased when the model was adjusted for these two variables. Results suggest that attachment focused intervention programs should invest both maternal interactional skills and social and economic vulnerability

Development and cross-cultural evaluation of a scoring algorithm for the Biometric Attachment Test: Overcoming the challenges of multimodal fusion with "small data"

International audienc

Self and self-esteem in children: A systematic review of the literature

Cette étude vise : a) à analyser les différentes méthodes utilisées pour l’étude du Soi et chez les enfants, en ce que concerne sa qualité et son potentiel et b) à synthétiser les résultats déjà obtenus en termes de Soi/d’estime de soi/d’autoconcept, pour les enfants en âge préscolaire. Après avoir établi des critères rigoureux d’inclusion et d’exclusion, 33 articles ont été sélectionnés, dans plusieurs bases de données, nationales et internationales. Les résultats indiquent que le Soi des petits enfants est susceptible d’être mesuré et analysé par des méthodes d’auto-évaluation, et ce, tant d’une manière multidimensionnelle que globale. En ce qui concerne la relation entre le Soi et l’attachement, on a trouvé des résultats qui montrent l’existence d’un lien positif entre les deux concepts. Enfin, bien qu’il soit possible d’analyser le Soi de façon multidimensionnelle ou globale, ces deux méthodes et leurs modèles explicatifs s’avèrent plutôt complémentaires.This study aims to : a) analyze the different types of methodologies used to study the Self in children, in terms of their quality and potential and b) synthesize results in terms of the self/ self-esteem/self-concept in children. After establishing a strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, 33 articles were selected from several databases. Results indicate that the self of young children can be measured through self-reporting methodologies, using a multidimensional or global dimension. The relationship between Attachment and self was examined and we found evidence for a positive link between the two constructs. Finally, our results indicate that even if it is possible to use a multidimensional or comprehensive methodology, both are complementary and produce more interesting explanations.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio