The Adult Attachment Projective (original) (raw)
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Methods of assessing adult attachment
Attachment theory and close …, 1998
In recent years, several streams of research have emerged from and attachment theory. Originally, the theory was aimed at explaining child and adult psychopathology in terms of nonoptimal relationships between children and their caregivers, or "attachment figures." According to attachment theory, the long-term effects of early experiences with caregivers are due to the persistence of "internal working models" --cognitive / affective schemas, or representations, of the self in relation to close relationship partners . Theoretically, these representations influence a person's expectations, emotions, defenses, and relational behavior in all close relationships. Although the theory does not assume or require that internal working models persist without ,::hange across the life span, both theory and empirical evidence from longitudinal studies have led researchers to suspect that the effects of childhood attachment relationships extend into adulthood, where they can be seen in the domains of parenting and close peer relationships, including romantic relationships (e.g.,
Attachment and psychopathology in adulthood
1999
proposed a model of development with clearly articulated implications for psychopathology. According to this model, an infant's formation of an attachment to a caregiver is a key developmental task that influences not only the child's representations of self and other, but also strategies for processing attachmentrelated thoughts and feelings. Attachment-related events, such as loss and abuse, lead to modifications in these internal representations and affect a child's strategies for processing thoughts and feelings. Bowlby (1973, 1980) suggested that when children develop negative representations of themselves or others, or when they adopt strategies for processing attachment-related thoughts and feelings that compromise realistic appraisals, they become more vulnerable to psychopathology. In this chapter, we consider how the quality of an infant's attachment to his or her caregiver, subsequent attachment-related experiences, and concurrently assessed states of mind with respect to attachment (Main & Goldwyn, 1984; Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 2003) may be related to risk for psychopathology or to psychological resilience in adulthood. ATTACHMENT TO CAREGIVERS Infants develop expectations about their primary caregivers' availability through interactions with those caregivers. According to Bowlby (1969/1982), these expectations then serve as the basis for an infant's working models of self and others. When infants' experiences lead to expectations that caregivers will be responsive to their needs, they develop secure strategies for seeking out their caregivers when distressed or in need, with the expectation that their needs will be met. When infants instead have experiences that lead them to expect caregivers to be rejecting or undependable, they do not expect that caregivers will be available when needed, and they develop alternative, insecure strategies for coping with their distress. Insecure strategies vary primarily along the dimension of attempts to minimize or maximize the expression of attachment needs. When children use minimizing strategies, they defensively turn attention away from their distress and from issues of caregiver availability. They therefore have limited access to their own feelings and develop an unrealistic portrayal of parents' availability. When children use maximizing strategies, they defensively turn their attention to their own distress and to issues of caregiver availability. Because they are so "enmeshed" (Main & Goldwyn, 1984; Main et al., 2003) in issues of caregiver availability, they are unable to appraise accurately whether threats exist and whether caregivers are available. Either of these strategies may leave children at increased risk for psychopathology. Minimizing strategies may predispose a child to externalizing disorders because attention is turned away from the self, without the resolution of negative representations. Maximizing strategies may predispose a child to internalizing disorders because attention is riveted on caregiver availability, and negative representations remain painfully alive.
In this paper, we describe the development of and our preliminary work to empirically validate the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP), a new adult attachment classiication system that is based on the analysis of individuals' responses to a set of seven attachment-related drawings. The AAP classication system uses evaluations of three dimensions (Discourse, Content and Defensive Processing) to designate four major adult classiication groups: Secure, Dismissing, Preoccupied, and Unresolved. Preliminary validation of the AAP is based on 75 participants drawn from three separate samples. The results indicate strong interjudge reliability and convergent agreement between the AAP and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classiications. The AAP, thus, appears to be a promising developmental measure for assessing the representation of attachment in adults. Contributions of the AAP to attachment theory and research are discussed. The similarities and differences between AAP stories and other child and adult representational measures are also discussed.
The Psychobiological Theory of Attachment
Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 2005
Psychobiological Attachment Theory (PAT) (Kraemer, 1992) provides a way of thinking about caregiver-infant relationships for use in clinical practice. This manuscript describes how the theory translates into a frame of reference that can be used in practice within the context of natural environments. A discussion of the theoretical base, function/dysfunction criteria, postulates regarding change, and presentation of an evaluation guide, provides a practical tool for use in early intervention practice.
New frontiers and applications of attachment theory
Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space . Bowlby considered the importance of children's relationship with their mothers in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, he emphasized the importance of the link between early infant separations from their mothers and related traumatic experiences and later maladjustment. His attachment theory provides a framework able to explain how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development, becoming the key determinant of child's social emotional adaptation and cognitive growth .
Development and Psychopathology, 2013
Attachment theory has been generating creative and impactful research for almost half a century. In this article we focus on the documented antecedents and consequences of individual differences in infant attachment patterns, suggesting topics for further theoretical clarification, research, clinical interventions, and policy applications. We pay particular attention to the concept of cognitive "working models" and to neural and physiological mechanisms through which early attachment experiences contribute to later functioning. We consider adult caregiving behavior that predicts infant attachment patterns, and the stillmysterious "transmission gap" between parental Adult Attachment Interview classifications and infant Strange Situation classifications. We also review connections between attachment and (a) child psychopathology; (b) neurobiology; (c) health and immune function; (d) empathy, compassion, and altruism; (e) school readiness; and (f) culture. We conclude with clinical-translational and public policy applications of attachment research that could reduce the occurrence and maintenance of insecure attachment during infancy and beyond. Our goal is to inspire researchers to continue advancing the field by finding new ways to tackle long-standing questions and by generating and testing novel hypotheses.
Adult attachment styles: Their relations to family context and personality
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998
This study used a sample of 304 adults to examine mean differences in family climate and personality variables on the basis of individuals' attachment styles. Also examined was whether mean differences varied by age group. Findings showed significant main effects of attachment style, but no Attachment Style x Age Group interactions. Compared with adults with an insecure attachment style, persons with a secure attachment style described their family of origin and their current family more positively and scored higher on personality variables indicative of self-confidence, psychological well-being, and functioning in the social world. When the family climate and personality variables were included in a discriminant function analysis, 2 significant functions were obtained. The 1st function discriminated adults with a positive self-model from those with a negative self-model. The 2nd function contrasted participants with a positive other-model from those with a negative other-model. Thus, this study provided evidence in support of the self-and other-models as the fundamental dimensions of adults' attachment system.
Adult attachment and adult child-older parent relationships
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1993
The secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk. Attachment theory as proposed by Bowlby The defining qualities of the working model (1973,1980, 1988) has offered a compelling are based on at least two judgments: (a) framework for considering continuity and whether or not the attachment figure is asmalleability in individual development and sumed to be a person who in general will resocial relationships. From repeated experi-spond to requests for support and protecences with a caretaker, a child constructs an tion, and (b) whether or not the child judges internal working model or representation of his-or herself as a person whom anyone, self, and of the self in relation to others, particularly the attachment figure, is likely