Jessica L. West

Dismissing child attachment and discordance for subjective and neuroendocrine responses to vulnerability

Emerging evidence suggests that as with adults, dismissing children underreport their psychological distress relative to physiological indicators of their experience (startle response, neural signals). In this report, we extend these observations to neuroendocrine reactivity. One hundred and six 8-12-year-old children completed the Child Attachment Interview and a computer-based paradigm comprised of vignettes reflecting vulnerability in interpersonal contexts. Dismissing childrens cortisol responses remained comparable from pre-to-post paradigm, while secure childrens cortisol responses decreased from pre-to-post paradigm. Furthermore, compared to secure children, dismissing children reported less distress than their cortisol response would suggest. Implications for dismissing childrens coping and self-regulation are discussed.

School-aged children's depressive rumination is associated with their reactivity to sadness but not fear

It is well documented that a ruminative response style is associated with greater risk for depression in children and adults. Less is known about the association between rumination and stress reactivity, particularly among children. Similarly, the extent to which depressive rumination is associated with general reactivity to negative emotion, or more specifically to sadness, has not received sufficient attention. The current study examines the association between depressive rumination and stress reactivity in response to a mild laboratory stressor in school-aged children. A diverse sample of 94 children between the ages of 8 and 12 participated in this 2-session study in which they reported on their tendency to engage in depressive rumination. Childrens cardiovascular reactivity (operationalized as respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was assessed while they completed a task in which they read vignettes depicting children experiencing sadness and fear. Children also reported on their emotional reaction to the sad and fear vignettes, and we assessed the length of time it took them to respond to these questions (reaction time). Rumination was associated with greater decreases in respiratory sinus arrhythmia and greater increases in self-reported negative emotion in response to the sad but not the fear vignettes, suggesting that children higher in depressive rumination experienced more subjective arousal and showed evidence of greater regulatory effort when contemplating sadness. Rumination was associated with slower reaction time to both types of vignettes in one condition of the paradigm only. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for rumination and stress reactivity.

Shedding light on the specificity of school-aged children's attachment narratives.

ABSTRACT A prominent research tradition within the field of attachment involves analyzing relationship narratives for qualities thought to reveal important information regarding the organization of attachment, and the different ways in which attachment insecurity presents. Researchers increasingly use this method to assess attachment in middle childhood, but further work needs to be conducted with respect to the divergent validity of attachment narratives in this age range. Thus, the current study examined differential associations between children’s discursive style and linguistic behavior when completing an attachment interview (Child Attachment Interview [CAI]) and Non-Relational Interview (NRI). In addition, the discriminant validity of attachment narratives was assessed in predicting children’s physiological reactivity to a relational challenge. Children (N = 125) completed the NRI and the CAI at Time 1. A subset of the original sample (n = 64) completed another assessment 1.5 years later involving simulated non-relational and relational challenges. While narrative coherence was moderately associated across the two interviews, CAI narrative coherence uniquely predicted reactivity to a relational probe. We discuss implications for understanding children’s narrative styles across discourse topics as well as the significance of the results for using attachment interviews in this age range.

Children's Attachment Relationships: Can Attachment Data Be Used in Child Custody Evaluations?

The applicability of attachment theory to the practice of performing child custody evaluations has been a topic of interest in the literature, yet there remains a chasm between research and practice. Evaluating the quality of parent-child relationships is a central task of custody evaluators; however, the field has not been well informed by the vast scientific knowledge base forged by attachment theory. Current practice among custody evaluators involves the use of terminology and conclusions that often distort the findings from attachment research. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of the key concepts in attachment, to describe select attachment assessment tools and their potential applicability to the custody evaluation context, and to provide models for potential integration of attachment research in evaluations. Given the limited research pertaining to the use of such instruments within a forensic setting, the need for research evaluating key attachment assessment tools among child custody litigants is highlighted.