Katherine C. Haydon

Distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis–stress: Recommendations for evaluating interaction effects

This report describes the state of the art in distinguishing data generated by differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models. We discuss several limitations of existing practices for probing interaction effects and offer solutions that are designed to better differentiate differential susceptibility from diathesis-stress models and quantify their corresponding implications. In addition, we demonstrate the utility of these methods by revisiting published evidence suggesting that temperamental difficulty serves as a marker of enhanced susceptibility to early maternal caregiving across a range of outcome domains in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. We find that, with the exception of mother reports of psychopathology, there is consistent evidence in the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development that the predictive significance of early sensitivity is moderated by difficult temperament over time. However, differential susceptibility effects emerged primarily for teacher reports of academic skills, social competence, and symptomatology. In contrast, effects more consistent with the diathesis-stress model were obtained for mother reports of social skills and objective tests of academic skills. We conclude by discussing the value of the application of this work to the next wave of Gene × Environment studies focused on early caregiving experiences.

Developmental and Dyadic Perspectives on Commitment in Adult Romantic Relationships

We tested hypotheses concerning the developmental roots of becoming the “weak-link” (less committed) partner in adult romantic relationships and the associations between partners’ absolute and relative levels of commitment and dyadic outcomes. We examined 78 target 20- to 21-year-olds who were involved in a romantic relationship and who had been studied since birth. As predicted, people who received lower-quality support from caregivers in toddlerhood or who were less able to resolve conflicts with a best friend in midadolescence were more likely to become the weak-link partner in a romantic relationship at age 20 to 21. Furthermore, lower commitment on the part of the weak-link partner coupled with greater discrepancy in commitment between partners predicted a greater likelihood that the couple would display hostility (rated by observers) during a videotaped conflict-resolution task when they were 20 to 21 years old. These findings are discussed from developmental and dyadic perspectives.

An empirically derived approach to the latent structure of the Adult Attachment Interview: additional convergent and discriminant validity evidence

Building on studies examining the latent structure of attachment-related individual differences as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) via Principal Components Analysis, the current report further explores the validity of four AAI dimensions reported by Haydon, Roisman, and Burt (in press): dismissing states of mind, preoccupied states of mind, and inferred negative experience with maternal and paternal caregivers. Study 1 reports evidence of distinctive cognitive correlates of dismissing vs. preoccupied states of mind with reaction time in an attachment Stroop task and the valence of endorsed self-descriptors, respectively. Study 2 replicates prior meta-analytic findings of generally trivial convergence between state of mind dimensions and self-reported avoidance and anxiety (i.e., Roisman, Holland, Fortuna, Fraley, Clausell, & Clarke, 2007). Study 3 contrastively demonstrates moderate empirical overlap between inferred experience (but not state of mind) AAI scales and self-reported avoidance and anxiety when the latter were assessed at the level of specific caregivers. Taken together, these findings add to accumulating evidence that an empirically-driven approach to scaling adults on AAI dimensions (Haydon et al., in press; Roisman, Fraley, & Belsky, 2007) aids in identifying theoretically anticipated and distinctive affective, behavioral, and cognitive correlates of dismissing versus preoccupied states of mind.

VII. Shared and distinctive antecedents of adult attachment interview state-of-mind and inferred-experience dimensions

Accumulating evidence demonstrates that the primary coding systems for the AAI (Main & Goldwyn, 1984–1998; Main et al., 2003–2008; Kobak, 1993) capture variation on four relatively independent dimensions. Two of these capture adults’ states of mind regarding attachment, with the first reflecting the degree to which adults freely evaluate or defensively discuss their attachment histories (i.e., dismissing states of mind) and the second capturing the extent to which adults become emotionally overwhelmed while discussing their early attachment experiences (i.e., preoccupied states of mind). Two additional dimensions capture caregiver-specific variation in how adults describe their early experiences (inferred negative experiences with maternal and paternal caregivers, respectively). This factor structure has been observed in a number of independent samples, using both exploratory (Bernier et al., 2004; Haydon et al., 2012; Kobak & Zajac, 2011; Larose et al., 2005; Roisman et al., 2007) and confirmatory techniques (Chapter 2, this volume). Taken together, these findings support an updated conceptualization of the key axes of variation in adult attachment as captured by the AAI and pave the way formore statistically powerful and empirically informed approaches to assessing the correlates and antecedents of adult attachment. Previous work has validated this approach by documenting the distinctive predictive significance of the dimensions described above in key attachmentrelateddomains: interpersonal functioning, psychopathology, and attachmentrelated cognitions. Perhaps most notably, dismissing states of mind have been associated uniquely with the provision of maternal insensitivity, whereas preoccupied states of mind have been associated uniquely with caregiving marked by higher levels of maternal intrusiveness (Whipple et al., 2011).

Shared and Distinctive Origins and Correlates of Adult Attachment Representations: The Developmental Organization of Romantic Functioning

To test proposals regarding the hierarchical organization of adult attachment, this study examined developmental origins of generalized and romantic attachment representations and their concurrent associations with romantic functioning. Participants (N=112) in a 35-year prospective study completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and Current Relationship Interview (CRI). Two-way analysis of variance tested interactive associations of AAI and CRI security with infant attachment, early parenting quality, preschool ego resiliency, adolescent friendship quality, and adult romantic functioning. Both representations were associated with earlier parenting and core attachment-related romantic behavior, but romantic representations had distinctive links to ego resiliency and relationship-specific romantic behaviors. Attachment representations were independent and did not interactively predict romantic functioning, suggesting that they confer somewhat distinctive benefits for romantic functioning.

Shared and Distinctive Origins and Correlates of Adult Attachment Representations

To test proposals regarding the hierarchical organization of adult attachment, this study examined developmental origins of generalized and romantic attachment representations and their concurrent associations with romantic functioning. Participants (N=112) in a 35-year prospective study completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and Current Relationship Interview (CRI). Two-way analysis of variance tested interactive associations of AAI and CRI security with infant attachment, early parenting quality, preschool ego resiliency, adolescent friendship quality, and adult romantic functioning. Both representations were associated with earlier parenting and core attachment-related romantic behavior, but romantic representations had distinctive links to ego resiliency and relationship-specific romantic behaviors. Attachment representations were independent and did not interactively predict romantic functioning, suggesting that they confer somewhat distinctive benefits for romantic functioning.

VI. EARNED-SECURITY IN RETROSPECT: DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, FAMILY STRESS, AND MATERNAL AND PATERNAL SENSITIVITY FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD TO MID-ADOLESCENCE

The gold standard for examining attachment-related change is to do so using prospective data (see Chapter 5). In the absence of such data, however, there is a tradition of using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George et al., 1984–1996) to identify an earned-secure group containing participants who produce coherent (i.e., secure) discourse during the AAI but describe relatively unsupportive experiences with one or more primary caregivers during the interview. The major assumption that guides such work, of course, is that such adults actually encountered difficult early experiences with primary caregivers and/or had insecure attachments in childhood (see Roisman & Haydon, 2011, for a review). Early research using a variety of such retrospective operationalizations of attachment-related resilience (seeMethods Section) offers evidence that such individuals—like adults who meet criteria for the secure group generally— provide sensitive caregiving to their children (Pearson et al., 1994; Phelps, Belsky, & Crnic, 1998; Saunders, Jacobvitz, Zaccagnino, Beverung, & Hazen, 2011) and share high-quality relationships with their romantic partners (Paley, Cox, Burchinal, & Payne, 1999). However, consistent with the idea that there may be a “price paid” for having struggled through early interpersonal challenges, studies in this area also offer evidence that those whomeet criteria for earned-secure attachment status report levels of internalizing distress comparable to or in excess of those typical of individuals in the insecure group (Pearson et al., 1994; Roisman et al., 2002, 2006). Prospective studies of earned-security take decades and a great deal of human and financial resources to complete successfully. Therefore, a valid

Maternal Dispositional Empathy and Electrodermal Reactivity: Interactive Contributions to Maternal Sensitivity with Toddler-Aged Children

The present study investigated maternal dispositional empathy and skin conductance level (SCL) reactivity to infant emotional cues as joint predictors of maternal sensitivity. Sixty-four mother-toddler dyads (31 boys) were observed across a series of interaction tasks during a laboratory visit, and maternal sensitivity was coded from approximately 55 minutes of observation per family. In a second, mother-only laboratory visit, maternal SCL reactivity to infant cues was assessed using a cry-laugh audio paradigm. Mothers reported on their dispositional empathy via a questionnaire. As hypothesized, mothers with greater dispositional empathy exhibited more sensitive behavior at low, but not high, levels of SCL reactivity to infant cues. Analyses examining self-reported emotional reactivity to the cry-laugh audio paradigm yielded a similar finding: Dispositional empathy was related to greater sensitivity when mothers reported low, but not high, negative emotional reactivity. Results provide support for Dixs (1991) affective model of parenting that underscores the combined contribution of the parents empathic tendencies and his or her own emotional experience in response to child emotions. Specificity of the Empathy × Reactivity interaction is discussed with respect to the context in which reactivity was assessed (infant cry vs. laugh) and the type of sensitivity examined (sensitivity to the childs distress vs. nondistress).

The distinctive role of romantic relationships in moderating the effects of early caregiving on adult anxious-depressed symptoms over 9 years.

This study tests a model of young adult romantic quality as a moderator of the effects of early caregiving on anxious-depressed symptoms over a 9-year period in adulthood. Participants (n = 93) were a subsample from a longitudinal study of risk and adaptation. Quality of early caregiving was measured using observational data collected at five points in the first 4 years of life. Young adult romantic relationship quality was assessed from interviews with participants at age 23. Self-report anxious-depressed symptoms were measured at ages 23, 26, and 32. The results indicated that romantic quality moderated early caregiving to predict symptom levels across this period, with evidence for inoculation, amplification, and compensation effects. A discriminant analysis examining young adult work competence as a moderator provided further evidence for the distinctiveness of romantic relationships in changing the association between early caregiving and adult internalizing symptoms.

Mothers’ Neural and Behavioral Responses to Their Infants’ Distress Cues: The Role of Secure Base Script Knowledge:

This research examined mothers’ secure base script knowledge—reflected in the ability to generate narratives in which attachment-relevant problems are recognized, competent help is offered, and problems are resolved—and its significance for early-stage processing of infants’ distress cues, using event-related potentials in an emotion oddball task. Mothers with lower secure base script knowledge exhibited (a) a heightened P3b response—reflective of greater allocation of cognitive resources—to their infants’ distressed (but not happy) target facial expressions; (b) a larger P3b response to their infants’ distressed (compared with happy) target facial expressions, which is indicative of allocating disproportional attentional resources to processing their infants’ distress; and (c) poorer accuracy in identifying their infants’ distressed target facial expressions. Findings suggest that mothers’ attachment-relevant biases in processing their infants’ emotion cues are especially tied to infant distress and shed light on underlying mechanisms linking mothers’ attachment representations with sensitive responding to infant distress.