Miriam Steele

The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment

Epidemiologists and psychoanalysts have been equally concerned about the intergenera-tional concordance of disturbed patterns of attachment. Mary Mains introduction of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has provided the field with an empirical tool for examining the concordance of parental and infant attachment patterns. In the context of a prospective study of the influence of parental patterns of attachment assessed before the birth of the first child upon the childs pattern of attachment to that parent at 1 year and at 18 months, the Anna Freud Centre—University College London Parent-Child Project reported a significant level of concordance between parental security and the infants security with that parent. In the context of this study, a new measure, aiming to assess the parents capacity for understanding mental states, was developed and is reported on in this paper. The rating of Reflective-Self Function, based upon AAI transcripts, correlated significantly with infant security classification based on Strange Situation assessments. The philosophical background and clinical importance of the measure are discussed.

Attachment representations and adoption: associations between maternal states of mind and emotion narratives in previously maltreated children

This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained from adoptive mothers, and emotional themes appearing in doll play narratives obtained from their recently adopted children. The children, aged 4u200a-u200a8 years, carried into their adoptive placements a history of consistently serious maltreatment, including neglect and abuse. Results reveal strong and significant influences of maternal state of mind regarding attachment upon their adopted childrens story-completions. Mothers whose AAIs were judged insecure (either dismissing or preoccupied) were likely to have adopted children who, three months after placement, provided story-completions with higher levels of aggressiveness as compared to the stories provided by children adopted by mothers with secure-autonomous AAIs. Children whose adoptive mothers provided AAIs indicative of unresolved (as opposed to resolved) mourning regarding past loss or trauma provided story completions with higher scores for emotional themes such as parent appearing child-like and throwing out or throwing away. Results also include a qualitative section that provides narrative excerpts of maternal AAIs and childrens story-completions. Discussion concerns the contribution these findings make to the literature on intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns, and the implications these findings have for child clinical work and social policy. Cet article rend compte des rapports observés entre, dune part, les Entretiens dAttachement chez lAdulte auxquels participaient des mères adoptives et, dautre part, la thématique émotionnelle évoquée lors des récits de jeux de poupée fournis par leurs enfants, adoptés depuis peu. Ces enfants, âgés de 4 à 7 ans, reportent dans leur placement adoptif leur histoire antérieure de maltraitance; constante et sévère, celle-ci englobe carences graves et abus. Les résultats montrent linfluence considérable et significative, sur la manière dont les enfants adoptés terminent leurs récits, des états psychiques maternels par rapport à lattachement. En ce qui concerne les méres dont le type dattachement, évalué lors de lEntretien, est jugé précaire (peu attentionné ou préoccupé), on constate, après trois mois de placement, que lenfant adopté tend à fournir des fins de récit dont le niveau dagressivité est plus élevé que celui donné par des enfants adoptés par des mères chez qui le type dattachement est jugé sûr et autonome. Si lévaluation de lattachement chez la mère renvoie à lexistence de deuils non élaborés et de traumatismes, la thématique émotionnelle présentée par son enfant dans ces récits est de type parent infantile ou jeter/rejeter. Les données rapportées comportent une dimension qualitative qui met en parallèle des extraits des Entretiens dAttachement maternels et les fins de récit proposées par leurs enfants respectifs. Les auteurs discutent ensuite de la contribution que ces résultats pourraient apporter aux travaux concernant la transmission intergénérationnelle des modèles dattachement. Les implications de cette étude pour le travail clinique auprès des enfants et pour la politique sociale au sens large sont également débattues. Questo articolo presenta le associazioni osservate tra lAdult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) sottoposto a madri adottive e tematiche emotive emerse nelle narrative di gioco con le bambole espresse dai loro bambini recentemente adottati. I bambini di eta dai 4 ai 7 anni portano nelle loro famiglie adottive storie di severo maltrattamento, che includono labuso e negligenza. I risultati rivelano che lo stato mentale materno in relazione allattaccamento ha un influenza forte e significativa sul completamento delle storie dei bambini adottati. Madri che allAAI risultavano insicure (sia superficiali che troppo preoccupate) avevano alta probabilita di aver adottato bambini che, tre mesi dopo larrivo, fornivano storie con un maggior livello di aggressivita paragonato alle storie fornite da bambini adottati da madri con attaccamento allAAI classificato come sicuro-autonomo. Bambini le cui madri adottive risultano allAAI avere dei lutti non elaborati (invece che elaborati) riguardanti perdite del passato o traumi producono storie che danno un punteggio piu alto nelle tematiche emotive come per esempio il genitore e infantile e che respinge o rifiuta. I risultati comprendono anche una sezione qualitativa che riporta parti delle narrative delle madri al AAI e delle storie raccontate dai bambini. La discussione si sofferma sul contributo che questi risultati portano alla letteratura sulla trasmissione intergenerazionale di modelli di attaccamento e sulle implicazioni che tali risultati hanno per il lavoro clinico con bambini e per le politiche sociali. Dieser Artikel berichtet von Verbindugen zwischen Erwachsenen-Bindungsinterviews (AAIs), die von Adoptivmüttern erhalten wurden und emotionalen Themen, die inm Puppenspielnarrativen bei Kindern, die vor kurzem adoptiert worden waren, auftraten. Die Kinder zwischen 4 und 7 Jahren brachten in ihre Adoptionsplätze eine Geschichte von durchgehend ernster Misshandlung, einschliesslich Vernachlässigung und Missbrauch, mit. Die Ergebnisse zeigten starke und signifikante Einflüsse des mütterlichen Gemütszustands bezüglich Bindung auf die Fertigstellung der Geschichten der Adoptivkinder. Mütter, deren AAI als unsicher ( entweder abwehrend oder besorgt) eingeschätzt wurden, hatten eher Adoptivkinder, die drei Monate nach ihrer Plazierung Geschichten mit einem höherem Grad an Aggressivität herstellten, verglichen mit Geschichten, die von Kindern produziert wurden, die von Müttern mit sicherer-autonomer Bindung adoptiert worden waren. Kinder, deren Adoptivmütter AAIs zeigten, die indikativ für unverarbeitetes (im Gegensatz zu verarbeitetem) Trauern bezüglich vergangener Verluste oder Trauma waren, produzierten Geschichten mit höherem Zahlen von emotionalen Themen wie etwa Elternteil, das wie ein Kind erscheint und hinauswerfen und wegwerfen. Die Ergebnisse schliessen auch einen qualitative Abschnitt ein, in dem Exzerpte der Narrative der mütterlichen Interviews und der Geschichten der Kinder dargestellt werden. Die Diskussion dreht sich um den Beitrag, den diese Ergebnisse zur Literatur der Intergenerationsweitergabe von Bindungsmustern leistet und den Implikationen, die diese Ergebnisse für die klinische Arbeit mit Kindern und für die Sozialpolitik haben.

Changes in Attachment Representations Over the First Year of Adoptive Placement: Narratives of Maltreated Children:

Children who develop their ‘internal working models’ of attachment in situations of neglect or abuse, carry the effects of these models into new placements if they are then adopted or fostered. This article reports on the assessment of these effects using the story stem technique, which provides children with a way of displaying their expectations and perceptions of attachment figures using both verbal and non-verbal means of representation. An outline of the story stem assessment technique is given, and the ‘Little Pig’ stems and a summary of the rating system are presented. The article then reports preliminary findings from a larger ongoing research project, comparing themes in the stories of previously maltreated children placed for adoption with those of a group of children adopted in the first year of life, and using the technique to track changes in the children’s attachment representations, and some other aspects of their ‘internal working models’, over the first year of placement in their new families.