Rosalinda Cassibba

The attachment script representation procedure in an Italian sample : Associations with Adult Attachment Interview scales and with maternal sensitivity

Abstract This study provides data supporting the reliability and validity of an Italian version of the adult attachment script representation task, designed by Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh (2004). Specifically, we tested hypotheses concerning positive relations between attachment scriptedness scores and two other representational measures, derived from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In addition, we tested the hypothesis that secure base script scores should predict maternal sensitivity in the context of mother – infant interaction. Thirty-one mothers completed narrative protocols and received scriptedness scores using the Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh (2004) criteria. Prior to the attachment script assessment, mothers had been assessed using the AAI and had been observed in the context of infant – mother interactions to assess maternal sensitivity. Assessment of instrument reliability was satisfactory (Cronbachs α >.70) and both hypotheses were supported; the attachment scriptedness score (based on 4 attachment narratives) was positively and significantly associated with the AAI coherence score, the continuous security score derived from the AAI State of Mind scales, and with maternal sensitivity. These data extend to another socio-cultural milieu, previous findings supporting reliability, convergent, and predictive validity of the attachment script representation task as a measure of adult attachment.

The influence of biological, social, and developmental factors on language acquisition in pre- term born children.

The objective of this study is to evaluate language outcome in pre-term children, considering multiple factors. The hypothesis is that early communicative capacity (pre-verbal communicative utterances) is affected mainly by biological (prematurity, birth weight, and gender) and social factors (maternal education), while more advanced linguistic abilities (i.e., combinatorial and syntactic abilities) are mostly influenced by previously acquired communicative abilities. Eighteen monolingual Italian pre-term children (birth weight between 750 and 1600 grams, gestational age <37 weeks; 13 males and five females) were compared with a control group of 18 age-matched full-term children (8 males, 10 females). The longitudinal design comprised motor and cognitive assessment at 14 and 36 months, and communicative evaluation by direct observation at 14, 24, 30, and 36 months, and by indirect observation at 24 and 30 months. The main results evidenced were delayed development in pre-term compared to full-term children, particularly after 24 months of age; intra-individual differences in the pre-term group; and a strong effect of prematurity on communicative ability at 14 and 24 months; however, more advanced communicative developmental stages were influenced both by prematurity and by previously acquired linguistic skills.

In search of social support in the NICU: features, benefits and antecedents of parents’ tendency to share with others the premature birth of their baby

Abstract Objective: To investigate social sharing among 40 parents (20 couples) of hospitalized premature newborns, the social network of addressees with whom they shared their experience, the perceived benefits of this activity and the sources of individual differences. Method: Emotional reaction and attachment status were assessed within 7 days and between 30 and 45 days from birth, respectively. At 3 months of infant’s corrected age, parents completed a self-report assessing retrospectively their social sharing. Results: Over 80% of the parents felt the need to share the event and actually did within a week; one’s own partner was the most preferred addressee. The extent of father’s social sharing was mainly related to the newborn’s medical risk, while mother’s to her own emotional reaction. Guilt and anger were found to lengthen the latency of sharing in mothers and fathers, respectively. Secure attachment status, compared to insecure ones, was found to be the most effective in promoting social sharing. Conclusions: These findings help to understand why parents differ from each other in their use of social support in the NICU; from a practical standpoint, they highlight important factors which require attention when implementing intervention program in the NICU directed to parents of premature newborns.

[Stalking: old behaviour new crime. Reflections on 11 cases assessed in the judicial district of Bari].

Specific definitions aside, the behaviours that are generally associated with stalking may be classified into three categories of acts: 1) following (including showing up at the victims home and workplace, maintaining surveillance, and setting up coincidences); 2) communicating (by telephone, mail, leaving notes, graffiti, gifts, e-mail, and internet); including the ordering of goods and services in the victims name; 3) attacking or committing acts of violence (threats, direct harassment of the victim or of people close to the victim, damaging of personal goods, false accusations, physical or sexual violence). The work here presented proposes to find empirical confirmation of the data cited in the scientific literature with particular attention paid to the studies carried out by Mullen, Pathe, Purcell and Meloy who proposed a criminological diagnostic category for stalkers, delineating their behaviors . We go on to highlight patterns of behavior, as well as physical and social characteristics as postulated by these authors, and found in the molesters investigated in this study. Language: itSpecific definitions aside, the behaviours that are generally associated with stalking may be classified into three categories of acts: 1) following (including showing up at the victims home and workplace, maintaining surveillance, and setting up coincidences); 2) communicating (by telephone, mail, leaving notes, graffiti, gifts, e-mail, and internet); including the ordering of goods and services in the victims name; 3) attacking or committing acts of violence (threats, direct harassment of the victim or of people close to the victim, damaging of personal goods, false accusations, physical or sexual violence). The work here presented proposes to find empirical confirmation of the data cited in the scientific literature with particular attention paid to the studies carried out by Mullen, Pathé, Purcell and Meloy who proposed a criminological diagnostic category for stalkers, delineating their behaviors . We go on to highlight patterns of behavior, as well as physical and social characteristics as postulated by these authors, and found in the molesters investigated in this study.

The transmission of attachment across three generations: A study in adulthood

One of the most striking pieces of evidence in attachment research is that attachment security is transmitted from 1 generation to the next. Although there has been an enormous advance in the understanding of this process, this area of research suffers from some significant gaps, as for example the transmission across 3 generations when considering the 2 parents as well as the 2 couples of grandparents. The current study was designed to fill this gap in existing literature by investigating AAI attachment representations in the members of 3 generations, belonging to a total of 32 families, each including an adult offspring, both parents and the 4 grandparents (N = 224). Main findings show that the transmission across 2 generations was stronger in the presence of a female caregiver (either mother or maternal/paternal grandmother), and that across 3 generations was confirmed only in the presence of 2 female caregivers (grandmother to mother to offspring). Conversely, the transmissions across 3 generations with only 1 or no female caregiver were not confirmed. Last, experiencing 2 secure parents increased the likelihood of developing a secure state of mind with respect to attachment among offspring, mothers and fathers, 95% confidence intervals [3.52, 1,238.72], [1.67, 31.17], and [1.67, 19.98], respectively. These findings may have important theoretical implications related to the understanding of the factors involved in the continuity and discontinuity of attachment patterns across generations.

The transmission of attachment across generations: The state of art and new theoretical perspectives

The paper reviews the body of research testing the intergenerational transmission of attachment and the theoretical shift from the linear or mediation model (van IJzendoorn, 1995), according to which parental sensitivity is the main factor responsible for the correspondence between maternal and infants attachment, to the ecological model of the transmission of attachment (van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1997). This latter model has prompted researchers, over time, to identify potential mediators, other than caregivers sensitivity, of the established association between parental representations regarding attachment and infants attachment, as well as the potential moderators of the transmission process. Each of these two research domains will be carefully explored; lastly new perspectives on the intergenerational transmission of attachment and relevant areas of research needing more investigation are highlighted.

Attachment Models in Incarcerated Sex Offenders: A Preliminary Italian Study Using the Adult Attachment Interview

A group of sex offenders (clinical group: n = 19) was compared to a nonclinical sample matched by age, years of education, and gender (control group A: n = 19) to verify a higher incidence of insecure attachment models among sex offenders. In addition, we tested whether sex offenders were characterized by specific childhood experiences, compared to control adults (control group B: n = 19) with the same secure/insecure attachment classification. Results showed significant differences between offenders and control adults on both the AAI continuous score and the distribution of the two‐way attachment classifications. Furthermore, sex offenders reported more intense experiences of rejection by the father figure and abuse in the family context during early childhood compared to not offenders subjects with the same attachment classification.

Focus Groups as an Instrument to Define Evaluation Criteria The Case of Foster Care

This article reports the results of a research project that aimed to identify the criteria upon which a foster care intervention may be considered as having been successful. The aim was to confirm the existence of shared evaluation criteria among the different groups involved in foster care and, moreover, to investigate possible differences in the meaning given to the foster care experience by the different stakeholders. The data collected from six focus groups was analysed in two ways: first, the criteria necessary to evaluate foster care were derived; second, a textual analysis was undertaken to investigate the associations and the frequency of use of some significant terms.

The role of attachment to God in secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious disease

This study investigated the role of security in ones attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in ones attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.

Attachment security and language development in an Italian sample: The role of premature birth and maternal language

We investigated the influence of biological immaturity and attachment security on linguistic development and tested whether maternal language mediated the impact of security on the child’s linguistic abilities. Forty mother–child dyads were followed longitudinally, with the child’s attachment security assessed at 24 months of age through trained observers’ Attachment Q-Sorts, and linguistic abilities assessed at 24 and 30 months through observational measures and maternal reports. Both factors were found to contribute, though not independently, to the prediction of the child’s linguistic abilities, and the mediation model was confirmed.