3-214 - Attachment and caregiving dysregulation: Associations with the parent and child outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The discovery of attachment disorganization and unresolved attachment advanced the capacity for attachment theory to delineate the etiology and sequelae of these patterns, which are associated with the most compromises to children’s development (Hesse, 2008; Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 2016; Main & Solomon, 1990). Further, the conceptualization of behavioral system dysregulation provides a unifying theoretical frame for these attachment patterns (Solomon & George, 2011).
This symposium expands on the established constructs integrating dysregulation with 1) associations with Bowlby’s (1980) model of pathological mourning; 2) a broader view of attachment trauma than currently exists in the attachment literature; and 3) caregiving system helplessness as a known developmental risk factor for parenting (George & Solomon, 2008).
The first paper reports on the findings of the only attachment study to examine continuity of attachment dysregulation, defined as unresolved adult attachment, across the transition to parenthood. This paper addresses one of three forms of pathological mourning conceived by Bowlby (1980); unresolved attachment corresponds to his concept of chronic mourning. The second paper introduces a new representational measure of attachment that features assessing caregiving dysregulation and reports on maternal and child behavioral risk. The third and fourth papers address dysregulation of the attachment and caregiving systems, and integrates both Bowlby’s complete model of pathological mourning and an expanded approach to trauma than exists in the attachment field to date, examining associations with maternal maltreatment risk and empathy in young children, featuring also integration of the second paper.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Carol George, Mills College

Individual Presentations

• Stability and change of unresolved loss and trauma across the transition to parenthood - Presenting Author: Samantha Reisz, University of Texas, Austin; Nancy Hazen, University of Texas at Austin; Deborah B. Jacobvitz, University of Texas, Austin

• Measuring caregiving regulation representations: Associations with maternal stress and child risk - Presenting Author: Jessica Leigh Brennan, University of East Anglia

• Attachment, trauma, and regulation: Predicting maternal child maltreatment risk - Presenting Author: Rachel Tissell, Mills College; Carol George, Mills College

• Empathy in young children: Associations with children’s attachment and maternal protective and risk factors - Presenting Author: Constance Jaramillo, Mills College; Carol George, Mills College