A Longitudinal and Directional Analysis of Attachment-Related Challenges and Psychosocial Strengths Among Children in the Child Welfare System

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment in the context of a primary attachment relationship has been associated with detrimental neurodevelopmental and psychosocial outcomes (Cicchetti & Toth, 2016; Nelson et al., 2019; Sheridan & McLaughlin, 2020; van der Kolk, 2014). Research has found that children involved in the child welfare system have substantial exposure to this kind of interpersonal trauma and have disproportionate rates of emotional, behavioural, and psychological dysfunction (McCrae et al., 2019; Tarren-Sweeney, 2013; Tregeagle et al., 2019). The present study includes a sample of children with substantiated cases of abuse and neglect by their parents who were referred to a child welfare agency that supports children and their caregivers (e.g., foster, adoptive, kinship, bio parent) to develop healthy child-caregiver attachments through the use of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP; Hughes et al., 2015). While enrolled in services, clinicians asked caregivers to assess their children semi-annually using the Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC; Tarren-Sweeney, 2007) and the complementary strengths-focused measure, the Assessment Checklist for Children – Plus (ACC+; Tarren-Sweeney, 2014) for monitoring purposes. We examined the caregiver-reported attachment and adaptive functioning trajectories of 555 children assessed between 2000 and 2019. Children’s average age at baseline was 9.57 years (SD = 3.51) and 41.30% were female. We ran growth curve models of children’s strengths and attachment scores and to examine children's trajectories. We ran a Random Intercepts Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) that included four assessment time points with a subset of 326 children to test the longitudinal, directional associations between attachment scores and adaptive functioning. Results suggest that children’s attachment security (b = -1.34, 95% CI = -2.14, -0.53) and strengths (b = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.69, 2.36) improve over time and that children’s improved attachment security at the third assessment (approximately 1 year after the baseline assessment) predict improvements in adaptive functioning at assessment 4 (approx. 1.5 years since first assessment) (b = -0.42, 95% CI = -0.69, -0.15). The findings of the present study have important implications for treatment and policy decisions related to supporting children in the child welfare system who have experienced complex developmental trauma.

Authors

• Jackson Smith, University of Waterloo
  Presenting Author

• Duane Durham, Therapeutic Family Care Program
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dillon Browne, University of Waterloo
  Non-Presenting Author