Poster #67 - Disrupted Behavior in Parents Reported for Maltreatment: Concordance between the AMBIANCE-brief and AMBIANCE original measures

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Disrupted parental behaviors (DPB), such as frightening, frightened, or dysregulated behaviors, have been investigated in many studies using the Atypical Maternal Behaviour Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE; Lyons-Ruth et al., 1999; Madigan et al., 2006). However, this instrument requires a significant time for training and coding, limiting its access to clinicians. A short version of the AMBIANCE could be useful to Child protection services (CPS) clinicians for detecting DPB, given that such behaviors may precede maltreatment behaviours. Recently, a short version, the AMBIANCE-brief, has been validated by Haltigan et al. (2017) and Cooke and al. (2020). Past meta-analyses have shown that DPB are associated with child disorganized attachment, and are distinct from insensitive parental behaviours (Madigan et al., 2006; van IJzendoorn et al., 1999). The concordance of results obtained with the short and long versions of the AMBIANCE has not been investigated within a sample of maltreated children. The current study examined 1) whether scores on the total scale of the AMBIANCE-brief are correlated to those of the total scale of the AMBIANCE long version, and 2) whether DPB’s of both measures are, as expected, associated with child attachment disorganization and not (or weakly) related to insensitive parental behavior. The sample includes 71 parents with their children (1-5 years; Mage = 3.07; SD = 1.50; 59% boys) reported to child protection services for abuse and/or neglect. Using parent-child video sequences, independent observers, who achieved excellent inter-judge reliability with experts on a separate sample and on the current sample, assessed parental sensitivity (MBQS; Pederson et al., 1990), child attachment (Strange Situation, Ainsworth et al., 1978), and DPB with the original and short versions of the AMBIANCE (original version: Lyons-Ruth et al., 1999; AMBIANCE-brief: Madigan et al., 2018). Preliminary results showed a moderate significant intraclass correlation between the total score of the long and brief versions (ricc=.37, p=.001). A small, but significant correspondence between the disrupted versus non-disrupted classifications of both measures was also found (k=.24, p=.017). Two out of the 5 subscales of the long version, that is the affective communication errors scale: r=.26, p=.029 and the withdrawal scale: r=.38, p=.001) were also associated with the total score of the AMBIANCE-brief (the brief version does not provide subscales scores). As expected, DPB, whether measured by the long (r=.09, p=.434) or short version (r=.02, p=.791), was not significantly associated with sensitivity. Finally, an ANOVA with contrasts on the AMBIANCE long version showed that parents of children with a controlling attachment have the highest levels of DPB (t=2.01, p=.048). An ANOVA with contrasts on the AMBIANCE short version showed that parents of children with a secure attachment have the lowest levels of DPB (t=2.37; p=.021), while parents of behaviorally disorganized children have the highest levels of DPB (t=-2.43; p=.018). The expected patterns of results found for the brief and long versions of AMBIANCE contribute to the validity of the AMBIANCE-brief version for use in a population of maltreated children. Clinicians could benefit from learning the AMBIANCE-brief.

Authors

• Solene Cognard-Bessette, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  Presenting Author

• Gabrielle Myre, L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

• Karine Dubois-Comtois, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)

• Diane St-Laurent, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres

• Annie Bernier, University of Montreal

• George M Tarabulsy, University Laval

• Chantal Cyr, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)