1-133 - Individual Participant Data Synthesis Of Attachment Transmission: Unlocking New Questions and Findings

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Meta-analysis has advanced attachment theory by increasing confidence in its propositions and integrating disparate findings. More in-depth understanding and fine-grained analyses may be achieved by adopting Individual Participant Data (IPD) synthesis (Riley et al., 2010), which in medical research rapidly replaces traditional aggregate data meta-analysis as the gold standard. IPD involves the collation, harmonization, and multilevel analysis of raw data from multiple studies. The consistent way in which attachment has been operationalized and measured makes this field an excellent fit for an IPD synthesis.
This symposium introduces IPD for non-experimental, theory-building research in child development and answers new questions on the transmission of attachment from generation to generation. IPD also stimulates research collaboration. Research teams from around the world contributed over 60 studies across 30 years, and shared their published and unpublished data to solve thorny empirical issues.
The first paper in this symposium tests the moderating impact of participant and context characteristics on the strength of parent-to-infant attachment transmission, including the role of risk factors that may interact with attachment. The second paper unpacks transmission across the insecure attachment subcategories to study alternate patterns of transmission. The third paper revisits the attachment transmission gap, testing whether the extent to which caregiver sensitivity mediates attachment transmission varies as a function of sensitivity measures, clinical status of the sample, and categorical or dimensional conceptions of individual differences in attachment. Discussion of the findings and further questions will follow on the basis of our discussant’s comments.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Carlo Schuengel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Discussant

• Glenn I Roisman, University of Minnesota

Individual Presentations

• Substantive Moderators of Attachment Transmission Revisited: The Added Precision of IPD Synthesis - Presenting Author: Marije L. Verhage, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Pasco Fearon, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London; Carlo Schuengel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary; Marinus Van IJzendoorn, Leiden University; Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, Leiden University; Mirjam Oosterman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Group Author: Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis, (CATS)

• An Examination of Cross-Over Transmission of Attachment using Individual Participant Data Methodology - Presenting Author: Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary; Marije L. Verhage, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Carlo Schuengel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Pasco Fearon, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London; Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, Leiden University; Marinus Van IJzendoorn, Leiden University; Mirjam Oosterman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Group Author: Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis, (CATS)

• Mediation Analysis of the Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Gap in a Large Individual Participant Dataset - Presenting Author: Marinus Van IJzendoorn, Leiden University; Marije L. Verhage, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg, Leiden University; Carlo Schuengel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Pasco Fearon, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London; Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary; Mirjam Oosterman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Group Author: Collaboration on Attachment Transmission Synthesis, (CATS)