The Head Start Bureau has described asthma as a “growing problem” and “top chronic disease among ... more The Head Start Bureau has described asthma as a “growing problem” and “top chronic disease among Head Start children” (Rehnquist, 2002). This study examined the racial/ethnic and SES-based contributors to asthma prevalence among children attending three Head Start centers in a multi-ethnic, densely populated city in the U.S. Sample consisted of 1312 families. Findings indicated that poverty -over and above the effects of race/ethnicity- was a primary risk factor for asthma in this population: every thousand dollars increase in yearly income decreased the odds of asthma by 4%. In addition, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and Asian race were predictive of very high and very low rates of asthma, respectively. There was a positive relationship between asthma status and caregivers' education level, which may play a role in reporting of asthma cases. These findings are of significant value to inform formulation of effective intervention programs at Head Start centers.
Toxic stressors (e.g., parental violence, depression, low income) place children at risk for inse... more Toxic stressors (e.g., parental violence, depression, low income) place children at risk for insecure attachment. Parental reflective function-parents' capacity to understand their own and their child's mental states and thus regulate their own feelings and behavior toward their child-may buffer the negative effects of toxic stress on attachment. Our objective was to test the effectiveness of the Attachment and Child Health (ATTACH) intervention, focusing on improving reflective function and children's attachment security, for at-risk mothers and children <36 months of age. Three pilot studies were conducted with women and children from an inner city agency serving vulnerable, low-income families and a family violence shelter. Randomized control trial (n = 20, n = 10 at enrollment) and quasi-experimental (n = 10 at enrollment) methods tested the effect of the ATTACH intervention on the primary outcome of reflective function scores, from transcribed Parent Development Interviews. Our secondary outcome was children's attachment patterns from Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure. Despite some attrition, mixed methods analysis of covariance and t tests revealed significant differences in maternal, child, and overall reflective function, with moderate effect sizes. While more children whose mothers received the ATTACH program were securely attached posttreatment, as compared with controls, significant differences were not observed, which may be due to missing observations (n = 5 cases). Understanding the effectiveness of programs like the ATTACH intervention contributes to improved programs and services to promote healthy development of children affected by toxic stress.
Exposure to childhood adversity has been linked to accelerated telomere shortening, a marker of c... more Exposure to childhood adversity has been linked to accelerated telomere shortening, a marker of cellular aging and an indicator of physical health risk. In the current study, we examined whether adult attachment representation moderated the association between childhood adversity and telomere length. Participants included 78 young adults (M age = 20.46, SD = 1.57), who reported on their exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and were administered the Adult Attachment Interview, which was coded for attachment state of mind. Relative telomere length was assayed from buccal cells. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between attachment state of mind and ACE in predicting telomere length. Whereas the association between number of ACE and telomere length was nonsignificant for secure-autonomous, r (50) = -.15, p = .31, and insecure-preoccupied young adults, r (9) = -.15, p = .71, there was a strong negative association between number of ACE and telomer...
International Journal of Developmental Science, 2016
This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment... more This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs), provided during pregnancy, and their first-born children's AAIs, provided at age 16 years. The AAIs from the adolescents were scored for reflective functioning (RF), and this was found to be significantly linked to whether their mothers' AAI were appraised as free-autonomous/secure as opposed to insecure-dismissing. Discussion concerns the unique influence of mothers upon their first-born children's development of reflective functioning skills, including the understanding of mind and emotion. Fathers, for whom AAIs were also available, appeared to have no influence on this process. RF scores from the adolescents did not differ as a function of either the previously observed infant-mother attachment or the infant-father attachment.
Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care, 2016
Within primary care pediatrics, there is an optimal and essential opportunity to educate parents ... more Within primary care pediatrics, there is an optimal and essential opportunity to educate parents on how the pernicious effects of toxic stress have impacted their lives and how they can prevent and/or buffer the effects of stress in their child’s life. The recommendation from the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement is to infuse a trauma-informed perspective into pediatrics, and this may be accomplished by introducing providers to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study and the essential role of two-generational ACE screening. The seminal ACEs studies provided a paradigm shift in our understanding of the impact of childhood trauma on both physical and mental health throughout the life span. At the same time, the intergenerational link between childhood experiences and quality of parenting has been well established in attachment research. Integrating these two bodies of work has led to new ways of understanding the links between parental experiences in their own childhood and the quality of the parent–child relationship with their offspring. The link between trauma and attachment research provides a solid rationale for including the ACE measures into comprehensive screening and treatment with vulnerable families, many of whom regularly present to primary care pediatrics.
Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 2015
This article aims to illustrate the central underpinning role that observation has had in the dev... more This article aims to illustrate the central underpinning role that observation has had in the development of attachment theory and research, and in clinical work informed by attachment theory. Also, the paper aims to highlight reflective functioning in clinical practice and how it can be shown to ignite positive change processes, with illustrations provided from our ongoing trauma-informed clinical work with our Group Attachment Based Intervention or GABI in our work with vulnerable parents and their infants and toddlers. In pointing to how reflective functioning informs clinical practice in GABI, the paper aims to highlight what is proposed as fundamental to therapeutic action with infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults/parents and that is a strikingly new relationship with a benign, supportive other, who helps one practice novel ways of thinking, feeling and acting that may later become habitual across contexts.
Both clinical and empirical studies suggest that insecure attachment is common in eating disorder... more Both clinical and empirical studies suggest that insecure attachment is common in eating disordered populations. Clinical studies have addressed mother-daughter interactions, but there has been little empirical research into the mother&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s own attachment patterns and whether there might be intergenerational transmission of these patterns. We aimed to examine the attachment status of patients with severe anorexia nervosa and their mothers, using the &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;gold standard&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). We predicted: (1) a high level of insecurity among the patients (women with anorexia nervosa with or without bulimic behaviours); (2) that the mothers would show a higher rate of insecurity than predicted by population norms; and (3) that there might be attachment style associations within mother-daughter pairs. Twenty consecutive in-patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of anorexia nervosa were interviewed using the AAI, as were 12 of their mothers. The mental state of daughters was rated by experienced clinicians, and that of mothers by the Clinical Interview Schedule (Revised). AAIs were transcribed and rated by expert raters. Nineteen (95%) daughters and 10 (83%) mothers were rated insecure on the AAI. Of these, 15 (79%) daughters and seven (70%) mothers were dismissive in type. We did not find an association between mothers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; and daughters&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; attachment style. The incidence of unresolved loss was high among the mothers (67%). Idealization scores were high and reflective functioning scores low in both mother and daughter groups. Women with anorexia nervosa and their mothers commonly have a dismissive attachment style. Low levels of reflective functioning and high idealization scores are found in both groups, and may be learned (or transmitted) from mother to daughter. A difficulty in emotional processing, exemplified by unresolved loss, may be transmitted to daughters, and act as a risk factor for the development of anorexia nervosa.
Data from the six-year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns... more Data from the six-year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns of attachment and the effects of early relationships upon subsequent social, emotional and cognitive development are presented. Around the time of their sixth birthday, 63 children participated in an affect understanding task, involving cartoon diagrams depicting social and emotional dilemmas. As predicted, performance on this task, assessed in terms of mixed-emotion understanding, was predicted by security of the infant-mother attachment relationship (as assessed in the Strange Situation at oneyear) and security or autonomy in the mother's representations of, and reflections upon, her attachment history (as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview of AAI-during pregnancy) prior to the child's birth. Regression analyses suggested that the infant-mother attachment data significantly enhanced the prediction of an advanced understanding of mixed emotions at six-years, even after controlling for variations in the children's age at time of testing, as well as child and parent verbal skills. The inclusion of earlier assessments of the child-father Strange Situation assessment (at 18months) did not enhance the model; nor did the attachment status of the mothers or fathers as observed in their prenatal AAIs. Discussion concerns the contributions of early attachment processes, including family conflict, to the ability to verbally express an understanding of mixed emotions in a task depicting hypothetical social and emotional dilemmas.
The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), developed and extensively tested in the domain of developme... more The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), developed and extensively tested in the domain of developmental psychology, has relevance to psychotherapy research. The authors compare and contrast the ways that social psychologists and developmental psychologists have operationalized the concept of attachment security and discuss corresponding implications for psychotherapy research. In addition, they provide an overview of the AAI and its development, reliability, and validation in developmental psychology and summarize recent work linking AAI responses with distinctive types of psychopathology. A summary of recent work showing the AAI to be a useful indicator of positive outcome in psychotherapy for adults with diverse problems, including depression, borderline personality disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder, is provided.
This paper assumes that the capacities to (1) openly acknowledge, and (2) elaborate a resourceful... more This paper assumes that the capacities to (1) openly acknowledge, and (2) elaborate a resourceful plan for coping with distress in the self and others are central features of social cognition. These capacities were assessed in a sample (N = 51) of 11-year-old children whose mothers and fathers had previously provided Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) before their children were born. The children were shown six line-drawn sequences of child(ren), with peer(s) and/or family in diverse situations involving some moderate distress. The experimenter described the adversity shown in the sequence (e.g., bully pushing over another school-aged child in the presence of onlookers) and then invited the child to attribute thoughts and feelings to the characters, and comment upon what might happen next. Children whose responses scored highly for acknowledgement of the distress, and elaborating a resolution, were significantly more likely to have had mothers (but not fathers) whose AAIs were judged autonomous-secure as opposed to insecure (i.e., dismissing, preoccupied and/or unresolved). The significant influence of maternal representations of attachment upon the 11-year outcome remained even after taking account of concurrent parenting attitudes, children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s verbal intelligence, as well as the previously assessed infant-parent attachment patterns. Discussion concerns the differential predictive power of maternal responses to the Adult Attachment Interview as related to the domain of children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s social and emotional understanding.
This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained f... more This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained from adoptive mothers, and emotional themes appearing in doll play narratives obtained from their recently adopted children. The children, aged 4 8 years, carried into their adoptive ...
The study reported here by Jeanne Kaniuk, Miriam Steele and Jill Hodges explored the development ... more The study reported here by Jeanne Kaniuk, Miriam Steele and Jill Hodges explored the development of attachments between a group of 63 children aged four to eight years at placement, all of whom had a history of separations and neglect or abuse. The 63 children and their adopters (42 families) were followed up for two years after placement. They were compared with a group of 48 children who had been adopted as infants (under 12 months of age) but who were of similar age to the research sample at the time of the study. Measures used included measures of the children's attachments and psychological development and of the adopters' attachment status and experience as parents. Uniquely in the field of adoption, this project has included measures of attachment that look below the surface to explore the inner worlds of both the children and the adopters. The children's schools were also contacted for a report on their progress.
The Head Start Bureau has described asthma as a “growing problem” and “top chronic disease among ... more The Head Start Bureau has described asthma as a “growing problem” and “top chronic disease among Head Start children” (Rehnquist, 2002). This study examined the racial/ethnic and SES-based contributors to asthma prevalence among children attending three Head Start centers in a multi-ethnic, densely populated city in the U.S. Sample consisted of 1312 families. Findings indicated that poverty -over and above the effects of race/ethnicity- was a primary risk factor for asthma in this population: every thousand dollars increase in yearly income decreased the odds of asthma by 4%. In addition, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and Asian race were predictive of very high and very low rates of asthma, respectively. There was a positive relationship between asthma status and caregivers' education level, which may play a role in reporting of asthma cases. These findings are of significant value to inform formulation of effective intervention programs at Head Start centers.
Toxic stressors (e.g., parental violence, depression, low income) place children at risk for inse... more Toxic stressors (e.g., parental violence, depression, low income) place children at risk for insecure attachment. Parental reflective function-parents' capacity to understand their own and their child's mental states and thus regulate their own feelings and behavior toward their child-may buffer the negative effects of toxic stress on attachment. Our objective was to test the effectiveness of the Attachment and Child Health (ATTACH) intervention, focusing on improving reflective function and children's attachment security, for at-risk mothers and children <36 months of age. Three pilot studies were conducted with women and children from an inner city agency serving vulnerable, low-income families and a family violence shelter. Randomized control trial (n = 20, n = 10 at enrollment) and quasi-experimental (n = 10 at enrollment) methods tested the effect of the ATTACH intervention on the primary outcome of reflective function scores, from transcribed Parent Development Interviews. Our secondary outcome was children's attachment patterns from Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure. Despite some attrition, mixed methods analysis of covariance and t tests revealed significant differences in maternal, child, and overall reflective function, with moderate effect sizes. While more children whose mothers received the ATTACH program were securely attached posttreatment, as compared with controls, significant differences were not observed, which may be due to missing observations (n = 5 cases). Understanding the effectiveness of programs like the ATTACH intervention contributes to improved programs and services to promote healthy development of children affected by toxic stress.
Exposure to childhood adversity has been linked to accelerated telomere shortening, a marker of c... more Exposure to childhood adversity has been linked to accelerated telomere shortening, a marker of cellular aging and an indicator of physical health risk. In the current study, we examined whether adult attachment representation moderated the association between childhood adversity and telomere length. Participants included 78 young adults (M age = 20.46, SD = 1.57), who reported on their exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and were administered the Adult Attachment Interview, which was coded for attachment state of mind. Relative telomere length was assayed from buccal cells. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant interaction between attachment state of mind and ACE in predicting telomere length. Whereas the association between number of ACE and telomere length was nonsignificant for secure-autonomous, r (50) = -.15, p = .31, and insecure-preoccupied young adults, r (9) = -.15, p = .71, there was a strong negative association between number of ACE and telomer...
International Journal of Developmental Science, 2016
This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment... more This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs), provided during pregnancy, and their first-born children's AAIs, provided at age 16 years. The AAIs from the adolescents were scored for reflective functioning (RF), and this was found to be significantly linked to whether their mothers' AAI were appraised as free-autonomous/secure as opposed to insecure-dismissing. Discussion concerns the unique influence of mothers upon their first-born children's development of reflective functioning skills, including the understanding of mind and emotion. Fathers, for whom AAIs were also available, appeared to have no influence on this process. RF scores from the adolescents did not differ as a function of either the previously observed infant-mother attachment or the infant-father attachment.
Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care, 2016
Within primary care pediatrics, there is an optimal and essential opportunity to educate parents ... more Within primary care pediatrics, there is an optimal and essential opportunity to educate parents on how the pernicious effects of toxic stress have impacted their lives and how they can prevent and/or buffer the effects of stress in their child’s life. The recommendation from the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement is to infuse a trauma-informed perspective into pediatrics, and this may be accomplished by introducing providers to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study and the essential role of two-generational ACE screening. The seminal ACEs studies provided a paradigm shift in our understanding of the impact of childhood trauma on both physical and mental health throughout the life span. At the same time, the intergenerational link between childhood experiences and quality of parenting has been well established in attachment research. Integrating these two bodies of work has led to new ways of understanding the links between parental experiences in their own childhood and the quality of the parent–child relationship with their offspring. The link between trauma and attachment research provides a solid rationale for including the ACE measures into comprehensive screening and treatment with vulnerable families, many of whom regularly present to primary care pediatrics.
Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 2015
This article aims to illustrate the central underpinning role that observation has had in the dev... more This article aims to illustrate the central underpinning role that observation has had in the development of attachment theory and research, and in clinical work informed by attachment theory. Also, the paper aims to highlight reflective functioning in clinical practice and how it can be shown to ignite positive change processes, with illustrations provided from our ongoing trauma-informed clinical work with our Group Attachment Based Intervention or GABI in our work with vulnerable parents and their infants and toddlers. In pointing to how reflective functioning informs clinical practice in GABI, the paper aims to highlight what is proposed as fundamental to therapeutic action with infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults/parents and that is a strikingly new relationship with a benign, supportive other, who helps one practice novel ways of thinking, feeling and acting that may later become habitual across contexts.
Both clinical and empirical studies suggest that insecure attachment is common in eating disorder... more Both clinical and empirical studies suggest that insecure attachment is common in eating disordered populations. Clinical studies have addressed mother-daughter interactions, but there has been little empirical research into the mother&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s own attachment patterns and whether there might be intergenerational transmission of these patterns. We aimed to examine the attachment status of patients with severe anorexia nervosa and their mothers, using the &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;gold standard&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). We predicted: (1) a high level of insecurity among the patients (women with anorexia nervosa with or without bulimic behaviours); (2) that the mothers would show a higher rate of insecurity than predicted by population norms; and (3) that there might be attachment style associations within mother-daughter pairs. Twenty consecutive in-patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of anorexia nervosa were interviewed using the AAI, as were 12 of their mothers. The mental state of daughters was rated by experienced clinicians, and that of mothers by the Clinical Interview Schedule (Revised). AAIs were transcribed and rated by expert raters. Nineteen (95%) daughters and 10 (83%) mothers were rated insecure on the AAI. Of these, 15 (79%) daughters and seven (70%) mothers were dismissive in type. We did not find an association between mothers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; and daughters&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; attachment style. The incidence of unresolved loss was high among the mothers (67%). Idealization scores were high and reflective functioning scores low in both mother and daughter groups. Women with anorexia nervosa and their mothers commonly have a dismissive attachment style. Low levels of reflective functioning and high idealization scores are found in both groups, and may be learned (or transmitted) from mother to daughter. A difficulty in emotional processing, exemplified by unresolved loss, may be transmitted to daughters, and act as a risk factor for the development of anorexia nervosa.
Data from the six-year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns... more Data from the six-year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns of attachment and the effects of early relationships upon subsequent social, emotional and cognitive development are presented. Around the time of their sixth birthday, 63 children participated in an affect understanding task, involving cartoon diagrams depicting social and emotional dilemmas. As predicted, performance on this task, assessed in terms of mixed-emotion understanding, was predicted by security of the infant-mother attachment relationship (as assessed in the Strange Situation at oneyear) and security or autonomy in the mother's representations of, and reflections upon, her attachment history (as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview of AAI-during pregnancy) prior to the child's birth. Regression analyses suggested that the infant-mother attachment data significantly enhanced the prediction of an advanced understanding of mixed emotions at six-years, even after controlling for variations in the children's age at time of testing, as well as child and parent verbal skills. The inclusion of earlier assessments of the child-father Strange Situation assessment (at 18months) did not enhance the model; nor did the attachment status of the mothers or fathers as observed in their prenatal AAIs. Discussion concerns the contributions of early attachment processes, including family conflict, to the ability to verbally express an understanding of mixed emotions in a task depicting hypothetical social and emotional dilemmas.
The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), developed and extensively tested in the domain of developme... more The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), developed and extensively tested in the domain of developmental psychology, has relevance to psychotherapy research. The authors compare and contrast the ways that social psychologists and developmental psychologists have operationalized the concept of attachment security and discuss corresponding implications for psychotherapy research. In addition, they provide an overview of the AAI and its development, reliability, and validation in developmental psychology and summarize recent work linking AAI responses with distinctive types of psychopathology. A summary of recent work showing the AAI to be a useful indicator of positive outcome in psychotherapy for adults with diverse problems, including depression, borderline personality disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder, is provided.
This paper assumes that the capacities to (1) openly acknowledge, and (2) elaborate a resourceful... more This paper assumes that the capacities to (1) openly acknowledge, and (2) elaborate a resourceful plan for coping with distress in the self and others are central features of social cognition. These capacities were assessed in a sample (N = 51) of 11-year-old children whose mothers and fathers had previously provided Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) before their children were born. The children were shown six line-drawn sequences of child(ren), with peer(s) and/or family in diverse situations involving some moderate distress. The experimenter described the adversity shown in the sequence (e.g., bully pushing over another school-aged child in the presence of onlookers) and then invited the child to attribute thoughts and feelings to the characters, and comment upon what might happen next. Children whose responses scored highly for acknowledgement of the distress, and elaborating a resolution, were significantly more likely to have had mothers (but not fathers) whose AAIs were judged autonomous-secure as opposed to insecure (i.e., dismissing, preoccupied and/or unresolved). The significant influence of maternal representations of attachment upon the 11-year outcome remained even after taking account of concurrent parenting attitudes, children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s verbal intelligence, as well as the previously assessed infant-parent attachment patterns. Discussion concerns the differential predictive power of maternal responses to the Adult Attachment Interview as related to the domain of children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s social and emotional understanding.
This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained f... more This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained from adoptive mothers, and emotional themes appearing in doll play narratives obtained from their recently adopted children. The children, aged 4 8 years, carried into their adoptive ...
The study reported here by Jeanne Kaniuk, Miriam Steele and Jill Hodges explored the development ... more The study reported here by Jeanne Kaniuk, Miriam Steele and Jill Hodges explored the development of attachments between a group of 63 children aged four to eight years at placement, all of whom had a history of separations and neglect or abuse. The 63 children and their adopters (42 families) were followed up for two years after placement. They were compared with a group of 48 children who had been adopted as infants (under 12 months of age) but who were of similar age to the research sample at the time of the study. Measures used included measures of the children's attachments and psychological development and of the adopters' attachment status and experience as parents. Uniquely in the field of adoption, this project has included measures of attachment that look below the surface to explore the inner worlds of both the children and the adopters. The children's schools were also contacted for a report on their progress.
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Papers by Miriam Steele