Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to child protection and child custody decision-making. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify fac

This study investigated infant predictors of early cognitive and emotional self-regulation from an intrinsic and caregiving environmental perspective. Sustained attention, reactive aspects of infant temperament, and maternal sensitivity were assessed at 10 months (n = 124) and early self-regulation (including executive functions, EF, and emotion regulation) was assessed at 18 months. The results indicated that sustained attention predicted early EF, which provide empirical support for the hierarchical framework of EF development, advocating early attention as a foundation for the development of cognitive self-regulation. Maternal sensitivity and surgency predicted emotion regulation, in that infants of sensitive mothers showed more regulatory behaviours and a longer latency to distress, whereas high levels of surgency predicted low emotion regulation, suggesting both the caregiving environment and temperament as important in the development of self-regulation. Interaction effects suggested high sustained attention to be a protective factor for children of insensitive mothers, in relation to emotion regulation. In addition, high levels of maternal sensitivity seemed to foster development of emotion regulation among children with low to medium levels of sustained attention and/or surgency. In all, our findings point to the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in infant development of self-regulation.

This study examined the contributions of several important domains of functioning to ADHD symptoms and conduct problems. Specifically, we investigated if cognitive inhibition, emotion regulation, emotionality and disorganized attachment made independent and specific contributions to these externalizing behavior problems from a multiple pathways perspective.The study included laboratory measures of cognitive inhibition and disorganized attachment in 184 typically developing children (M age = 6 years, 10 months, SD = 1.7). Parental ratings provided measures of emotion regulation, emotionality, and externalizing behavior problems.Results revealed that cognitive inhibition, regulation of positive emotion, and positive emotionality were independently and specifically related to ADHD symptoms. Disorganized attachment and negative emotionality formed independent and specific relations to conduct problems. Our findings support the multiple pathways perspective on ADHD, with poor regulation of positive emotion and high positive emotionality making distinct contributions to ADHD symptoms. More specifically, our results support the proposal of a temperamentally based pathway to ADHD symptoms. The findings also indicate that disorganized attachment and negative emotionality constitute pathways specific to conduct problems rather than to ADHD symptoms.Keywords: ADHD, conduct problems, cognitive inhibition, emotion regulation, emotionality, disorganized attachment. HETEROGENEITY OF EXTERNALIZING BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS 1The Heterogeneity of ADHD Symptoms and Conduct Problems:Cognitive Inhibition, Emotion Regulation, Emotionality and Disorganized Attachment Externalizing behavior problems, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and conduct problems, are increasingly suggested to be etiologically heterogeneous (Dodge & Pettit, 2003;Nigg, Willcutt, Doyle, & Sonuga-Barke, 2005;Sonuga-Barke, 2005).Indeed, the development of conduct problems has long been related to impairments in a multitude of factors, such as emotion regulation, emotionality, cognitive inhibition, and attachment (Dodge & Pettit, 2003). Similarly, current theoretical models of ADHD suggest multiple pathways to the disorder (Nigg, Goldsmith, & Sachek, 2004;Sonuga-Barke, 2005), and recently deficits in emotion regulation and extreme emotionality (Martel, 2009), as well as insecure attachment have been emphasized (Thorell, Rydell, & Bohlin, 2012; for a discussion see Nigg, 2006). There is a shortage of studies simultaneously investigating factors from multiple domains of functioning in relation to both ADHD symptoms and conduct problems. Moreover, few studies have accounted for the substantial overlap between ADHD symptoms and conduct problems. Addressing these limitations would clarify impairment specificity for respective type of externalizing behavior problems, which in turn would help to improve intervention targets (Moffitt et al., 2011; Sonuga-Bark, 2005).Externalizing behavior problems have been shown to be best understood from a dimensiona...

Maternal intellectual disability (ID) is regarded a risk factor in child development, but there is no scientific evidence on maternal ID in relation to children's attachment. Using a matched comparison design, a small group (n = 23) of mothers diagnosed with ID was studied to help fill this gap. Besides maternal ID, we examined the role of abuse/trauma/maltreatment (ATM) in the mothers' biographies, along with potential confounds. Comparison group mothers (n = 25) had normal variations in intelligence and matched mothers with ID on residential area, income, child age, and sex. History of maternal ATM was assessed using a semi-structured interview and was found to be significantly more likely in the ID group mothers' experience than the comparison group mothers. Children's (M age = 77 months) attachment representations were assessed with the Separation Anxiety Test. Among children of mothers with ID, a substantial minority (35%) had a secure and the vast majority (>80%) an organized attachment representation. Mothers with ID who had suffered elevated ATM were significantly more likely to have children who were scored high on disorganization and insecurity. We discuss possible implications of our findings for societal considerations regarding parenting and child attachment in the context of parental ID status.

A need to identify early infant markers of later occurring inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behaviors has come to the fore in the current attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder literature. The purpose of such studies is to identify driving mechanisms that could enable early detection of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder liability and thus facilitate early intervention. Here we study independent and interactive effects of cognitive regulation (inhibition and sustained attention), temperament (reactive and regulatory aspects), and maternal sensitivity (as external regulation) in a sample of 112 typically developing 10-month-old infants (59 boys, 52.7%), in relation to inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behavior at 3 years. The results showed that infant temperamental regulation and maternal sensitivity made independent contributions to both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, in that higher levels of temperamental regulation and maternal sensitivity were related to less inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behavior. In addition, the temperamental factor positive affectivity/surgency made a significant contribution to later hyperactivity/impulsivity, in that higher levels of positive affectivity/surgency were related to more hyperactive/impulsive behavior. No interaction effects were found. Our findings suggest temperament and parental regulation as potential and independent markers of later inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behavior.