Adrenocortical Responses to the Strange Situation in Infants with Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment Relationships

Hertsgaard, Louise; Gunnar, Megan R.; Erickson, Martha Farrell; Nachmias, Melissa

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00925.x

Cited by 208 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

176

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…40 The nature and extent of overlap between attachment and temperament have been addressed by both theoretical and empirical studies. 41 There is empirical support for the contribution of both parenting behavior 42,43 and early temperament (eg, negative emotionality 44,45 or reactivity 46 ) to insecure and disorganized attachment, but the correlations are only small to moderate. Also, it is not clear what the causal relationships are among individual variations of temperament, parental behavior, and attachment quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of D4 dopamine receptor gene and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphisms with infants' response to novelty

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Effects of DRD4 and 5-HTTLPR length polymorphisms have been reported on neonatal and infant temperament as well as adult personality traits. The 7-repeat form of the DRD4 III exon VNTR polymorphism has been associated with childhood ADHD, and recently we have reported its link with attachment disorganization in a nonclinical population of infants. Here, we report associations of these polymorphisms with infant temperament at 12 months of age. Maternal accounts of temperament and observed response to novelty were investigated for 90 infants, who were independently genotyped for the DRD4 III exon, and for 5-HTT-linked promoter region length polymorphisms. Maternal rating of temperament was not affected by these polymorphisms, but we found combined genotype effects for infants' observed responses to a novel, anxiety-provoking stimulus: the appearance of, and approach by, a stranger. Infants with at least one copy of both the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and the long variant of 5-HTTLPR (7 + , l/l&l/s) responded with significantly less anxiety than infants with other genotypes. However, infants with the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and homozygous for the short form of 5-HTTLPR (7 + , s/s) showed more anxiety and resistance to the stranger's initiation of interaction. These genotype effects were not redundant with the previously reported association between the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and disorganized attachment behavior. Although both temperament and attachment behavior were affected by the DRD4 repeat polymorphism, the effect on temperament measures was modified by the infants' 5-HTTLPR genotype. Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 90-97.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of D4 dopamine receptor gene and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphisms with infants' response to novelty

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, higher cortisol levels were found for insecurely attached infants (Hertsgaard, Gunnar, Erickson, & Nachmias, 1995;Spangler & Grossman, 1993;Spangler & Schieche, 1998) and for infants with a combination of inhibited approach (e.g., to novelty of social situations) and insecure attachment (Gunnar, Brodersen, Nachmias, Buss, & Rigatuso, 1996;Nachmias, Gunnar, Mangelsdorf, Parritz, & Buss, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Physiological effects of separation and reunion in relation to attachment and temperament in young children

Oosterman

Schuengel

2007

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined physiological effects of separation and reunion in a sample 3-to 6-year-old children. Using continuous ambulatory recording, changes in heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and pre-ejection period (PEP) were compared across the episodes of a separation-reunion procedure based on the strange situation. RSA decreased significantly over the course of the procedure as well as on separation from the parent and not the stranger, supporting that separation from the attachment figure elicited vagal withdrawal in young children. The absence of significant PEP effects suggest that the separation-reunion procedure, and more specifically separation from the parent, was not threatening enough to activate the sympathetic nervous system, even if children were insecure attached and inhibited with regard to strangers. Some of the variability in HR increases to reunion was explained by younger age. The findings highlight the role of the ANS as a regulatory process in the parent-child relationship. ß 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 119-128, 2007.

show abstract

“…The pattern typically observed is one of decreasing cortisol levels from the beginning to 30 minutes after the end of the procedure. In contrast, studies examining disorganized patterns of attachment behavior have found that disorganized children produce larger increases in cortisol in response to separation and reunion than children classified as securely or insecurely attached [21,31]. In related work.…”

Section: Attachment Quality the Limbic Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenomentioning

confidence: 99%

From Infant Attachment Disorganization to Adult Dissociation: Relational Adaptations or Traumatic Experiences?

Lyons‐Ruth¹,

Dutra²,

Schuder³

et al. 2006

Psychiatric Clinics of North America

241

134

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 1997, Putnam [1] pointed out that relatively little was known about the etiology and development of dissociation other than the presumed etiologic role of trauma; however, the fact that nontraumatized individuals sometimes demonstrated dissociation and that not all trauma survivors dissociate suggested that there may be more to the etiology and development of dissociation than trauma alone. Putnam [1] explored the role of various potential moderating variables including age, sex, culture, genetic factors, and education/intelligence in the development of dissociation, and although moderating trends were found for some of these variables, existing research has not convincingly demonstrated that any of these variables significantly influence dissociation.Family environmental factors, however, are the one set of factors that have been most consistently related to dissociation. Factors such as inconsistent parenting or disciplining, [2-4] level of family risk [5], and parental dissociation, as measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale [6], have been shown to be associated significantly with higher levels of dissociation in adulthood. Most available research on dissociation, however, has focused on trauma, leaving many unanswered questions regarding how other family factors intersect with familial abuse in the developmental trajectories leading to dissociative disorders.Barach [7] was one of the first theorists to connect dissociation with attachment theory. In his article, Barach [7] suggested that multiple personality disorder (now known as dissociative identity disorder) was a variant of an "attachment disorder." He pointed out that individuals who had this disorder tended to demonstrate the extreme detachment, or emotional unresponsiveness, experienced by children faced with a loss of their primary caretaker, as described by Bowlby [8]. Barach [7] further suggested that children of unresponsive caretakers were also likely to engage in dissociative or "detached" behaviors. As one offshoot of attachment studies, developmental theorists and researchers have begun to explore the role of early childhood attachment and parenting in the etiology and development of dissociative symptomatology.Liotti's [9] theorizing has more specifically implicated disorganized patterns of infant attachment behavior as potential precursors to the development of dissociation later in life. He pointed out that there are parallels between infant disorganization and dissociation. Both phenomena reflect a pervasive lack of behavioral or mental integration. This primary failure of integration in infancy may result in vulnerability to dissociative organization of mental life

show abstract

Adrenocortical Responses to the Strange Situation in Infants with Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment Relationships

Cited by 208 publications

References 10 publications

Association of D4 dopamine receptor gene and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphisms with infants' response to novelty

Association of D4 dopamine receptor gene and serotonin transporter promoter polymorphisms with infants' response to novelty

Physiological effects of separation and reunion in relation to attachment and temperament in young children

From Infant Attachment Disorganization to Adult Dissociation: Relational Adaptations or Traumatic Experiences?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About