Frightened, threatening, and dissociative parental behavior in low-risk samples: Description, discussion, and interpretations

Abstract

In 1990 we advanced the hypothesis that frightened and frightening (FR) parental behavior would prove to be linked to both unresolved (U) adult attachment status as identified in the Adult Attachment Interview and to infant disorganized/disoriented (D) attachment as assessed in the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Here, we present a coding system for identifying and scoring the intensity of the three primary forms of FR behavior (frightened, threatening, and dissociative) as well as three subsidiary forms. We review why each primary form may induce fear of the parent (the infant's primary "haven of safety"), placing the infant in a disorganizing approach-flight paradox. We suggest that, being linked to the parent's own unintegrated traumatic experiences (often loss or maltreatment), FR behaviors themselves are often guided by parental fright, and parallel the three "classic" mammalian responses to fright: flight, attack, and freezing behavior. Recent studies of U to FR, as well as FR to D relations are presented, including findings regarding AMBIANCE/FR+. Links between dissociation, FR, U, and D are explored. Parallel processing and working memory are discussed as they relate to these phenomena.

Struggling with one’s own parenting after an upbringing with substance abusing parents

“…On top of this, the parent can feel a helplessness in relation to the child if she experiences that her own anxiety is easily stimulated, her feelings quickly run out of control and that she becomes stressed at the thought of being separated. When this happens, the child experiences difficulties in using the parent as a secure and safe attachment object (Hesse & Main, 2006). Instead, the child runs the risk of establishing an insecure or even disorganized attachment relationship with her parent (Solomon & George, 2011a).…”

A short-term longitudinal study of correlates and sequelae of attachment security in autism

“…These behaviors only become codable as indices of disorganized attachment when they are either not explicable in other terms (e.g. neurological) or they are only readily explicable as stemming from a conflict associated with the child being alarmed by the caregiver (Hesse & Main, 2006; Main & Hesse, 1990). Only in this latter case can the behavior be understood to reflect conflict or disruption at the level of the attachment behavioral system.…”

“…disorganized/secure; D/B). Main and Hesse (1992) note that such behavior can emerge when a caregiver not only is predominantly sensitive and responsive to their child’s attachment signals but also occasionally engages in displays of behavior which alarms the child (including not only directly frightening but also frightened and dissociative behavior [FR]; see Hesse & Main, 1999, 2006). In support of this account, in the results of a meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae of disorganized attachment, Van IJzendoorn, Schuengel, and Bakermans-Kranenburg (1999) indicated no significant relationship between disorganized attachment in infants and ratings of maternal sensitivity, as assessed using Ainsworth’s sensitivity–insensitivity scale.…”

Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

“…Alarming behavior can take several forms, including subtly frightening or frightened parental behaviors (e.g. Hesse & Main, 2006), states of mind that leave the caregiver psychologically unavailable to the child, threats of harm, or even unusually extended absences (Solomon & George, 2011). A child may also be expected to associate alarm with a caregiver who they have seen subjected to partner violence (Lieberman & Amaya-Jackson, 2005).…”

“…Albeit to varying degrees, the different behaviors listed by Main and Solomon (1990) can be regarded as consequences of a tendency to approach the attachment figure and a simultaneous tendency to move away from the attachment figure. This is why most forms of disorganized attachment appear as conflicted, confused, and/or apprehensive behavior toward the caregiver, since these qualities can characterize a child’s paradoxical situation (Hesse & Main, 2006; Solomon, Duschinsky, Bakkum, & Schuengel, in press). …”