Multiple facets of attachment in residential-care, late adopted, and community adolescents: an interview-based comparative study

Abstract

In this study, 117 adolescents (12-19 years) from three groups (39 each), two groups from adverse caregiving environments as placed in residential-care (RC; i.e. istitutions) or late-adopted (LA; i.e. adopted after 12 months), and one of low-risk community adolescents (COM), were compared for the attachment distribution of categories in the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), and in several attachment-related domains where RC and LA showed difficulties during childhood. Only institutionalized adolescents showed more insecure and disorganized categories than both late-adopted and community peers, who did not differ. In the attachment-related domains, only RCs showed lower coherence, reflective functioning, secure-base/safehaven parents, social and school competence, adaptive response, and more parental anger and derogation than the other two groups. Late-adoptees only showed higher hostility towards sibling(s) than COM.Therefore, only residential-care adolescents were at "high-risk" in attachment, but the analysis of attachment-related domains helped to detect vulnerabilities in both groups.

Adolescents' attachment, quality of relationships with residential caregivers, and emotion regulation

“…The strength of this association is low. These results are in line with previous findings, which have linked attachment avoidance with dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies (Mikulincer et a., 2003; Muzi & Pace, 2021). Individuals with higher levels of avoidance tend to inhibit the expression of emotions, deny or suppress emotional distress and tend to distance themselves from the source of distress to cope with difficulties (i.e., deactivating strategies) (Kobak & Sceery, 1988; Wei et al, 2005).…”

“…This instability of the caregiving environment and figures, and the exposition to adverse life experiences, predispose adolescents to more disorganized attachment (Van IJzendoorn et al, 2011). In fact, the literature has been consensual demonstrating that adolescents in residential care have a high risk to present insecurity, and in particular disorganized attachment (Lionetti et al, 2015; Muzi & Pace, 2021; Van den Dries et al, 2009). However, when children experience consistent, sensitive, and responsive caregiving from significant figures, they develop positive internal working models of self and others (i.e., a secure attachment style) along with a sense of emotional security.…”

Peer Power! Secure Peer Attachment Mediates the Effect of Parental Attachment on Depressive Withdrawal of Teenagers

“…Insecure-preoccupied is when seeking proximity and connection with others prevails to the detriment of autonomy and exploration, and there could be anxious hypervigilance to maintain closeness with others, especially parents. Insecure-disorganized is when a child fails in forming a defined strategy of attachment (e.g., in case of parental loss or abuse, or early institutionalization [ 28 ]), showing contradictory and disorganized attachment behaviors and expectations, and lacking a mental model guiding relational behavior during life.…”

Methodology for improving students' cognitive activity in the process of teaching the physical image of the worldview

“…The history of philosophical and anthropological thought is considered a chronicle of the growth of human self-knowledge (Martin et al, 2016;Villasenor, 2017;Leng, 2020). A disadvantage of Western philosophical anthropology is the lack of a single coherent theory of the human concept (Muzi and Pace, 2022). By exploring the individual meaningful characteristics of a human being as a psychosomatic being, a rational animal, a natural being, a social animal, scientists have failed to come to a common ground of notions about the physical image of the worldview (Cunningham et al, 2016;Belfield et al, 2015;Anđić et al, 2021a).…”