Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: infant attachment to the mother at one year of age

Abstract

Attachment to the mother at 1 year of age was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. Attachment was measured in the home in a standardized manner by a modified version of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure. Three different patterns, representing "secure attachment" (Type B), "anxiously avoidant attachment" (Type A) and "anxiously ambivalent attachment" (Type C), were defined. While no significant difference on attachment type was found between the total index versus control group, a significantly increased rate of anxious attachment (A + C) was found for offspring of schizophrenics but no other diagnostic group. Attachment type was unrelated to index mothers' psychiatric hospitalization, psychotic status and known mental disturbance during the infants' first year of life, as well as to the infants' sex.

Role of Early Developmental Factors in Susceptibility to Disease

“…Children of mothers suffering from major affective disorders were found to exhibit insecure attachment, involving avoid ance of and resistance to the mother when reunited with her after brief separations [63], Similar results are also reported by Gaensbauer et al [64] for children aged 12-18 months. Yet patterns of attachment were not found to differ for infants of mothers with an affective disorder either in the Rochester Lon gitudinal Study [49] or in the study by Naslund et al [50]. In the former, the mothers were found to hold their 4-month-old infants less and to be less playful, happy, and vocal with them.…”

“…The infants as well appeared to be less spontaneous. However, they were not differ ent from controls in their attachment behav iour [49], In contrast, a major Swedish longi tudinal study [50] revealed anxious patterns of attachment at the same age. The diversity of these findings is attributed by Melhuish et al [51 ] to the diversity in the employed meth odology.…”

Adult Attachment in Children Raised by Parents with Schizophrenia

“…Mothers with schizophrenia may provide less play stimulation, fewer learning experiences and less emotional involvement, and this may be associated with poorer intellectual and social abilities in their children (Goodman 1987). At 1 year of age, these children are more likely to display anxious attachment (Näslund et al 1984). Studies of interaction between mothers with schizophrenia and their infants, taken from a range of clinical situations and socio-cultural backgrounds, reveal a lack of maternal responsiveness and synchrony of affect, emotional detachment and withdrawal, and understimulation (Goodman and Brumley 1990;Riordan et al 1999;Snellen et al 1999).…”

Wie kann ich Dir Mutter sein? Systemisch-integrative Therapieansätze in der Begleitung $$ schizophrener Mütter und ihrer Angehörigen

“…Bei einer schizophrenen Erkrankung der Mutter wurden weniger Augenkontakt, weniger Stimulation, eine verminderte mütterliche Fähigkeit, auf kindliche Signale zu reagieren, sowie eine erhöhte Anspannung und Disharmonie in der Mutter-Kind-Interaktion gefunden [17][18][19]. Kinder schizophrener Müt-ter erwiesen sich im Alter von 4 Monaten häu-figer vermeidend [20] und zeigten im Alter von einem Jahr oft ein ängstliches Bindungsverhalten [21]. Psychisch kranke Menschen schwanken in ihrer Beziehungsgestaltung oft zwischen Nähe und Distanz [11].…”