Publication year
2012
Citation Title
Remaining or becoming secure: Parental sensitive support predicts attachment continuity from infancy to adolescence in a longitudinal adoption study
Journal Name
Developmental Psychology
Journal Volume
48
Issue Number
5
Page Numbers
1277-1282
DOI
10.1037/a0027442
Summary
Secure attachment is important for parent-child relationships and children's development. To better understand the continuity of attachment, researchers followed 125 early adopted adolescents from one to 14 years old. Results revealed that both early and later parental sensitive support were important for the continuity of secure attachment.
Key Findings
Mothers of securely attached adolescents showed more sensitive support during a conflict than mothers of insecurely attached adolescents.
Consistent maternal sensitive support predicted continuity of secure attachment in the first 14 years of children’s lives, whereas the increase of maternal sensitive support from low to high levels predicted children’s change from insecure attachment in infancy to secure attachment in adolescence.
Stressful life events and children’s temperament did not predict the continuity of attachment in adopted children.
Implications for Military Professionals
Educate military parents on how to give their children sensitive support and form secure attachment
Participate in professional trainings to learn more about parenting challenges associated with adoption and how these relate to military families
Implications for Program Leaders
Develop workshops for military parents to foster secure parent-child attachment in military families
Offer support groups for military adoptive parents so that they can communicate parenting challenges in a safe environment
Implications for Policy Makers
Raise awareness of the importance of secure attachment on the development of military children and adolescents
Continue to support programs aimed at promoting parent education in military families
Methods
Participants were recruited through adoption organizations.
The attachment style and maternal sensitive support were assessed at 12 months and 14 years of age; mothers also rated their children’s temperament at 12 months and 14 years of age, and reported stressful life events when the children were seven and 14 years old.
The assessments were conducted both at home and in the laboratory.
Participants
Participants were 125 internationally adopted adolescents (mean age = 14.4 years, SD = 0.52, 55% female); they were adopted before the age of six months.
Most of the adolescents were adopted from Sri Lanka (N = 68), followed by South Korea (N = 38) and Colombia (N = 19).
The adoptive mothers and fathers were on average 32.7 and 34.9 years old, respectively, at the birth of the children.
Limitations
Attachment was only measured when children were one year and 14 years old; the lack of attachment measure at seven years old leaves a gap between infancy and adolescence, and makes it hard to study continuity and change of attachment.
All the participants were international adoptees, so the results may not be extended to domestic adoptions.
Other parenting practices and styles that may potentially lead to secure attachment were not examined, which limited the scope of the study.
Avenues for Future Research
Study the continuity of attachment with families that adopted domestically
Examine the effects of both paternal and maternal sensitive support on children’s attachment
Investigate other parenting practices or parenting styles that may contribute to secure attachment
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
In a longitudinal study with 125 early adopted adolescents, we examined continuity of attachment from infancy to adolescence and the role of parental sensitive support in explaining continuity or discontinuity of attachment. Assessments of maternal sensitive support and infant attachment (Strange Situation Procedure) were completed when infants were 12 months old. When the children were 14 years old, we observed mothers’ sensitive support during a conflict discussion. The adolescents’ attachment representations were assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. Mothers of secure adolescents showed significantly more sensitive support during conflicts than did mothers of insecure adolescents. Overall, no continuity of attachment from infancy to adolescence was found. However, maternal sensitive support in early childhood and adolescence predicted continuity of secure attachment from 1 to 14 years, whereas less maternal sensitive support in early childhood but more maternal sensitive support in adolescence predicted children’s change from insecurity in infancy to security in adolescence. We conclude that both early and later parental sensitive support are important for continuity of attachment across the first 14 years of life.
Abstract Document
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