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Attachment in the context of high-risk conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Marian Radke-Yarrow ,
Kathleen McCann ,
Elizabeth DeMulder ,
Barbara Belmont ,
Pedro Martinez  and
Dorothy T. Richardson
Marian Radke-Yarrow*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
Kathleen McCann
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
Elizabeth DeMulder
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
Barbara Belmont
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
Pedro Martinez
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
Dorothy T. Richardson
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health
*
Marian Radke-Yarrow, National Institute of Mental Health, 15K, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892.
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Abstract

The role of attachment in interaction with other relationships and conditions was investigated in relation to children's later psychosocial development (at ages 6 and 9). Thirty-nine unipolar depressed mothers, 24 bipolar mothers, and 32 normal control mothers and their children were studied. The network of conditions defining early experience included, in addition to attachment, maternal psychopathology, marital discord, other disordered relationships in the family, and recent losses of significant persons. Patterns of mother-child interaction were also examined. Assessments of children's problems were based on psychiatric evaluations of depressive affect, anxiety, and disruptive-oppositional behavior.

The findings support the conclusion that attachment enters into development in interaction with other relationships and conditions. Maternal psychopathology, in particular, in interaction with the attachment relationship, is linked to later developmental outcomes. The importance of considering mother-child interactional and dispositional characteristics is indicated. The early attachment relationship together with the ways in which the mother's depression is expressed with her child, and the child's style of coping with the mother's functioning establish patterns of behavior that influence the child's vulnerability to later problems. Multiple pathways of transmission of affective problems are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Spring 1995 , pp. 247 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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