NDLI: Attachment and Autism: Parental Attachment Representations and Relational Behaviors in the Parent-Child Dyad

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Seskin, Lynn Felicia, Eileen Tippy, Gil Yedloutschnig, Ruby Sossin, K. Mark Yasik, Anastasia
Copyright Year	2010
Abstract	While attachment research has demonstrated that parents’ internal working models of attachment relationships tend to be transmitted to their children, affecting children’s developmental trajectories, this study specifically examines associations between adult attachment status and observable parent, child, and dyadic behaviors among children with autism and associated neurodevelopmental disorders of relating and communicating. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was employed to derive parental working models of attachment relationships. The Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) was used to determine the quality of relational and functional behaviors in parents and their children. The sample included parents and their 4- to 16-year-old children with autism and associated neurodevelopmental disorders. Hypothesized relationships between AAI classifications and FEAS scores were supported. Significant correlations were found between AAI classification and FEAS scores, indicating that children with autism spectrum disorders whose parents demonstrated secure attachment representations were better able to initiate and respond in two-way pre-symbolic gestural communication; organize two-way social problem-solving communication; and engage in imaginative thinking, symbolic play, and verbal communication. These findings lend support to the relevance of the parent’s state of mind pertaining to attachment status to child and parent relational behavior in cases wherein the child has been diagnosed with autism or an associated neurodevelopmental disorder of relating and communicating. A model emerges from these findings of conceptualizing relationships between parental internal models of attachment relationships and parent-child relational and functional levels that may aid in differentiating interventions.
Starting Page	949
Ending Page	960
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00910627
Journal	Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
Volume Number	38
Issue Number	7
e-ISSN	15732835
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2010-05-05
Publisher Place	Boston
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Attachment Autism FEAS AAI DIR Child and School Psychology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Developmental and Educational Psychology Psychiatry and Mental Health

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