Examined the differential predictive power and effects of representations of child/mother and child/father attachment for children's representation of self and socioemotional competence. Found that the child's positiveness of self was better predicted by quality of child/mother attachment representation than child/father attachment representation.…

Based on life span attachment perspective and on identity status paradigm, this study investigated the relationship between attachment and identity in a sample of 361 Portuguese late adolescents as a function of parental and adolescent gender. The results indicated gender differences in the association between attachment variables and identity…

Investigated the influence of school context in predicting high school students' risk taking behaviors (e.g., truancy, substance use and sexual behaviors), hierarchically examining school attachment, school involvement, and future orientation as potential predictors of risky behaviors. Surveys indicated that the hierarchical model held true for…

Examines means of human connection from a career development perceptive: attachment, eye-to-eye validation, identification, mutuality, embeddedness, boundedness, and tending. Discusses how relational experiences foster, circumscribe, and guide explorational experiences.(Contains 54 references.) (SK)

Examines the factor pattern of parental attachment measures as well as the relationship of the resultant oblique factors to emotional functioning and perceived stress. Results reveal that individuals who reported higher levels of parental attachment reported lower levels of perceived stress and greater confidence in their ability to attend to and…

Describes one of the units of the children's home operated by the Borough of Knowsley, England. This unit, which serves adolescents with emotional and social problems, is based on six models that address attachment, environment, education, responses to stress, and grief. The unit's key functions are to support children, investigate children's…

Developmental theories can be augmented by incorporating knowledge about atypical ontogenesis. Examination of individuals with high-risk conditions and psychopathological disorders can shed light on system organization, disorganization, and reorganization. Child maltreatment is examined to illustrate benefits from studying individuals subjected to…

A survey of 301 male college students found that occasional sexual dysfunction was frequent in young male adults, and long-lasting adverse familial relationships to attachment figures were more influential in later sexual dysfunction than were childhood sexual abuse experiences. (Author/DB)

Investigated the degree to which individual differences in child-parent attachment were mediated by genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences. Found an overall concordance rate of 67 percent at the secure/insecure level. Twin similarity on the continuous measure of attachment security was consistent with a modest role…

Studied the nature of adolescent attachment to parents and peers during adolescence. Discusses results for 99 11th and 12th graders in terms of individual differences in attachment during adolescence. Individual preference for primary attachment figures was strongly related to attachment style. (SLD)

Examined infants' emotionality, inside and outside of the relationship with the mother, and mothers' responsiveness as predictors of reunion behaviors in the Strange Situation. Found that children's separation distress mediated influence of predictors and itself predicted reunion behaviors. When distress was controlled, some responses generally…

Investigates older parents' feelings of closeness with a co-resident child with mental retardation in a sample of 96 married mother and fathers. For mothers, feelings of closeness were related to their education level and adult child's functional skills. For fathers, feelings of closeness were associated with their own personality characteristics,…

Examines empirical successes of theory of attachment as a secure base relationship, including nature of infant-caregiver and adult-adult relationships. Maintains that researchers need to continually examine the logic and coherence of attachment theory and redress errors of emphasis and analysis. Suggests that the theory be updated in light of…

Studied the perceptions of 151 college students of a note from a professor saying "Please see me." Perceived availability of social support by the student was related to attachment style, and satisfaction with support was related to some beliefs about the professor's intention. (SLD)

Examined interrelations among behavioral inhibition (BI), cardiac activity, and attachment status in 4.5-year olds. Found that only Secure children showed predicted relationship between low BI and high heart period (HP) or respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Increases in HP from assessment during separation from mother to assessment three minutes after…