The significance of insecure and disorganized attachment for children's internalizing symptoms: a meta-analytic study.

This meta-analytic review examines the association between attachment and internalizing symptomatology during childhood, and compares the strength of this association with that for externalizing symptomatology. Based on 42 independent samples (N = 4,614), the association between insecurity and internalizing symptoms was small, yet significant (d = 0.15, CI 0.06~0.25) and not moderated by assessment age of internalizing problems. Avoidance, but not resistance (d = 0.03, CI -0.11~0.17) or disorganization (d = 0.08, CI -0.06~0.22), was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (d = 0.17, CI 0.03~0.31). Insecurity and disorganization were more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms. Discussion focuses on the significance of attachment for the development of internalizing versus externalizing symptomatology.

[1]  Glenn I. Roisman,et al.  The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: a meta-analytic study. , 2010, Child development.

[2]  K. Kerns,et al.  Parent–child attachment and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical findings and future directions , 2010, Development and Psychopathology.

[3]  L. Hedges,et al.  The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis , 2009 .

[4]  C. Ferguson.  An effect size primer: A guide for clinicians and researchers. , 2009 .

[5]  K. Lyons-Ruth,et al.  Maternal depressive symptoms in infancy: Unique contribution to children's depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence? , 2009, Development and Psychopathology.

[6]  W. Junek.  The Development of the Person: The Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaptation from Birth to Adulthood , 2007 .

[7]  M. Bosquet,et al.  The development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms from infancy through adolescence in a longitudinal sample , 2006, Development and Psychopathology.

[8]  K. Leonard,et al.  Behavior problems in 18- to 36-month-old children of alcoholic fathers: Secure mother–infant attachment as a protective factor , 2006, Development and Psychopathology.

[9]  C. Berthiaume,et al.  Attachment and behavior problems in middle childhood as reported by adult and child informants , 2006, Development and Psychopathology.

[10]  M. Radke-yarrow.  Attachment patterns in children of depressed mothers , 2006 .

[11]  R. Rapee,et al.  Attachment, Behavioral Inhibition, and Anxiety in Preschool Children , 2005, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[12]  Femmie Juffer,et al.  Adoption and cognitive development: a meta-analytic comparison of adopted and nonadopted children's IQ and school performance. , 2005, Psychological bulletin.

[13]  Ellen Moss,et al.  Attachment at early school age and developmental risk: examining family contexts and behavior problems of controlling-caregiving, controlling-punitive, and behaviorally disorganized children. , 2004, Developmental psychology.

[14]  M. Bakermans-Kranenburg,et al.  Assessing attachment security with the Attachment Q Sort: meta-analytic evidence for the validity of the observer AQS. , 2004, Child development.

[15]  K. Mccartney,et al.  Testing a maternal attachment model of behavior problems in early childhood. , 2004, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[16]  L. Wright,et al.  Attachment status in children prenatally exposed to cocaine and other substances. , 2004, Child development.

[17]  J. Bureau,et al.  Correlates of attachment at age 3: construct validity of the preschool attachment classification system. , 2004, Developmental psychology.

[18]  Kenneth H. Rubin,et al.  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 2019 .

[19]  Elsa Broder,et al.  Handbook of Attachment. , 2003 .

[20]  L. Sroufe.  Attachment categories as reflections of multiple dimensions: comment on Fraley and Spieker (2003). , 2003, Developmental psychology.

[21]  Femmie Juffer,et al.  Less is more: meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[22]  Femmie Juffer,et al.  Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood: the case of adopted children and their biologically unrelated parents. , 2002, Developmental psychology.

[23]  Tracy L. Spinrad,et al.  The relations of regulation and emotionality to children's externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. , 2001, Child development.

[24]  Michelle R. Tuckey,et al.  Rethinking maternal sensitivity: mothers' comments on infants' mental processes predict security of attachment at 12 months. , 2001, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[25]  J. Garber.  Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications , 2000 .

[26]  F. Song,et al.  The causes, consequences and detection of publication bias in psychiatry , 2000, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[27]  Mark W. Lipsey,et al.  Practical Meta-Analysis , 2000 .

[28]  David R. Jones,et al.  Empirical assessment of effect of publication bias on meta-analyses , 2000, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[29]  S Duval,et al.  Trim and Fill: A Simple Funnel‐Plot–Based Method of Testing and Adjusting for Publication Bias in Meta‐Analysis , 2000, Biometrics.

[30]  François Ansermet,et al.  Attachment and temperament in early childhood; implications for later behavior problems , 2000 .

[31]  R. Tweedie,et al.  A Nonparametric “Trim and Fill” Method of Accounting for Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis , 2000 .

[32]  E. DeMulder,et al.  Q-sort assessment of attachment security during the preschool years: links from home to school. , 2000, Developmental psychology.

[33]  G. Bohlin,et al.  Attachment and social functioning: A longitudinal study from infancy to middle childhood , 2000 .

[34]  D. Barnett,et al.  Perceived social support mediates between prior attachment and subsequent adjustment: a study of urban African American children. , 1999, Developmental psychology.

[35]  M. Greenberg,et al.  Attachment in boys with early onset conduct problems , 1999, Development and Psychopathology.

[36]  M. Bakermans-Kranenburg,et al.  Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae , 1999, Development and Psychopathology.

[37]  S. Parent,et al.  Correlates of attachment at school age: maternal reported stress, mother-child interaction, and behavior problems. , 1998, Child development.

[38]  E. Carlson.  A prospective longitudinal study of attachment disorganization/disorientation. , 1998, Child development.

[39]  K. Keenan,et al.  Antecedents of preschool children's internalizing problems: a longitudinal study of low-income families. , 1997, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[40]  B. Egeland,et al.  The long-term consequences of infant day-care and mother-infant attachment. , 1995, Child development.

[41]  F. Rothbaum,et al.  Early Parent-Child Relationships and Later Problem Behavior: A Longitudinal Study. , 1995 .

[42]  S. Goldberg,et al.  Infant-mother attachment and behavior problems in healthy and chronically ill preschoolers , 1995, Development and Psychopathology.

[43]  K. Manassis,et al.  Behavioural Inhibition, Attachment and Anxiety in Children of Mothers with Anxiety Disorders , 1995, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[44]  Kathleen K. McCann,et al.  Attachment in the context of high-risk conditions , 1995, Development and Psychopathology.

[45]  C. Booth.  Predicting social adjustment in middle childhood: The role of preschool attachment security and maternal style. , 1994 .

[46]  J. Osofsky,et al.  Predicting Behavior Problems and Social Competence in Children of Adolescent Mothers , 1994 .

[47]  C. Culver,et al.  Proffles of Emotional Development: Individual Differences in Facial and Vocal Expression of Emotion during the Second and Third Years of Life , 1994 .

[48]  J. Cassidy.  Emotion regulation: influences of attachment relationships. , 1994, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.

[49]  M. A. Easterbrooks,et al.  Psychosocial risk, attachment, and behavior problems among school-aged children , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[50]  B. Repacholi,et al.  Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom. , 1993, Child development.

[51]  P. Kroonenberg,et al.  The relative effects of maternal and child problems on the quality of attachment: a meta-analysis of attachment in clinical samples. , 1992, Child development.

[52]  L. Sroufe,et al.  Effects of Infant Attachment to Mother and Father on Quality of Adaptation in Preschool: From Dyadic to Individual Organisation of Self , 1992 .

[53]  L. Sroufe,et al.  The fate of early experience following developmental change: longitudinal approaches to individual adaptation in childhood. , 1990, Child development.

[54]  S. Mangelsdorf,et al.  Early childhood antecedents of aggression and passive-withdrawal in early elementary school. , 1989, Journal of personality.

[55]  M. S. Patel,et al.  An introduction to meta-analysis. , 1989, Health Policy.

[56]  M. Main,et al.  Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period. , 1988 .

[57]  C. Edelbrock,et al.  Empirically based assessment of the behavioral/emotional problems of 2- and 3- year-old children , 1987, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[58]  M. Greenberg,et al.  The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence , 1987, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[59]  M. Lewis,et al.  Predicting psychopathology in six-year-olds from early social relations. , 1984, Child development.

[60]  S. Ceci,et al.  Peer-review practices of psychological journals: The fate of published articles, submitted again , 1982, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[61]  L. Behar,et al.  A behavior rating scale for the preschool child. , 1974 .

[62]  J. Bowlby.  Attachment and loss: retrospect and prospect. , 1969, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[63]  G. J. Train,et al.  Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality , 1966 .

[64]  M. Greenberg,et al.  Attachment and psychopathology in childhood. , 2008 .

[65]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using multivariate statistics, 5th ed. , 2007 .

[66]  Y. Bar-Haim,et al.  Predicting children's anxiety from early attachment relationships. , 2007, Journal of anxiety disorders.

[67]  Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,et al.  Infant-mother attachment classification: risk and protection in relation to changing maternal caregiving quality. , 2006, Developmental psychology.

[68]  J. Trapani.  The differential influence of multiple reporters on the relationship between attachment in infancy and internalizing behaviors in middle childhood , 2006 .

[69]  S. Weiss,et al.  Precursors of Mental Health Problems for Low Birth Weight Children: The Salience of Family Environment During the First Year of Life , 2002, Child psychiatry and human development.

[70]  B. Schneider,et al.  Child-parent attachment and children's peer relations: a quantitative review. , 2001, Developmental psychology.

[71]  K. Mccartney,et al.  Effect size, practical importance, and social policy for children. , 2000, Child development.

[72]  A. Marcoen,et al.  Representation of self and socioemotional competence in kindergartners: differential and combined effects of attachment to mother and to father. , 1999, Child development.

[73]  Phillip R. Shaver,et al.  Handbook of attachment : theory, research, and clinical applications , 1999 .

[74]  H. Goldstein,et al.  The Graphical Presentation of a Collection of Means , 1995 .

[75]  B. Fagot.  Classification of problem behaviors in young children: A comparison of four systems☆ , 1995 .

[76]  M. Main,et al.  Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? , 1990 .

[77]  M. Main,et al.  Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. , 1990 .

[78]  Brian Mullen,et al.  Advanced BASIC meta-analysis , 1989 .

[79]  J. Bates,et al.  Attachment and the development of behavior problems. , 1988 .

[80]  M. Main,et al.  Discovery of an insecure-disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern. , 1986 .

[81]  E. Waters,et al.  Defining and Assessing Individual Differences in Attachment Relationships: Q-Methodology and the Organization of Behavior in Infancy and Early Childhood. , 1985 .

[82]  J. Bates,et al.  Attachment security, mother-child interaction, and temperament as predictors of behavior-problem ratings at age three years. , 1985, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.

[83]  R. Rosenthal.  Meta-analytic procedures for social research , 1984 .

[84]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[85]  M. Ainsworth,et al.  Origins of the Sense of Security. (Book Reviews: Patterns of Attachment. A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation) , 1978 .

[86]  Stephen Hughes.  Attachment and Loss. Vol. I , 1969, Mental Health.