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Emanuel Miller Lecture: Attachment insecurity, disinhibited attachment, and attachment disorders: where do research findings leave the concepts?
Author(s) -
Rutter Michael,
Kreppner Jana,
SonugaBarke Edmund
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02042.x
Subject(s) - psychology , attachment theory , insecure attachment , developmental psychology , autism , emotional security , miller , attachment measures , autobiographical memory , meaning (existential) , psychiatry , cognition , psychotherapist , ecology , biology
Background: Despite the evidence on anomalous attachment patterns, there has been a tendency to interpret most of these as reflecting differences in security/insecurity. Methods: Empirical research findings are reviewed in relation to attachment/insecurity as evident in both infancy and later childhood, disorganised attachment, inhibited attachment disorder, and disinhibited attachment disorder. Findings: Substantial differences are found in the correlates and meaning of these different features, as well as in the patterns associated with conditions such as autism, psychopathy, and Williams syndrome. Conclusions: It is seriously misleading to view all of these patterns through the lens of security/insecurity. This heterogeneity in social relationship features necessarily has implications for the assessment measures for social relationships that need to be used.