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Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: infant attachment to the mother at one year of age
Author(s) -
Näslund B.,
PerssonBlennow I.,
McNeil T.,
Kaij L.,
MalmquistLarsson A.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1984.tb02490.x
Subject(s) - offspring , insecure attachment , psychology , psychosis , ambivalence , strange situation , attachment measures , developmental psychology , attachment theory , psychiatry , clinical psychology , pregnancy , social psychology , genetics , biology
– Attachment to the mother at 1 year of age was studied in 46 “high‐risk” offspring of index mothers with a history of non‐organic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. Attachment was measured in the home in a standardized manner by a modified version of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure. Three different patterns, representing “secure attachment” (Type B), “anxiously avoidant attachment” (Type A) and “anxiously ambivalent attachment” (Type C), were defined. While no significant difference on attachment type was found between the total index versus control group, a significantly increased rate of anxious attachment (A + C) was found for offspring of schizophrenics but no other diagnostic group. Attachment type was unrelated to index mothers’ psychiatric hospitalization, psychotic status and known mental disturbance during the infants’ first year of life, as well as to the infants’ sex.