Bibliographies
The following bibliography has been compiled from the Australian Family & Society Abstracts database and other resources held in the Institute's library. Where available a link to the document on the Web is provided. Most items can be borrowed from the Institute's library via the inter library loan system. Online publications in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Attachment
21C childhood.
Calvert, Gillian
Rattler
no.77 Autumn 2006: 14-15
How will the changing social and
cultural environment affect children in the next few decades? This
article discusses childcare arrangements, development of intimacy and
attachment, globalisation, the value of children, advances in global
communication, social inequality and responsibility for children.
Adoption, attachment, and relationship
concerns: a study of adult adoptees.
Feeney, Judith A; Passmore, Nola L;
Peterson, Candida C
Personal Relationships v.14 no.1 Mar 2007:
129-147, tables
This study examines the extent to which adoption is
a risk factor for later insecure attachment in adulthood,
and whether this is affected by parent bonding or
reunions with birth parents. 144 adult adoptees and
131 non-adoptees were surveyed on insecurity, anxiety,
parental bonding, and any reunion experiences. The
study found that though adoptees had high levels of
insecurity, attachment was more important than adoptive
status in predicting relationship variables, and had
a mediating effect on some of the adoptees traits.
The results support the usefulness of attachment thoery
in understanding the relationship concerns of adoptees.
Attachment and self-understanding: parenting
with the brain in mind.
Siegel, Daniel J
Psychotherapy in Australia v.12 no.2 Feb 2006: 26-32
The past decade has seen considerable research into
how parents can raise children more effectively. Concurrently
ground breaking work reveals how the neural networks
of the 'brain' interact with the interpersonal networks
of the 'mind'. This article combines these two areas
to explore how practical applications of interpersonal
neurobiology can assist parents to understand themselves
and their children better. The notion of attachment
brings with it the idea that what happened early in
life will determine destiny without hope of liberation
from patterns of the past; that we are helpless to
make changes as an adult. The good news is we are not
destined to repeat the traumas of our past if we can
make sense of their impact on our lives. It is not
what happened to you that matters most in determining
how you raise your children, but how you have come
to make sense of your early experiences. (Journal abstract,
edited)
Caregiving representations of mothers of
behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited preschool
children.
Shamir-Essakow, Galia; Ungerer, Judy A.; Rapee,
Ronald M; Safier, Ruth
Developmental Psychology v.40 no.6 2004: 899-910,
tables
Behavioural inhibition in young children has been
identified as a risk factor for anxiety disorders
in childhood. In a study examining differences between
the caregiving representations of mothers of inhibited
and uninhibited children with secure and insecure
attachments, it was found that mothers of inhibited
children with insecure attachments were more likely
to exhibit negative caregiving behaviour. This paper
describes the study's aims, methodology and results,
and reports that the findings are consistent with
developmental models of anxiety suggesting a link
between anxiety and behavioural inhibition, insecure
attachment and some parental overprotection.
Children’s fears, hopes and heroes. Modern childhood in Australia. (2007). new
J. Tucci, J. Mitchell, & C. Goddard.
Australian Childhood Foundation
Children’s views are seldom recorded in the research literature, but this study – comprising an online survey of 600 10–14 year-olds – gives voice to their thoughts about their own lives, their parents and families, the world in which they live, and their needs and desires for their future. The data show that for many children their sense of place in the world, their sense of community and of themselves is threatened. Relationships with their peers and parents are of paramount importance to them, but for one particular group, identified and insular and disconnected, there is a need for greater support from and attachment to an adult.
Early parenting and parental attachment:
links with offspring's attachment and perceptions
of social support.
Feeney, J A
Journal of Family Studies v.8 no.1 Apr 2002: 5-23,
tables
In a multiple-reporter study of parenting and adult
attachment, measures of attachment security were
obtained from 101 adults, and from a subsample of
their mothers (n=72) and fathers (n=62). In addition,
both parents and offspring reported on behaviours
that had occurred in the parent-child relationship,
and offspring completed a measure of perceived social
support from family and friends. Parents' and offspring's
reports of parenting behaviours showed considerable
agreement, but overall, parents were more positive
in their ratings of these behaviours. Generational
differences in attachment security were also observed,
and parents' and offspring's attachment characteristics
were related in theoretically meaningful ways. Data
from offspring supported an integrative theoretical
model, which proposed that the association between
parenting and perceptions of social support would
be mediated by attachment security. The results
are discussed in terms of theories of parenting
and attachment, including the intergenerational
transmission of attachment. (Journal abstract)
Intergenerational
transference of attachment style in children
of depressed mothers.
Ahern, K; Le Brocque, R
In: 8th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference,
Melbourne, 12-14 February 2003: proceedings. Melbourne,
Vic: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2003,
12p. Online only (PDF 28K)
The extant literature suggests there is an intergeneration
effect of maternal depression on child mental health
outcomes. In addition there is evidence to support
an association between insecure attachment styles
and depressive vulnerability in that insecure style
is associated with low self-esteem. Therefore, children
of insecurely attached, depressed mothers have an
increased risk for adverse outcomes. This paper
examines the question of whether or not children
of depressed mothers inherit the attachment style
of their mothers thereby maintaining the intergenerational
transference of risk to their own children. Data
for this paper comes from the Mater and University
Study of Pregnancy and Outcomes. During the child's
first five years, depressed mothers were identified
by self-reported symptoms. When the child was 15
years, Bartholomew and Horowitz Attachment prototype
questionnaire (1991) was administered to mothers
and their teenage children. Analysis focuses on
the comparison of attachment style prototype and
congruence in maternal-child attachment for depressed
and non-depressed mothers. Results indicate that
teenage children of insecurely attached depressed
mothers have a higher rate of fearful attachment
than youth of securely attached mothers. The authors
recommend that, intervention can be directed towards
not only symptom treatment of depression, but also
parenting interventions and child interventions
promoting more secure attachment styles in children
at risk. This has the potential to have very long
term benefits extending over generations. (Author
abstract)