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Child-parent attachment following early institutional deprivation

Thomas G O'Connor1, Robert S Marvin, Michael Rutter

  • 1Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. spjwtoc@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Development and Psychopathology
|July 10, 2003
PubMed

Insights

Children adopted after severe early deprivation showed less secure attachment and more atypical behaviors. Longer deprivation correlated with greater attachment disturbances, impacting adoptive caregiver relationships.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Attachment Theory

Background:

  • Early severe deprivation can profoundly impact child development.
  • Attachment quality is crucial for socio-emotional development.
  • Understanding attachment in adopted children with deprivation histories is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine child-parent attachment quality in children adopted after severe early deprivation.
  • To compare attachment patterns between deprived and non-deprived adoptees.
  • To investigate the dose-response relationship between deprivation duration and attachment disturbances.

Main Methods:

  • A sample of 111 Romanian adoptees with severe early deprivation and 52 non-deprived UK adoptees were assessed.
  • Attachment quality with adoptive caregivers was evaluated at age 4 years.
  • Attachment behaviors were analyzed for security, insecurity, and atypical patterns.

Main Results:

  • Deprived adoptees were less likely to be securely attached compared to non-deprived adoptees.
  • Children with early severe deprivation exhibited more atypical attachment behaviors.
  • A dose-response association was found between deprivation duration and attachment disturbances.

Conclusions:

  • Severe early deprivation is linked to insecure and atypical attachment patterns.
  • The duration of deprivation influences the severity of attachment disturbances.
  • Attachment research requires methodological considerations for severely deprived children.

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