Atypical Attachment in Infancy and Early Childhood Among Children at Developmental Risk

This book brings together current theory and research about atypical attachments in infants and young children at developmental risk in order to illustrate and understand some of the key issues in cases that do not fit traditional attachment patterns. Abstract.

I. Atypical Patterns of Early Attachment: Theory, Research, and Current Directions: Douglas Barnett and Joan I. Vondra.

II. Neurological Aspects of the Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment Classification System: Differentiating Quality of the Attachment Relationship from Neurological Impairment: Sandra Pipp-Siegel, Clifford H. Siegel, and Janet Dean.

III. Maternal Sensitivity, Child Functional Level, and Attachment in Down Syndrome: Leslie Atkinson, Vivienne C. Chisholm, Brian Scott, Susan Goldberg, Brian E. Vaughn, Janis Blackwell, Susan Dickens, and Frances Tam.

IV. Maternal Frightened, Frightening, or Atypical Behavior and Disogranized Infant Attachment Patterns: Karlen Lyons-Ruth, Elisa Bronfman, and Elizabeth Parsons.

V. Maltreatment, Negative Expressivity, and the Development of Type D Attachments from 12 to 24 Months of Age: Douglas Barnett, Jody Ganiban, and Dante Cicchetti.

VI. Stability and Change in Infant Attachment in a Low-Income Sample: Joan I. Vondra, Katherine Dowdell Hommerding, and Daniel S. Shaw.

VII. Danger and Development: The Organization of Self-Protective Strategies: Patricia McKinsey Crittenden.

VIII. Atypical Patterns of Early Attachment: Discussion and Future Directions: Douglas Barnett, Christine M. Butler, and Joan I. Vondra.

References.

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Acknowledgments.

Commentary.

Atypical Attachment in Atypical Circumstances: Everett Waters and Judith A. Crowell.

Contributors.

Statement of Editorial Policy.

Joan I. Vondra received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 1986. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in the development of competence among children at social and demographic risk for later school problems and failure.

Douglas Barnett received his Ph.D. from University of Rochester in 1993. He is Associate Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. His research interests include parenting and interventions that promote the development of health attachments and sense of self among children at high risk for socioemotional and scholastic problems.

This book brings together current theory and research about atypical attachments in infants and young children at developmental risk in order to illustrate and understand some of the key issues in cases that do not fit traditional attachment patterns. It also illuminates a variety of conceptual issues that warrant more empirical attention in future research on parent-child attachment.