Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T15:11:25.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attachment security and indiscriminately friendly behavior in children adopted from Romanian orphanages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Kim Chisholm ,
Margaret C. Carter ,
Elinor W. Ames  and
Sara J. Morison
Kim Chisholm*
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Margaret C. Carter
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Elinor W. Ames
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Sara J. Morison
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
*
Kim Chisholm, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C., CanadaV5A 1S6.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Attachment security was assessed in children who had spent at least 8 months in a Romanian orphanage (RO) and two comparison groups of children: a Canadian-born, nonadopted comparison group (CB) and a comparison group adopted from Romania before the age of 4 months (RC). We also assessed differences in displays of indiscriminately friendly behavior between the two adopted groups of children. Attachment security was assessed using parent report on a questionnaire comprised of the 23 items with the highest and lowest loadings on the Waters and Deane (1985) attachment Q-sort. Indiscriminately friendly behavior was assessed using parents' responses to five questions about their children's behavior with new adults. Children's attachment security scores were also compared to parents' scores on the parent attachment subscale of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990). RO children scored significantly lower on security of attachment than did either the RC or CB children. RC and CB children did not differ on attachment security. Based on their parents' reports, RO children displayed significantly more indiscriminately friendly behaviors than did RC children, but such behaviors were not correlated with security of attachment. Children's attachment security scores were related to their parents attachment scores only in the RO group. It is suggested that RO children's experience of extreme neglect contributed to their low attachment-security scores, and that indiscriminate friendliness may be an important behavior to consider in the study of attachment in institutionalized children.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Spring 1995 , pp. 283 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abidin, R. R. (1990). Parenting Stress Index (3rd ed.). Charlottesville, VA: Pediatric Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1982). Attachment: Retrospect and prospect. In Parkes, C. M. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.), The place of attachment in human behavior (pp. 3–30). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Aneshensel, C. S., Frerichs, R. R., Clark, V. A., & Yokopenic, P. A. (1982). Measuring depression in the community: A comparison of telephone and personal interviews. Public Opinion Quarterly, 40, 110–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ames, E. W., & Carter, M. (1992). Development of Romanian orphanage children adopted to Canada. [Abstract] Canadian Psychology, 33 (2), 503.Google Scholar
Ames, E. W., Fisher, L., & Savoie, L. (1994, June). Behavior problems of Romanian orphanage children adopted to Canada. Poster presented at the Thirteenth Biennial meetings of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Bermack, E. (1989). Effect of telephone and face-to-face communication on rated extent of self-disclosure by female college students. Psychological Reports, 65, 259–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blishcn, B. R., Carroll, W. K., & Moore, C. (1987). The 1981 socioeconomic index for occupations in Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 24, 465–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Mongraphs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J., & Berlin, L. J. (1994). The insecure/ambivalent pattern of attachment: Theory and research. Child Development. 65, 971–991.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chisholm, K., & Savoie, L. (1992). Behavior and attachment problems of Romanian orphanage children adopted to Canada. [Abstract]. Canadian Psychology, 33 (2), 504.Google Scholar
Crittenden, P. (1985). Maltreated infants: Vulnerability and resilience. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 85–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crittenden, P. (1988). Relationships at risk. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 137–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Egeland, B., & Sroufe, A. (1981). Developmental sequellae of maltreatment in infancy. In Rizley, R. & Cicchetti, D. (Eds.), New directions for child development: Developmental perspectives on child maltreatment (Vol. 11, pp. 77–92). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Fenig, S., Levav, I., Kohn, R., & Yelin, N. (1993). Telephone vs. face-to-face interviewing in a community psychiatric survey. American Journal of Public Health, 38, 896–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfarb, W. (1945a). Psychological privation in infancy and subsequent adjustment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 14, 247–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfarb, W. (1945b). Effects of psychological deprivation in infancy and subsequent stimulation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 102, 18–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfarb, W. (1955). Emotional and intellectual consequences of psychologic deprivation in infancy: reevaluation. In Hoch, P. & Zubin, J. (Eds.), Psychopathology in childhood (pp. 105–119). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Groves, R. M., & Kahn, R. L. (1979). Surveys by telephone: A national comparison with personal interviews. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lieberman, A. F., & Pawl, J. H. (1988). Clinical applications of attachment theory. In Belsky, J. & Nezworski, T. (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 327–347). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McMullan, S., & Fisher, L. (1992). Developmental progress of Romanian orphanage children in Canada. [Abstract] Canadian Psychology, 33 (2), 504.Google Scholar
Provence, S., & Lipton, R. C. (1962). Infants in institutions. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Rapoport, J. L., & Ismond, D. R. (1990). DSM-III-R Training guide for diagnosis of childhood disorders (pp. 76–81). New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Siemiatycki, J. (1979). A comparison of mail, telephone, and home interview strategies for household health surveys. American Journal of Public Health, 69 (1), 238–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider-Rosen, K., Braunwald, K. G., Carlson, V., & Cicchetti, D. (1985). Current perspectives in attachment theory: Illustrations from the study of maltreated infants. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Mongraphs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, L. M., Brodzinsky, D. M., Ramsay, D., Steir, M., & Waters, E. (1985). Mother-infant attachment in adoptive families. Child Development, 56 (6), 1543–1551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tizard, B. (1977). Adoption: A second chance. London: Open Books.Google Scholar
Tizard, B., & Hodges, J. (1978). The effect of early institutional rearing on the development of eight-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 19, 99–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tizard, B., & Rees, J. (1974). A comparison of the effects of adoption, restoration to the natural mother, and continued institutionalization on the cognitive development of four-year-old children. Child Development, 45, 92–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, E., & Deane, K. E. (1985). Defining and assessing individual differences in attachment relationships: Q-methodology and the organization of behavior in infancy and early childhood. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209).CrossRefGoogle Scholar