This purpose of this study was to combine two bodies of literature on relationships, attachment and violence. Given the impact of men's physical aggression and emotional abuse on women, it is likely that these behaviors would also affect attachment. A model proposing that women's attachment style mediated and moderated the relationship between partners' physical and emotional abuse and the stability of women's relationships was tested. Archival data were used from two waves of interviews with a sample of lowincome, ethnically diverse community women. Most (89%) of the initial 835 participants of Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women completed at least one additional interview providing information on the status of their initial relationships. Of these women, 39% were African American, 30% were Euro-American, and 31% were Mexican American. The effects of men's psychological abuse and physical violence on women's attachment style were tested with regression analyses. The interrelationships between partners' abuse, attachment and relational stability were tested with SEM. Attachment style was expected to moderate the associations among variables and mediate the impact of partners' negative behavior on relational stability. In regression analyses, partners' psychological abuse predicted avoidant and anxious, but not secure attachment ratings. Violence, although significant, explained less variance than psychological abuse for insecure attachment ratings. SEM indicated Physical Aggression was not a significant predictor of Attachment Rating in any group. Moderation was not found. There were no differences between attachment groups. Therefore, attachment was tested in the sample as a mediator. As in analyses for each group, the path from Physical Aggression to Attachment Rating was not significant. In the final model, Emotional Abuse predicted Physical Aggression and Attachment Rating mediated the effect of Emotional Abuse on Relational Stability. Specifically, Emotional Abuse increased (insecure) Attachment Rating, which decreased Relational Stability. Overall, previous research in the violence literature was extended by showing that emotional abuse affected attachment, rather than the reverse.

The objectives of this study were to mathematically model the quality of college life (QCL) concept and to study the associations between attachment style, emotion regulation abilities, psychological needs fulfillment and QCL via structural equation modeling. Data was collected from 507 undergraduate students (men = 178, women = 329; age M = 21.78 years, SD = 4.37). This data was used to provide evidence for the validity of the College Adjustment Scales (CAS) as a measure of quality of college life. The CAS demonstrated good convergent validity with the World Health Organization Quality of Life measure (WHOQOL), Subjective Well-being and Psychological Well-being Scales. Results: Students who were insecurely attached were as likely to feel adequate in their academic and professional endeavors as securely attached students. However, insecurely attached students had lower QCL levels, lower fulfillment of psychological needs and more emotion regulation difficulties than securely attached students. The results also indicated that Anxious Attachment and Avoidant Attachment were positively and strongly associated. Nonetheless, Anxious Attachment and Avoidant Attachment affected QCL through different mechanism. Emotion regulation mediated the path between Anxious Attachment and QCL while the fulfillment of psychological needs mediated the path between Avoidant Attachment and QCL. The fulfillment of psychological needs also mediated the path between emotion regulation and QCL. The described pattern of results was found for three separate models representing 1) the student’s attachment with their romantic partner, 2) best friend and 3) mother. Additionally, the study’s findings suggest a change in primary attachment figure during the college years. Emotion regulation, the fulfillment of psychological needs and QCL were all affected more strongly by the student’s attachment style with their romantic partner and best friend compared to their attachment style with their parents.

The purpose of this study was to better understand sexual development during the transition to adulthood. Previous research was extended by testing models that examined direct effects of romantic attachment and social support on emerging adults’ sexual outcomes, as well as models that examined the mediating role of sexual motivations in those associations. Undergraduate students (n = 290, 66% female) completed questionnaires that assessed romantic attachment, social support, sexual motives, risky sexual behaviors, and health-promoting sexual beliefs. Results indicated romantic attachment strongly predicted sexual functioning, such that higher levels of attachment insecurity were associated with fewer health-promoting sexual beliefs and more risky sexual behaviors. Attachment anxiety was most closely associated with sexual outcomes for females, while attachment avoidance was a stronger predictor of sexual outcomes for males. Furthermore, coping but not intimacy motivations were found to partially mediate the link between attachment anxiety and health-promoting sexual beliefs for females. Although overall relationships between social support and sexual outcomes were not significant as hypothesized, links between specific support sources and sexual outcomes emerged during further analysis. Conclusions underscore the usefulness of attachment theory as a framework for understanding sexual behavior and provide further support for the importance of considering gender differences when examining the interplay between the attachment and sexual systems. Practical implications for sexual health prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the concerns of parents upon learning about their children’s gay or lesbian sexual orientation from the conceptual framework of attachment theory. Personal and contextual factors such as parents’ attachment anxiety and avoidance, parent and child gender, length of time since disclosure, and parents’ prior interpersonal contact with gay and lesbian person(s) were examined to see how they influence parents’ concerns. Members of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) support groups were electronically surveyed using the Experiences in Close Relationships - Short Form (ECR-S; Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt & Vogel, 2007) and the Concerns of Parents of Lesbians (COPLAG; Conley, 2011b). A total of 296 parents met the criteria to be considered participants. The results of this study indicated that parental concerns are correlated with attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance. There were significant differences in concern levels between parents who reported high levels of interpersonal contact with gay or lesbian people and those who reported low levels. Parents’ concerns were significantly higher for gay sons than for lesbian daughters. Amount of time since disclosure was not found to be a significant factor in parental concerns; however, attachment anxiety and amount of time since disclosure were negatively correlated. Additionally, parents who were aware of their child’s sexual orientation for more than five years reported lower levels of attachment anxiety than parents who were aware of their child’s gay or lesbian sexual orientation for less than five years. Although parent gender was a variable in this study, too few fathers participated, precluding analyses using parent gender. Overall, the results indicate that parents’ concerns about having gay and lesbian children are influenced by both intrapsychic and contextual factors.

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is characterised by severely underdeveloped or absent attachment between a child and a caregiver. Adopted children who have experienced adverse early experiences prior to adoption may have lacked opportunities to form selective attachment relationships and, in rare cases, may have a diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder. The needs of adoptive families rearing children with special needs, such as children with a RAD diagnosis, are unique and it is crucial to understand the experiences of the families in order to increase the understanding of how to provide support and adequate services and interventions that respond to the needs of the families. Previous research focusing on adoptive parents’ experiences rearing children with a RAD diagnosis is scarce. Therefore, this systematic literature review aimed to explore their experiences. After a comprehensive literature search, seven articles that addressed the study aim and met the predefined inclusion criteria were included. A thematic synthesis was carried out to combine the results of the included articles. The findings suggest that adoptive families rearing children with a RAD diagnosis experience a wide range of challenges in their everyday lives, such as a lack of social network support and adequate support, services and interventions from professionals and service providers. Some facilitative factors, such as adoptive parents’ willingness to stay committed to their children, were found. Further research is needed to find out effective interventions to address the complex challenges adoptive families and their children with a RAD diagnosis experience. Study limitations and methodological considerations are discussed.

Jealousy is understood as a system of physiological, behavioral, and emotional responses, yet few studies have examined these aspects of jealousy simultaneously in infants. Further, jealousy paradigms have not been examined as a potential stressor in infancy and thus typical cortisol reactivity and regulation patterns in response to jealousy paradigms have not been observed. In addition, the contribution of attachment security to infant expressions of jealousy has been vastly understudied. The present study seeks to fill the current gaps in the infant jealousy literature by investigating quantitative and qualitative changes in infant jealousy across the first two years of life. Data was collected longitudinally and mother- infant dyads were asked to participate when infants were 12- months and 24-months of age. Associations between behavioral jealousy responses, baseline EEG activity, stress reactivity and attachment security were examined. Differences in approach behaviors and behavioral arousal were found across conditions and were consistent with previous studies (Hart & Carrington, 2002; Mize & Jones, 2012). Findings relating to EEG activity pointed to a relationship between left EEG asymmetry and global approach behaviors across time. Cortisol reactivity was found to be associated with attachment security but reactive cortisol concentrations compared to baseline cortisol concentrations do not indicate that the paradigm was an effective stressor. Attachment security was found to be associated with proximity behaviors in 12- month olds but not 24-month olds. Finally, a linear regression revealed that attachment security, EEG asymmetry, and cortisol reactivity at 12-months are significant predictors of behavioral jealousy responses at 24-months. Changes in behavioral and physiological measures across time indicate that jealousy continues to develop during the second year of life but may have different underlying processes than the processes that contribute to jealousy expression in 12-month-olds. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Submitted by Adriana Alves Rodrigues (aalves@espm.br) on 2018-10-09T16:25:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MPCC - GIOVANNA ARAGÃO ANTONINI.pdf: 1888963 bytes, checksum: 1d8ecd33db3c9d86ada1ccf7e82104dc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Alves Rodrigues (aalves@espm.br) on 2018-10-09T16:26:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MPCC - GIOVANNA ARAGÃO ANTONINI.pdf: 1888963 bytes, checksum: 1d8ecd33db3c9d86ada1ccf7e82104dc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Debora Cristina Bonfim Aquarone (deborabonfim@espm.br) on 2018-10-09T18:21:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MPCC - GIOVANNA ARAGÃO ANTONINI.pdf: 1888963 bytes, checksum: 1d8ecd33db3c9d86ada1ccf7e82104dc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-09T18:21:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MPCC - GIOVANNA ARAGÃO ANTONINI.pdf: 1888963 bytes, checksum: 1d8ecd33db3c9d86ada1ccf7e82104dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-23 / The number of amateur runners and the value of sportswear market is growing in Brazil, making the study of these market and community even more important. The purpose of this work is to understand how this group establish long-term relationships with sportswear brands considering their brand attachment styles. To address this objective, a bibliographic research was made. It focused on the relationship marketing concepts evolution until the appropriation of attachment concept, originally born in psychology studies. This research also covers the definition of brand attachment and its differences versus other marketing constructs and an explanation regarding brand attachment characteristics and brand attachment styles. Scales used in other studies were adapted to be applied in a quantitative research with amateur runners (340 valid answers). The results show that, in the same way as the overall population, inside the amateur runners community, the persons have different brand attachment styles. The style has a significant influence in individuals’ brand preference for closeness and in their characteristics of attachment. A segmentation per brand attachment style of amateur runners and the description of each segment according to their preference for closeness and attachment characteristics is the main contribution of this work. The segments names are: loyal, anxious, distrustful and fearful. Anxious runners get attached more intensively, while the distrustful group does not get that much attached. Overall, all segments seek for closeness to the brand, but the distrustful group is the exception. Hedonism and nostalgia are attachment characteristics appreciated by all segments. It is important to highlight that demographic and sports routine characteristics are not discriminants among the segments. It is expected that this work enriches brand attachment styles theory and provides insights for companies to evolve on their relationship marketing strategies. / O crescimento da prática de corrida de rua e do mercado de artigos esportivos no Brasil torna o estudo desse público e mercado cada vez mais relevante. Diante disto, o propósito desta dissertação é entender como este grupo estabelece relacionamentos de longo prazo com marcas esportivas considerando seus estilos de apego a marcas. Para isso, foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica que abordou a evolução de conceitos dentro de marketing de relacionamento até a apropriação por marketing do conceito de apego a marca que teve origem na psicologia. São abordados também a definição de apego a marca e sua diferença em relação a outros constructos de marketing de relacionamento e uma explanação sobre características do apego a marca e também sobre estilos de apego a marca. Escalas utilizadas em outros estudos foram adaptadas para uma pesquisa exploratória com corredores amadores (amostra: 340 respondentes válidos). Com os resultados obtidos, pode-se dizer que, assim como na população geral, dentro do grupo corredores amadores existem indivíduos com diferentes estilos de apego a marca. O estilo de cada um possui relação significativa na preferência por aproximação de marcas e nas características de formação do apego. Este trabalho traz como contribuição uma segmentação de corredores amadores por estilo de apego a marca e a descrição de cada segmento de acordo com preferência por aproximação e características de apego. Os segmentos foram nomeados como leais, ansiosos, desconfiados e medrosos. Corredores ansiosos se apegam com maior intensidade à marca, enquanto desconfiados se apegam menos. No geral, todos buscam aproximação à marca, menos os desconfiados. Hedonismo e nostalgia são características de apego que todos possuem. É importante ressaltar também que características demográficas e de prática esportiva não são discriminantes nesses segmentos. Espera-se que esta dissertação enriqueça os estudos sobre estilos de apego a marcas e forneça insumos para empresas melhorarem suas estratégias de marketing de relacionamento.

本研究的主題包含了兩組重要的詞語：「重現」和「鄉土」。前者是一個歷史教師的教學行動，而後者則為本研究的重要概念。在過去十三年的教學經驗中，我發現香港歷史課程千篇一律是「小漁村到大都市」的經濟發展論述，戰後南移新界的農村社群一直消失在歷史課程之中，縱使新界農村是香港的重要構成部份，有其自身的發展模式。於是，「重現」作為一種教學行動，是要填補農村社群的歷史故事。本研究的另一組重要詞語是「鄉土」。本研究要重現的「鄉土」，並不單指農村，而是指一個與居住者有親密關係、並充滿意義的地方（place）。「鄉土」是中國文化之中人與土地、並土地上其他社群親密關係的代名詞。要有這種親密的關係，牽涉兩個重要概念：鄉土意識和鄉土感情。鄉土意識指人識覺到自身與生活地和周遭社群彼此依存，甚至將生活地和在其上生活的人視為命運的共同體。由於人對生活地與周遭的社群有充份的認知，並識覺到自身、土地與社群有密切的關係，對生活地產生了主觀的情感投射，關懷生活地的地景和生態、社群生活、文化傳統，這種對地方的愛，便是鄉土感情。 / 本研究的教學行動集中在粉嶺馬屎埔村，在一段尋找本地史教學的嘗試之中，我在馬屎埔農村中感受到和城市不一樣的社群關係，那種異地為鄉、落地生根的情感充滿在馬屎埔村民的生命故事中，那些回憶喚起我曾經與生活地有過的親密感。身為歷史教師，我也希望學生能在村民的生命故事中反思鄉土價值，並思考「發展主義」導致的社會疏離。我相信本地史教學能夠恢復人與生活地、人與社群的密切關係，歷史教育能夠重現香港的「鄉土」故事，學生亦能在社群的生命故事中札根在生活地，從而建立一種植根於香港的「鄉土意識」和「鄉土感情」。 / 口述歷史教學是不斷互動的歷程，所以口述歷史課程必須保持靈活動，讓教師、學生和敘事者共同建構本地史圖像。此外，口述歷史教學讓學生走入地方和社群，發掘社群成員的生命故事，建構多元的小歷史圖像，並對大歷史保持批判意識。口述歷史教學始終將「人」放在學習的中心，除了理性的思維能力外，也強調歷史學習的情感向度。當歷史扣連生活，充滿回憶的地景及社群就是鄉土意識和感情的搖籃。 / The theme of this research includes two terms: ‘representation’ and ‘homeland’. Over the past 13 years of my teaching experience, I have noticed that the ‘fishing village─metropolis’ discourse has predominated the Hong Kong history curriculum. Though post-war migrant farmers made a great contribution to the development of the New Territories, their histories have long been absent in the school history curriculum. Thus, the purpose of ‘representation’ is to fill the missing puzzles and to construct different historical images with students. The term ‘homeland’ in this research not only means a village, but also a place filled with meanings and intimacy by its inhabitants. In order for these intimate relationships to exist, two other concepts are involved, namely ‘the sense of place’ and ‘place attachment’. ‘Sense of place’ means one’s awareness of the intradependence between community members on the same place. ‘Place attachment’ refers to one’s projection of emotion towards a place, involving a care for its environment and ecology, community life and traditional culture. / This action research is conducted mainly on Masipo Village in Fanling, where community relationship distinct from that in the urban area is identified. The stories told by the post-war migrant villagers reveal their senseof rootedness. As a history teacher, I hope students can appreciatethe value of ‘homeland’ and reflect upon the influence of developmentalism through the life stories of villagers. I believe that teaching local history can constructa distinct ‘sense of place’ and ‘place attachment’, under which Hong Kong will become a homeland for those who live in this place. / Oral history is the interplay between teachers, students and narrators, so oral history curriculum should be subject to the construction of multiple local images. When students walk through their communities and discover local stories, they might be more critical to the grand narrative of school history. Human values are the center of oral history teaching. Students not only think about historical events but also feel towards the actors in histories. When a place filled with memories, it becomes our homeland. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 朱耀光. / Parallel title from added title page. / Thesis (Ed.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 270-286). / Abstracts also in English. / Zhu Yaoguang.

Submitted by Cristiane Chim (cristiane.chim@ucpel.edu.br) on 2018-04-17T16:40:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bárbara Borges Rubin_ok.pdf: 2368899 bytes, checksum: 497278bc48e1249b965937422adc4f01 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-17T16:40:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bárbara Borges Rubin_ok.pdf: 2368899 bytes, checksum: 497278bc48e1249b965937422adc4f01 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-14 / Introduction: In general, child neurodevelopment can be determined by genetic, social and environmental factors that interact in complex ways. In addition, the development of the fetus is considered the most vulnerable period in this process. Risk behaviors during pregnancy are often observed in women who are not affectively bonding with the fetus, and there is evidence that the relationship of the pregnant woman with the fetus during pregnancy tends to remain stable after birth. It is known that early mother-infant bonding may influence the child's future social, cognitive and emotional development. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between maternal-fetal attachment and child development in children at three months of age. Method: This is a longitudinal study nested in a cohort of pregnant women in the city of Pelotas, Brazil, with pregnant that were evaluated at up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, 60 days after the first assessment and at 90 days postpartum with the children. A questionnaire that contains sociodemographic variables, questions related to the health of the pregnant, the relationship with the child’s father and data on the pregnancy were used; the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale to evaluate the quality of the relationship between the pregnant and the fetus; and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III to assess child development. Results: The main result indicated that, at each increment of 1 point in the Maternal-Fetal Attachment, there was an increase of 0.03 (95% CI 0.0; 0.5) in the mean of the social-emotional scale and 0.02 (95% CI 0.0; 0.5) in the adaptive behavior scale score. Discussion: Our results suggest the influence of the early bond in the socioemotional and adaptive behavior domains, highlighting the importance of prenatal aspects in child development. / Introdução: Em geral, o neurodesenvolvimento infantil pode ser determinado por fatores genéticos, sociais e ambientais que interagem de forma complexa entre si. Além disso, o desenvolvimento do feto é considerado o período mais vulnerável neste processo. Comportamentos de risco durante a gestação são frequentemente observados em mulheres que não estão vinculadas afetivamente com o feto e, ainda, há evidências de que a relação da gestante com feto durante a gravidez tende a manter-se estável após o nascimento. Sabe-se que a vinculação precoce mãe-bebê pode influenciar o futuro desenvolvimento social, cognitivo e emocional da criança. Objetivo: Avaliar a relação entre Apego Materno-Fetal e Desenvolvimento Infantil em bebês aos três meses de vida. Método: Trata-se de um estudo longitudinal aninhado a uma coorte de gestantes da cidade de Pelotas/RS, no qual as gestantes foram avaliadas com até 24 semanas de gestação, 60 dias após a primeira avaliação e aos 90 dias após o parto junto com os bebês. Foram utilizados um questionário contendo variáveis sociodemográficas, questões relacionadas à saúde da gestante, à relação com o pai do bebê e dados sobre a gestação; a Escala de Apego Materno-Fetal para avaliar a qualidade da relação da gestante com o feto; e as Bayley Scales of Infant Development para avaliar o desenvolvimento infantil. Resultados: O principal resultado indicou que, a cada incremento de 1 ponto na escala de Apego Materno-Fetal, houve um aumento de 0,03 (IC95% 0,0;0,5) pontos na média da escala socioemocional e 0,02 (IC95% 0,0;0,5) na pontuação da escala de comportamento adaptativo. Discussão: Nossos resultados sugerem a influência do vínculo precoce nos domínios socioemocional e comportamento adaptativo, ressaltando a importância dos aspectos pré-natais no desenvolvimento infantil.

Background: Children who enter foster care usually do so because of maltreatment by their birth families. Early adversity such as this is associated with many negative outcomes, including disturbances of attachment and mental health in childhood and throughout the lifespan. Young children (under 5) are particularly at risk due to maltreatment rates being highest in this age range, and because of the vital brain development that occurs during this time. Improving the quality of existing relationships for young children is the most cost effective way to improve mental health outcomes. It is important that research investigates which relational and psychological variables that exist within the foster carer-child relationship may be protective against developing negative mental health outcomes, so as to inform carer training and future interventions for this vulnerable group. Aims: The aims of this research project were twofold. The first aim was to systematically review the existing literature on links between foster carer psychological variables (such as commitment to their foster child), and/or child psychological variables (such as their attachment style), and the mental health outcomes of children in foster care. The second aim was to investigate whether foster carer acceptance, commitment, awareness of influence and reflective functioning (RF) predict the mental health outcomes of Scottish preschool aged children who are looked after in foster care. Method: A systematic review of the existing literature was undertaken to address the first aim. The search strategy resulted in 12 quantitative studies that investigated links between child or carer psychological variables and child mental health outcomes. An empirical study of 179 pre-school aged children in foster care in Scotland was carried out to address the second aim. Participants were taking part in a wider RCT of a novel intervention to improve outcomes and permanency decisions for children in foster care. Foster carer acceptance, commitment, and awareness of influence was assessed using the This Is My Baby Interview, and scores of RF were coded from the transcripts of this interview using a computer-based algorithm. Child mental health information was gathered using the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. Data was gathered at 2 time points; baseline assessments occurred around 4 weeks after entry to care, and follow-up assessments were carried out a year later. Results: The systematic review found good evidence that foster child attachment security is linked to more positive mental health outcomes. It also found some evidence suggesting that foster carer psychological variables such as commitment and quality of caregiving also relate to child mental health outcomes, but this research is in its infancy and it is therefore difficult to draw firm conclusions around this. The results of the empirical study showed that carer commitment and awareness of influence predict child competence at baseline, and RF predicts internalising and externalising problems at follow up. No predictive relationships were found between carer variables and child mental health over time. Conclusion: The results from both studies suggest that carer psychological variables such as commitment to their foster child may relate to child mental health development. These results have implications in terms of foster carer training, and for intervention development for this vulnerable population. This research is however in its infancy, and the results suggest a complex picture with regard to carer psychological variables and child mental health. Large-scale high quality longitudinal research is needed to provide a clear understanding of these relationships.