Lowered academic achievement and premature departure from high school continue to plague the educational system, creating the need for greater insight into experiences affecting students' classroom performance. Much is known about academic achievement; however, less research has focused on the role of familial attachment on premature departure from high school. Guided by attachment theory, the purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study was to gain insight into General Education Diploma (GED) students' familial attachment experiences influencing premature departure from high school. The research questions focused on GED students' primary caregiver and educational experiences. Participants (n = 14) consisted of current or previous GED students 18-30 years of age. Data were gathered from semistructured interviews and a Life Map used to capture expression of feelings through symbols. Interview transcriptions were hand-coded by bracketing words and phrases for composite textual descriptions. Data interpretations were bolstered by committee member checking and participants' review of extracted data. Findings revealed a close connection between the types of attachment formed with primary caregivers and early departure from high school, but participants were more strongly influenced by external influences such as relationship conflicts, health crises, domestic violence, abuse, loss, and paternal abandonment. This study offers insight to educators, counselors, and those within the criminal justice system on these students' emotional and mental needs.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / The study explored transitional object attachment at Eisleben Village, Limpopo –South Africa. The participants of the study were mothers of children who were between six months and two years of age. The instrument t used to explore transitional object attachment was obtained from a related study, while the instrument used to study the participants personality were the Adult Attachment Questionnaire and the Relationship Questionnaire. There was low prevalence of transitional object attachment at Eisleben Village. Several factors had an impact on whether or not the child becomes attached to an object, i.e. the socio economic status of the participants as well as the child rearing practices.

<p>Major Depression is a common and complex disorder that is often difficult to treat. Mentalization, facilitated by secure attachment, has been found to serve as a protective function against Borderline Personality Disorder. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether mentalization has the same protective function against depression and to analyze the connection between mentalization and self-rated attachment. Furthermore, the relation between Anxious/Avoidant attachment patterns and the anaclitic/introjective sub-types of depression were examined. Twenty participants with Major Depressive Disorder were interviewed with the <em>Depression Specific Reflective Function Interview</em> (DSRF) and SCID-I. They also completed the self-report questionnaires Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR), Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) and Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The results revealed a relation between high mentalization ability as measured by DSRF and low levels of depression and between an anxious attachment pattern and introjective depression. Moreover, low scores on DSRF combined with high levels of anaclitic and introjective symptoms accounted for 65% of observer rated depression severity. The results suggest that depression treatment might benefit from focusing on increasing the mentalizing ability and reducing anxious attachment patterns and from an awareness of the symptoms characterized by both the introjective and anaclitic sub-types of depression.</p>

Major Depression is a common and complex disorder that is often difficult to treat. Mentalization, facilitated by secure attachment, has been found to serve as a protective function against Borderline Personality Disorder. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether mentalization has the same protective function against depression and to analyze the connection between mentalization and self-rated attachment. Furthermore, the relation between Anxious/Avoidant attachment patterns and the anaclitic/introjective sub-types of depression were examined. Twenty participants with Major Depressive Disorder were interviewed with the Depression Specific Reflective Function Interview (DSRF) and SCID-I. They also completed the self-report questionnaires Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR), Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) and Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The results revealed a relation between high mentalization ability as measured by DSRF and low levels of depression and between an anxious attachment pattern and introjective depression. Moreover, low scores on DSRF combined with high levels of anaclitic and introjective symptoms accounted for 65% of observer rated depression severity. The results suggest that depression treatment might benefit from focusing on increasing the mentalizing ability and reducing anxious attachment patterns and from an awareness of the symptoms characterized by both the introjective and anaclitic sub-types of depression.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans have shown antagonistic relationships, both in vivo and in vitro. The interaction between P. aeruginosa and C. albicans is one of the many prokaryotic-eukaryotic interactions existing in nature and needs more research due to their complex pathogenicity in humans. In this work, we have studied growth dynamics of Candida in a mixed population of Pseudomonas and Candida, and their receptor and ligand specificities, both from an ecological and a molecular point of view. Initially, growth, viability, and morphogenesis of Candida were studied in the presence of Pseudomonas and the conditioned medium of Pseudomonas using two Candida strains, namely CAF2 and tup1 mutant. The killing effect of Pseudomonas was more pronounced on the hyphal form of Candida. However, growth of Candida was inhibited by Pseudomonas irrespective of its morphological form. The conditioned medium had no effect on the growth rate of Candida. Nevertheless, it completely inhibited the germination of Candida. The attachment of Pseudomonas to Candida was studied using different strains of both, and with Pseudomonas cells harvested at different stages of its growth. The percent attachment varied with the age of the textit Pseudomonas culture. A lecB mutant of Pseudomonas showed a two-fold reduction in attachment compared to the wild type PAK strain. Carbohydrate inhibition studies confirmed that LecB is not directly involved in the attachment mechanism, but indirectly involves through regulating the expression of other proteins required for attachment. A genomic DNA library of Pseudomonas PAO1 was screened for clones that had acquired the ability to attach to C. albicans. A clone was isolated with a small increase in attachment and was subjected to genetic analysis. It contained nucleotides 458565 to 475917 of the Pseudomonas genome including some genes of the Pil-Chp gene cluster. Seven transposon mutants that represent mutations in ChpA,B,C,D,E operon and three other ORFs were selected, and their attachment ability was tested. All seven mutants showed a reduction in attachment indicating that this was a non specific effect, which could be attributed to the in vitro manipulation of the bacteria. We conclude that the attachment of Pseudomonas to Candida is multi-factorial.

The transition to school marks an important developmental step for children and families. Coping and competence during such a transition begin long before the child enters the classroom and effects last for many years. Although children are born with the capacity to learn, it is the quality of relationships, particularly the relationship with the primary caregiver that shapes early learning experiences. This study examined the links between the attachment relationship between mother and child on the developing teacher-child relationship, the effects of the adult-child relationships on child outcomes and on children’s perspectives of their kindergarten experience. Contextual factors were considered in relation to adult-child relationships and child outcomes. Despite a robust literature on mother-child relationships and teacher-child relationships, no empirical studies have examined these relationships with parallel instruments and few studies include the children’s voices. For this study, participants included mothers and their kindergarten children (N= 74) and kindergarten teachers (N=7) from five schools that differed in linguistic and socio-economic profiles. Mothers and teachers completed a Q-Sort measure of child attachment security and dependency, and children participated in three early literacy tasks and a child interview. The lack of significant association between mother-child attachment quality and dependency and direct child literacy outcomes was a surprising finding. Nevertheless, child interviews revealed that children who were less secure and more dependent with their mothers expressed difficulties with the academic aspects of school. The quality of teacher-child relationships was positively related to children’s early literacy outcomes. These findings were interpreted in light of contextual factors as suggested by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological theory. Adult reports of children’s attachment security and dependency were related to children’s participation in childcare or in a preschool program for more than 10 hours a week and to attendance in a private school that offered a full day preschool and kindergarten program. The implications of these findings point to the important role of high quality early childhood experiences that support attachment relationships with caregivers as children make the transition to school.

The transition to school marks an important developmental step for children and families. Coping and competence during such a transition begin long before the child enters the classroom and effects last for many years. Although children are born with the capacity to learn, it is the quality of relationships, particularly the relationship with the primary caregiver that shapes early learning experiences. This study examined the links between the attachment relationship between mother and child on the developing teacher-child relationship, the effects of the adult-child relationships on child outcomes and on children’s perspectives of their kindergarten experience. Contextual factors were considered in relation to adult-child relationships and child outcomes. Despite a robust literature on mother-child relationships and teacher-child relationships, no empirical studies have examined these relationships with parallel instruments and few studies include the children’s voices. For this study, participants included mothers and their kindergarten children (N= 74) and kindergarten teachers (N=7) from five schools that differed in linguistic and socio-economic profiles. Mothers and teachers completed a Q-Sort measure of child attachment security and dependency, and children participated in three early literacy tasks and a child interview. The lack of significant association between mother-child attachment quality and dependency and direct child literacy outcomes was a surprising finding. Nevertheless, child interviews revealed that children who were less secure and more dependent with their mothers expressed difficulties with the academic aspects of school. The quality of teacher-child relationships was positively related to children’s early literacy outcomes. These findings were interpreted in light of contextual factors as suggested by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological theory. Adult reports of children’s attachment security and dependency were related to children’s participation in childcare or in a preschool program for more than 10 hours a week and to attendance in a private school that offered a full day preschool and kindergarten program. The implications of these findings point to the important role of high quality early childhood experiences that support attachment relationships with caregivers as children make the transition to school.

The present study investigated the role of attachment dimensions, relationship status, and gender in subjective well-being. The participants were 389 (288 females, 101 males) volunteered students from the Faculty of Education at Middle East Technical University. Three questionnaires, namely Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory (ECRI) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) were administered to the students. Three separate stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictive power of the avoidance dimension of attachment, anxiety dimension of attachment, gender (coded as dummy variable), and relationship status (coded as dummy variable) on three components of subjective well-being identified as positive affect, negative affect, and satisfaction with life. Findings revealed that avoidance dimension of attachment, gender, and anxiety dimension of attachment predicted the life satisfaction of university student as measured by Satisfaction with Life Scale. Results also yielded that avoidance dimension of attachment predicted positive affect scores of the students whereas anxiety dimension of attachment predicted negative affect scores of the students as measured by Positive Affect and Negative Affect subscales of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS).

Kūdikių saugaus prieraišumo ugdymas susideda iš daugybės vienas su kitu susijusių dalykų. Visų pirma, kad vaikas jaustųsi saugus, jam reikalingi artimiausi žmonės – mama, tėvas. Daugelis šaltinių, neatmesdami tėvo vaidmens, pirmaisiais gyvenimo metais išskiria motinos vaidmenį. Būtent motina kūdikiui esti tarsi malonumų šaltinis. Pirmaisiais gyvenimo metais motinos skatinti natūraliai maitinti naujagimius. Tam net yra kuriami specialūs įstatymai, kurie įvedami kūdikiui palankiose ligoninėse. Per žindymą naujagimis apgaubiamas gerosiomis mamos bakterijomis (mikloflora). Nepertraukiamas pirmasis kūdikio ir mamos kontaktas turėtų tęstis ne trumpiau 2 valandų ar iki to momento, kol kūdikis randa spenelį. Kūdikis atsipalaiduoja, nurimsta. Užsimezga tamprus mamos ir kūdikio emocinis ryšys. Mamos organizme išsiskiriantys hormonai (oksitocinas ir endorfinas) lemia tai, kad pirmosiomis akimirkomis mama jaučiasi itin laiminga. Pastebėta, kad motinų vidinė darna priklauso nuo vidinių išgyvenimų, situacijų. Esant planuotam nėštumui, mamos paprastai pasižymi stipresne vidine darna. Pastebėta, kad motinos, turinčios aukštąjį išsilavinimą pasižymi stipresniu suprantamumo ir kontroliavimo jausmu. Motinos, turinčios daugiau nei vieną vaiką, pasižymi stipresniu prasmingumo ir suprantamumo jausmu. Moterys, linkusios į depresiškumą, nerimą, pasižymi silpnu kontroliavimo bei prasmingumo jausmu, tai gali lemti gimdymo komplikacijas. Atlikus empirinį tyrimą, nepastebėta, kad vaikams būtų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / If parents wanted to train Child safe attachment they shoud do a lot of important things. First of all, child should feel safely. Mother and father can create safety of child. Various authors say that mother is the most important person in begining of child life. Also they admited the importance of the father. There are special hospitals, there doctors pay a greater attention to breasting in the begining of baby life. They try to provide parents with a lot of information about breasting. The first contact between baby and his mother and the duration of breasting is so important for future child and mother relationship. Baby calms down, relaxes in this contact with mother. Breasting gives a lot of benefits for child and his mother. During the breasting period child recieves all the good bacterium from his mother‘s milk. The activated hormons leaves a great influence on mother‘s good emotions. The mother‘s self coherence depends on deep inners experience, situations. If baby was planned, the self coherence of mother will be stronger. Mothers with higher education have stronger meaningfulness and comprehensibility components. Mothers which tend to be depressive, feel worry have weak meaningfulness and comprehensibility components. These factors could determine complication of labour. The research had shown that the child common safe attachment. So you can say, that child safe attachment could form in every conditions. The family status has no influence on safe attachment. It was... [to full text]

The study investigated whether a relationship existed between using technology for recreation, and attachment style with important individuals in the lives of respondents. The main results showed that (4) a decrease in friend anxiety contributes towards an increase in the positive attitude towards using the HES for explicit content; (5) An increase in romantic partner anxiety contributed towards an increase in the positive attitude towards using the HES for social replacement. (6) Decreased father avoidance and increased father anxiety lead to an increasingly positive attitude towards using the PC for social, romantic and sexual improvement; (7) an increase in mother avoidance and anxiety, partner anxiety and friend anxiety contributed towards an increase in the positive attitude towards using the cell phone for explicit content and relationship related activities. / Psychology / (M.A. (Psychology))