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According to attachment theory, the establishment of an attachment bond to a caregiver not only provides the infant with protection from danger, but also many other resources presumably beneficial to the child’s general psychological development. Although there is substantial empirical support for a link between attachment security and social functioning in childhood and adolescence, less is known about whether childhood attachment contributes to social functioning beyond adolescence. Similarly, attachment has been found predictive of broad aspects of a person’s functioning, but few attempts have been made to link attachment to the currently dominating perspective on personality, the Five Factor Model (FFM). Results in Study I partially supported our expectations, by showing prospective links from middle childhood security to various aspects of social functioning in young adulthood. Further, security contributed to developmental change in social functioning from middle childhood to young adulthood. In Study II, middle childhood security was found to predict some of the FFM personality traits (primarily extraversion and openness) concurrently and prospectively, partially supporting our expectations. The third aim of this thesis was to address whether attachment disorganization, which has usually been found predictive of maladaptive phenomena, may predict also other, non-pathological outcomes. In Study II, we found that higher levels of disorganization in young adulthood were concurrently associated with more openness and lower conscientiousness. Furthermore, in Study III disorganization was shown to be concurrently associated with more New Age spirituality and more absorption in adulthood. In addition, absorption was, in accordance with our expectations, found to statistically mediate the link between disorganization and New Age spirituality. Hence, these findings supported our assumption that disorganization might be expressed in other life domains besides specifically maladaptive ones. Taken together, we suggest that attachment spreads its influence to a broad set of life domains through its continuous influence on general psychological components such as cognitive representations and self-regulation abilities. However, the modest strength of our results indicates that attachment is only one among several factors involved in the development of social functioning, personality traits, and spirituality.

Separation anxiety is one of the most common behavioral disorder in companion dogs. Dogs not suffering from separation anxiety may still exhibit separation-related behaviors, which can differ depending on environmental contexts. In the present study, dogs without separation-related problems were video recorded during a short separation (3 min) from, and during reunion with, their owner. Comparison was done between if the dogs had played or been calm pre-separation. The dogs spent most time in proximity to the entrance and gazing towards where the owner left during separation. Their body-position was mostly standing, followed by sitting. All dogs were wining during separation, which occurred approximately four times more than barking. Dogs that had played pre-separation were running around more and had a longer latency to the first movement, compared to when they had been calm pre-separation. During reunion, when dogs had played pre-separation, they wagged their tail more and had a longer latency to lip licking, compared to when they had been calm pre-separation. The separation behaviors that occurred in this study aligns with previous work in this subject. Furthermore, one can suggest that play pre-separation might have an effect on separation behaviors, where speculations can be done if the positive affect associated with play might be the underlying cause for these findings.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / It appears that not much research has been done in the field regarding separation anxiety suffered by school beginners. The current political developments towards a fair multicultural education will cause a far greater (increased) emergence of this phenomenon as schools are now confronted with a mixture of different cultures and creeds with (overly concerned parents).while separation anxiety is manifested in the young school beginners. Due to this increased exposure and subsequent increased child anxiety. this study is designed to identify the root causes of this anxiety. and provide guidelines for an education programme for parents and teachers to identify and counteract this problem. The investigation into the causes and characteristics of separation anxiety was undertaken by means of studying literature. existing case studies and material related to the subject matter. Insight derived from practical teaching experience and the literature available was so adapted and refined to set guidelines and identify characteristics for a programme that would assist the parents and teachers to identify and through corrective action overcome and / or eliminate this problem...

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most common and impairing childhood anxiety disorder. Left untreated, SAD is associated with heightened risk for the development of additional internalizing disorders as well as impairments in educational attainment and social functioning. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) for the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders, including SAD. However, additional research is needed to enhance the compatibility (e.g., fit of the treatment to the patient population) and ultimate uptake of evidence-based interventions for anxious youth. The current research evaluates the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an intensive, cognitive-behavioral intervention for school-aged girls with SAD provided within the novel context of a one-week camp-like setting. This alternative treatment format was predicated on evidence supporting the need for treatments that allow for creative and developmentally-sensitive applications of intervention components, incorporate a child's social context, target relevant parenting variables, and provide additional models for treatment delivery. Twenty-nine female children aged 7 to 12 with a principal or co-principal diagnosis of SAD were randomized to an immediate treatment (n = 15) or waitlist (i.e., delayed treatment; n = 14) condition during the course of this randomized-controlled trial. Measures were administered at pretreatment/ pre-waitlist, post-treatment/post-waitlist, and six weeks following treatment to assess changes in symptom reports, functional outcomes, and overall program satisfaction. Analyses of covariance were conducted to assess effects of treatment condition and repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted to evaluate change over the three data collection time points. Relative to waitlist, children in the immediate treatment group evidenced significant reductions in SAD severity by clinician report on a diagnostic interview measure. Moreover, treatment gains strengthened over time. Contrary to hypotheses, children receiving the intervention did not display significantly greater improvements relative to waitlist on parent-rated fear and avoidance scores or on parent or child self-report measures. Potential explanations for non-significant findings are discussed. Overall, the intervention's positive therapeutic response on SAD diagnostic status and severity suggests one possible delivery model for surmounting difficulties faced in the dissemination of standard, weekly treatments for this condition. / 2031-01-02

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Many dogs suffer from separation anxiety and become excessively stressed when their owner is absent. Since many dogs are left home alone daily, their welfare is at stake. Attention bias tests (ABTs) have previously been used as a way to measure welfare in other non-human animals. The aim of this study was to investigate attention bias in dogs with separation anxiety and dogs without separation anxiety in situations of different short-term emotional states. Three ABTs were performed to assess this, the first one was baseline and included no treatment (neutral) prior to the ABT. The second one was play which had a play treatment (positive) before the ABT, where the dog played with their owner for 2.5 min. The third one was isolation which had an isolation treatment (negative) prior to the ABT, where the dog was alone for 2.5 min. The owner was only present during the ABT in baseline and play. The results showed that separation anxiety only had an effect on barking during isolation, where dogs with separation anxiety barked more. Dogs performed more behaviours related to the owner being absent during isolation: more vocalisation, more looking at the door, being closer to the door (zone five), and being less in the area where the owner stood during baseline and play (zone six), compared to both baseline and play. To my knowledge, the usage of ABTs to measure welfare in dogs are few, and this study revealed that separation anxiety does not affect attention bias.

The purpose of this study was to develop a modified form of bibliotherapy (biblioplay) and to assess its usefulness in reducing separation anxiety associated with the transition to preschool. Six biblioplay sessions were conducted with 28 children using props for six consecutive days. Teachers rated each child on Scale 2 of the Hall (1967) Inventory of Separation Anxiety. Findings indicated that there was no significant difference between the group that received the biblioplay sessions and the group that did not. The indication that biblioplay conducted after the first days of preschool does not produce significant results in reducing separation anxiety suggests that other approaches to working with these children need to be formulated. / Master of Science

Objective: This study examined (a) the distribution of physical symptoms in youth with specific primary anxiety disorders (i.e. separation anxiety disorder [SAD], generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], and social phobia [SP]) and (b) their response to treatment with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; 14 sessions of CBT over the course of 12 weeks), medication, combination therapy (CBT + medication), or pill placebo in a sample. Method: Anxiety disordered youth (N = 488, age 7-17) who met criteria for a primary diagnosis of GAD, SAD, and/or SP as part of the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS; Walkup et al. 2008) were included in this study. The sample was diverse and included children with comorbid secondary diagnoses. Results: The most common somatic complaints were headache, stomach pain or aches, feeling drowsy or too sleepy, head cold or sniffles, and sleeplessness. The distribution of these complaints did not differ across diagnostic groups. The number and severity of physical symptoms decreased over the course of treatment. Treatment condition, including placebo, was unrelated to the number and severity of physical symptoms posttreatment. Conclusions: Treatment of anxiety leads to a decrease in the number and severity of physical symptoms experienced in anxiety-disordered youth, irrespective of treatment type. / Psychology

Ethnic minority youth use mental health services less frequently than Caucasian youth, despite similar rates of psychopathology. Research has documented ethnic differences in (1) parents' beliefs about the seriousness, prognosis, and etiology of child symptoms and (2) preferences for help-seeking, which may partially explain disparities in treatment utilization; however, few studies have examined underlying cultural factors that may account for ethnic differences or parent's beliefs and preferences with regard to youth anxiety. This study examined parents' beliefs about separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and preferences for help-seeking among 117 Indian-American (IA; n = 39), Puerto Rican (PR; n = 39), and European-American (EA; n = 39) mothers. After reading four vignettes describing SAD symptoms, parents rated the seriousness, prognosis, and etiology of symptoms and the likelihood of help-seeking. Parents also completed measures of acculturation, independent/interdependent self-construal, and strength of religious faith. RM-MANCOVA (controlling for SES) revealed that PR mothers were more likely than EA mothers to endorse medical etiology and were more likely than IA mothers to seek help from a physician. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that acculturation and strength of religious faith predicted parents' etiological beliefs and preferences for help-seeking, after accounting for variance associated with SES and child gender. Results highlight the importance of examining cultural constructs that may contribute to ethnic differences. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. / Psychology