The overall objective of this study was to delve into the intricacies of the therapeutic process and the therapeutic relationship from an attachment perspective. A single retrospective child case study was conducted, which entailed the construction of a narrative synopsis of the process. The hermeneutic approach of a Reading Guide Method was applied, and through a repeated re-reading of the narrative, pertinent themes emerged that shed light on therapy as a process in motion. Specifically, the motion of the therapeutic process manifested through a scrutiny of the therapeutic relationship in view of the participant’s attachment style. The results of this study revealed the capacity of the participant to move away from an avoidant and somewhat ambivalent organisation of defences by virtue of establishing a secure base and exercising her faculty for emotional and self-expression. Accordingly, it can be established that in view of psychotherapy from an attachment perspective, the seemingly imperceptible vicissitudes of change are indeed appreciable.

Although there has been an abundance of research on attachment, few studies have researched the treatment of attachment difficulties or have used qualitative methods. This study explores how older adoptive/foster children with attachment difficulties form attachments with their adoptive/foster parents. The method of inquiry is fictional stories. I show how children in the context of new relationships with healthy attachment figures who do not abandon or hurt them, modify their inferred internal constructions of attachment figures. This study has four parts: In the first part, I introduce the subject of attachment and the research method of fiction. In the second part, I discuss how I came to choose fiction as the method of inquiry. I explore the matter of the ethics of doing research with children, including the difficulty of gaining informed consent and the inherent dangers of a dual relationship of counsellor-researcher. I deconstruct the authority of the Human Research Ethics Committee and explore the relationship of fiction to truth in terms of the assumptions that there is no one true set of facts, but rather multiple constructed realities or “fictions”. In part 3, I present 5 fictional stories, featuring composites of various children with attachment difficulties I have worked with as a psychotherapist. They are all children who have been able to overcome many internal barriers to attach to their parents. There is a first person account of an 11 year old adoptive child who spent his infancy in a Romanian orphanage; a radio play of a 5 year old black child who spent part of his infancy in an orphanage in Haiti; a didactic-descriptive account of a foster parent as attachment figure with 4 hard-to-reach youth; a short story of a 15 year old adopted teenager who rejects her adoptive parents and later, returns to them; and a fairy tale depicting a lonely, distancing 8 year old girl who connected with her rejecting mother. Interspersed throughout these stories are my own poetry and prose that offer other perspectives on the topic of attachment. Part 4 is the discussion and interpretation of the underlying issues raised by the text, presented in the multivocal style of a T.V. show. Topics include the adoptive/foster child's torturous ambivalence toward the attachment figure/parent; a period of rejection of the parent; the child's fear and pain associated with his/her own unfulfilled longing; and the child's re-enactment of the trauma. The implications for Child Welfare practice, training of child care workers and counsellors are discussed. The relevancy of these children's inner conflicts regarding attachment to our own struggles with love individually and as a society is mentioned. / Graduate

M.A. / Most people learn communication and behavioral skills in their families, which means the learning that takes place in the family of origin will affect how children learn to deal with conflict in adult life. People form the basis of their coping skills in early childhood, either through modeling or cognitive awareness, or in the case of inappropriate behaviour, through distortions. This means that communication skills and conflict styles that are acquired early in childhood might be perpetuated when these children become adults and marry. Several studies have been conducted on conflict styles and the family of origin. However, very little is available on the application of conflict styles learnt in the family of origin and the impact they may have in the marriage of progeny children. This pilot study attempts to address this aspect. This investigation examines whether the conflict styles experienced or perceived in the family of origin have any bearing on how progeny children deal with conflict in their own marriages. A quantitative pilot study of fourteen couples was undertaken in which each couple completed two questionnaires. The first one related to how the couples themselves deal with conflict, the second focussed on how they perceive that their parents dealt with conflict. The theoretical model used to describe the structure of the family and its interconnectedness is systems theory. Social cognitive learning theory is examined in terms of how behaviour is learnt and attachment theory examines different types of attachment and the hypothesised resultant behaviours. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between the couples’ and their parents’ conflict styles, on some of the variables measured. The differences recorded were in terms of how couples deal with conflict in their marriage, as opposed to how they perceived their parents to deal with conflict in their own marriages. It can be hypothesised that the conflict styles couples perceived their parents to use did impact on the styles they used in their own marriage. In some cases however, they felt that they improved on the style perceived, instead of simply perpetuating the cycle they had experienced.

No description available.

No description available.

This study was a partial test of the theoretical model of the ability to parent proposed by Ricks (1985). The purpose of the study was to examine the variables of marital quality, model of self, the recalled quality of attachment to ones' parents and sex of subject as related to current parenting attitudes. The Mother-Father-Peer Scale (MFP) was used to measure recalled attachment to parent (Epstein, 1983). Parenting attitudes were measured on two scales designed by Itkin (1952), an Acceptance-Rejection scale and a Strict-Permissive scale. One question from Spanier's (1976) Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to assess marital harmony. Model of self was measured using the Self-Rating scale from the Family Assessment Measure (Skinner, Steinhauer, & Santa-Barbara, 1984). There were 126 subjects in the study, 60 males and 66 females. Pearson ṟ correlations were calculated between all the variables. A parenting attitude favoring acceptant, positive treatment of children was related to a more permissive attitude toward control of children. Memories of maternal independence-encouraging behavior were related to a parenting attitude favoring strict control of children. Multiple regression analysis suggested that self-rating of family functioning and sex were the best predictors of a parental attitude of acceptance versus rejection. However, these variables explained only 26% of the variance in acceptance-rejection scores. The results of the analyses offered only limited support for the model under study. Based on a median split of the theoretical ranges on the parenting scales, subjects were classified using Maccoby and Martin's (1983) model of parenting styles. All the parents in this study were classified as having parenting attitudes falling into the authoritarian-reciprocal quadrant of this model. Such parents would be considered as being accepting yet controlling in their behavior toward their children. This finding was interpreted as indicating that all the subjects in this study had the ability to parent. This lack of dispersion on the parenting classification could have contributed to the lack of statistical significance to completely support the portion of the model being tested. / Ph. D.

Examines the relationship between early maternal attachment security and shame in young adults. The findings of this study have significant implications for parenting, including providing support for the importance of a secure relationship between mother and child and the developmental consequences of warm and secure caregiving experiences for their child.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-55).

Previous research has shown that adult attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance are associated with both coping strategy use and the parent-child relationship. Additionally, research has shown that coping strategy is associated with aspects of the parent-child relationship. The current study aimed to further examine associations between parental romantic attachment, coping strategy use, and the parent-child relationship. It was hypothesized that coping strategy use would mediate the relationship between parental romantic attachment and aspects of the parent-child relationship. Participants included 86 heterosexual couples (N = 176 parents) from the Family and Kid Connection project archival dataset. Instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, a brief measure of coping, and the Attachment and Relational Frustration Subscales of the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire. An actor-partner independence model was proposed and tested via multilevel modeling. Higher levels of parental attachment anxiety predicted poorer parent-child relationships. Father's attachment avoidance also predicted poorer father-child relationships. Higher levels of both parental attachment dimensions predicted greater use of avoidant emotional coping. Finally, greater use of avoidant emotional coping predicted poorer parent-child relationships. Results partially supported proposed mediational hypotheses. Two mediational paths were supported by results: an actor-actor path in which fathers' avoidant emotional coping mediated the association between fathers' romantic attachment avoidance and father-child attachment, and an actor-actor path in which mothers' avoidant emotional coping mediated the association between mothers' romantic attachment anxiety and mother-child attachment.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / The currents study investigated the relationship between attachment and behavioural problems in children in residential group homes (alternative care) in Polokwane, Limpopo. The sample consisted of children (n = 52) and their caregivers (n= 7) from the Samaritan Children’s Home. Both males (n = 30) and females (n = 22) were represented. All caregivers were female. A quantitative, cross-sectional design and simple random sampling were employed. Data was collected using the Relationship in Close Relationships Questionnaire (ECR-RC) and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Methods of analysing were correlational (Pearson’s r) to establish relationships and t-test and ANOVA to establish between- and within-group differences. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between poor attachment and behavioural problems. Male children were found to exhibit more internalising behaviour than externalising behaviour when compared to females on the CBCL. Older children, both male and female (aged 12-14 years) were found to exhibit more behavioural problems than their younger counterparts aged 9-11.