Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

Pehr Granqvist; L Alan Sroufe; Mary Dozier; Erik Hesse; Miriam Steele; Marinus van Ijzendoorn; Judith Solomon; Carlo Schuengel; Pasco Fearon; Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg; Howard Steele; Jude Cassidy; Elizabeth Carlson; Sheri Madigan; Deborah Jacobvitz; Sarah Foster; Kazuko Behrens; Anne Rifkin-Graboi; Naomi Gribneau; Gottfried Spangler; Mary J Ward; Mary True; Susan Spieker; Sophie Reijman; Samantha Reisz; Anne Tharner; Frances Nkara; Ruth Goldwyn; June Sroufe; David Pederson; Deanne Pederson; Robert Weigand; Daniel Siegel; Nino Dazzi; Kristin Bernard; Peter Fonagy; Everett Waters; Sheree Toth; Dante Cicchetti; Charles H Zeanah; Karlen Lyons-Ruth; Mary Main; Robbie Duschinsky

doi:10.1080/14616734.2017.1354040

Disorganized attachment in infancy: a review of the phenomenon and its implications for clinicians and policy-makers

Attach Hum Dev. 2017 Dec;19(6):534-558. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2017.1354040. Epub 2017 Jul 26.

Authors

Pehr Granqvist¹, L Alan Sroufe², Mary Dozier³, Erik Hesse⁴, Miriam Steele⁵, Marinus van Ijzendoorn⁶, Judith Solomon⁷, Carlo Schuengel⁸, Pasco Fearon⁹, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg¹⁰, Howard Steele⁵, Jude Cassidy¹¹, Elizabeth Carlson², Sheri Madigan¹², Deborah Jacobvitz¹³, Sarah Foster¹⁴, Kazuko Behrens¹⁵, Anne Rifkin-Graboi¹⁶, Naomi Gribneau⁷, Gottfried Spangler¹⁷, Mary J Ward¹⁸, Mary True¹⁹, Susan Spieker²⁰, Sophie Reijman⁷, Samantha Reisz^{7

21}, Anne Tharner⁶, Frances Nkara⁴, Ruth Goldwyn²², June Sroufe²³, David Pederson²⁴, Deanne Pederson²⁵, Robert Weigand²⁶, Daniel Siegel²⁷, Nino Dazzi²⁸, Kristin Bernard²⁹, Peter Fonagy⁹, Everett Waters²⁹, Sheree Toth³⁰, Dante Cicchetti², Charles H Zeanah³¹, Karlen Lyons-Ruth³², Mary Main⁴, Robbie Duschinsky⁷

Affiliations

¹ a Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm , Sweden.
² b Institute of Child Development , University of Minnesota , Minneapolis , MN , USA.
³ c Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Delaware , Newark , NY , USA.
⁴ d Department of Psychology , University of California , Berkeley , CA , USA.
⁵ e Psychology Department , The New School , New York , NY , USA.
⁶ f Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies , Erasmus University Rotterdam , Rotterdam , The Netherlands.
⁷ g Department of Public Health & Primary Care , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK.
⁸ h Clinical Child and Family Studies and Amsterdam Public Health , Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.
⁹ i Research Department of Clinical , Educational and Health Psychology, University College of London , London , UK.
¹⁰ j Child and Family Studies , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.
¹¹ k Psychology Department , University of Maryland , Washington DC , USA.
¹² l Department of Psychology , University of Calgary , Calgary , Canada.
¹³ m Department of Psychology , The University of Texas , Austin , TX , USA.
¹⁴ n Faculty of Health and Life Sciences , University of Northumbria , Newcastle , UK.
¹⁵ o Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences , SUNY Polytechnic Institute , Utica , NY , USA.
¹⁶ p the Neurodevelopmental Research Center , the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences , Singapore , Singapore.
¹⁷ q Developmental and Educational Psychology , University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , Erlangen , Germany.
¹⁸ r Department of Pediatrics , Weill Cornell Medical College , New York , NY , USA.
¹⁹ s Psychology Department , St Mary's College of California , Moraga , NY , USA.
²⁰ t Center on Human Development and Disability , University of Washington , Seattle , MA , USA.
²¹ u the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences , University of Texas at Austin , Austin , TX , USA.
²² v Child and Adolsecent Mental Health Service, Trafford Children and Young Peoples Service , Manchester , UK.
²³ w Minnesota Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis , Minneapolis , MI , USA.
²⁴ x Department of Psychology , University of Western Ontario , London , ON , Canada.
²⁵ y University of Western Ontario , London , ON , Canada.
²⁶ z T. Denny Sanford School of Social & Family Dynamics , Arizona State University , Tempe , AZ , USA.
²⁷ aa School of Medicine , University of California , Los Angeles , CA , USA.
²⁸ ab Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology , Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
²⁹ ac Department of Psychology , Stony Brook University , Stony Brook , NY , USA.
³⁰ ad The Mt. Hope Family Center , University of Rochester , Rochester , NY , USA.
³¹ ae Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health , Tulane University , New Orleans , LA , USA.
³² af Department of Psychiatry , Harvard Medical School , Boston , MA , USA.

Abstract

Disorganized/Disoriented (D) attachment has seen widespread interest from policy makers, practitioners, and clinicians in recent years. However, some of this interest seems to have been based on some false assumptions that (1) attachment measures can be used as definitive assessments of the individual in forensic/child protection settings and that disorganized attachment (2) reliably indicates child maltreatment, (3) is a strong predictor of pathology, and (4) represents a fixed or static "trait" of the child, impervious to development or help. This paper summarizes the evidence showing that these four assumptions are false and misleading. The paper reviews what is known about disorganized infant attachment and clarifies the implications of the classification for clinical and welfare practice with children. In particular, the difference between disorganized attachment and attachment disorder is examined, and a strong case is made for the value of attachment theory for supportive work with families and for the development and evaluation of evidence-based caregiving interventions.

Keywords: Disorganized attachment; attachment disorder; attachment-based interventions; infancy; maltreatment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Administrative Personnel
Behavior
Child Abuse / psychology
Child Care / psychology
Child Welfare / psychology
Child, Preschool
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Object Attachment*
Reactive Attachment Disorder / psychology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding