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Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. I: Disinhibited attachment

Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. I: Disinhibited attachment
Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. I: Disinhibited attachment
Background: disinhibited attachment is an important sequel of an institutional rearing, but questions remain regarding its measurement, its persistence, the specificity of the association with institutional rearing and on whether or not it constitutes a meaningful disorder.
Method: children initially reared in profoundly depriving institutions in Romania and subsequently adopted into UK families were compared with respect to findings at 11 years with children who had not experienced institutional deprivation and who had been adopted within the UK before the age of 6 months. Measures included parental reports, a Strange Situation procedure modified for use in the home and systematic standardised investigator ratings of the children's behaviour.
Results: disinhibited attachment, as reported by parents, showed a high degree of persistence from 6 to 11, but also a reduction over time in its frequency. Investigator ratings validated the parental reports but suggested that much of the fall in rate of disinhibited attachment was a function of the parental measure being less developmentally appropriate at 11 than it had been at 6. Disinhibited attachment was strongly associated with institutional rearing but there was not a significant increase in relation to duration of institutional deprivation beyond the age of 6 months. Mild, but not marked, disinhibited attachment was quite frequent in non-institutionalised adopted children but both the course and correlates indicated that its meaning was probably quite different. In the institution-reared children, disinhibited attachment was associated with a marked increase in service usage and associations with other forms of psychopathology.
Conclusions: disinhibited attachment constitutes a valid, and handicapping, clinical pattern that is strongly associated with an institutional rearing.
0021-9630
17-30
Rutter, Michael
14c45b9c-5f8e-4a19-a6fc-ce40ca498069
Colvert, Emma
667ed4c9-d3de-45cf-b173-b446b6e18eed
Kreppner, Jana
6a5f447e-1cfe-4654-95b4-e6f89b0275d6
Beckett, Celia
bff7d3cf-0754-46cd-b441-3e043e9cbb8c
Castle, Jenny
00ba7ce1-a3f9-473e-8d2d-151a71fee2b5
Groothues, Christine
f07b55f6-935b-46d3-ac20-b317ae27d265
Hawkins, Amanda
cfca2742-2e72-4c7d-bc5e-03ddc56cc276
Thomas, Thomas G.
c534c937-5eac-421c-82e9-de42021f1c07
Stevens, Suzanne E.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635
Rutter, Michael
14c45b9c-5f8e-4a19-a6fc-ce40ca498069
Colvert, Emma
667ed4c9-d3de-45cf-b173-b446b6e18eed
Kreppner, Jana
6a5f447e-1cfe-4654-95b4-e6f89b0275d6
Beckett, Celia
bff7d3cf-0754-46cd-b441-3e043e9cbb8c
Castle, Jenny
00ba7ce1-a3f9-473e-8d2d-151a71fee2b5
Groothues, Christine
f07b55f6-935b-46d3-ac20-b317ae27d265
Hawkins, Amanda
cfca2742-2e72-4c7d-bc5e-03ddc56cc276
Thomas, Thomas G.
c534c937-5eac-421c-82e9-de42021f1c07
Stevens, Suzanne E.
bc80bf95-6cf9-4c76-a09d-eaaf0b717635

Rutter, Michael, Colvert, Emma, Kreppner, Jana, Beckett, Celia, Castle, Jenny, Groothues, Christine, Hawkins, Amanda, Thomas, Thomas G. and Stevens, Suzanne E. (2007) Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. I: Disinhibited attachment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48 (1), 17-30. (doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01688.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: disinhibited attachment is an important sequel of an institutional rearing, but questions remain regarding its measurement, its persistence, the specificity of the association with institutional rearing and on whether or not it constitutes a meaningful disorder.
Method: children initially reared in profoundly depriving institutions in Romania and subsequently adopted into UK families were compared with respect to findings at 11 years with children who had not experienced institutional deprivation and who had been adopted within the UK before the age of 6 months. Measures included parental reports, a Strange Situation procedure modified for use in the home and systematic standardised investigator ratings of the children's behaviour.
Results: disinhibited attachment, as reported by parents, showed a high degree of persistence from 6 to 11, but also a reduction over time in its frequency. Investigator ratings validated the parental reports but suggested that much of the fall in rate of disinhibited attachment was a function of the parental measure being less developmentally appropriate at 11 than it had been at 6. Disinhibited attachment was strongly associated with institutional rearing but there was not a significant increase in relation to duration of institutional deprivation beyond the age of 6 months. Mild, but not marked, disinhibited attachment was quite frequent in non-institutionalised adopted children but both the course and correlates indicated that its meaning was probably quite different. In the institution-reared children, disinhibited attachment was associated with a marked increase in service usage and associations with other forms of psychopathology.
Conclusions: disinhibited attachment constitutes a valid, and handicapping, clinical pattern that is strongly associated with an institutional rearing.

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Published date: January 2007

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 48288
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/48288
ISSN: 0021-9630
PURE UUID: 56e0d48c-772c-4a28-954f-c36445bbe8c2
ORCID for Jana Kreppner: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3527-9083

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Date deposited: 01 Oct 2007
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:57

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Contributors

Author: Michael Rutter
Author: Emma Colvert
Author: Jana Kreppner ORCID iD
Author: Celia Beckett
Author: Jenny Castle
Author: Christine Groothues
Author: Amanda Hawkins
Author: Thomas G. Thomas
Author: Suzanne E. Stevens

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