Disorganized behavior in adolescent-parent interaction: relations to attachment state of mind, partner abuse, and psychopathology.

Disoriented, punitive, and caregiving/role-confused attachment behaviors are associated with psychopathology in childhood, but have not been assessed in adolescence. A total of 120 low-income late adolescents (aged 18-23 years) and parents were assessed in a conflict-resolution paradigm. Their interactions were coded with the Goal-Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the three disorganized constructs (punitive, caregiving, and disoriented interaction) were best represented as distinct factors and were separable from a fourth factor for collaboration. The four factors were then assessed in relation to measures of attachment disorganization, partner abuse, and psychopathology. Results indicate that forms of disorganized behavior first described in early childhood can also be reliably assessed in adolescence and are associated with maladaptive outcomes across multiple domains.

• Publication year

  2014

• Venue

  Child Development

• Publication date

  Unknown publication date

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/cdev.12113PMID 23621826PMCID PMC3732543
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation

  2016cited by this paper
• MATERNAL ROLE CONFUSION: RELATIONS TO MATERNAL ATTACHMENT AND MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION FROM INFANCY TO ADOLESCENCE.

  2013cited by this paper
• Revised Conflict Tactics Scales

  2012cited by this paper
• Attachment discontinuity in a high-risk sample

  2011cited by this paper
• Risks and Outcomes Associated with Disorganized/Controlling Patterns of Attachment at Age Three in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

  2011cited by this paper
• Risks and outcomes associated with disorganized/controlling patterns of attachment at age three years in the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

  2011cited by this paper
• Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta-analyses

  2010cited by this paper
• The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: a meta-analytic study.

  2010cited by this paper
• Attachment disorganization and controlling behavior in middle childhood: maternal and child precursors and correlates

  2009cited by this paper
• No reliable gender differences in attachment across the lifespan

  2009cited by this paper
• Cortisol and antisocial behavior in early adolescence: The role of gender in an economically disadvantaged sample

  2009cited by this paper
• Measure twice, cut once: attachment theory and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

  2008cited by this paper
• Understanding Mother-Adolescent Conflict Discussions

  2008cited by this paper
• Understanding mother-adolescent conflict discussions: concurrent and across-time prediction from youths' dispositions and parenting.

  2008cited by this paper
• Test–Retest Reliability of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2)

  2007cited by this paper
• A controlled study of Hostile-Helpless states of mind among borderline and dysthymic women

  2007influential reference
• A taxometric study of the Adult Attachment Interview.

  2007cited by this paper
• Frightened, threatening, and dissociative parental behavior in low-risk samples: Description, discussion, and interpretations

  2006cited by this paper
• Attachment and sensitivity in family context: the roles of parent and infant gender

  2006cited by this paper
• Development and preliminary validation of the caregiving behavior system: Association with child attachment classification in the preschool Strange Situation

  2005cited by this paper
• Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.

  2005cited by this paper
• Expanding the concept of unresolved mental states: Hostile/Helpless states of mind on the Adult Attachment Interview are associated with disrupted mother–infant communication and infant disorganization

  2005cited by this paper
• Stability of attachment during the preschool period.

  2005cited by this paper
• Attachment at early school age and developmental risk: examining family contexts and behavior problems of controlling-caregiving, controlling-punitive, and behaviorally disorganized children.

  2004cited by this paper
• Continuity, discontinuity, and coherence in attachment from infancy to late adolescence: Sequelae of organization and disorganization

  2004cited by this paper
• Prediction of peer-rated adult hostility from autonomy struggles in adolescent–family interactions

  2002cited by this paper
• Child-care and family predictors of preschool attachment and stability from infancy.

  2001cited by this paper
• Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives

  1999cited by this paper
• Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae

  1999influential reference
• Hierarchical regression analysis in structural Equation Modeling

  1999cited by this paper
• Attachment and emotion

  1998cited by this paper
• A prospective longitudinal study of attachment disorganization/disorientation.

  1998cited by this paper
• Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders

  1997cited by this paper
• Autonomy and relatedness in adolescent-family interactions as predictors of young adults' states of mind regarding attachment

  1996cited by this paper
• Not just "ghosts in the nursery": contemporaneous intergenerational relationships and parenting in young African-American families.

  1996cited by this paper
• Discriminant validity of the adult attachment interview.

  1996cited by this paper
• The measurement of dissociation in normal and clinical populations. Meta-analytic validation of the dissociative experiences scale (des)

  1996cited by this paper
• Representational models of relationships: Links between caregiving and attachment

  1996influential reference
• The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2)

  1996cited by this paper
• Emotion regulation and depressive symptoms during adolescence: A functionalist perspective

  1995cited by this paper
• The Adult Personality Functioning Assessment (APFA): factors influencing agreement between subject and informant

  1995cited by this paper
• Attachment Patterns at Age Six in South Germany: Predictability from Infancy and Implications for Preschool Behavior.

  1994cited by this paper
• Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA): a retrospective interview measure.

  1994cited by this paper
• Trajectories of Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptoms during Adolescence.

  1994cited by this paper
• Longitudinal assessment of autonomy and relatedness in adolescent-family interactions as predictors of adolescent ego development and self-esteem.

  1994cited by this paper
• Biobehavioral organization in securely and insecurely attached infants.

  1993cited by this paper
• Attachment and emotion regulation during mother-teen problem solving: a control theory analysis.

  1993influential reference
• Do parent-child relationships change during puberty?

  1991cited by this paper
• Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation.

  1990cited by this paper
• Infants at social risk: maternal depression and family support services as mediators of infant development and security of attachment.

  1990cited by this paper
• Adult Personality Functioning Assessment (APFA)

  1989cited by this paper
• Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period.

  1988cited by this paper
• Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale.

  1986cited by this paper
• Attachment and Loss. Vol. I

  1969cited by this paper
• The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population — Source link

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Twenty Years of Attachment Research With the Friends and Family Interview: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

  2026cites this paper
• Longitudinal predictors of attachment disorganization: Sociodemographic risk and maternal disrupted caregiving.

  2026cites this paper
• Multi-method assessment of attachment for middle childhood and early adolescence: links to parenting and parent attachment

  2025cites this paper
• Unpredictability in caregiver-child relationships: Impact on child verbal abilities and externalizing problems.

  2025cites this paper
• Predicting Adolescent Anxiety with Childhood Attachment Disruptions: A Systematic Review

  2025cites this paper
• Through each other's eyes: initial results and protocol for the co-design of an observational measure of adolescent-parent interaction using first-person perspective

  2024cites this paper
• The Childhood Experiences of Disorganization and Role Reversal Scale: Relations with Childhood Adversity, Internalizing Problems, and Well-Being in Young Adulthood

  2024influential citation
• Attachment in individuals with eating disorders compared to community controls: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

  2023cites this paper
• History of abuse and adolescent hostile-helpless attachment: The mediating role of mother-adolescent punitive interactions.

  2023cites this paper
• Association between childhood maltreatment and attachment disorganization in young adulthood: The protective role of early mother-child interactions.

  2023cites this paper
• Disorganized attachment in emerging adulthood: Measurement comparisons and relations to childhood maltreatment and emotion dysregulation.

  2023cites this paper
• Relationship between Executive Functions, Social Cognition, and Attachment State of Mind in Adolescence: An Explorative Study

  2023cites this paper
• Atypical maternal interaction is associated with elevated levels of hair cortisol in children

  2023cites this paper
• Does Child Maltreatment Reduce or Increase Empathy? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

  2023cites this paper
• A prospective investigation of the relation between dysfunctional family communication and suicidal ideation severity in a clinical adolescent sample: A serial mediation model.

  2022cites this paper
• Attachment-based parent–adolescent interaction linked to visual attention and autonomic arousal to distress and comfort stimuli

  2022cites this paper
• Family-level antecedents of children's patterns of reactivity to interparental conflict: Testing the reformulation of emotional security theory.

  2022cites this paper
• The children of the Argentinean desaparecidos: Traumatic attachment-related experiences

  2022cites this paper
• Parental Psychological Control, Attachment, and Perpetration of Psychological Aggression

  2022cites this paper
• Toward an empirically based Developmental Trauma Disorder diagnosis and semi‐structured interview for children: The DTD field trial replication

  2022cites this paper
• Parent-Child Attachment Security and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: The Mediating Roles of Gratitude and Forgiveness

  2022cites this paper
• The Role of Early Adaptive Schemas in Heterosexual Romantic Relationships

  2022cites this paper
• La terapia familiare con gli adolescenti con comportamenti autolesionisti. Presa in carico e protocollo sperimentale all'interno della NPI

  2022cites this paper
• Hostile‐helpless states of mind: A scoping review of risk factors, correlates, and consequences

  2022cites this paper
• Critiquing assumptions about parental alienation: Part 2. Causes of psychological harms

  2021cites this paper
• Beyond destructive and constructive interparental conflict: Children's psychological vulnerability to interparental disorganization.

  2021cites this paper
• The Link from Child Abuse to Dissociation: The Roles of Adult Disorganized Attachment, Self-Concept Clarity, and Reflective Functioning

  2021cites this paper
• The Relations Among Types of Parentification, School Achievement, and Quality of Life in Early Adolescence: An Exploratory Study

  2021cites this paper
• Family processes: Risk, protective and treatment factors for youth at risk for suicide.

  2021cites this paper
• Programmes d’intervention basés sur l’attachement pour les jeunes enfants

  2021cites this paper
• Disorganized/controlling attachments, emotion regulation, and emotion communication in later middle childhood

  2021cites this paper
• Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation?

  2021cites this paper
• Aspects of Parent–Child Interaction from Infancy to Late Adolescence are Associated with Severity of Childhood Maltreatment through Age 18

  2020influential citation
• Developmental Pathways to BPD-Related Features in Adolescence: Infancy to Age 15.

  2020cites this paper
• Emerging child competencies and personality pathology: toward a Developmental Cascade model of BPD.

  2020cites this paper
• The Sequelae of Psychological Symptoms Exhibited by Children Exposed to Trauma: A Developmental Perspective

  2020cites this paper
• Developmental and attachment-based perspectives on dissociation: beyond the effects of maltreatment

  2020cites this paper
• Feasibility of training service providers on the AMBIANCE-Brief measure for use in community settings.

  2020cites this paper
• Disorganized Attachment Interactions Among Young Adults With Borderline Personality Disorder, Other Diagnoses, and No Diagnosis.

  2020cites this paper
• Chronic mistrust and complex trauma: Australian psychologists' perspectives on the treatment of young women with a history of childhood maltreatment

  2020cites this paper
• Unresolved Attachment Mediates the Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Impaired Personality Functioning in Adolescence.

  2020cites this paper
• Validation of the AMBIANCE-brief: An observational screening instrument for disrupted caregiving.

  2020cites this paper
• A preliminary investigation of excessive reassurance-seeking and attachment-related behaviours in adolescents with OCD

  2020cites this paper
• The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Siences

  2020cites this paper
• Ameliorating the Adverse Consequences of Verbal Aggression: The Buffering Effect of Esteem Support on Personal and Relational Outcomes

  2020cites this paper
• Role of Early Traumatic Life Events, Insecure Attachment Style and Callous- Unemotional Traits in Predicting Aggressionin High School Students

  2020cites this paper
• Preventive parent-young child interaction interventions to promote optimal attachment.

  2019cites this paper
• Parent-teen communication predicts treatment benefit for depressed and suicidal adolescents.

  2019cites this paper
• Unraveling middle childhood attachment-related behavior sequences using a micro-coding approach

  2019cites this paper
• Attachment measures in middle childhood and adolescence: A systematic review of measurement properties.

  2019cites this paper
• The aftershocks of infidelity: a review of infidelity-based attachment trauma

  2019cites this paper
• Unresolved-disorganized attachment, psychopathology, and the adolescent brain

  2019cites this paper
• Attachment problems in childhood and the development of anxiety in adolescents: A systematic review of longitudinal and prospective studies

  2019cites this paper
• Middle Childhood Attachment Strategies: validation of an observational measure

  2018influential citation
• Linking Hostile/Helpless Maternal Representations in Pregnancy and Later Child Protection Involvement: A Pilot Study

  2018cites this paper
• Changes in attachment organization, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal problems among women in treatment for abuse

  2018cites this paper
• Family communication and treatment benefit in a comparative efficacy trial for depressed and suicidal adolescents

  2018cites this paper
• The Development, Psychometric Analyses and Correlates of a Self-Report Measure on Disorganization and Role Reversal

  2018cites this paper
• The Body Speaks: Using the Mirror Game to Link Attachment and Non-verbal Behavior

  2018cites this paper
• Adult attachment representations and depressive symptoms: A meta-analysis.

  2018cites this paper
• Assessing a change mechanism in a randomized home-visiting trial: Reducing disrupted maternal communication decreases infant disorganization

  2017cites this paper
• Disorganized Attachment and Personality Functioning in Adults: A Latent Class Analysis

  2017cites this paper
• Adapting to the changing needs of adolescents: parenting practices and challenges to sensitive attunement.

  2017cites this paper
• Unresolved attachment and agency in women victims of intimate partner violence: A case–control study

  2017cites this paper
• An examination of the ways in which power arises, and is managed, between systemic psychotherapists and parents working together in a social care context

  2017cites this paper
• From the Cradle to the Grave: The Effect of Adverse Caregiving Environments on Attachment and Relationships Throughout the Lifespan

  2017cites this paper
• Parental Emotion Socialization and Child Psychological Adjustment among Chinese Urban Families: Mediation through Child Emotion Regulation and Moderation through Dyadic Collaboration

  2017cites this paper
• The relationship between childhood adversity, attachment, and internalizing behaviors in a diversion program for child-to-mother violence.

  2017cites this paper
• Atypical dimensions of caregiver–adolescent interaction in an economically disadvantaged sample

  2017cites this paper
• Representational and questionnaire measures of attachment: A meta-analysis of relations to child internalizing and externalizing problems.

  2016cites this paper
• Disorganized attachment mediates the link from early trauma to externalizing behavior in adult relationships

  2016cites this paper
• Associations Between Adolescent Perceptions of Parental Interactions and Adolescent Sexual Behaviors

  2016cites this paper
• Personality Disorders : Theory , Research , and Treatment Disorganized Attachment and Personality Functioning in Adults : A Latent Class Analysis

  2016cites this paper
• Disorganized attachment in young adulthood as a partial mediator of relations between severity of childhood abuse and dissociation

  2016influential citation
• Perceptions and Experiences of an Attachment-Based Intervention for Parents Troubled by Intimate Partner Violence

  2016cites this paper
• Assessing Attachment Representations in Adolescents: Discriminant Validation of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System

  2016cites this paper
• Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Emotion Regulation in Insecure Adolescents: Study Protocol for a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

  2016cites this paper
• Role-Confusion in Parent-Child Relationships : Assessing Mother ' s Representations and its Implications for Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice

  2016cites this paper
• Role-confusion in parent-child relationships: Assessing mother's representations and its implications for counselling and psychotherapy practice

  2016cites this paper
• An Examination of the Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Affect Regulation Motives in the Relationship between Attachment and Alcohol Use and Consequences in Emerging Adults

  2016influential citation
• Disorganized attachment in infancy predicts greater amygdala volume in adulthood.

  2016cites this paper
• Experiential avoidance mediates the link between maternal attachment style and theory of mind.

  2015cites this paper
• Castaways: addressing hostility and helplessness in severely lonely adults.

  2015cites this paper
• Adult Attachment Interview differentiates adolescents with Childhood Sexual Abuse from those with clinical depression and non-clinical controls

  2015cites this paper
• Parent–child role-confusion: A critical review of an emerging concept

  2015influential citation
• Validity of the School-age Assessment of Attachment for moderate-risk, rural early adolescents

  2015cites this paper
• Continuities and changes in infant attachment patterns across two generations

  2015cites this paper
• Attachment based treatments for adolescents: the secure cycle as a framework for assessment, treatment and evaluation

  2015cites this paper
• Parenting Stress: The Roles of Attachment States of Mind and Parenting Alliance in the Context of Adoption

  2015cites this paper
• Examining Circle of Security™

  2015cites this paper
• Disorganized Attachment in Adulthood: Theory, Measurement, and Implications for Romantic Relationships

  2015cites this paper
• Parental Depression and the Severity of Adolescent Suicide Ideation and Behavior: A Test of a Mediation Model

  2015cites this paper
• Quality of Parenting and Adolescent Attachment Security: A Twin Study to Explore the Impact of Genetic Factors

  2015influential citation
• Le trouble de la personnalité borderline constitue-t-il un facteur prédictif de récidive suicidaire ?

  2015cites this paper
• Sensitive periods of amygdala development: The role of maltreatment in preadolescence

  2014cites this paper
• Role Confusion and Disorientation in Young Adult-Parent Interaction Among Individuals With Borderline Symptomatology.

  2014cites this paper
• Observational attachment theory-based parenting measures predict children’s attachment narratives independently from social learning theory-based measures

  2014cites this paper
• Patterns of attachment and reflective functioning in families of adolescents with eating disorders

  2014influential citation
• MATERNAL ROLE CONFUSION: RELATIONS TO MATERNAL ATTACHMENT AND MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION FROM INFANCY TO ADOLESCENCE.

  2013cites this paper
• Parsing the construct of maternal insensitivity: distinct longitudinal pathways associated with early maternal withdrawal

  2013influential citation