Browsing by Subject "kiintymyssuhde"

According to Bowlby’s (1976) attachment theory, the purpose of the attachment system is to maintain proximity between a child and the parent in order to ensure the child’s safety. The child develops internal working models (IWM) of attachment that represent the individual’s view of the self and others: (1) whether or not the self is judged to be worthy of love and care and (2) whether or not the attachment figure is judged to be the sort of person who in general responds to calls for support and protection. These internal working models influence the formation of the attachment category and serve as the basis for later personality development as well as control the style of social interaction and emotion regulation. The negative internal models may manifest themselves in adulthood, for example, as an insecure attachment style or otherwise inappropriate behavior in a relationship. Families where one or both parents consume large amounts of alcohol, are not the ideal environments for a child to develop a secure attachment and positive internal working models. This review examines attachment styles among adult children of alcoholics. The review focuses on general attachment styles as well as romantic attachment styles and behavior in a relationship in general. The sex of both the child and the alcoholic parent are being taken into an account when dealing with these topics. The literature search was conducted using the PubMed database using combinations of the keywords ACA, ACOA, adult child of alcoholic, attachment, attachment style, problem drinking and parent*. Literature was also searched from Google Scholar using these keywords. The selection criterion was that the study had focused on the attachment styles among adult children of alcoholics. The articles which had examined only the attachment between adult children of alcoholics and their parents, were not selected. Nine research articles were selected for the review. Parental alcoholism negatively affected the child’s attachment style. The adult children of alcoholics had more fearful, dismissing, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent attachment styles than the children of non-alcoholics. In addition to insecure attachment styles, the adult children of alcoholics reported more anxiety and greater avoidance in their relationship. Parental alcoholism was also associated with lower satisfaction, higher aggression and higher need of control in a relationship. Parental alcoholism experienced during childhood predisposes to negative effects on acting in relationships later in life. The effects may slightly differ depending on the sex of the person.

Incarcerated mothers of small children are a group in need of special attention. The first year of a child is thought as significantly important when the child is developing an attachment bond to their mother. During this period of time, a long lasting separation from the primary caregiver can be damaging to the child. In many countries, mothers are separated from their children during their prison sentence, but in special units, some are given the chance to live together with their child. The aim of my thesis is to examine how living in prison will affect the child, the future development of the child, and the attachment bond between the mother and the child. I will also study the effects of incarceration on the mothers' mental health and parenting. My data consists of peer-reviewed articles, searched with Google Scholar. In my data, I included studies in which the sample consisted of mothers and children living in prison, or of mothers who were separated from their small children because of their prison stay. The chosen articles used quantitative methods to measure variables related to the well-being of the children or the mothers, or the attachment between the children and the mothers. Nine studies were included, all of which were carried out in the USA or in England, and published during the years 2000-2018. In two of the studies, most of the children who were living in a mother and baby unit in prison were securely attached to their mothers. In another study, preschool-aged children who had lived in prison as babies had less depression and anxiety symptoms than the children who had been separated from their mothers as babies. In follow-up, the mothers in the first group were more likely to have the custody of their children than the mothers in the comparison group. Connections to other variables, such as maternal interaction, depression and reflective functioning were weaker: there are results that support the effectiveness of prison interventions, but also results that are against the interventions. Prison nurseries did not have a statistically significant effect on the variables in the studies, but no study that was explored here reported any negative effects to the children either. In the light of these results, alternatives for a separation should be guaranteed to as many mothers and children as possible. Research has also shown that various incarcerated mothers have a lot of mental health problems, a history of traumatic experiences and and an insecure attachment bond. More research is needed to define effective interventions and treatments targeted to this risk group.

Objectives: Insecure attachment has been found to be associated with personality disorders. Reviews of the connections between personality pathology and attachment have primarily focused on borderline personality disorder, with very few summary publications on the relationship between pathological narcissism and attachment. According to the internal working model, individuals with insecure attachments have a negative view of themselves, others, or both. In pathological narcissism, the individual attempts to maintain a positive self-concept through maladaptive strategies, resulting in grandiose fantasies about themselves and so forth. To date, studies have found a connection between all types of insecure attachment and pathological narcissism. This review aims to clarify and summarize information on the connections between different types of insecure attachment and pathological narcissism. Methods: The research literature was retrieved from the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of publications. The review used the following search terms: adult, adult attachment, adult attachment interview, aetiology, attachment, attachment history questionnaire, attachment pathology, attachment style, attachment theory, attachment transference, Bowlby, infancy, infant attachment, insecure attachment, maternal attachment, narcissistic personality disorder, parent, parental attachment, personality, personality disorder, psychopathology, transmission of attachment, and working model. Results and Conclusions: Based on the evidence, all types of insecure attachment are associated with pathological narcissism to a certain extent. However, differences between insecure attachment styles were observed in their connections to pathological narcissism: the clearest connection to pathological narcissism was found in those with insecure/ambivalent and insecure/disorganized attachments. The results also suggested that insecure/avoidant attachment is associated with pathological narcissism, but the findings on this connection were somewhat contradictory. Future research should aim to replicate these results and investigate mediating factors to improve the clinical applicability of the research findings.