ABSTRACT
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have severe and pervasive impairments in the development of social interaction, which may affect the attachment relationship with their parents and may have an impact on parenting. In the current investigation 89 families with young children (mean age 26.5 months) were involved, who were diagnosed as ASD, mentally retarded (MR), or language delayed (LD), or part of a non-clinical comparison group. Attachment security was observed with the Brief Attachment Screening Questionnaire, and several parental self-report questionnaires assessed the parenting style, parental efficacy, parental experiences of daily hassles, social support, and psychological problems. Children with ASD were rated as less secure compared to the other clinical and normal comparison groups. Parents of non-clinical children reported higher levels of authoritative parenting than parents in the ASD group and in the total clinical group, and they also received less social support. Parents of children with ASD coped remarkably well with the challenges of raising a child with ASD.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/psychology , Object Attachment , Parenting , Adaptation, Psychological , Analysis of Variance , Child, Preschool , Discriminant Analysis , Female , Humans , Infant , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Language Development Disorders/psychology , Male , Netherlands , Parents/psychology , Social SupportABSTRACT
Children with autism are able to show secure attachment behaviours to their parents/caregivers. Most studies on attachment in children with autism used a (modified) Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to examine attachment security. An advantage of the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS) over the SSP is that it can be attuned to the secure-base behaviour of children from special populations. In this study experts in the field of autism (both clinicians and researchers: N = 59) defined an AQS criterion sort for children with autism and tested its content validity. Separate criterion sorts were defined for the social subtypes aloof and active-but-odd, but the two criterion sorts could be combined into one AQS criterion sort for children with autism. It is concluded that with minor amendments the original Attachment Q-Sort is applicable in observing the attachment behaviour of children with autism.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/psychology , Object Attachment , Social Behavior , Surveys and Questionnaires , Adult , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Parent-Child Relations , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
This study on sensitivity and attachment included 55 toddlers and their parents. Samples included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental retardation, language delay, and typical development. Children were diagnosed at 4 years of age. Two years before diagnosis, attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and parental sensitivity and child involvement during free play were assessed with the Emotional Availability Scale. Parents of children with ASD were equally sensitive as parents of children without ASD, but their children showed more attachment disorganization and less child involvement. More sensitive parents had more secure children, but only in the group without ASD. Less severe autistic symptoms in the social domain predicted more attachment security. Autism challenges the validity of attachment theory.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/psychology , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Language Development Disorders/psychology , Object Attachment , Parenting/psychology , Autistic Disorder/diagnosis , Child, Preschool , Developmental Disabilities/diagnosis , Developmental Disabilities/psychology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Infant , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Language Development Disorders/diagnosis , Male , Netherlands , Parent-Child Relations , Personality Assessment , Reference Values , Social Environment , SocializationABSTRACT
METHOD: Sixteen studies on attachment in children with autism were reviewed, and ten studies with data on observed attachment security (N = 287) were included in a quantitative meta-analysis. RESULTS: Despite the impairments of children with autism in reciprocal social interaction, the majority of the studies found evidence for attachment behaviours in these children. In four samples using the Strange Situation procedure the average percentage of secure attachments amounted to 53% (n = 72). Meta-analytic results showed that children with autism were significantly less securely attached to their parents than comparison children, and the combined effect size for this difference was moderate (r =.24). Children with autism displayed less attachment security than comparisons without autism, but this difference disappeared in samples with children with higher mental development, and in samples in which autism was mixed with less severe symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that attachment security is compatible with autism, and can be assessed with Strange Situation type of procedures. The co-morbidity of autism and mental retardation appears to be associated with attachment insecurity.
