Reactive attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior in middle childhood: the role of Secure Base Script knowledge.

BACKGROUND: Children with attachment disorder show prosocial behavior problems. Children with a reactive attachment disorder show inhibited and emotionally withdrawn behavior. Consequently, these children typically display prosocial behavior problems. However, the underlying mechanism between reactive attachment disorder and prosocial behavior problems is still unclear and findings in literature are mixed. METHODS: The current study investigated the role of children's attachment representations in this association. Attachment representations reflect knowledge about a cognitive script regarding the attachment figure as a source for support (Secure Base Script). We tested whether secure base script knowledge 1) mediates or 2) moderates the link between reactive attachment disorder and prosocial behavior problems in 83 children (6-11 years; 83.1% boys) recruited from special education schools for children with behavioral problems. Children completed a pictorial Secure Base Script Test. Their reactive attachment disorder symptoms were assessed during an interview with the primary caregivers. Primary caregivers and teachers filled out a prosocial behavior questionnaire about the child. RESULTS: Results did not support the mediation hypothesis, but evidence for the moderation hypothesis was found. Secure base script knowledge attenuated the negative association between attachment disorder symptoms and prosocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to the discussion about the link between attachment representations and attachment disorders.

Inhibited symptoms of Reactive Attachment Disorder: links with working models of significant others and the self.

To better understand Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), the current study tested whether emotionally and behaviorally disordered children with versus without RAD differ with regard to the quality of their interpersonal behavior during interactions with teachers and with regard to their representations of self and others. Therefore, 77 children were screened for RAD symptoms and 22 likely cases of inhibited RAD were identified. To measure quality of the interactions with teachers, we observed children's trust and positive affect in dyadic interactions with teachers. For the representations of others, we measured self-reported trust in parents and teachers. For the representations of the self, two self-esteem assessments were individually administered. Results showed that, compared to children with other emotional and behavior disorders, RAD children's behavior reflected less trust in their teachers. At the level of representations, children reported less trust in teacher care. Instead, no links were found with self-report measures focusing on representations of parents and of self. These findings will be discussed in light of the ongoing discussion about whether or not attachment disorder and insecure attachment are associated concepts.

Teacher-child dependency and teacher sensitivity predict engagement of children with attachment problems.

It is suggested that dependent teacher-child relationships are associated with emotional insecurity and a lack of autonomous exploration that interferes with children's school development. This might be especially observed among children with attachment problems who may have developed a profound sense of insecurity in relationships with others. In this study, the effects of dependency on children's classroom and peer engagement were examined as well as the protective role of teacher sensitivity. The sample included 85 Belgian children with mild to severe attachment problems and 70 teachers from special education schools. Data on teacher sensitivity and teacher-child relationship quality (dependency, conflict, closeness) were collected in the first trimester of the school year using independent observations and teacher questionnaires respectively. Teachers also completed questionnaires on classroom engagement (independent classroom participation) and peer engagement (social withdrawal) in the first, second, and third trimester. Dependency was uniquely associated with lower levels of independent classroom participation. Moreover, low teacher sensitivity predicted declines in independent classroom participation among overly dependent children, whereas high teacher sensitivity predicted growth in independent classroom participation. Dependency and teacher sensitivity did not predict social withdrawal. This study highlights the importance of teachers being sensitive to the needs of overly dependent children to support the autonomous exploratory behavior of these children. (PsycINFO Database Record

The socio-behavioral development of children with symptoms of attachment disorder: An observational study of teacher sensitivity in special education.

BACKGROUND: Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) have serious socio-behavioral problems and often rely on socially abnormal, aggressive, and manipulative forms of communication. Little is known, however, about the influence of teachers on the socio-behavioral development of children with symptoms of RAD. AIMS: This longitudinal study examined the influence of teacher sensitivity on the socio-behavioral development of children with symptoms of RAD across one school year. METHOD: The sample included 85 Belgian children and 70 teachers from special education schools. In the previous school year, teachers rated Inhibited and Disinhibited RAD symptoms. In the next school year, teacher Sensitivity was observed in interactions with individual children in the first trimester. Teacher-rated Overt aggression, Relational aggression, and Prosocial behavior was assessed in the first, second, and third trimester. RESULTS: We found no effects of Sensitivity on Prosocial behavior. Also, no effects were found for children with Disinhibited RAD symptoms. For children with Inhibited RAD symptoms, increases in Overt and Relational aggression were observed when Sensitivity was low, whereas decreases were observed when Sensitivity was high. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that teacher sensitivity is associated with the socio-behavioral development of children with Inhibited RAD symptoms but not with the socio-behavioral development of children with Disinhibited RAD symptoms. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) exhibit socio-behavioral problems that hinder their school adjustment. These socio-behavioral problems appear relatively stable and it is not known what influence special education teachers might have on the development of these problems across a school year. This study suggests that teacher sensitivity is associated with changes in the socio-behavioral development of children with Inhibited RAD symptoms. Whereas high sensitivity was associated with improvements, low sensitivity appeared to exaggerate the socio-behavioral problems of these children. As children with Inhibited RAD symptoms have difficulties communicating their needs and wishes in socially adaptive ways, it may not be easy for teachers to understand these children. Teachers may misinterpret a child's behavior and consequently will fail to respond to the child's underlying needs. This may reinforce the child's socio-behavioral problems and increase the child's reliance on egocentric and aggressive means in interactions with others. This study therefore highlights the need to support teachers in interactions with children with Inhibited RAD symptoms in order to help them understand how the children's observable behaviors in the classroom may convey their underlying socio-emotional needs and how they can respond to these needs. Importantly, teacher sensitivity was not associated with the socio-behavioral development of children with Disinhibited RAD symptoms (e.g., indiscriminate friendliness). Consistent with previous research, this study suggests that children with Inhibited RAD symptoms are more susceptible to the quality of the caregiving environment than children with Disinhibited RAD symptoms and extends this finding to the school context.

Developmental trajectories of children's behavioral engagement in late elementary school: Both teachers and peers matter.

The present longitudinal study examined how relationships with teachers and peers jointly shape the development of children's behavioral engagement in late elementary school. A sample of 586 children (46% boys; Mage = 9.26 years at Wave 1) was followed throughout Grades 4, 5, and 6. A multidimensional approach was adopted, distinguishing support and conflict as teacher-child relationship dimensions, and acceptance and popularity as peer relationship dimensions. Additive, moderation, and mediation models were tested. Latent growth curve modeling showed evidence for an additive model in which high initial and increasing levels of teacher support, and high initial levels of peer acceptance, independently reduce the normative declines in children's behavioral engagement. This implies that targeting only 1 relationship in intervention cannot compensate for negative aspects of the other relationship. Teacher conflict only predicted initial levels of behavioral engagement, whereas peer popularity did not predict behavioral engagement (not even in a subsample of children with relatively high levels of relational or physical aggression). However, cross-lagged panel mediation analyses revealed that children who were perceived as more popular in Grade 5 were less engaged in school in Grade 6. Practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Perceptions of self, significant others, and teacher-child relationships in indiscriminately friendly children.

OBJECTIVE: Despite increasing research on indiscriminate friendliness in children, almost no research exists on social-cognitive deficits that are supposed to underlie indiscriminately friendly behavior. In this study, we compared indiscriminately friendly children with controls regarding their perceptions of self, reliability trust in significant others, and perceptions of the teacher-child relationship. METHOD: Children's perceptions were compared in two samples: a sample of 33 likely cases for disinhibited reactive attachment disorder (RAD) from special education for children with emotional and behavioral disorders (75.76% boys, Mage=8.52, 96.9% Caucasian, 33.3% and 45.5% of their mothers completed primary or secondary education, respectively) was matched on sex, age, and socio-economic status with a sample of 33 controls from general education. Children participated individually in several interviews assessing global and social self-concept, reliability trust in significant others, teacher-child relationship perceptions, and vocabulary. Parents and teachers completed a screening questionnaire for RAD and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. RESULTS: Likely disinhibited RAD-cases showed more indiscriminate friendliness and more problem behavior in general according to their parents and teachers than controls. Furthermore, likely RAD-cases reported a more positive global self-concept, more reliability trust in significant others, and more dependency in the teacher-child relationship than controls. CONCLUSIONS: The results are in line with clinical observations of indiscriminately friendly children and findings in clinical samples of maltreated or attachment disrupted children but contrast hypotheses from developmental attachment research. Further research is needed to explain the more positive perceptions of indiscriminately friendly children.

Transactional links between teacher-child relationship quality and perceived versus sociometric popularity: a three-wave longitudinal study.

This study examined how peer relationships (i.e., sociometric and perceived popularity) and teacher-child relationships (i.e., support and conflict) impact one another throughout late childhood. The sample included 586 children (46% boys), followed annually from Grades 4 to 6 (M(age.wave1) = 9.26 years). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was applied. Results stress the importance of peer relationships in shaping teacher-child relationships and vice versa. Higher sociometric popularity predicted more teacher-child support, which in turn predicted higher sociometric popularity, beyond changes in children's prosocial behavior. Higher perceived popularity predicted more teacher-child conflict (driven by children's aggressive behavior), which, in turn and in itself, predicted higher perceived popularity. The influence of the "invisible hand" of both teachers and peers in classrooms has been made visible.

Screening symptoms of reactive attachment disorder: evidence for measurement invariance and convergent validity.

The Relationship Problems Questionnaire (RPQ) was developed to screen symptoms of the inhibited and disinhibited subtype of reactive attachment disorder (RAD). This study further examines the psychometric properties of the RPQ in children with severe emotional and behavioural problems by testing its measurement invariance across informants and its convergent validity. Parents and teachers of 152 children [mean age (Mage) = 7.92] from 20 schools for special education filled out the RPQ and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). During a home visit in a subsample of 77 children the Disturbances of Attachment Interview (DAI) was administered to the caregiver and the child was observed using an observational schedule for RAD. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed the expected two-factor structure for both parent and teacher RPQ. Configural and metric invariance, but no scalar invariance, were obtained across informants. Both RPQ-subscales had acceptable to good internal consistencies and correlated as expected with similar DAI-subscales. Furthermore, the disinhibited RPQ-scale related with observations of the child's approach to a stranger. Finally, significant associations were found between the RPQ and the SDQ. Overall, the RPQ has good psychometric qualities as a multi-informant instrument for RAD-symptoms in children with severe emotional and behavioural problems.