An Exploratory Study of the Association Between Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Narratives in Early School-Age Children

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An Exploratory Study of the Association Between Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Narratives in Early School-Age Children Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50:8 (2009), pp 931–942 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02075.x An exploratory study of the association between reactive attachment disorder and attachment narratives in early school-age children Helen Minnis,1 Jonathan Green,2 Thomas G. O’Connor,3 Ashley Liew,4 D. Glaser,5 E. Taylor,6 M. Follan,4 D. Young,4 J. Barnes,4 C. Gillberg,1 A. Pelosi,4 J. Arthur,1 A. Burston,1 B. Connolly,1 and F.A. Sadiq1 1Section of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland; 2University of Manchester; 3University of Rochester; 4NHS Greater Glosgow and Clyde; 5Great Ormond Street Hospital; 6Institute of Psychiatry Objective: To explore attachment narratives in children diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Method: We compared attachment narratives, as measured by the Manchester Child Attach- ment Story Task, in a group of 33 children with a diagnosis of RAD and 37 comparison children. Results: The relative risk (RR) for children with RAD having an insecure attachment pattern was 2.4 (1.4–4.2) but 30% were rated as securely attached. Within the RAD group, children with a clear history of maltreatment were more likely to be Insecure-Disorganised than children without a clear history of maltreatment. Conclusions: Reactive attachment disorder is not the same as attachment insecurity, and questions remain about how attachment research informs clinical research on attach- ment disorders. Keywords: Attachment, neglect, reactive attachment disorder. Despite more than 30 years in the psychiatric functioning that confers later psychosocial risk nomenclature, reactive attachment disorder remains (Zeanah & Smyke, 2008). a poorly understood phenotype. Here, we consider one conceptual uncertainty, namely the link between Reactive attachment disorder reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and attachment insecurity. That is an issue that has attracted con- Although the concept of RAD is encapsulated in siderable debate (Green & Goldwyn, 2002; O’Connor psychiatric classification systems (Table A, web & Zeanah, 2003a; Green, 2003) and we present appendix), the research base is scant, particularly in novel data to examine this issue further. relation to school-age children (Sheperis, 2003) and is based almost entirely on (ex-)institutionalised samples (Levy, 1937; Goldfarb, 1945; Wolkind & Attachment patterns Rutter, 1973; O’Connor & Rutter, 2000; Zeanah, Attachment patterns describe the degree to which 2000) – despite its presumed existence in other the child is able to use the caregiver as a secure clinical samples. In this paper we use the term RAD base (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1982). as in DSM to cover both the ‘inhibited’ and ‘disin- Whereas securely attached children seek proximity hibited’ phenotypes (World Health Organisation, with the caregiver resulting in assuagement of 1993; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The distress, insecurely attached children deal with the DSM and ICD classification systems both define RAD distress with little reference to the parent or in as being associated with early maltreatment and other ways do not attain efficient assuagement characterised by disinhibited behaviour (indiscrimi- (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The insecure disorgan- nate sociability) or by inhibited (withdrawn, hyper- ised-disorientated pattern (Main & Solomon, 1986), vigilant) behaviours. There is less consensus in which the child displays fearful or contradictory regarding the overlap between the inhibited and behaviours such as freezing during proximity disinhibited subtypes and other general questions seeking, is associated with particularly poor regarding the phenotypes such as their stability and caregiving histories and developmental outcomes change in expression with age. Also, there are minor (van Ijzendoorn, Schuengel, & Bakermans- disagreements between nosological systems; for Kranenburgh, 1999). Importantly, none of the example, the ICD description is broader than the insecure categories is considered to be a clinical DSM and includes symptoms such as ‘attention- disorder but is, rather, a pattern of relationship seeking’ and ‘aggression towards self and others’ (World Health Organisation, 1993; American Psy- Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared. chiatric Association, 2000). Ó 2009 The Authors Journal compilation Ó 2009 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA 932 Helen Minnis et al. RAD, Boris et al. (2004) found that secure attach- Relationship between attachment insecurity and ment classifications were reported in children with a attachment disorder RAD diagnosis. To summarise, several studies in ex- The idea that ‘attachment disorder’ is a disorder of institutionalised or institutionalised children have the current child–parent attachment relationships now demonstrated that secure attachment can may be misleading (Zeanah & Smyke, 2008; Minnis apparently coexist with RAD or RAD-like behav- et al., 2006; O’Connor & Zeanah, 2003a; Green, iours. One has demonstrated this in non-institu- 2003; Green & Goldwyn, 2002). There are several tionalised toddlers. No study, so far, has conceptual and clinical reasons for suspecting that demonstrated this in the population most likely to attachment disorder is quite distinct from attach- present to child and adolescent mental health ser- ment security or insecurity as conceptualised by vices in developed countries: school-age children Ainsworth, Bowlby and others. Firstly, the descrip- who were not reared in institutions. tions of RAD in DSM-IV and ICD-10 pay little attention to the literature on attachment and depict Measurement/developmental issues severe and pervasive socially aberrant behaviour in general rather than focusing on attachment All existing studies of attachment security/insecu- behaviours in particular. Secondly, RAD is a rity in populations at risk for RAD used observa- description of a clinical syndrome within the child tional assessments, with most requiring some that generalises across relationship/setting rather degree of modification, and assessed infants and than a description of a relationship pattern between young children. None of the studies examined a child and a specific caregiver. Thirdly, whereas mental representations of attachment relationships children with an (in)secure attachment have had in this population or considered the phenomenology opportunities to form discriminating relationships, of attachment past early school age. This is a that may not be the case in children with RAD. If one significant gap in the literature because of the regards RAD as a broader and different impairment central role that representations play in attachment of social functioning than insecure child–parent assessment in at-risk populations past infancy attachment (Green, 2003; Minnis et al., 2006), then (Hodges et al., 2003; Hodges et al., 2000; Steele et secure attachment and RAD would not necessarily al., 2003). Attachment representations are an be mutually exclusive. important focus of research because they may pro- Progress in understanding the meaning of RAD vide new insight into the social-cognitive processes from an attachment theory perspective depends, in among children with RAD – a topic about which the first instance, on research applying conventional virtually nothing is known. The current study attachment measures to children adopted from assesses attachment representations using the institutional settings who are at risk of developing Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) RAD (Chisolm et al., 1995; O’Connor & Zeanah, (Green et al., 2000). 2003b; Vorria et al., 2006). Vorria showed that The measurement of attachment behaviours and approximately two years after adoption, some chil- relationship functioning beyond infancy has not dren reared in Greek institutions showed apparently been without controversy. Carlson et al. (Carlson, normal attachment to a new caregiver, but higher Sroufe, & Egeland, 2004) found only modest asso- rates of insecurity, particularly the disorganised ciations between representational measures of rela- form (Vorria et al., 2006). Chisholm similarly found tionship functioning in early childhood and social that children who spent their early childhood in functioning, but a problem is that most extant Romanian orphanages were significantly more at research in this area concerns low-risk white, mid- risk for insecure attachment. More challenging was dle-class samples. Recent evidence using the MCAST their finding that some children classified as typi- in a high-risk, ethnically diverse sample has dem- cally secure also displayed hallmark features of onstrated significant associations between school- RAD (Chisolm et al., 1995). O’Connor et al. also age children’s attachment narratives and conduct found increased rates of insecure attachment in problems, the association with disorganisation being Romanian ex-institutional adoptees compared to particularly strong (Futh et al., 2008). From the those reared at home, but not of the typical forms of institutional and pre-school literature, we suspect insecurity. They, too, found that some children that attachment classifications in school-age chil- classified as having a typical secure attachment dren with RAD are more likely to be insecure, but pattern exhibited characteristic features of RAD that some maltreated children (perhaps those with (O’Connor et al., 2003). In a unique study, based less severe
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