Andrès Fresno, Researcher, Universidad de Talca, Chile 

Rosario Spencer, Researcher, Universidad de Talca, Chile 

Patricia Bravo, PhD student, Universidad de Talca, Chile 

Camila Espinoza,  Universidad de Talca, Chile 

Normative attachment and attachment disorders in non-parental care contexts in Chile It has been reported that children in non-parental care have a higher prevalence of insecure, particularly disorganized attachment, and a higher frequency of attachment disorders (disinhibited or inhibited). However, it is not entirely clear whether these results may vary depending on the context of non-parental care. On the other hand, there is still no consensus as to whether there is a link between attachment quality and attachment disorders, and whether it may be related to the context of care. The objective of this presentation is to explore the relationship between attachment quality, attachment disorders and their relation to the context foster and institutional care in Chile. The participant were 61 caregiver-child dyads (29 girls) in non-parental care (30 in foster care, 31 in institutional care, mean age = 17.39 months, SD = 3.6). To assess attachment quality the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) was used. The indiscriminate attachment was assessed by the Rating of Infant and Stranger Engagement (RISE). The attachment disorders (inhibited and disinhibited) was assessed by the Disturbances of Attachment Interview (DAI). The results indicate that in this sample the proportion of secure attachment is higher than that reported by the literature in other countries. On the other hand, there is no association between non-parental care contexts and the variables considered. There is only an association between attachment quality and disinhibited attachment in the context of institutional care. The results will be discussed from the literature on non-parental care and attachment theory.

References:

Ainsworth, M.D.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lyons-Ruth, K. (2015). Commentary: should we move away from an attachment framework for understanding disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED)? A commentary on Zeanah and Gleason (2015). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(3), 223-227.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Bureau, J.F., Riley, C.D., Atlas-Corbett, A.F. (2009). Socially indiscriminate attachment behavior in the Strange Situation: convergent and discriminant validity in relation to caregiving risk, later behavior problems, and attachment insecurity. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 355-372.

Van IJzendoorn, M.H., Palacios, J., Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Gunnar M.R., Vorria, Y., McCall, R., et al (2011). Children in institutional care: delayed development and resilience. Monographs of the Society for Research of Child Development.

Zeanah, C.H. & Gleason, M.M. (2010) Reactive attachment disorders: a review for DSM-V. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Zeanah, C.H., & Gleason, M. M. (2015). Annual Research Review: attachment disorders in early childhood- clinical presentation, causes, correlates and treatment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 56(3), 207-222.

Zeanah, C., Smyke, A, Koga, S., Carlson, E. & The BEIP Group (2005). Attachment in institutionalized and community children in Romania. Child development, 76(5), 1015-1028.

Key-words: Foster-care, institutional-care, attachment, attachment disorders