Inhibited symptoms of Attachment Disorder in children from institutional and foster care samples

Abstract

The main objective of the article was to study the prevalence of symptoms of the inhibited attachment disorder depending on type and quality of the caregiving environment. Analyses were based on data of a sample of institutionalized children from Georgia (N = 16), and two samples of foster children from Georgia (N = 27) and Germany (N = 55). Inhibited attachment disorder symptoms were assessed by the Disturbances of Attachment Interview (DAI) and the Rating of Inhibited Attachment Behavior (RInAB). Further assessments included behavior problems in children, quality of caregiving behavior in foster parents/caregivers, and presence of preferred caregiver in the institution. Regarding inhibited attachment behavior, expected differences between institutional (high scores) and foster samples (low scores) found for both measures (RInAB and DAI), and convergent validity between these measures was found in the institutional sample, but not in the foster samples. There were also indications of construct validity (regarding preferred caregiver in institution and caregiver supportive presence). The findings also suggest methodological issues brought about by skewed distributions of positive and negative measures in high-risk and low-risk samples, respectively.

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