Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:53:14.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Disorganized attachment and reproductive strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Andrew J. Lewis
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood 3125, Victoria, Australia. andrew.lewis@deakin.edu.auhttp://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/greg.tooley@deakin.edu.auhttp://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/
Gregory Tooley
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood 3125, Victoria, Australia. andrew.lewis@deakin.edu.auhttp://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/greg.tooley@deakin.edu.auhttp://www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/

Abstract

Del Giudice provides an extension of the life history theory of attachment that incorporates emerging data suggestive of sex differences in avoidant male and preoccupied female attachment patterns emerging in middle childhood. This commentary considers the place of disorganized attachment within this theory and why male children may be more prone to disorganized attachment by drawing on Trivers's parental investment theory.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H. & Juffer, F. (2005) Disorganized infant attachment and preventive interventions: A review and meta-analysis. Infant Mental Health Journal 26:191216.Google Scholar
De Wolff, M. S. & van IJzendoorn, M. H.. (1997) Sensitivity and attachment: A meta-analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment. Child Development 68:571–91.Google ScholarPubMed
Green, J. M. & Goldwyn, R. (2002) Attachment disorganization and psychopathology: New findings in attachment research and their potential implications for developmental psychopathology in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 43:835–46.Google Scholar
Hesse, E. & Main, M. (2000) Disorganized infant, child, and adult attachment: Collapse in behavioral and attentional strategies. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 48:10971127.Google Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K. & Jacobvitz, D. (1999) Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In: Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications, ed. Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R., pp. 520–54. Guilford.Google Scholar
Main, M. & Solomon, J. (1990) Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during Ainsworth Strange Situations. In: Attachment in the pre-school years: Theory, research and intervention, ed. Greenberg, M. T., Cicchietti, D. & Cummings, E. M., pp. 121–60. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Trivers, R. L. & Willard, D. E. (1973) Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring. Science 179:9092.Google Scholar
Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Schuengel, C. & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (1999) Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae. Development and Psychopathology 11:225–49.Google Scholar
Wakefield, J. C. (2005) Biological function and dysfunction. In: The handbook of evolutionary psychology, ed. Buss, D. M.. Wiley.Google Scholar