Disorganized attachment in early childhood: Meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, andsequelae

Abstract

During the past 10 years nearly 80 studies on disorganized attachment involving more than6,000 infant–parent dyads have been carried out. The current series of meta-analyses haveestablished the reliability and discriminant validity of disorganized infant attachment. Althoughdisorganized attachment behavior is necessarily difficult to observe and often subtle, manyresearchers have managed to become reliable coders. Furthermore, disorganized attachmentshows modest short- and long-term stability, in particular in middle class environments, and it isnot just a concomitant of constitutional, temperamental, or physical child problems. Thepredictive validity of disorganized attachment is established in terms of problematic stressmanagement, the elevated risk of externalizing problem behavior, and even the tendency ofdisorganized infants to show dissociative behavior later in life. In normal, middle class families,about 15% of the infants develop disorganized attachment behavior. In other social contexts andin clinical groups this percentage may become twice or even three times higher (e.g., in the caseof maltreatment). Although the importance of disorganized attachment for developmentalpsychopathology is evident, the search for the mechanisms leading to disorganization has juststarted. Frightening parental behavior may play an important role but it does not seem to be theonly causal factor involved in the emergence of disorganized attachment.