Abstract
This study investigates the impact of temperament and parenting styles on attachment patterns in children with ADHD. The study included 65 children aged 7–15 and their parents. Children diagnosed as Combined or Predominantly Hyperactive Impulsive Type had significantly higher scores than those diagnosed as Predominantly Inattentive Type in anxious and avoidant attachment, emotionality, and activity dimensions of temperament, and their parents reported higher levels of controlling styles. Hierarchic regressions indicated that parental promotion of autonomy with children with temperamental emotionality predicted anxious attachment, while parental restriction of autonomy with children with high levels of temperamental activity predicted avoidant attachment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barkley RA (1998) Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a handbook for diagnosis and treatment. (2nd edn.) Guilford, New York
White JD (1999) Personality, temperament, and ADHD: a review of the literature. Pers Individ Dif 27:589–598
Vaughn BE, Bost KK (1999) Attachment and temperament: redundant,independent, or interacting influences on interpersonal adaptation and personality development? In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR (eds). Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications. Guilford Press, New York pp. 198–225
Lindahl KM (1998) Family process variables and children’s disruptive behavior problems. J Fam Psychol 12:420–436
Hechtman L (1996) Families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a review. Can J Psychiatry 41:350–360
Johnston C (1996) Parent characteristics and parent–child interactions in families of nonproblem children and ADHD children with higher and lower levels of oppositional defiant behavior. J␣Abnorm Child Psychol 24:85–104
Kaplan BJ, Crawford SG, Fisher GC, Dewey DM (1998) Family dysfunction is more strongly associated with ADHD than with general school problems. J Atten Disord 2:209–216
Marsh EJ, Johnston C (1990) Determinants of parenting stress: illustrations from families of hyperactive children and families of physically abused children. J Clin Child Psychol 19:313–328
Thomas JM, Guskin KA (2001) Disruptive behavior in young children: what does it mean? J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 40:44–51
Sheffield MA, Silk JS, Steinberg L, Sessa FM et al (2002) Temperamental vulnerability and negative parenting as interacting predictors of child adjustment. J Marriage Fam 64:461–471
Johnson BD, Franklin LC, Hall K, Prieto LR (2000) Parent training through play: parent–child interaction therapy with a hyperactive child. Family J 8:180–186
Biederman J, Milberger S, Faraone SV, Kiely K et al (1995) Family-environment risk factors for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a test of Rutter’s indicators of adversity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 52:464–470
Belsky J (1999) Interactional and contextual determinants of attachment security. In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR (eds) Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications. Guilford, New York pp. 249–264
Fonagy P, Target M (2002) Early intervention and the development of self-regulation. Psychoan Inquiry 22:307–335
Bowlby J (1988) A secure base. Routledge, London
Clarke L, Ungerer J, Chahoud K, Johnson S, Stiefel I (2002) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with attachment insecurity. Clin Child Psychol Psychiat 7:179–198
Cantwell DP (1997) Attention deficit disorder: a review of the past 10 years. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 35:978–987
Conners CK (1998) Rating scales in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: use in assessment and treatment monitoring. J Clin Psychiatry 59(Supplement 7):24–30
Greenberg LM, Waldman ID (1993) Developmental normative data on the test of variables of attention (T.O.V.A.). J Child Psychol Psychiatry 34:1019–1030
Schatz AM, Ballantyne AO (2001) Trauner DA: sensitivity and specificity of a computerized test of attention in the diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Assessment 8:357–365
Buss AH, Plomin R (1984) Temperament: early developing personality traits. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ
Mathiesen KS, Tambs K (1999) The EAS temperament questionnaire- factor structure, age trends, reliability, and stability in Norwegian sample. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 40:431–439
Cohen D, Dibble E (1974) Companion instruments for measuring children’s competence and parental style. Arch Gen Psychiatry 30:805–815
Finzi R, Har-Even D, Weizman A, Tyano S, Shnit D (1996) The adaptation of the attachment style questionnaire for latency-aged children. [Hebrew]. Psychology 5:167–177
Finzi R, Ram A, Har-Even D, Shnit D, Weizman A (2001) Attachment styles in physically abused and neglected children. J Youth Adolesc 30:769–786
Mikulincer M, Florian V, Tolmacz R (1990) Attachment styles and fear of personal death: a case study of affect regulation. J Pers Soc Psychol 58:273–280
Hazan C, Shaver P (1987) Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. J Pers Soc Psychol 52:511–524
Brennan KA, Clark CL, Shaver PR (1998) Self-report measurement of adult attachment: an integrative overview. In: Simpson JA, Rholes WS (eds). Attachment theory and close relationships. Guilford Press, New York pp. 46–76
Fraley RC, Spieker SJ (2003) Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior. Dev Psychol 39:387–404
Melnick SM, Hinshaw SP (2000) Emotion regulation and parenting in AD/HD and comparison boys: linkages with social behaviors and peer preference. J Abnorm Child Psychol 28:73–86
Mikulincer M, Shaver PR, Pereg D (2003) Attachment theory and affect regulation: the dynamics, development, and cognitive consequences of attachment-related strategies. Motivation and Emotion 27:77–102
Cassidy J (1994) Emotional regulation: influences of attachment relationships. In: Fox NA (ed). The development of emotion regulation: biological and behavioral considerations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago pp. 228–249
Randolph DL, Brown Smart TK, Nelson W (1997) The personality research form as a discriminator of attachment styles. J Soc Behav Pers 12:113–127
Schneider Rosen K, Rothbaum F (1993) Quality of parental caregiving and security of attachment. Dev Psychol 29:358–367
Keiley MK (2002) Attachment and affect regulation: a framework for family treatment of conduct disorder. Fam Process 41:477–493
Hutchinson E, Pearson D, Fitzgerald C, Bateman B, Gant C, Grundy J, Stevenson J, Warner J, Dean T, Matthews S, Arshad H, Rowlandson P (2001) Can parents accurately perceive hyperactivity in their child? Child Care Health Dev 27:241–250
Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (2003) The attachment behavioral system in adulthood: activation, psychodynamics, and interpersonal processes. In: Zanna MP (ed) Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 35. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp 53–152
Cassidy J, Kobak RR (1988) Avoidance and its relation to other defensive processes. In: Belsky J, Nezworski T (eds). Clinical implication of attachment. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ pp. 300–323
Ainsworth MDS, Blehar MC, Waters E, Wall S (1978) Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ
Lengua LJ (2002) The contribution of emotionality and self-regulation to the understanding of children’s response to multiple risk. Child Dev 73:144–161
Gomez R, Gomez A, DeMello L, Tallent R (2001) Perceived maternal control and support: effects on hostile biased social information processing and aggression among clinic-referred children with high aggression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 42:513–522
Estrada AU, Pinsof WM (1995) The effectiveness of family therapies for selected behavioral disorders of childhood. J Marital Fam Ther 21:403–440
Olfson M, Gameroff MJ, Marcus SC, Jensen PS (2003) National trends in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Psychiatry 160:1077–1078
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Finzi-Dottan, R., Manor, I. & Tyano, S. ADHD, Temperament, and Parental Style as Predictors of the Child’s Attachment Patterns. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 37, 103–114 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-006-0024-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-006-0024-7