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Looking beyond Maternal Sensitivity: Mother–Child Correlates of Attachment Security among Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Urban India

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Abstract

This study examined correlates of attachment security among children with intellectual disabilities in urban India. Survey and observational data were gathered from 47 children, mothers, and teachers on children’s attachment security, adaptive functioning, and mother–child emotional availability. The data were analyzed to examine whether child emotional availability mediates the links between maternal emotional availability and child attachment security, and between child functioning and attachment security. The results supported full mediation, indicating that children’s emotional availability was a primary mechanism through which maternal emotional availability and child functioning were linked to attachment security among children in our sample. The study findings are discussed in the context of implications for family interventions and research on socio-emotional development among children with intellectual disabilities.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Natalie Rhoton for her editorial contributions to the manuscript and the families who participated in the study for their time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences, Pittsburg State University, Russ Hall 323, Pittsburg, KS, 66762-3022, USA

    Aesha John

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University, 700 North Greenwood Ave., Main Hall 1110, Tulsa, OK, 74106-0700, USA

    Amanda Sheffield Morris

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University, 700 North Greenwood Ave., Main Hall 1114, Tulsa, OK, 74106-0700, USA

    Amy L. Halliburton

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John, A., Morris, A.S. & Halliburton, A.L. Looking beyond Maternal Sensitivity: Mother–Child Correlates of Attachment Security among Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Urban India. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2335–2345 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1479-y

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