Exploring Attachment and Internal Representations in Looked-After Children

Childhood Emotional Neglect and Cognitive Function Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Mediating Role of Social Engagement

Studies have demonstrated that childhood maltreatment and adverse experiences lead to impaired cognitive function. However, relatively few studies have examined the independent effect of childhood emotional neglect on cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults, and the role of social engagement in this relationship. Using a sample from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, the current study examined the mediating role of social engagement in the association between childhood emotional neglect and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults. Participants were 32,540 middle-aged and older adults (Mage = 63.45, SD = 8.83). Data were analyzed using a fixed effects model for panel data and bootstrap resampling method. Results showed that participants who experienced emotional neglect had poorer cognitive function (β = -.068, p < .001). Social engagement mediated 7.55% of the association between emotional neglect and cognitive function (β = -.004, 95% CI [-0.006, -0.002], p < .05). The results indicated that interventions are required to improve awareness of emotional neglect and facilitate healthy parenting practices. Further research on how to motivate adults who experienced emotional neglect to engage in social activities is necessary.

Attachment representations in 7-year-old children at familial high risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: Associations with mental disorders and daily functioning: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study, VIA 7-A population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND

Attachment quality may affect psychological functioning. However, evidence on attachment representations and their correlates in children born to parents with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is sparse.

METHODS

We compared attachment representations in a Danish sample of 482 children aged 7 years at familial high risk of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and population-based controls and examined associations between attachment and mental disorders and daily functioning. Attachment representations were examined with the Story Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP). Mental disorders were ascertained in diagnostic interviews. Daily functioning was assessed with the Children's Global Assessment Scale.

RESULTS

We found no between-group differences in attachment. Higher levels of secure attachment were associated with decreased risk of concurrent mental disorders in the schizophrenia high-risk group. Higher levels of insecure and disorganized attachment were associated with increased risk of mental disorders across the cohort. Higher levels of secure and insecure attachment were associated with better and poorer daily functioning, respectively. In the current study, results regarding defensive avoidance could not be reported due to methodological limitations.

CONCLUSION

Familial high risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder is not associated with less secure or more insecure attachment at age 7. Insecure and disorganized attachment representations index risk of mental disorders and poorer functioning. Secure attachment may be a protective factor against mental disorders in children at FHR-SZ. Validation of the SSAP is needed.

Depressive symptom networks in the UK general adolescent population and in those looked after by local authorities

BACKGROUND

Despite the importance of understanding depressive symptom constellations during adolescence and specifically in looked-after children, studies often only apply sum score models to understand depression in these populations, neglecting associations among single symptoms that can be elucidated in network analysis. The few network analyses in adolescents have relied on different measures to assess depressive symptoms, contributing to inconsistent cross-study results.

OBJECTIVE

In three population-based studies using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, we used network analyses to study depressive symptoms during adolescence and specifically in looked-after children.

METHOD

We computed cross-sectional networks (Gaussian Graphical Model) in three separate datasets: the Mental Health of Children and Young People in Great Britain 1999 survey (n=4235, age 10-15 years), the mental health of young people looked after by local authorities in Great Britain 2002 survey (n=643, age 11-17 years) and the Millennium Cohort Study in the UK 2015 (n=11 176, age 14 years).

FINDINGS

In all three networks, self-hate emerged as a key symptom, which aligns with former network studies. I was no good anymore was also among the most central symptoms. Among looked-after children, I was a bad person constituted a central symptom, while this was among the least central symptom in the other two datasets. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition symptom I did not enjoy anything was not central.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that looked-after children's depressive symptoms may be more affected by negative self-evaluation compared with the general population.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Intervention efforts may benefit from being tailored to negative self-evaluations.

Simultaneous fatal poisoning of two victims with 4F-MDMB-BINACA and ethanol

PURPOSE

Methyl-2-(1-(4-fluorobutyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamido)-3,3-dimethylbutanoate (4F-MDMB-BINACA) is a newly emerging synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRA) first described in 2018 in both Europe and the United States. Two fatal cases are reported caused by simultaneous consumption of 4F-MDMB-BINACA and ethanol.

METHODS

The victims were brothers who were both found deceased after consuming 4F-MDMB-BINACA and ethanol. Post-mortem toxicological analyses of blood and urine were carried out by supercritical fluid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS) and headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (HS-GC-FID).

RESULTS

The concentration of 4F-MDMB-BINACA in the postmortem blood was 2.50 and 2.34 ng/mL, and blood alcohol concentration was 2.11 and 2.49 g/L, respectively.

CONCLUSION

According to the reported cases and reviews of the scientific literature, concurrent ethanol consumption should amplify the toxicity of SCRAs. The threshold SCRA concentration for fatal overdose can be estimated ng/mL level (0.37-4.1 ng/mL according to the reported cases) in cases in which 1.5-2.5 g/L of ethanol is present in the blood.

Emotional Availability in Mother-Child and Father-Child Interactions as Predictors of Child's Attachment Representations in Adoptive Families

Emotional availability (EA) in parent-child interactions is associated with positive child outcomes, including attachment security. However, little is known about EA in adoptive families. This study investigated the associations between secure representations of attachment in adopted children and the adoptive parents' EA. The participants (n = 75) included 26 mothers, 23 fathers, and 26 children who were aged 3 to 9 years. Children completed the Attachment Story Completion Task. Adult-child dyadic relationships were assessed using the EA^® System. The results showed that the children's and parents' EA, age when adopted, and time elapsed since adoption were associated with more secure children's attachment representations. Implications for family support and public policy are discussed.

Multiple facets of attachment in residential-care, late adopted, and community adolescents: an interview-based comparative study

In this study, 117 adolescents (12-19 years) from three groups (39 each), two groups from adverse caregiving environments as placed in residential-care (RC; i.e. istitutions) or late-adopted (LA; i.e. adopted after 12 months), and one of low-risk community adolescents (COM), were compared for the attachment distribution of categories in the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), and in several attachment-related domains where RC and LA showed difficulties during childhood. Only institutionalized adolescents showed more insecure and disorganized categories than both late-adopted and community peers, who did not differ. In the attachment-related domains, only RCs showed lower coherence, reflective functioning, secure-base/safe-haven parents, social and school competence, adaptive response, and more parental anger and derogation than the other two groups. Late-adoptees only showed higher hostility towards sibling(s) than COM.Therefore, only residential-care adolescents were at "high-risk" in attachment, but the analysis of attachment-related domains helped to detect vulnerabilities in both groups.