The Nature of Attachment Relationships and Grief Responses in Older Adults: An Attachment Path Model of Grief

BackgroundVarious researchers have theorized that bereaved adults who report non-secure attachment are at higher risk of pathological grief. Yet past findings on avoidant attachment representations and grief have yielded limited and contradictory outcomes. Little research has been conducted with older adults to identify the psychological processes that mediate between self-reported attachment representations and the patterns of grief.ObjectiveTo examine the impacts of avoidant attachment and anxious attachment dimensions on emotion and non-acceptance, in response to the loss of a conjugal partner, and the mediating effect of yearning thoughts.DesignMen (N = 21) and women (N = 68) aged 60 years and above who had lost a partner within the last 12 to 72 months were invited to participate. Participants rated their levels of yearning thoughts about the deceased, emotions and non-acceptance on the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG-Present), and their type and level of general romantic attachment on the Experiences In Close Relationship questionnaire (ECR).ResultsStructural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that individuals who reported higher levels of avoidant attachment reported less emotional responses and less non-acceptance. SEM also showed that individuals who reported higher levels of anxious attachment reported greater emotional responses and greater non-acceptance. SEM further indicated that these relationships were mediated by yearning thoughts.ConclusionPeople adopt different grief coping patterns according to their self-reported attachment representations, with the nature of their yearning thoughts influencing the process. Grief therapy may be organized according to individual differences in attachment representations.     

Serotonin receptor 2A gene moderates the effect of childhood maternal nurturance on adulthood social attachment

The ability to form and maintain attachment relations with other people is crucial for mental health and well-being. The origins of attachment behaviors are often assumed to be in early experiences with other people, especially with primary caregivers. Preliminary evidence suggests that serotonergic system may be involved in attachment behaviors. We examined whether the T102C variant of the serotonin receptor 2A gene moderates the effect of childhood maternal nurturance on social attachment in adulthood. The participants were 1070 women and men from the Young Finns Study with 27-year follow-up and two measurement times for the outcomes (n = 1836 person observations). Mothers reported their relationship quality with their children (participants) in childhood or adolescence. Social attachment was assessed by participant's self-reports on two measures (reward dependence scale of the Temperament and Character Inventory and the Relationship Questionnaire). High childhood maternal nurturance predicted high reward dependence and low avoidant attachment in carriers of the T/T genotype but not in the T/C or C/C genotype groups, while low maternal nurturance was associated with low reward dependence and high avoidant attachment in T/T genotype carriers but not in C allele carriers. Our result suggests that T/T genotype carriers were more influenced by their childhood nurturing environment, than their C allele carrying counterparts, thus providing evidence for differential susceptibility to childhood nurturing environment associated with the HTR2A gene.     

Predictors of Ethno-Cultural Identity Conflict Among South Asian Immigrant Youth in New Zealand

The study tested a predictive model of ethno-cultural identity conflict (EIC) in a sample of 262 first-generation South Asian youth (aged 16–26, M = 19.4) in New Zealand. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the influence of: 1) attachment styles (preoccupied, dismissive, secure, and fearful); 2) family relations (intergenerational conflict and family cohesion); 3) ethnic (belonging, centrality, and exploration) and national identities; and 4) interactions between the components of ethnic and national identity. Controlling for demographic factors, results indicated that a preoccupied attachment style and experiences of acculturative intergenerational conflict exacerbated EIC, whereas family cohesion, ethnic identity centrality, and ethnic group belonging protected against EIC. It was also found that national identity moderated the effects of ethnic identity on EIC. Overall, these findings suggest positive self-regard, family cohesion, and integrated achieved identities should be promoted for immigrant youth.     

What is the relevance of attachment and life history to political values?

Conservatives and liberals have markedly different ideologies. Conservatives, in comparison to liberals, are risk averse and prefer social inequality, traditionally established and familiar in-group values, and familial allegiance. Liberals are risk prone, are open to new views and ways, value equality and out-group relations, and exhibit high independence and self-reliance. We hypothesize that this variation was functional and socially strategic in human evolutionary history. Conservatives, we propose, are familial and in-group specialists, while liberals are out-group specialists. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the different values are caused proximately by attachment style and associated childhood stresses. Accordingly, low avoidant and high secure attachment and associated low childhood stresses ontogenetically generate conservatives, whereas high avoidant and low secure attachment and associated high childhood stresses give rise to liberals. Results from our study of 123 young adults support the hypotheses. We focus on the psychometric scale of conservatism–liberalism but also examine participants' scores on two additional political scales: social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism. We also analyze participants' scores on time preference scales and life expectancy to test whether political values are related to future-versus-present life history tradeoffs or participants' perceptions of the past. We found no support for conservatism–liberalism's relationship to a future-versus-present tradeoff. Conservatism–liberalism, however, is related to how one understands the past in ways that support the notion that the degree of childhood stress affects political values.     

The somatically preoccupied patient in primary care: use of attachment theory to strengthen physician-patient relationships

Background

Individuals with somatic preoccupation constitute a substantial number of primary care patients. Somatically preoccupied patients are challenging to primary care physicians for several reasons including patient complaints consuming a great deal of physician time, expense to diagnose and treat and strain on the physician-patient relationship. This paper examines and discusses how disruptions in early attachment relationships such as often occurs when a female is a victim of child sexual abuse may result in somatic preoccupation in adulthood.

Treatment utilizing attachment theory

Attachment theory provides a useful framework for primary care physicians to conceptualize somatic preoccupation. Utilization and containment techniques grounded in an understanding of attachment dynamics aid the physician in developing a sound physician-patient relationship. Successfully engaging the patient in treatment prevents misunderstandings that frequently derail medical care for somatically preoccupied patients.     

Attachment styles impact on pet visitation effectiveness

Abstract

This paper describes a field study on the effects of attachment styles on the subjective well-being of institutionalized older persons after participating in a pet visitation program. We compared how attachment style (i.e., secure, anxious ambivalent, dismissive avoidant, and fearful avoidant) moderated the impact of a dog visitation program in 52 elderly residents of an assisted-living facility. Controlling for pre-visitation mood, the results revealed that the secure style related to increases in positive mood after interacting with the dogs. The anxious ambivalent style related to increases in positive mood and decreases in ratings of depression. Most importantly, the fearful avoidant style related to increases in depression after interacting with the dogs. The results highlight the notion that not all participants benefit from taking part in pet visitation programs. Theoretically, this study presents preliminary evidence for the relevance of attachment styles in understanding human–pet interactions.     

Sleep and physiological systems: a functional perspective

The knowledge of sleep evaluation and its regulation processes has evolved dramatically over the last half-century. Sleep state and the preoccupied view of its obligation to perform positive function for the organism have kept enthusiastic research flourishing. The restoration of macromolecular synthesis and repair players, energy conservation, neural plasticity and synaptogenesis are cellular and biochemical-level functional implications of sleep. The demarcation between molecular, cellular and systemic strata is not mutually exclusive at organism level. Sleep functions have been researched with their focus at each of these strata. The review discusses the systemic-level functions of sleep in brief with special reference to respiration, reproduction, digestion, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune and integumentary systems. Sleep and physiological system relations are usually bidirectional and are operationally mediated by intercellular message transmitters like hormones, cytokines and/or continuum of direct anatomical connections with the neuroanatomy of sleep management.     

Rem sleep,early experience,and the development of reproductive strategies

We hypothesize that rapid eye movement or REM sleep evolved, in part, to mediate sexual/reproductive behaviors and strategies. Because development of sexual and mating strategies depends crucially on early attachment experiences, we further hypothesize that REM functions to mediate attachment processes early in life. Evidence for these hypotheses comes from (1) the correlation of REM variables with both attachment and sexual/reproductive variables; (2) attachment-related and sex-related hormonal release during REM; (3) selective activation during REM of brain sites implicated in attachment and sexual processes; (4) effects of maternal deprivation on REM; (5) effects of REM deprivation on sexual behaviors; and (6) the REM-associated sexual excitation. To explain why we find associations among REM sleep, attachment, and adult reproductive strategies, we rely on recent extensions of parent-offspring conflict theory. Using data from recent findings on genomic imprinting, Haig (2000) and others suggest that paternally expressed genes are selected to promote growth of the developing fetus/child at the expense of the mother, while maternally expressed genes counter these effects. Because developmental REM facilitates attachment-related outcomes in the child, developmental REM may be regulated by paternally expressed genes. In that case, REM may have evolved to support the “aims” of paternal genes at the expense of maternal genes. Patrick McNamara, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and a member of the Department of Neurology at the Boston VA Medical Center. He specializes in study of catecholaminergic mechanisms of cognitive disorders in Parkinson’s and related disorders. He has a long-standing interest in anthropological and evolutionary approaches to medicine and to human cognition. His recent book Mind and Variability applied Darwinian models to problems of memory and identity. He is currently writing a book on the evolutionary psychology of sleep and dreams. Sanford Auerbach, M.D., is an associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and medical director of the Neurophysiology Laboratories at the Boston Medical Center. He is a behavioral neurologist and a board-certified sleep specialist. He is also director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Boston Medical Center. He has been associated with the NIH-sponsored Sleep Heart Health Study and other sleep-related research. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Sleep Section of the American Academy of Neurology and a past chair of the Neurology section of the American Sleep Disorders Association. Jayme Dowdall is a medical student at Boston University School of Medicine who plans to specialize in molecular approaches to medical and sleep disorders.     

Variations in holdfast attachment mechanics with developmental stage, substratum-type, season, and wave-exposure for the intertidal kelp species Hedophyllum sessile (C. Agardh) Setchell

Biomechanical models that describe physical and biological interactions on wave-exposed shores typically assume that a species' attachment properties are similar between seasons and sites. We tested this assumption using Hedophyllum sessile to investigate how macroalgal biomechanical attachment properties vary with developmental stage, substratum-type, season, and wave-exposure. Hedophyllum sessile is an intertidal kelp species that is able to survive in wave-exposed areas in the Northeast Pacific. For both juveniles and adults, holdfast attachment force and strength were measured at a wave-exposed and wave-protected site in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada. Substratum and wave-exposure effects on attachment properties were tested in juvenile populations. Adult populations were sampled prior to (in July 1996) and after (in November 1996) a series of storms. Site and seasonal wave-exposure effects on attachment properties were tested in these adult populations. Comparisons to known attachment properties of other temperate macroalgal species were also made. Causes for these patterns are discussed but were not isolated in these studies. Juveniles' attachment properties differed on different substrata types and between wave-exposures, with the highest attachment forces and the most attached juveniles in articulated coralline algal turfs. Adult attachment is firm ( approximately 100 N), but relatively weak ( approximately 0.07 MNm(-2)). Adult attachment did not vary with site wave-exposure, but there was a shift within each site to more resistant holdfasts after a series of early winter storms. Seasonal increases in storm swells correlated to more thallus tattering and selected against large, loose holdfasts. The data presented here suggest that results from holdfast attachment field studies in one season cannot be extrapolated to another due to a complex set of dynamics. This is the first documentation of seasonal patterns in macroalgal attachment properties.     

Structural design and biomechanics of friction-based releasable attachment devices in insects

Design of attachment devices in insects varies enormously inrelation to different functional loads. Many systems, locatedon different parts of the body, involve surfaces with particularfrictional properties. Such systems evolved to attach partsof the body to each other, or to attach an insect to the substratumby providing fast and reversible attachment/detachment. Amongthese systems, there are some that deal with predefined surfaces,and others, in which one surface remains unpredictable. Thefirst type of system occurs, for example, in wing-locking devicesand head-arresting systems and is called probabilistic fasteners.The second type is mainly represented by insect attachment padsof two alternative designs: hairy and smooth. The relationshipbetween surface patterns and/or mechanical properties of materialsof contact pairs results in two main working principles of thefrictional devices: mechanical interlocking, or maximizationof the contact area. We give an overview of the functional designof two main groups of friction-based attachment devices in insects:probabilistic fasteners and attachment pads.     

Spatial self-organisation in ecology: pretty patterns or robust reality?

Many seemingly plausible mathematical models of small-scale ecological interactions predict the self-organisation of dynamic, coherent and large scale spatial patterns (e.g. spirals). If true, such patterns would have important ecological and evolutionary consequences. For the most part, however, empirical studies have not corroborated their existence, suggesting erroneous dynamics in the models, shortcomings in empirical methodology, or both. Arguments for categorically dismissing self-organized patterns have been based on their assumed sensitivity to symmetry-breaking stochastic noise. However, many plausible mechanisms for generating patterns are robust to noise, and consequently broken symmetry is insufficient grounds for dismissing these self-organized patterns.     

The neural mechanisms of mate choice: a hypothesis

Scientists have described many physical and behavioral traits in avian and mammalian species that evolved to attract mates. But the brain mechanisms by which conspecifics become attracted to these traits is unknown. This paper maintains that two aspects of mate choice evolved in tandem: 1) traits that evolved in the "display producer" to attract mates and, 2) corresponding neural mechanisms in the "display chooser" that enable them to become attracted to these display traits. Then it discusses our (in-progress) fMRI brain scanning project on human romantic attraction, what we believe is a developed form of "courtship attraction" common to avian and mammalian species as well as the primary neural mechanism underlying avian and mammalian mate choice. The paper hypothesizes that courtship attraction is associated with elevated levels of central dopamine and norepinephrine and decreased levels of central serotonin in reward pathways of the brain. It also proposes that courtship attraction is part of a triune brain system for mating, reproduction and parenting. 1)The sex drive evolved to motivate birds and mammals to court any conspecifics. 2) The attraction system evolved to enable individuals to discriminate among potential mating partners and focus courtship activities on particular individuals, thereby conserving mating time and energy. 3) The neural circuitry for attachment evolved to enable individuals to complete species-specific parental duties.     

Parenting and Cultures of Risk: A Comparative Analysis of Infidelity, Aggression, and Witchcraft

Parenting behavior may respond flexibly to environmental risk to help prepare children for the environment they can expect to face as adults. In hazardous environments where child outcomes are unpredictable, unresponsive parenting could be adaptive. Child development associated with parenting practices, in turn, may influence cultural patterns related to insecurity and aggression (which we call the "risk-response model"). We test these propositions in a cross-cultural analysis. The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) includes indicators of parental responsiveness: father–infant sleeping proximity, father involvement, parental response to infant crying, and breastfeeding duration (age at weaning). Unresponsive parenting was associated with cultural models including greater acceptance of extramarital sex, aggression, theft, and witchcraft. Socialization practices in later childhood were not better predictors of the outcomes than was earlier parenting. We conclude that some cultural adaptations appear rooted in parenting practices that affect child development.     

A mutant bacteriophage evolved to infect resistant bacteria gained a broader host range

Bacteriophages (phages) are the most abundant entities in nature, yet little is known about their capacity to acquire new hosts and invade new niches. By exploiting the Gram‐positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and its lytic phage SPO1 as a model, we followed the coevolution of bacteria and phages. After infection, phage‐resistant bacteria were readily isolated. These bacteria were defective in production of glycosylated wall teichoic acid (WTA) polymers that served as SPO1 receptor. Subsequently, a SPO1 mutant phage that could infect the resistant bacteria evolved. The emerging phage contained mutations in two genes, encoding the baseplate and fibers required for host attachment. Remarkably, the mutant phage gained the capacity to infect non‐host Bacillus species that are not infected by the wild‐type phage. We provide evidence that the evolved phage lost its dependency on the species‐specific glycosylation pattern of WTA polymers. Instead, the mutant phage gained the capacity to directly adhere to the WTA backbone, conserved among different species, thereby crossing the species barrier.     

Effect of gentle nursing care of premature infants on bonding and emotional development of the child. Follow-up of premature infants in Dr. Marina Marcovich's study

The study was set out to investigate whether the Marcovich model of a "soft treatment" of premature infants encourages the parent-infant-relationship to such an extent that, at school age, the Marcovich-children would be found to differ significantly from children treated with standard care with regard to the quality of their attachment and the prevalence of emotional and behavioural disorders. The Marcovich-children of the present sample had been discharged from hospital much earlier than the standard group, they were less frequently treated with artificial respiration, infant-parent body contact was encouraged significantly earlier, and, although they were less frequently breast-fed, those who were breast-fed were allowed to do so at a much earlier stage. The Marcovich-children were found to display higher social competence, more emotional openness, more emotional coherence, less dismissal of attachment and less preoccupied anger. The two samples did not differ with regard to their total attachment quality as well as their emotional and behavioural problems. The fact that no significant differences could be established with regard to the quality of the attachment suggests that the complex life-saving attachment system is not irreversibly affected by the early separation and distress and that the months and years after the hospital stay have the power to make up with any experienced trauma. It seems, however, that special aspects of the attachment system, such as the communication and interaction, are positively encouraged and enhanced by the soft treatment of the premature infant, which leads to greater emotional openness and social competence, as well as less preoccupied anger against the attachment figures.     

Novel cultured protists identify deep-branching environmental DNA clades of cercozoa: New Genera Tremula, Micrometopion, Minimassisteria, Nudifila, Peregrinia

We describe three new orders of filosan Cercozoa, five new deep-branching genera, eight new species of Thaumatomonas, Reckertia, Spongomonas, Rhogostoma, Agitata, Neoheteromita and Paracercomonas, sequence their 18S rDNA, and construct 18S rDNA trees for 148 Cercozoa. Our phylogeny indicates that Filosa were ancestrally gliding flagellates; non-flagellate filose amoebae evolved from them five times independently. The new genera are more closely related to environmental DNA sequences than cultured organisms. Tremula longifila, a zooflagellate glider on both flagella (unlike other Cercozoa), is the most divergent filosan (Tremulida ord. n.). Micrometopion nutans is a eukaryote-eating gliding zooflagellate like Metopion and Metromonas. Minimassisteria diva is a widespread trimorphic marine amoeboflagellate granofilosan. Peregrinia clavideferens, a non-testate, scale-bearing, filose amoeba, branches deeply in Thaumatomonadida, which are probably sisters to Spongomonadida. Nudifila producta is a filose amoeboflagellate related to Clautriavia and Marimonadida (ord. n., e.g. Pseudopirsonia, Auranticordis). We substantially revise Imbricatea, now including Spongomonadida, and Thecofilosea to include Phaeodaria. Thecofilosea and Imbricatea and Thecofilosea are sisters, both arguably ancestrally rigid gliding flagellates with ventral pseudopod-emitting grooves. Scale-free Ovulinata parva is sister to Paulinella, so imbricate silica scales can be lost. Internal hollow silica skeletons evolved twice in Thecofilosea (Ebriida, Phaeodaria) or were multiply lost. Protaspa replaces preoccupied 'Protaspis'.     

Maternal-fetal attachment: searching for a new definition

Maternal-fetal attachment is the purest source of the powerful attachment relationship, the gradual internalisation of the life within unspoilt by the realities and complexities of early parenting. This qualitative study searches for a definition of attachment utilising a phenomenological framework. An opportunity sample of 10 women in the final trimester of pregnancy was interviewed. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using Glaser & Strauss's (1967) constant comparative methodology. Thirteen key themes were identified, of these 4 were specific to parenting experience. A novel finding contrary to earlier studies was that women reported their overwhelming emotion was not love but an innate desire to protect. Protection, the developmental nature of attachment and importance of the emotional and physical support of a partner or parent form the kernel of an evolving paradigm.     

Lust, attraction, and attachment in mammalian reproduction

This paper proposes that mammals exhibit three primary emotion categories for mating and reproduction: (1) the sex drive, or lust, characterized by the craving for sexual gratification; (2) attraction, characterized by increased energy and focused attention on one or more potential mates, accompanied in humans by feelings of exhilaration, “intrusive thinking” about a mate, and the craving for emotional union with this mate or potential mate; and (3) attachment, characterized by the maintenance of close social contact in mammals, accompanied in humans by feelings of calm, comfort, and emotional union with a mate. Each emotion category is associated with a discrete constellation of neural correlates, and each evolved to direct a specific aspect of reproduction. The sex drive is associated primarily with the estrogens and androgens; it evolved to motivate individuals to seek sexual union. The attraction system is associated primarily with the catecholamines; it evolved to facilitate mate choice, enabling individuals to focus their mating effort on preferred partners. The attachment system is associated primarily with the peptides, vasopressin, and oxytocin; it evolved to motivate individuals to engage in positive social behaviors and assume species-specific parental duties. During the evolution of the genus Homo, these emotion systems became increasingly independent of one another, a phenomenon that contributes to human mating flexibility and the wide range of contemporary human mating and reproductive strategies.     

Individual attachment style modulates human amygdala and striatum activation during social appraisal

Adult attachment style refers to individual personality traits that strongly influence emotional bonds and reactions to social partners. Behavioral research has shown that adult attachment style reflects profound differences in sensitivity to social signals of support or conflict, but the neural substrates underlying such differences remain unsettled. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined how the three classic prototypes of attachment style (secure, avoidant, anxious) modulate brain responses to facial expressions conveying either positive or negative feedback about task performance (either supportive or hostile) in a social game context. Activation of striatum and ventral tegmental area was enhanced to positive feedback signaled by a smiling face, but this was reduced in participants with avoidant attachment, indicating relative impassiveness to social reward. Conversely, a left amygdala response was evoked by angry faces associated with negative feedback, and correlated positively with anxious attachment, suggesting an increased sensitivity to social punishment. Secure attachment showed mirror effects in striatum and amygdala, but no other specific correlate. These results reveal a critical role for brain systems implicated in reward and threat processing in the biological underpinnings of adult attachment style, and provide new support to psychological models that have postulated two separate affective dimensions to explain these individual differences, centered on the ventral striatum and amygdala circuits, respectively. These findings also demonstrate that brain responses to face expressions are not driven by facial features alone but determined by the personal significance of expressions in current social context. By linking fundamental psychosocial dimensions of adult attachment with brain function, our results do not only corroborate their biological bases but also help understand their impact on behavior.     

Romantic love: a mammalian brain system for mate choice

Mammals and birds regularly express mate preferences and make mate choices. Data on mate choice among mammals suggest that this behavioural 'attraction system' is associated with dopaminergic reward pathways in the brain. It has been proposed that intense romantic love, a human cross-cultural universal, is a developed form of this attraction system. To begin to determine the neural mechanisms associated with romantic attraction in humans, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study 17 people who were intensely 'in love'. Activation specific to the beloved occurred in the brainstem right ventral tegmental area and right postero-dorsal body of the caudate nucleus. These and other results suggest that dopaminergic reward and motivation pathways contribute to aspects of romantic love. We also used fMRI to study 15 men and women who had just been rejected in love. Preliminary analysis showed activity specific to the beloved in related regions of the reward system associated with monetary gambling for uncertain large gains and losses, and in regions of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex associated with theory of mind, obsessive/compulsive behaviours and controlling anger. These data contribute to our view that romantic love is one of the three primary brain systems that evolved in avian and mammalian species to direct reproduction. The sex drive evolved to motivate individuals to seek a range of mating partners; attraction evolved to motivate individuals to prefer and pursue specific partners; and attachment evolved to motivate individuals to remain together long enough to complete species-specific parenting duties. These three behavioural repertoires appear to be based on brain systems that are largely distinct yet interrelated, and they interact in specific ways to orchestrate reproduction, using both hormones and monoamines. Romantic attraction in humans and its antecedent in other mammalian species play a primary role: this neural mechanism motivates individuals to focus their courtship energy on specific others, thereby conserving valuable time and metabolic energy, and facilitating mate choice.