Late-adopted children have often suffered a wide range of deprivations in their pre-adoption lives. These early adverse experiences can have a negative effect on children’s attachment representations even after they have been adopted. This study assesses the attachment representations of 61 late-adopted children over the first year of placement, exploring the risk and protective factors of age at placement, length of adoption and gender. The attachment representations were captured using the Manchester Completion Attachment Story Task (MCAST), a doll-play narrative that provides four different attachment classifications – secure, avoidant, ambivalent and disorganised – and three global scorings for disorganisation, mentalising and coherence of mind.
The age of adoption was negatively associated with disorganisation, while length of placement was positively correlated with mentalising. Males seemed to be more vulnerable to insecurity and disorganisation than females. The data also suggested that for children placed after the attachment-sensitive phase, the longer the time spent in the adoptive families and being female were protective factors. Moreover, attachment narratives seemed to be a useful tool to explore the inner world of late-adopted children from the first year of placement.
AllenJGFonagyP (2006) Handbook of Mentalization-Based Treatment, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
2.
AllenJGFonagyPBatemanAW (2008) Mentalizing in Clinical Practice, Arlington, VI: American Psychiatric Publishing.
3.
BaroneLDel GiudiceMFossatiAManaresiFActis PerinettiBColleLVegliaF (2009) Psychometric properties of the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task: an Italian multicentre study. International Journal of Behavioral Development33(2): 185–190.
4.
BaroneLLionettiF (2012) Attachment and emotional understanding: a study on late-adopted pre-schoolers and their parents. Child, Health, Care and Development38(5): 690–696.
BowlbyJ (1988) A Secure Base: Clinical applications of attachment theory, London: Routledge.
7.
Bretherton I, Ridgeway D and Cassidy J (1990) Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: an attachment story completion task for three-year-olds. In: Greenberg MT, Cicchetti D and Cummings EM (1993) Attachment in the Pre-school years. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 273–308.
8.
CassidyJShaverPR (2008) Handbook of Attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications, 2nd edn, New York: Guilford Press.
9.
Commissione per le Adozioni Internazionali [Commission for International Adoptions] (2012) Statistical Report.
10.
CyrCEuserEMBakermans-KranenburgMJvan IJzendoornMH (2010) Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: a series of meta-analyses. Development and Psychopathology22(1): 87–108.
11.
FarinaLLeiferMChasnoffIJ (2004) Attachment and behavioural difficulties in internationally adopted Russian children. Adoption & Fostering28(2): 38–49.
12.
FarnfieldS (2009) A modified Strange Situation Procedure for use in assessing sibling relationships and their attachment to carers. Adoption & Fostering33(1): 4–17.
13.
FonagyPTargetM (2001) Attaccamento e funzione riflessiva [Attachment and reflective function], Milan: Raffaello Cortina.
14.
GleitmanISavayaR (2011) Adjustment of adolescent adoptees: the role of age of adoption and exposure to pre-adoption stressors. Children and Youth Services Review33(5): 758–766.
15.
Goldwyn R, Stanley C, Smith V and Green J (2000) The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task: relationship with Parental AAI, SAT, and child behavior. Attachment & Human Development 2(1): 71–84.
16.
GranotDMayselessO (2001) Attachment security and adjustment to school in middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development25(6): 530–541.
17.
GreenJGoldwynR (2002) Annotation: Attachment disorganization and psychopathology: new findings in attachment research and their potential implications for developmental psychopathology in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry43(7): 835–846.
18.
GreenJStanleyCPetersS (2007) Disorganized attachment representation and atypical parenting in young school age children with externalizing disorder. Attachment & Human Development9(3): 207–222.
19.
GreenJStanleyCGoldwynRSmithV (2000--2005) Coding Manual for the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, Unpublished manuscript: University of Manchester.
20.
GreenJStanleyCSmithVGoldwynR (2000) A new method of evaluating attachment representations in young school-age children: the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task. Attachment & Human Development2(1): 48–70.
21.
GreenbergMTCicchettiDCummingsEM (1993) Attachment in the Pre-school Years, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
22.
GriceP (1975) Logic and conversation. In: ColePMorganJL (eds) Syntax and Semantics, Volume 3, Speech acts, New York: Academic Press, pp. 41–58.
23.
GunnarMRvan DulmenMHMthe International Adoption Project Team (2007) Behavior problems in post-institutionalized internationally adopted children. Development and Psychopathology19(1): 129–148.
24.
HoweD (1998) Patterns of Adoption: Nature, nurture and psychosocial development, Norwich: University of East Anglia.
25.
HoweD (2001) Age at placement, adoption experience and adult adopted people’s contact with their adoptive and birth mothers: an attachment perspective. Attachment & Human Development3(2): 222–237.
26.
HoweD (2003) Attachment disorders: disinhibited attachment behaviours and secure base distortions with special reference to adopted children. Attachment & Human Development5(3): 265–270.
27.
JufferFvan IJzendoornMH (2005) Behavior problems and mental health referrals of international adoptees: a meta-analysis. JAMA – The Journal of the American Medical Association293: 2501–2515.
28.
JufferFPalaciosJLe MareLSonuga-BarkeEJSTiemanWBakermans-KranenburgMJVorriaPvan IJzendoornMHVerhulstFC (2011) Development of adopted children with histories of early adversities. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development76(4): 31–61.
29.
KaniukJSteeleMHodgesJ (2004) Report on a longitudinal research project, exploring the development of attachments between older, hard-to-place children and their adopters over the first two years of placement. Adoption & Fostering28(2): 61–67.
30.
LacherDBNicholsTMayJC (2005) Connecting with Kids through Stories: Using narratives to facilitate attachment in adopted children, London/Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
31.
MainMGoldwynRHesseE (2008) Adult Attachment Scoring and Classification System, Unpublished manuscript. Berkeley, CA: Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley.
32.
Messina S (2007) La rappresentazione infantile del benessere e del malessere nella prospettiva della teoria dell’attaccamento [Children’s representations of well-being and distress from an attachment perspective]. Unpublished PhD thesis. Sapienza: University of Rome.
33.
OppenheimD (1997) The attachment doll-play interview for pre-schoolers. International Journal of Behavioural Development20(4): 681–697.
34.
OppenheimDGoldsmithDF (2007) Attachment Theory in Clinical Work with Children, New York: Guilford Press.
35.
PaceCSZavattiniGC (2011) Adoption and attachment theory: the attachment models of adoptive mothers and the revision of attachment patterns of their late-adopted children. Child: Care, Health and Development37(1): 82–88.
36.
PaceCSZavattiniGCD’AlessioM (2012) Continuity and discontinuity of attachment patterns: a short-term longitudinal pilot study of late-adopted children and their adoptive mothers. Attachment & Human Development14(1): 45–61.
37.
Pace CS, Zavattini GC and Tambelli R (2013) Does family drawing capture attachment representations of late-adopted children? A preliminary report. Child & Adolescent Mental Health. doi:10.1111/camh.12042.
38.
PalaciosJBrodzinskyD (2010) Adoption research: trends, topics, outcomes. International Journal of Behavioral Development34(3): 270–284.
39.
PalaciosJSánchez-SandovalY (2005) Beyond adopted/non-adopted comparisons. In: BrodzinskyDMPalaciosJ (eds) Psychological Issues in Adoption: Research and practice, Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 117–144.
40.
RomanMPalaciosJMorenoCLopezA (2012) Attachment representations in internationally adopted children. Attachment & Human Development14(6): 585–600.
41.
RosnatiRMontirossoRBarniD (2008) Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian international adoptees and non-adopted children: father’s and mother’s reports. Journal of Family Psychology22(4): 541–549.
42.
Rosnati R, Barni D and Montirosso R (2010) Italian international adoptees at home and at school: a multi-informant assessment of behavioural problems. Journal of Family Psychology 24(6) 783–786.
43.
RushtonADanceCQuintonD (2000) Findings from a UK based study into late permanent placements. Adoption Quarterly3(3): 51–71.
44.
SelmanP (2009) From Bucharest to Beijing: changes in countries sending children for international adoption 1990 to 2006. In: WrobelGMNeilE (eds) International Advances in Adoption Research for Practice, New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 41–69.
45.
SmykeATKogaSFJohnsonDEFoxNAMarshallPJNelsonCAZeanahCHBEIP Core Group (2007) The caregiving context in institution-reared and family-reared infants and toddlers in Romania. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry8(2): 208–210.
46.
SteeleMHodgesJKaniukJSteeleH (2010) Mental representation and change: developing attachment relationships in an adoption context. Psychoanalytic Inquiry30: 25–40.
47.
SteeleMHodgesJKaniukJSteeleHHillmanSAsquithK (2008) Forecasting outcomes in previously maltreated children: the use of the AAI in a longitudinal adoption study. In: SteeleHSteeleM (eds) Clinical Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview, New York: Guilford Press, pp. 427–451.
48.
van den DriesLJufferFvan IJzendoornMHBakermans-KranenburgMJ (2009) Fostering security? A meta-analysis of attachment in adopted children. Children and Youth Services Review31(3): 410–421.
49.
van IJzendoornMHBakermans-KranenburgMJ (2009) Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating families and orphanages. In: TremblayREBoivinMPetersRD (eds) Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, Montreal, QC: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development, pp. 1–7.
50.
VerissimoMSalvaterraF (2006) Maternal secure base scripts and children’s attachment security in an adopted sample. Attachment & Human Development8(3): 261–273.
51.
VorriaPPapaligouraZSarafidouJKopakakiMDunnJvan IJzendoornMHKontopoulouA (2006) The development of adopted children after institutional care: a follow-up study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry47(12): 1246–1253.
52.
Wai WanMGreenJ (2010) Negative and atypical story content themes depicted by children with behaviour problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry51(10): 1125–1131.
