Unresolved loss in the Adult Attachment Interview: implications for marital and parenting relationships.
This study examined links between the unresolved loss of a significant person and current functioning in marital and parenting relationships. Participants were 80 women who had experienced loss, their husbands, and their preschool children. Unresolved loss was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview, and individual, marital, and parenting adaptation was assessed through videotaped observations and women's self-reports. As predicted, women with unresolved loss displayed less positive emotion and more anxiety and anger with both their husbands and children, compared to women who were not unresolved. They also displayed less authoritative and more authoritarian parenting styles with their children. Yet unresolved women did not report more individual or relationship difficulties, suggesting that direct observations are needed to assess the implications of unresolved loss for family functioning.
Busch
Amy L
AL
Child Trauma Research Project, San Francisco General Hospital, Building 20, Suite 2100, 1001 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA. amy_busch@yahoo.com
Cowan
Philip A
PA
Cowan
Carolyn P
CP
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001318:Authoritarianism; D001364:Awareness; D001601:Bereavement; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014741:Video Recording