title: Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: a series of meta-analyses.
abstract: The current meta-analytic study examined the differential impact of maltreatment and various socioeconomic risks on attachment security and disorganization. Fifty-five studies with 4,792 children were traced, yielding 59 samples with nonmaltreated high-risk children (n = 4,336) and 10 samples with maltreated children (n = 456). We tested whether proportions of secure versus insecure (avoidant, resistant, and disorganized) and organized versus disorganized attachments varied as a function of risks. Results showed that children living under high-risk conditions (including maltreatment studies) showed fewer secure (d = 0.67) and more disorganized (d = 0.77) attachments than children living in low-risk families. Large effects sizes were found for the set of maltreatment studies: maltreated children were less secure (d = 2.10) and more disorganized (d = 2.19) than other high-risk children (d = 0.48 and d = 0.48, respectively). However, children exposed to five socioeconomic risks (k = 8 studies, d = 1.20) were not significantly less likely to be disorganized than maltreated children. Overall, these meta-analyses show the destructive impact of maltreatment for attachment security as well as disorganization, but the accumulation of socioeconomic risks appears to have a similar impact on attachment disorganization.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. chantal.cyr.psy@videotron.ca
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cyr
authors.forename: Eveline M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Euser
authors.forename: Marian J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bakermans-Kranenburg
authors.forename: Marinus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Van Ijzendoorn
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D006801:Humans; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors