Adult attachment and early parental experiences in patients with Crohn's disease.
BACKGROUND
Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic, relapsing and remitting inflammatory bowel disease. The relationship of attachment to the illness is considered to be bidirectional.


OBJECTIVE
The authors investigated aspects of this bidirectional relationship.


METHODS
A group of 102 patients with CD and 306 healthy subjects filled out the Attachment Style Questionnaire and the Parental Bonding Instrument.


RESULTS
Patients with CD exhibit a predominantly insecure attachment and perceived their parents' behaviors as characterized by low maternal care and high paternal overprotection.


CONCLUSIONS
The evaluation of attachment style and early parental experiences in patients with CD may shed light on the bidirectional relationship between attachment and illness. These findings may confirm the bidirectional relationship between insecure attachment and chronic illness.
Agostini
Alessandro
A
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. alessandro.furey@tiscali.it
Rizzello
Fernando
F
Ravegnani
Gianni
G
Gionchetti
Paolo
P
Tambasco
Rosy
R
Straforini
Giulia
G
Ercolani
Mauro
M
Campieri
Massimo
M
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019962:Reactive Attachment Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role