title: Attachment relationships of adolescents who spent their infancy in residential group care: The Greek Metera study.
abstract: A prospective longitudinal study beginning whilst the infants were living in the Metera Babies Centre showed that the great majority showed a disorganized attachment during the period of residential care, even though neither abuse/neglect nor subnutrition were involved. There was an initial follow-up post-adoption age at four years. This paper concerns a further follow-up of the 52 adopted adolescents aged 13 years who had spent their first two years of life in Metera Babies Centre. They were compared to 36 adolescents reared in their biological families who, during their infancy, attended full-time public day care. The key aim was to examine continuities and discontinuities between early and contemporary relationships. The Child Attachment Interview was employed in adolescence. The main findings were a significant decrease in the rate of disorganization and a lack of a significant difference between the previously institutionalized group and the family care comparison group on attachment qualities in adolescence. There was not sufficient statistical power, however, to detect a small difference.
authors: a Department of Psychology , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , Thessaloniki , Greece.
authors: Panayiota
authors: P
authors: Vorria
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Ntouma
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Vairami
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Rutter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D019372:Orphanages; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class
keywords: adolescence; adoption; attachment disorganization; attachment security; residential care