Attachment and alexithymia predict emotional-behavioural problems of institutionalized, late-adopted and community adolescents: An explorative multi-informant mixed-method study

Understanding the influence of early life challenges on alexithymia: A comparative study of offenders and a community sample

BACKGROUND

Individuals who experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are likely to display alexithymia and are more prone to engage in criminal behaviors.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to assess the relationship between ACEs and alexithymia, to compare a sample of offenders with a community sample in ACEs and alexithymia, and to analyze the predictors of alexithymia.

METHODS

The sample comprised 540 participants of both sexes, with 405 individuals from the community and 135 incarcerated individuals. The participants responded to the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACEs), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20).

RESULTS

Both samples revealed positive correlations between ACEs and alexithymia. Offenders revealed significantly higher scores of ACEs and alexithymia compared to the community sample. Additionally, emotional neglect in childhood is a significant predictor of alexithymia.

CONCLUSION

The findings emphasize the importance of developing prevention strategies to reduce the prevalence of ACEs and alexithymia and decrease their adverse consequences. Further research must be conducted to understand better the intricate interactions between ACEs, alexithymia, and criminal behavior.

Early maternal guidance of mother-child emotion dialogues predicts adolescents' attachment representations: a longitudinal study

This study examined the contribution of early vs. concurrent maternal guidance of emotion dialogues with their children to the security and coherence of the children's attachment representations as adolescents. Maternal Sensitive Guidance was assessed from mother-child emotion dialogues when participants were preschoolers (approximate age 4 years) and young adolescents (approximate age 12.5 years), along with an assessment of adolescents' attachment representations using the Friends and Family Interview (FFI). Mothers' Sensitive Guidance in preschool predicted adolescents' coherence in the FFI, secure maternal (but not paternal) representations, and a positive representation of sibling relationships. In contrast, mothers' concurrent Sensitive Guidance was related only to adolescents' sibling relationships. These results highlight the significance of mothers' sensitive guidance of emotion dialogues during the early years for their children's later attachment representations, and point to the need for further examination of mothers' role when they guide emotion dialogues with their adolescents.

Do Attachment, Educator Characteristics and Youth-Educator Relationship Matter in 6-Month Changes of Institutionalized Adolescents?

OBJECTIVE

This longitudinal study involved youths in residential care due to previous adverse experiences and their educators, aiming to investigate the role of youths and educators' attachment, educators' psychopathology, and the quality of youth-educator relationship on change scores of youths' symptoms and youth-educator relationship security over 6 months.

METHOD

Participants were 36 institutionalized youths (Mage = 16.50 ± 2.13) and their 25 main educators (Mage = 38.48 ± 5.75), assessed at baseline (T1) and 6 months later (T2). Youths were assessed in total, internalizing and externalizing problems via a multi-informant approach, and educators in psychopathology levels. Attachment representations of youths and educators were assessed through validated attachment interviews (Friends and Family Interview and Adult Attachment Interview), and both separately rated the youth-educator relationship.

RESULTS

(1) Most cases remain stable over 6 months. (2) Educator narrative coherence and the quality of youth-educator relationship at baseline were correlated but not predictive of change in youths' symptoms. (3) Youths' higher attachment disorganization at baseline was the unique predictor of 14% variance of positive change in the youth-educator relationship security perceived by the youth. (4) Youth attachment avoidance uniquely predicted 37% of positive change variance in the youth-educator relationship security perceived by educators.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, attachment-based assessment of youths and educators can inform intervention to foster youth improvement.

Childhood Trauma, Emotional Regulation, Alexithymia, and Psychological Symptoms Among Adolescents: A Mediational Analysis

Background

Adolescents' mental health is influenced by childhood trauma, emotional regulation, and psychological symptoms. This study aimed to explore these interconnections among adolescents attending a child and adolescent clinic.

Method

Adolescents aged 13-19 from a city were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. Adolescents with severe mental or physical illnesses were excluded.

Results

A total of 100 participants were recruited aged 13-19. The CTQ scores positively correlated with DERS Scores (r = 0.246, P < .05) and Internalizing scores (r = 0.325, P < .01). DERS Scores strongly correlated with alexithymia (r = 0.624, P < .001) and Internalizing scores(r = 0.556, P < .001). Regression analyses revealed CTQ, Alexithymia, and DERS scores significantly predicted Internalizing scores (R 2 = 0.37). Mediation analysis showed that emotional regulation partially mediated the relationship between child trauma and Internalizing scores (B = 0.059, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.011 to 0.133, t = 1.92, P = .01), as well as the relationship between Alexithymia and Internalizing scores(B = 0.255, 95% CI = 0.129 to 0.465, t = 3.31, P < .001).

Conclusion

Findings highlight the importance of emotional regulation as a mediator in the connections between childhood trauma, alexithymia, and psychological symptoms among adolescents. This complementary mediation underscores the dual impact of direct and indirect effects on psychological well-being. The findings reveal intricate links between childhood trauma, emotional regulation, and alexithymia in adolescents with psychological symptoms. Emotional regulation proved to have a pivotal role in influencing psychological well-being. These results emphasize the importance of considering emotional regulation when assessing and maintaining mental health in adolescents, further contributing to understanding treatment needs.

Supporting adoptive and foster parents of adolescents through the trauma-informed e-Connect parent group: a preliminary descriptive study

Introduction

Adolescents in adoption and foster care are likely to show internalizing and externalizing problems and affective dysregulation, leading to a lower quality of parent-adolescent attachment relationships and high levels of strain for parents. This study describes the results of the first application of the trauma-informed attachment-based Connect Parent Group in an online form (e-Connect) with Italian adoptive and foster parents. In this study, we describe (1) trends in the aforementioned variables between pre- (T1) and post- (T2) intervention and (2) parents' feedback and suggestions about the intervention.

Method

Participants were 10 adoptive and 10 foster parents (53% females, Mage = 53.48; SDage = 4.93) who attended e-Connect, an attachment-focused and trauma-informed 10-session online group intervention. This intervention aims at increasing caregiver awareness of attachment and trauma concerning adolescents' problem behaviors and sensitive responsiveness, thereby leading to improvements in parent-adolescent relationship quality, decreases in adolescents' problems, and reductions in caregiver strain. One e-Connect group was offered for adoptive parents and one for foster parents. Parents completed questionnaires 1 week before (T1) and after (T2) the intervention and responded to a feedback interview following program completion.

Results

Only at the descriptive level, scores of adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems, affective dysregulation, and caregivers' strain show decreasing trends. Parents reported high satisfaction with the program, declaring changes in parent-adolescent relationships both currently (94.7%) and anticipated in the future (100%). All parents indicated that they would recommend e-Connect to other parents.

Discussion

Given promising parents' feedback, the feasibility of e-Connect supporting adoptive and foster parents of adolescents can be further empirically investigated.

Reactive Attachment Disorder and Its Relationship to Psychopathology: A Systematic Review

This study aimed to determine, through a systematic review, the relationship between Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and the presence of psychopathology in children and adolescents, and to determine the existence of differences in terms of internalising and externalising psychological problems between the RAD group and groups with other disorders or with typical development. Following the PRISMA methodology, a search was carried out in the Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus databases. The search yielded 770 results, of which only 25 met the inclusion criteria. The results indicate a relationship between the presence of RAD and/or disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED), with the presence of internalising and externalising problems. These difficulties are more present in children with RAD compared to children without personal difficulties, or children with DSED, children with autism, children with intellectual disabilities or children with hyperactivity. It can be concluded that the presence of RAD has negative consequences on the mental health of children and adolescents, with these being greater in the inhibited group than in the disinhibited group, and with respect to children with autism or hyperactivity.