Assessing attachment representations among adoptees during middle childhood and adolescence with the Friend and Family Interview (FFI): clinical and research perspectives

ADOPTION AND ATTACHMENT THEORY BEYOND INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD Three trends of attachment research could be identified in the adoption field. The first was focused on the comparisons between attachment patterns of adopted children and those of their non-adopted peers. It indicates a higher probability of insecure and disorganized patterns among the adoptees (Van den Dries et al., 2009). The second highlighted a significant intergenerational concordance of attachment Internal Working Models (IWMs) between adoptive parents and their adopted children (Steele et al., 2003; Barone and Lionetti, 2012). The third revealed— through longitudinal design—the increasing security of adopted children which is positively affected by the parental attachment security, especially maternal one (Beijersbergen et al., 2012). This trend suggests that adopted children have the ability to generate new relationships of attachment with adoptive parents, although the impact of their previous adverse experiences has not completely disappeared (Steele et al., 2008; Pace and Zavattini, 2011). Recently, a new research trend has been emerging: the assessment of adoptees’ IWMs in the course of middle childhood and adolescence, not exclusively focused on their relationship with parents. Many important changes happen at the emotional, cognitive and behavioral level during these stages which are related to attachment systems (Steele and Steele, 2005; Allen, 2008). Adolescents develop the meta-cognitive skills to check their mental states, as well as the ability to recognize positive or negative aspects in their relationships with parents. Moreover, they seek greater independence, greater autonomy and differentiation from their primary caregivers. Relationships with other people outside the family (friends, etc.) become much more important than they had ever been before (Allen, 2008). Due to these changes, middle childhood and adolescence could be considered periods of potential transformations at level of attachment representations. Therefore, they become relevant in the study of adoptees behavior (Palacios and Brodzinsky, 2010).