The importance of parenting in the development of disorganized attachment: evidence from a preventive intervention study in adoptive families.

BACKGROUND As infant disorganized attachment is a serious risk factor for later child psychopathology, it is important to examine whether attachment disorganization can be prevented or reduced. METHOD In a randomized intervention study involving 130 families with 6-month-old adopted infants, two attachment-based intervention programs were tested. In the first program, mothers were provided a personal book, and in the second program mothers received the same personal book and three home-based sessions of video feedback. The third group did not receive intervention (control group). RESULTS The intervention with video feedback and the personal book resulted in enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness (d=.65). Children of mothers who received this intervention were less likely to be classified as disorganized attached at the age of 12 months (d=.46), and received lower scores on the rating scale for disorganization than children in the control group (d=.62). In the book-only intervention group children showed lower disorganization ratings compared to the control group, but no effect on the number of infants with disorganized attachment classifications was found. CONCLUSION Our short-term preventive intervention program with video feedback and a book lowered the rate of disorganized attachment. The effectiveness of our intervention documents the importance of parenting in the development of infant attachment disorganization.