Disrupted maternal communication and attachment disorganization in children with autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACT

We examined whether disrupted maternal communication, which is associated with disorganized attachment in typically developing children, is also associated with disorganized attachment in children with ASD. The attachments of 45 boys with ASD and maternal disruption were assessed in the Strange Situation Procedure. Analyses revealed a link between low cognitive functioning and resistant/ambivalent and disorganized attachment, and children’s functioning was therefore controlled. Contrary to expectations, mothers of children with disorganized attachments did not show more disrupted communication than mothers of children with organized attachments. However, the 4-way attachment breakdown showed that the mothers of disorganized and ambivalent/resistant children had higher disruption scores than mothers of secure and avoidant children. The findings suggest that the expected associations between maternal disruption and attachment disorganization apply to children with ASD as well, but raise questions whether disrupted behavior is a unique antecedent of disorganized attachment or also of resistant/ambivalent attachment.

KEYWORDS:

• Disorganized attachment
• autism spectrum disorder
• disrupted parenting
• resistant/ambivalent attachment
• AMBIANCE

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grant 824/02 from the Israel Science Foundation and by student fellowships from the Harry and Sadie Lasky Foundation, and was based on an MA thesis written by Gabriela Levi at the University of Haifa. The authors would like to extend special thanks to the families and children for participating in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation [824/02]; The Harry and Sadie Lasky Foundation Fellowship granted to Gabriela Levi, Noa Gal, and Inbar Ariav-Paraira at the Center for the Study of Child Development, the University of Haifa.