REGLAMENTO DE LAS CONSTRUCCIONES AMPLIACIONES Y REMODELACIONES

Building on Booth and Booth’s (1997) research, literature on the role of affectional ties for children generally at risk of adversity was reviewed. No studies were identified which investigated affectional ties as resilience to courtesy stigma for any

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group of children. However, the literature suggests that a number of individual attributes, affectional ties and external support system-based variables can act universally as protective factors, despite the context within which children face adversity (Masten, 2001).

This review therefore drew out key resilience factors, which have been well

researched in the wider literature, in order to begin to consider their applicability for this population. Two aspects of the affectional ties domain were given a particular attention; child attachment to their mother and social support derived from peers and friends. While not the main focus of the study, three aspects of the individual attributes domain were also considered; a child’s age, gender and cognitive ability. These were chosen as such attributes are likely to be stable at the time of a research investigation, and not liable to be influenced by any other variables – although it is noted that cognitive ability can be influenced by external factors such as good or poor parenting in early life (Rutter and Rutter, 1993).

Clearly this investigation does not therefore review all the potential resilience factors identified by Masten and Powell (1997). Rather, it provides a start point by focusing on specific variables, leading to the formation of hypotheses, which could then be tested to examine their relevance for the children of parents with learning disabilities. In total, five resilience variables are considered below.

Attachment as a resilience factor

Three studies were found which examined the role of attachment to mother in

adaptive functioning. These studies have investigated attachment using psychometric measures to assess a child’s bond with their parents, either in infancy (Owens and Shaw, 2007), during childhood (Kim and Cichetti, 2004), or retrospectively in adulthood (Collishaw et al., 2007).

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Defining attachment

Bowlby (1969; 1973; 1980) identified the quality of emotional ties between infant and caregiver in the first 3-4 years of life as an important predictor of emotional and psychological development for the child. These ties are described as ‘attachment’ (Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980) and have both a biological and psychological basis. On the basis of interactions with parents, children build their own mental

representations or internal working models of attachment relationships. As

Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters and Wall (1978) describe, these mental maps comprise memories and expectations that provide children with the clues they need to predict how responsive and available their care-givers will be. Individual differences in attachment behaviour are hypothesised to be related to the behaviour of the primary attachment figure as opposed to child characteristics, such as temperament (Bowlby, 1969; 1973; 1980).

The patterns of attachment are broadly characterised as secure or insecure. Secure attachments provide what Bowlby (1969) termed a ‘secure base’ from which a child can explore its world. Attachment systems are continuous throughout life, with the individual taking their original ‘blueprint’ of the primary relationship into successive affectional ties.

While there is a strong tendency for the individual to maintain this original attachment style, Bowlby (1969; 1973; 1980) is clear that development is possible (in childhood as well as afterward) with the influence of new emotional relationships. These may change the individual’s emotional and cognitive processes, enabling reinterpretation of past and present experiences, and revising the attachment behaviour system. Howe (2005) describes how negative attachment experiences often leave children with an internal representation of others as unavailable, uninterested and

unresponsive. The net result of this is a child has little emotional connection with others; reducing their social support. Howe (2005) explains that a further

characteristic of insecure attachment is a child’s inability to regulate their emotional arousal, leaving them overwhelmed at times of distress. This in turn can lead to a number of internalising or externalising behaviours.

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Conversely, children with a secure attachment to their main caregiver are likely to develop confidence in their own abilities and trust the capacity of others to respond. Howe (2005) describes how children and adults with secure attachments are able to express their attachment needs without too much distortion or defence. There is an underlying expectation that attachment figures will be available when needed. The securely-attached child feels accepted and understood and is therefore able to develop an internal working model of themselves as valuable, promoting emotional and cognitive competence.

Caregivers who can create secure attachment tend to be empathetic and sensitive in their interactions with their child and able to regulate their child’s distress when necessary (Howe, 2005). The child internalises parental coping mechanisms and, as he or she develops, is able to regulate their own emotional arousal.

Attachment as a resilience factor

Three studies were found which examine secure attachment as a protective factor for children faced with risks to development; there appears to be consensus that

attachment can play a fundamental role in predicting better outcomes.

Owens and Shaw (2007) carried out a study into the role of attachment with three hundred and ten infant boys aged one and a half years old. Two-thirds of the families were living below the poverty line; all were of low socio-economic status. As such, poverty was viewed as the risk to child development. Adaptive functioning in this context was assessed on child behaviour and social skills.

Attachment was measured using Ainsworth et al.’s (1978) Strange Situation procedure. Secure attachment was found to predict better social skills and fewer behavioural problems in the participants. Indeed, children with secure attachment to their mothers were 2.5 times more likely to have sustained adaptive functioning five years later than those with insecure attachment. These findings suggest secure attachment is a significant resilience factor, which protects child development from the risks posed by low socio-economic status.

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However, Owens and Shaw (2007) do not explain the processes by which attachment may facilitate adaptive functioning; how it enables a child to be resilient. Nor do they explain the processes by which poverty may bring about negative outcomes. The experience of poverty may be interwoven with a variety of different hardships, ranging from child malnutrition to maternal mental health problems. Indeed, where a parent has to contend with a mental illness in addition to being poor, then there could be an increased risk of attachment difficulties for their child. Yet these potentially significant influences on the mother-child relationship are not explored in this study. Kim and Cicchetti (2004) also investigated attachment as a resilience factor in a comparison study of two hundred and six maltreated, and one hundred and thirty-nine non-maltreated, children aged between 7 and 12. Overall, 97% of the ill-treated group had suffered abuse and/or neglect by their biological mother. The investigation was carried out over a two year period; adaptive functioning was evaluated against children’s level of self-esteem and their reported internalising and externalising problems.

Interestingly, they found that maltreatment and insecure maternal attachment variables were not significantly correlated; insecure attachment increased the

probability of child maladjustment independently of maltreatment. Overall, insecure attachment to mother was found to correlate with lower self-esteem and higher levels of internalising problems, as well as externalising behaviours. Conversely, secure attachment was seen to correlate with higher levels of adaptive functioning in both the maltreated and non-maltreated groups of children.

Although secure attachment was related to better functioning, the finding that it could exist even in the context of the mother as perpetrator of the child maltreatment is not in keeping with previous research (e.g. Cicchetti and Toth, 1995). One explanation for this may be that the types of maltreatment were not identified in this study, yet significant differences exist between the effects of, for example, neglect as opposed to sexual abuse. The failure to isolate differing types of ill-treatment may have

influenced research outcomes in this respect. Also, the processes by which secure attachment acts as a resilience factor were not addressed; exactly how it serves to protect children in the context of maltreatment.

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Collishaw et al. (2007) conducted a study with five hundred and seventy-one

adolescents who had suffered abuse and neglect and examined the role of attachment relationships in resilient functioning. This sample was followed-up again in

adulthood, when five hundred and forty-one people participated. Adaptive outcomes were assessed using measures for psychopathology and personality functioning; resilience was evaluated against the quality of parental relationship and social functioning. Results were compared with those from a randomly selected control group.

In total, 44.5% of maltreated participants demonstrated no psychopathology at mid- life and were considered to meet the criteria for resilience. In this group, the quality of parental attachment, as well as peer relationships and adult friends were all strongly associated with resilience. Collishaw et al. (2007) conclude that good relationships with others outside the family were not simply determined by the good fortune of meeting a supportive friend, but were likely to be as a result of early parent-child experiences. As such, this study not only highlights the role of parental attachment in adaptive functioning, but indicates the likely influence of attachment upon an

individual’s subsequent relationships. Again though, the ways in which secure attachment may facilitate better functioning were not explored.

It is interesting to note a lack of exploration as to exactly how secure attachment facilitates better outcomes, in each of the three studies reviewed above. Attachment theory would suggest that secure attachment creates an effective internal working model for the child, which allows them to better regulate their emotional arousal and promotes a sense of self-efficacy (Howe, 2005). Yet, exploration of these processes, in terms of resilience, is missing from the research.

Nonetheless, there seems to be consensus in the literature that secure attachment to a primary care-giver can be significant in promoting resilience. As Yates, Egeland and Sroufe (2007, p. 255) describe, ‘in our view of resilience as a process, the successful negotiation of early developmental issues, such as parent-child attachment in infancy, provides the foundation for positive adaptation among children exposed to adversity’. Indeed, this suggestion is reflected in Booth and Booth’s (1997) finding that family ties are of greatest significance in terms of positive outcomes for children.

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A hypothesis was therefore formed for the current research, that secure attachment to mother may act as a resilience factor for children of parents with learning disabilities; with respect to courtesy stigma as a risk to adaptive functioning.