Studies on children with disinhibited social engagement behavior (DSEB) and their caregivers have primarily been limited to institution-reared children.
Using a sample of intact parent-child dyads, ...the current study examined the distinct contributions of dysfunctional (disconnected/extremely insensitive) parental behaviors and type of maltreatment on maltreated children’s levels of DSEB. Child time in foster care and quality of attachment to caregiver were taken in account.
The sample comprised 67 children (1–5 years old) and their biological parent with substantiated maltreatment and recruited through child protective services between the years of 2008 and 2012.
Observations of parent-child interactions were collected and child CPS files were consulted.
Results indicate that very few children (4%), in this predominantly neglected sample (79 %), showed high levels of DSEB. Levels of socioeconomic risks, child age, child sex, time in placement, or attachment to caregiver were not significantly related to DSEB. The vast majority of the children developed an insecure attachment to their parent (76 %), especially of the disorganized type (51 %). Finally, beyond neglect, which was no longer associated with DSEB in the final model, we found that the more the parent showed disconnected and extremely insensitive behavior (R2 = .10), in particular withdrawn behavior, the more the children exhibited DSEB.
Albeit of a small magnitude, we suggest that the quality of parental behavior could play a role in children’s development and recovery of DSEB.
•A study of 34 professional carers and adolescent boys in residential care.•Carer attachment and reflective functioning (RF) linked to youth behavior problems.•Carer RF: a moderator between carer ...anxious attachment and youth behavior problems.
While previous research has underscored the importance of the professional carer-adolescent relationship in residential care as a means for promoting youth adaptation, very little is known on the processes at work. Namely, can professional carers’ interest and curiosity in adolescents’ mental states mitigate the negative associations between professional carers’ insecure attachment and adolescents’ behavioral and emotional adaptation? This is an important question to examine given that insecure attachment among carers may constitute an important obstacle to developing positive relationships with adolescents in their care. Thirty-four dyads consisting of professional carers and adolescent boys living in juvenile residential care units took part in the current study. Carers completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) as well as an adapted version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). Adolescents completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and Psychological Availability and Reliance on Adult (PARA) questionnaires as indicators of their socio-emotional adaptation. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that lower carer anxious attachment and greater carer reflective functioning (interest and curiosity in mental states) were associated with fewer youth internalizing problems. Furthermore, carers’ reflective functioning was found to moderate the association between carers’ anxious attachment and both youth internalizing and externalizing problems. Specifically, for carers low in reflective functioning, as their levels of anxious attachment increased, so did adolescents’ internalizing behavior problems. For carers high in reflective functioning, anxious attachment was not related to youth internalizing problems. A similar moderation effect was found for youth externalizing problems. For carers low in reflective functioning, as their levels of anxious attachment increased, so did adolescents’ externalizing behavior problems. For carers high in reflective functioning, anxious attachment was not related to youth externalizing problems. The role of carers’ reflective functioning, abilities that can be developed and enhanced despite one’s insecure attachment, within the context of residential care is discussed.
The purpose of this study was to examine, in a sample of residential care children, the moderating role of cognitive flexibility in the association between maltreatment and emotion regulation ...competencies. The sample included 69 children aged 8 to 12 and their group home educator as their primary caretaker. Educators completed questionnaires evaluating child emotion regulation competencies and cognitive flexibility. Child history of maltreatment and sociodemographic data were collected on the basis of the children’s child protective services files. Moderation analyses showed that the effect of child maltreatment on emotion regulation was only present for children with high levels of cognitive flexibility, such that the less children experienced severe maltreatment, the more they showed emotion regulation competencies. Children with low cognitive flexibility displayed lower levels of emotion regulation regardless of their maltreatment history. These results suggest that focusing on cognitive flexibility when intervening with children in residential care could help strengthen their emotion regulation competencies, which may prevent further maladaptive behaviors.
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