EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE PROBLEMS

OF ATTACHMENT IN CHILDREN.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY: CHILDREN IN
SECURE EVIRONMENT VS. INSTITUTIONALISED CHILDREN
Carla Manuela PNZARU1
University of Bucharest, Psychology Department
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to establish the relation between attachment and emotional development in children and also to see
whether there are certain differences between the attachment of children in an institutional environment and of those coming from a
secure environment. The larger purpose of this paper is to reflect by means of the selected design the actual situation of children coming
from the two environments with respect to their emotional development and attachment. I interviewed 60 subjects, aged 5 8.5, equally
split into two groups, function of the environment they came from. Each child has been interviewed using the Test of Emotional Maturity
by Associate Professor Florina Golu PhD. (validated in 2003 - 2008). This test also includes an interview for adults: a parent in case of
children coming from families, or the caretaker in case of those coming from an institutionalised environment. The results of the study
indicated there are no differences between the types of attachment in children function of the environment they come from. The results
also showed a statistically significant correlation between attachment and emotional development in children.

Keywords: attachment, emotional development, institutionalised children, resilience, secure base

1.
1.1.

INTRODUCTION
The concept of attachment. A brief history.

After Sigmund Freuds discovery of the unconscious in the 19 th century, attachment and its
importance in the development of the human being represents one of the greatest revelations in psychology.
The credit for the conceptualisation and theorising of the term belongs to John Bowlby, a psychoanalyst of the
20th century. Even though he started from the psychoanalytical theory as it was continued by the Freudian
disciples of those times, he separated from it, considering his own theoretical and clinical experience led him
to a different direction. Bowlby specifically speaks about a need of the human being to live the experience of
a relationship. He called this attachment. This need is innate, biological (Wallin, 2010). He builds up the
attachment theory taking into account two dimensions the mothers behaviour and the babys behaviour.
This would have not been possible without Mary Ainsworth, with whom he highlights the existence of certain
baby behaviours he names attachment behaviours deriving from the childs interaction with his mother. Both
they and other authors make multiple specifications that lead to the conclusion that the mother is the main
person taking care of the baby, even if, in my personal opinion, the concept mother-environment (a
winnicottian concept) is more ample. It is defined as follows: any baby needs a caring environment and, even
more, a sufficiently good environment that can be represented by the mother, but this is not obligatory
(Winnicott, 2003). There are many situations in life in which the child is cared for under each and every
aspect, so he is literally brought up by another person (father, grandparents, etc.).
Thus, the mother, as the first person entering a relationship with the baby is the one providing for the
surviving of the baby in the most biological sense of the word, i.e. satisfying his physiological needs but also
his emotional security (Wallin, 2010). These definite statements are based on the observation of what Bowlby
named attachment behavioural system, with its genetic roots search for, monitoring and attempt to
maintain the proximity to a protective attachment figure, using the attachment figure as a safety base, taking
refuge in an attachment figure as in a safe sanctuary in dangerous situations or alarming moments (Wallin,
2010, p. 28).
Research performed by Bolwby and Ainsworth in those times take them to a new stage i.e. this
searching process of the baby is not limited to the early stages of life, but they carry on as the baby develops.
Naturally, this search needs an answer, which materialises in the requirement of having a mother available for
all these requests of the baby. In this way, Mary Ainsworths concept of secure base takes shape. This concept
refers to the place the child needs to come back to every time he finds himself in a difficult situation, not
necessarily external, but even belonging to his inner world. This place has actually materialised in a living
human being. Most of the times this is the mother, but conceptually she is named attachment figure. The
secure base is, hence, the return to this attachment figure during the babys moments of distress, conditioned
by the availability of this central figure to be optimally attuned to the childs need (Bowlby, 2011). The
concept of inner working model is an internal representation of the attachment that develops during the babys
first year of life and is based on the daily interactions of the babies with the attachment figures, integrated as a
main organisation of the afferent expectations and emotions accompanying different life situations (Kchele et
al., 2001). It was considered initially that these models remain the same for the entire life, even in different
circumstances. Therapeutic interventions and research have shown there is a positive perspective with
reference to the transformation of these models. This happens not only in a therapeutic environment but also
in the course of life function of the life experiences lived by the individuals, by the persons they interact with,
by the existence or absence of traumatic situations, their repeatability, etc.
Perhaps all Bowlbys discoveries would have not been possible without the support of Mary

1 contact details:c_nisif@yahoo.com; +(4) 0723.639.762

Ainsworth, to whom we owe the concept of strange situation. If, for the parent of the attachment theory this
indicates a strong predisposition to seek proximity to that individual or contact with him, and to do this under
specific terms (Bowlby, 2011, p. 63), Ainsworth brings this image in the lab and invents the method with the
same name that helps us observe the relationships between parents and child.
Following this research, the three types of attachment could be described as follows:
Secure attachment
This is described as the attachment observed from the childs reaction when seeing his mother or his
caretaker again after separation, which reflects in the childs immediate behaviour. The child, even if upset, is
rapidly comforted and goes back to his activities. Mary Ainsworth is the one who considers this is the way to
understand that there is a mother, generically naming the main caretaker, who easily and empathically
answered to the babys needs or requests in the first moths of life. Thus the child knows and he has introjected
a certain type of answer coming from the attachment figure and so, he expects to get this answer every time
he goes to this person during his moments of distress.
Avoidant attachment
It highlights the absence of the childs answer upon seeing his mother again, but also when she
leaves and the stranger appears. It seems that such a child is used to not getting any answer to his requests and
his inner model indicates the absence of the attachment behaviour or the lack of distress when the mother
disappears. He continues to explore the environment around him in a state of apparent calmness. It has been
concluded that the mothers of these babies were avoiding getting close to them when they were sad, were
bullying them or could not stand the states of their children. The result was that these children learned to be
lonely. However, measurements of the cortisol levels in these children indicated a higher increase than that of
the children with secure attachment and a high heart rate.
Ambivalent attachment
In that stage of the research performed by Bowlby and Ainsworth, children who were considered to
have an ambivalent attachment were split into two categories: those who answered with anger to their
mothers return and those who remain passive, but both categories have shown a state of overwhelming, even
helplessness after the mother returned. They could not get back to their exploring activity. On the other hand,
their mothers proved to be responsive, but in an unpredictable manner. They did not reject the children, as is
the case with the mothers of children with avoiding attachment, but they did not have the consistency of the
mothers of children with secure attachment. Moreover, they appeared to be discouraging the autonomy of the
children, says Ainsworth (apud,Wallin, 2010).
Mary Main stands out as an important name in the attachment theory. Her contribution is remarkable
with respect to two aspects. The first one is that it is for the first time that such behaviour is shown to appear
not only as an effect of the type of relationship the baby has with his parents, but also as an effect his
internalised image of his parent a very subtle and important aspect. To reach this conclusion, Main recapped
the observations of the parents of children who showed a type of disorganised attachment. The results showed
that it is more common in case of those who were part of insecure families. The disorganised behaviour has
been observed in abused children, according to Carlson (apud, Kchele et al., 2001), neglected children,
according to Lyon-Roth (apud, Kchele et al., 2001), or in cases where the parents of these children did not
live their own mourning process, according to Main (apud, Kchele et al., 2001). But the same answer has
been observed in children who did not come from such environments but had the same fear towards the
parent. The second aspect is the Adult Attachment Interview starting from Bowlbys idea of inner working
model the one that has been considered significant for the developments of the attachment by Bowlby and
Ainsworth, and the one that Main considered that should be looked at as a process and not as a static model.
Main goes further and discusses the fact that these inner working models are complex and involve attention,
memory, thinking in the shaping of the type of attachment (apud, Wallin, 2010). Therefore, when the child
expects a certain response from the attachment figure, a predictable one (secure), an unpredictable one
(ambivalent), a lack of response (avoidant), he uses all his inner resources to survive, this being an appeal to
the inner working model that seems to play a decisive part in elaborating the coping strategy. This is the
reason why it has been supposed that such a model is highly difficult to change as the child built it in order to
live adjusting to the environment he was part of. They have imposed themselves as being efficient as they
allowed for survival even in cases of unresponsive or unpredictably responsive parents. Nevertheless, Main
estimated that in order to transform the attachment patterns of individuals, in the sense of passing from an
insecure attachment to a secure one, we need a new secure base, named secure secondary base (apud,
Wallin, 2010, pg. 58).
Another author, the Romanian-French Serge Lebovici, a doctor specialised din pedopaediatrics in
Paris, who, together with Bernard Golse founded a WAIMH-affiliated centre (World Association for Infant
Mental Health) in Paris in 1994, intensively studied the early bond mother-baby and the psychopathology of
the infant. Trained as a psychoanalyst, he intensively studied the works of Bowlby and Ainsworth and of their
predecessors. Lebovicis work with babies made him say about object relations that, The object is invested
before it is perceived. To translate this from the psychoanalytical language into the language of Bowlbys
theory, this remark underlines the babys search for the mother even before she can become a real person i.e.
as early as the time when the childs experiences are sensory. Moreover, Bernard Golse, in his foreword to the
book The Tree of Life shows that this represents the starting point towards a better understanding of early
interactions as pre-shapes of objectal bond and, through this, it allows us to be sensitive towards the circular

processes taking place during dyadic functioning. In this way, the mothers fantastic representation modulates
the childs narcissistic experience and give meaning to what did dot make sense to him (...) (Lebovici, 2006,
p.29-30).
Serge Lebovicis interest in psychopathology of the infant and the mother-baby dyad led him towards
what he defined as a transgenerational mandate. Thus, Lebovici considers that a child that is to be born is a
child with a certain destiny, without this term being a mystical one, but rather in the sense that his parents,
during their interaction with him, will activate their own fantastic world also containing the phantasms of their
own parents, grandparents, etc. Implicitly, the transgenerational mandate brings in the concepts of
intergenerational transmission and transgenerational transmission. Lebovici and Stern considered these are
possible due to the early relations between mother and baby, interactions that happen in a sea of affection,
affects that can account for the existence of the emotional attunement between a mother and her child
(Lebovici, 2006). Daniel Stern brought into attention the moments of emotional attunement between mother
and baby and their special importance for the childs development, showing its two sides: on one hand the
mothers capacity to send a positive emotion to the child even when, for example, she scolds him, thus
building a harmony between them two. But also, on the other hand, he speaks about the diversity of the
experiences of being together, which are not constant and which thus allow for the development of and
interactive relation between mother and baby (Lebovici, 2006).
Unlike John Bowlby and Mary Main (later on Blaise Pierrehumbert) who considered the
intergenerational transmission of attachment genetic, Serge Lebovici saw more than that. He suggested the
concept of tree of life in order to study the processes of filiation and parentalisation and remarked that what
is transmitted are the unconscious conflicts of the childs parents. To conclude this, he showed that the childs
attachment to his father was not the same as that to his mother (Lebovici, 2006). At the same time, he brought
to attention again the triad mother-baby-father, introducing the father in the babys early interaction range. His
approaches then refer to the implications of the parents own anxieties, the existence of the mothers
depression that she lives through the child, family secrets, which, even if left unspoken, inhabit the child and
most of the times they are clinically visible under the form of experiences that are strange to him or different
games of the child. Lebovici practised a special type of psychotherapeutic sessions, in which he focused on
identifying the transgenerational mandate and repositioning family members in their real roles.
In the same volume, Bernard Golse discusses again the inner working model and the possibility of it
being influenced, transformed. He considers an intervention to this model as being efficient and bases himself
on the results of the research carried out with IAA by Main, who presently speaks for a strong correlation
between the typology of the childs attachment patterns and the representation made by the adult, in a remote
retroactive effect, about his own early attachment connections. He also bases himself on the research by
Fonagy and his collaborators, who showed that mothers that proved to be sure in GAA (authors note (AN):
IAA) have 78% babies with a Strange Situation-trustful attachment, while mother proved insecure in GAA
have only 28% babies with such an attachment. Of course, the correlation is not absolute but it is significant
(Lebovici, 2006, p. 181). The scientific results of this type offer an optimistic perspective to the role that early
therapeutic intervention plays for the child or the mother, with results on the construction of attachment and,
therefore, of inner working models.
The ideas of Bowlby, Ainsworth and Main were taken further by Peter Fonagy, a Hungarian-English
clinician and researcher who introduced a new concept that of mentalization. Fonagy continued the work
started by Mary Main, being intensely preoccupied by the transgenerational transmission of attachment. This
made him direct his attention to the capacity of individuals to pay attention to the emotions and affects of the
others, by contrast to Main who, in the same theory of mind, rather focused on the self-monitoring of thoughts
and emotions, as Fonagy shows(apud, Wallin, 2010). In elaborating this process, he highlights the existence of
an innate capacity to know the minds of the others as an implicit process, but speaks of the more important
role of the capacity of mentalization, which means to be able to think the mental states of the others, hence
to access the capacity of reflective function (Wallin, 2010). Further on, Fonagy developed the concept of
mentalization and its relation to attachment to build the hypothesis that attachment is actually a continuous
process without being an end itself. Mentalization is a capacity we may notice even in children, when they
interpret their own behaviours but also the behaviours of the others, assigning them mental states. Childrens
capacity to read the minds of the others refers to the perceptions children have of what the others feel, think,
believe, want, hope, know, imagine, intend, plan, etc., Baron-Cohen indicates (apud, Fonagy et al., 2002).
This helps the children to understand and anticipate, to create a world of mental representations regarding the
behaviours of others and their responses to them. However, it is shown that these processes are unconscious
and they are specific to each person, parent or caretaker. Each of them will react in his own way to the babies
requests: some of them rapidly, some after a certain time, some naturally, others will need guidance. All these
factors influence the construction of the childs mentalization capacity. A good capacity of understanding the
human universe children live in practically gives them the possibility to develop freely, to be flexible, to
distinguish between real world and their inner world as they develop. By contrast, children with a low
capacity to mentalize will depend on some inner models in which the others will either reject them, not see or
hear them or they will be so disorganised that it would be impossible for the child to represent for himself
what happens with the other. These children will have a tendency to repeat this type of relationship and
response.
Fonagy historically bases his beliefs on Winnicotts concept of mirroring (1971, previously used by

Jaques Lacan) and also on the concept of containment that Wilfred Bion (1962) contributed to, both indicating
the childs need to be seen by a mother, by a person, but also his need to be returned a meaning for those that
have been felt/thought by the mother. (apud, Fonagy et al., 2002) The next step is that his team states that
parents or caretakers need to contain their childrens distress affects by communicating emotionally and
using a language of physical care that (1) they understand the cause of the distress and its emotional impact;
(2) they can deal with the distress and can comfort it; (3) they can recognise the childs emerging intentional
attitude i.e. the childs ability to deduct the intentions which the behaviour is based on (Dennet, 1987) ()
that can be the most important thing in maximising the childs possibility to form a secure attachment,
Fonagy shows. (apud, Wallin, 2010, p. 73).
This process has been named emotional adjustment, and mirroring has become part of the concept of
intersubjectivity, a universe in which two persons (subjectivities) interact in their own specific way. In his
paper, Wallin also speaks about the neurobiological concept that proved the existence of mirror neurons. This
leads to the conclusion that there is a type of biological programming to understand the other one and relate to
him for the intersubjectivity experience, according to Fonagy (apud, Wallin, 2010).
1.2.

Attachment in clinical and research perspectives

As shown by the research done by Bowlby and the continuators of the attachment theory, the bond
mother-baby or mother-environment and baby is the one that organises the childs self and gives meaning to
the experiences he lives in relation to both the outer world, stimuli coming from the environment and to the
inner world, his pulsional excitations. It is true without any doubt that the newborns future acquisitions will
rely on his bond with the person caring for him, even at a psycho-affective level. Therefore, recapping a
previous idea, the experience of maternal privation and also the one of maternal deprivation in a winnicottian
sense are disorganising experiences with more or less serious consequences function of the babys immediate
life events (abandonment, hospitalisation, adoption, mothers/main caretakers return, substituting the mother
during her absence with another person able to provide good care, etc.).
Clinical materials indicate this absence in the first year of life. This information becomes obvious as
early as the first psychotherapy sessions. The mothers incapacity to be in mental contact with her child and,
last but not least to offer the appropriate care according to his age often generates questions regarding the
familys guilt with reference to the causality connection between her own experiences, thought, phantasms,
actions and her childs manifest behaviour and, more profoundly, his pathology.
In the case of children who suffered experiences of maternal privation, the psychotherapeutic process
will use preverbal experiences, language-preceding experiences or that are subsequent to this acquisition. Due
to traumas, these experiences could not get a meaning and thus they cannot be reached through verbal
language but rather through non-verbal language by putting into action or body experiences (Wallin, 2005).
We notice implicitly that the purpose of the therapy will be to resume the development process trying to reestablish the maternal function, using symbolical thinking, reflexive capacity, verbal language and, implicitly,
to transform or create a type of secure attachment.
Fonagy discusses the connection between abuse, pathological attachment and patients with
borderline personality in his paper Pathological Attachment and Therapeutic Action. In this paper he
highlights the fact that the studies resulted in a low mentalising capacity in 5 8 years old abused children,
especially those who were victims of sexual or physical abuse. (Fonagy, n.d., p. 2) He describes how these
children fail to develop the reflexive capacity when facing an impossible situation. As in the case of all
children, they need their parents to take care of them and using the terms specific to the attachment theory,
proximity-seeking will happen automatically. At the same time, the experience of an abuse must be
emotionally isolated. Moreover, it is exactly the experience of such an abuse that makes them need proximity.
As we have previously shown, according to Fornagy, the reflexive function is the one that allows us to think
the other and hence to anticipate his actions.
Therefore the result of this vicious circle these children lie in materialises in the amputation of the
reflexive function the one that would allow them to think the other as follows, First of all, recognising the
mental state of the other might be dangerous for his own development. The child who recognises the hatred or
the criminal character implied by his parents abuses would feel unloved and useless. Second of all, the
meaning of these intentions could be denied or distorted. Abusive parents usually pretend they have beliefs or
feelings that do not math their behaviour. The child cannot test or modify the mental representations of the
other, so they become rigid, inadequate or they are abandoned. Thirdly, public space, where the reflexive
function is common and could generate an alternative model of his own functioning is kept separate from the
attachment context. Finally, the dysfunction could appear not because of the abuse, but because of family
atmosphere. It is a well-known fact that an authoritative parental style, frequently associated with abuse
delays the development of the mentalising capacity (Asstington, 1996). (Fonagy, n.d., p.2) With reference to
the connection between disorganised attachment and personality disorders, Fonagy shows the way in which
such a child will internalise the parents model by keeping his mothers hatred, fury, fear and his own scary
image in his mothers eyes inside him. Later on, the child will have to move outwards this painful image in
order to create a coherent structure about himself. The consequence of disorganised attachment will be
noticed in the controlling behaviours to the parents either by applying punishments to them or by assuming a

role of caretaker for his own parent despite the inappropriate age, according to Cassidy (apud, Fonagy, n.d., p.
4).
A clinical case exemplifying the transgenerational transmission of the attachment bond is studied in
the paper Trauma and Attachment Disorders in Three Female Generations, published by the
psychotherapist Christine Anzieu-Premmereur in 2004.
The patient is a 30-year old woman who came to the therapist because her 3-year old daughter is in
the habit of running away from her or from home, runs in the middle of the street, among the cars, putting her
life in danger. During this time, the patient says, the only thing she can do is to look at her, petrified, until her
daughter comes back to her, ignoring her. At the same time, the woman speaks about a depressing episode she
suffered when she left her home for a year, abandoning her daughters who were left in their fathers care.
When running away, the patients daughter has a destructive behaviour, breaking glasses with her teeth, hitting
her head against the floor, hurting herself while the mother does not know what to do, considering there is not
bond between them. Sometimes she asks herself whether that is the reason why her daughter behaves like
that. She remembers that, even if she had wanted a child for a long time and had dreamt of holding him close
to her forever, when she gave birth to her daughter she looked at the baby and said, You have to manage by
yourself. (Anzieu-Premmereur, 2004, p. 1) The patient also tells the therapist she believes that other parents
behave differently when their children have tantrums because there is a bond, a relation between them,
something she does not have.
Anna, the patient, comes from a family with five children. She is the youngest one. She was raised
by a cold mother who forgot to feed her children and who, despite the fact she did not accept the idea of
separating the children from her, she was totally absent mentally. Her father was quiet and withdrawn and
never helped his children. She remembers that when she was a teenager she dreamed about providing for a
wonderful future for her and her family. The patients grandmother told her daughter (the patients mother),
too dreamed about meeting a prince she had never met, even if she got married.
During her therapy that had a frequency of two sessions/week, Anna speaks about her own history,
about how she terribly wanted a child, left home when she was 16, married a man she considered the prince of
her dreams, but he proved to be incapable of earning a living. She got pregnant with her first daughter while
her husband was always annoyed by the patients pregnancy. After she gave birth, she took her baby and went
to her mothers, thus confirming that mothers and daughters should not be separated, but came back to her
husband after a year. Then she had the second pregnancy with the daughter she came to therapy for. After the
birth she became depressed and lived with them for a while, but being inert, without being able to answer to
her daughters action in any way. She was so passive that her children could use both her and her body for
sadist games, like putting tomato sauce on her face, jumping on her stomach, pulling her hair. The
experiences were so painful that she left home. Nevertheless, until then she had raised her daughters sleeping
with them, excluding her husband, breastfeeding them, being an ardent supporter of breastfeeding. She raised
them with love but insisting she had always felt there was no bond between her and her daughters.
After a course of antidepressants she compensated and returned home, but discovered she did not
know how to impose limits to the girls. In this context she requested therapy.
During therapy, the patient worked with her therapist on love and hatred, thus creating an incipient
bond with her children. This manifested through intense thoughts about her girls during the night, followed by
her surprise during the day that she had difficulties giving them attention. I lack attachment, the patient
says. She somehow managed to recover something from the primary maternal preoccupation, to cry after her
girls and, in this way, to be able to work and be creative. (Anzieu-Premmereur, 2004)
The patient gradually speaks about her mother who was a symbol of coldness and discovers the
connections between love, hatred and fury lived with her mother and father, understands the pathological
relation she had with them and the way in which, even if she had such a cold mother, she felt stuck to her,
terrified she would lose her, full of negative feelings and guilt. During the pregnancies with the girls, she
imagined she would have a very close relation with them. But when they reached the age of separation, the
girls became violent, had tantrums and the patient left her home, being incapable of controlling these
moments. She could not represent her baby in any way after leaving, as if she had disappeared forever. As she
found it impossible to identify with her baby, the patient identifies with the depressive baby that she was, in a
pathological relation with her mother. (...) Anna did not live the mothers reverie that Bion (1963) says is
essentially necessary in order to create the bond between mother and child (Anzieu-Premmereur, 2004, p 3).
The awareness of this type of relation she had with her mother makes her ask her grandmother about
the family history. She tells her that her own mother abandoned her when she was 14 and that, for two years,
she lived a hard life until she met her future husband. Then she had five daughters, one of them being Annas
mother, whom she also abandoned at an age when she could have been independent. The patients mothers
age was the same with the age her grandmother had when she had suffered a severe trauma after losing a born
son, her sixth child after her five daughters. Annas mother also decides to tell her a family secret i.e. she had
had a miscarriage, her first pregnancy. On that occasion, her own mother (Annas grandmother) tells her she
will never be able to have a child. Anna is born one year later and Annas mother becomes depressed and fears
that her daughter will leave her when she is a teenager. Later on, Anna has her two daughters that she raises
close to her, but she is afraid they will leave her, too, so she gets depressed and abandons them. Alicia, her
youngest daughter, feels her mothers need to keep her close to her and, in an attempt of existing, of being her
own self, runs away from her mother compulsively, thus proving a type of severely disorganised attachment,

similar to all the other three women of maternal filiation.

The patient succeeds in integrating these life events and rebuilding the bonds in her own family,
imposing limits to her own children. Another step forward is the fact that she acquires the capacity to express
her emotions, in contrast to her mother, who being cold, considered they should not be shown, and she
confesses to her youngest daughter, Alicia that she loves her and that she is worried she puts her life in danger
every time she harms herself or runs away from her.
This case illustrates the way in which the impossibility to create a bond mother-child leads to a type
of disorganised attachment transmitted from mother to daughter during four generations. The therapeutic
success sends an optimistic message that Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main and Fonagy predicted in their research.
The message is that attachment bonds can be predicted, transformed as long as we regain the capacity to
reflect over our own life experiences as well as over the experiences of the others. Also, clinical experience
also indicates without any doubt the innate need of the babies to benefit from mothering good enough to be
able to represent the external reality and to be capable to live secure relation models with those around them,
which are fundamental for self-confidence and self-esteem.
Although there are numerous opinions regarding the manner in which the attachment figure and the
relation with it leaves its mark upon the development of the human being during a lifetime, how this pattern of
relation transforms as the person evolves, the perception that each individual needs what Bowlby and
Ainsworth named secure base for the first time stays nevertheless united.
1.3.

Institutionalised children and attachment in research.

The situation of institutionalised children has been and will be one of the topics of interest for
research to measure the effects of the privation of care with respect to the childs psycho-affective treats, but
also due to the interest in the actual means of intervention in order to prevent psychopathological conditions
and to increase the chance to a normal life in society. This preoccupation has continued since the studies of
Spitz and Bowlby until those conducted today.
In 2012, the French magazine The Neuropsychiatry of children and teenagers publishes a research
on Attachment in children abandoned in residential institutions in Kinshasa. The study was conducted on a
representative sample of 84 children aged 3.5 6.11 y.o., all in school, 42 of whom came from families and
42 of them from an institutional environment. The object of the research was to determine the effect of care
over the quality of attachment in children. The research hypothesis advanced by the authors was that they
expected that, as opposed to children coming from families, institutionalised children in Kinshasa would show
a low rate of secure attachment and a high rate of insecure and disorganised attachment. The instrument used
for determining the type of attachment was Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT); the method was that
of analysis of the information collected from children during the recording of the session. Each child was told
six stories. These stories would have as effect the childrens need to be calmed down/comforted, expressed
through a figure game: the child figure spills juice on the table, falls of a stone while playing in a park, is
afraid of the monster in his room, is separated from his parents while they are away on a trip, reunites with
them when they come back, loses his pet dog. Each episode stirs a reaction in the child: reaction to scolding,
seeking for comfort, seeking protection, reaction to separation, reaction to the reunion, reaction to
disappearance (Muadi et al., 2012).
The results of the research show 33.3% abandoned children and 66,7% children from families show
a secure attachment while 47.6% abandoned children and 11.9% children from families show a disorganised
attachment. With respect to avoidant attachment the results are equal i.e. 4.7% in both groups. In case of
ambivalent attachment 16.6% children from families fall into this category versus 14.3% abandoned children.
One of the clinical vignettes presented during this research refers to a girl, subject of this research,
who shows a secure attachment. During the meeting with the examiner, she comes in singing a kindergarten
song, gets the examiner into learning it and then, during the research session she plays asking questions every
now and then, being completely involved in this task. From the case history we learn she is the youngest of
three children, with an older sister and a brother. Her mother was found dead when the girl was a few months
old. As her maternal grandparents accused the father of the mothers death, he took them to a foster care
centre. The girl was raised in a mother-like bond with her older sister, being convinced her father was away on
a trip and that he would come back one day. She shows a secure attachment, is mentally healthy, plays with
her mates and is very good at school. The researchers concluded that showing a secure attachment despite of
this life history, the girls mothers death and the abandonment in a foster care centre was possible due to the
childs resilience and the occurrence of what Dominique Charlier named mental graft, a symbolic
parenthood where parents show a defective functioning (Muadi et al., 2012).
Another study published in 2010 in Child development entitled Foster Care Placement Improves
Attachment Quality in Institutionalised Little Children discusses attachment types in children aged 42
months in Romania, children who have been institutionalised since birth. The sample included 136 children
who were part of a group of 187 children participant in a longitudinal study examining the recovery of
children after early maternal depravation part of the BEIP (Bucharest Early Intervention Project) program,
founded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for the Reasearch of Early Experience and
Brain Development. The 136 subjects were split into two groups: one group of children who were raised in an

institutionalised environment only (n=68) and one group of those raised by foster parents (n=68). There was
also a third group added, that of children raised in families and who were never institutionalised (n=72). The
children were initially recruited when they were 6 31 months old, but the data of this study were collected
during 11-36 months since the randomisation date. The authors of the research also show they did not
intervene in any way in the decisions that Romanian child protection authorities took subsequently, except for
the fact that they made sure the children in the foster care group did not change their regime, meaning they
did not return to institutional care during and after the study. The foster care system (BEIP) meant the
introduction in 2000 of a new model in Romania. 56 foster care-type homes were created and for those the
system recruited parents trained by Romanian trainers following manuals from the United States of America.
The attachment quality was measured using Mary Ainsworths Strange Situation and as attachment figures
they used the mother, the foster mother or the favourite caretaker for the children in the institutionalised
group. (Smyke et al., 2010).
The results of the research highlighted significant differences between the three groups with
reference to the classification of the attachment types present. There were significant differences between the
three groups: chi square(2) = 18.33, p<.001, between the group of children raised in foster care centres and
those raised in institutions, as well as between the group of children raised in institutions and those in foster
care centres chi square(1) = 6.75, p<.01, but there were no differences between those raised in foster care
centres and those raised in families chi square(1) = 3.41, p<.065. Also, testing the differences between the
groups with reference to the comparison of the frequency of secure attachment and insecure attachment (all
other categories) had as result significant differences between the three groups chi square(2) = 25.79, p<.001,
between the group of children raised in institutions and those raised in foster care centres chi square(1) =
13.16, p<.001, but there were no statistically significant differences between those raised in families and those
raised in foster care centres chi square(2) = 2.72, p<.099 (Smyke and Zyneah et al, 2010). The authors also
tested the differences between attachment types function of the age at which the children were placed into
foster care centres. For this they organised the group of children raised in foster care centre function of the age
of placement, cutoff 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 months. They obtained statistically significant differences
showing a better response in children placed into foster care before the age of 24 months, with a deflection
point between 22 and 24 months.
The conclusions of the study show that, comparing to the previous research, conducted in 2005, in
which the institutionalised children investigated at 21 months old showed 65% disorganised attachment and
13% of them were place in the category of unclassified because they showed very reduced manifestations of
attachment in the quoted one, the children placed in foster care at 12-36 months old (M=19.12, SD =6.80)
were in advantage comparing to the others, showing more cases of secure attachment. There were, however, a
few cases of disorganised/insecure attachment. The researchers thus considered that taking children
abandoned at birth out of orphanages and caring for them in foster care centres or by foster care-type parents
is beneficial with respect to the childs development and the initiation of the secure attachment-type relation.
Another positive conclusion of the study resulted from testing the hypothesis regarding the age at
which the children were places into foster care and the attachment type shows that these children should be
integrated in a family during the first 3 years of life, indicating a great attachment adapting capacity. The
conclusions extended also to the children coming from socially disadvantaged or poor families. Within the
limits of the research, the study mentioned the following: the impossibility to measure the effects of foster
care-type care in children under 6 months, as well as the decisional changes concerning raising the children
(who were removed from foster care centres or institutions) who were not intervened upon due to ethical
reasons, decisions taken by the child protection authorities. However, the changes made resulted in children
removed from institutions and given in adoption or who returned to their families. (Smyke et al., 2010)
Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, a peer-reviewed academic
magazine in the USA publishes in 2011 an analysis entitled Attachment and Emotional Development in
Institutional Care: Characteristics and Follow-ups. Research studies conducted in several countries were
analysed under a few aspects and answers to a few questions were suggested. Here are a few of them: what is
the role of attachment and non-discriminatory social behaviour in adapting to the structural neglect in the
institutional environment, what are the actual components of institutional care responsible for disorganised
and insecure attachment, what are the caretakers and childrens characteristics associated with secure
attachment, how can institutional care be improved in order to generate more cases of secure attachment, how
soon does attachment develop after adoption or care by foster parents, how can we assess the progress and the
problems in attachment development and what can parents and professionals do to facilitate the creation of a
secure base and emotional adjustment of children during the post-institutionalisation stage. (BakermansKranenburg et al., 2011)
The situation of the so-called non-discriminatory friendship symptom found in institutionalised
children has been analysed. It is contradictory because it shows closeness to almost any person the child
interacts with, unconditionally and at a very personal level (for example, they ask when are you taking me
home?), while children are generally anxious in front of strangers and they tend to be around people they
know and prefer. This type of behaviour associates with the reactive attachment disorder (RAD) according to
DSM-IV, although it could rather be looked at as an independent type of manifestation comparing to the one
described in Psychiatry, as Zeanah says (apud, Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2011). The reactive attachment
disorder is not seen only in children with disorganised or insecure attachment, but also in children with secure

attachment, although it is more prevalent in the first two types. It has also been noticed that just improving
care in the institutionalised environment is not sufficient to lower the manifestation of the non-discriminatory
friendship at least in some children, a symptom that keeps on showing even after adoption (), according to
Rutter (apud, Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2011, p. 70).
From the perspective of the quality of care, the results obtained in research studies conducted in
several countries (Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine) were compared. In some protection institutions, the
model applied was 4-6 children to 1 caretaker that tended to improve the childs relation with the latter. But
they also observed that, actually, for a number of 20 children there were 4-6 caretakers, which did not mean a
proximity relation between the child and the same caretaker, but, in fact, until the age of 2, a child had 50-100
caretakers, as shown by The St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Research Team (apud, Bakermans-Kranenburg
et al., 2011).
The studies conducted also revealed another aspect. For example, during the research conducted in
Greece (Vorria et al., 2003), 1 in 5 children showed a secure attachment to the caretaker. At the same time, in
Romania, Zeanah et al. had no case of secure attachment. These conclusions could suggest that, in Romania,
neglect and poverty were more obvious than in Greece. Similar results were obtained in China (Steele et al.,
2009) and in Chile, according to Herreros (apud, Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2011). The questions arisen
from these comparisons referred to the genetic, constitutional component that differentiates the children, as
we have previously shown, and that refers to temper and resilience.
These discussions in literature, doubled by the research activity focused on the aspects referring to
the types of attachment in children coming from families, abandoned and institutionalised children built the
foundation of the research discussed in this paper. Reviewing the main theoretical aspects of attachment, the
main trends about the attachment theory, highlighting a few aspects found in the treatment of attachment
relations in children, together with presenting a few studies that were conducted have as purpose to allow for
us to understand the situation that existed at the moment when this research was conducted.
2.
2.1.

OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS

Research objectives

This research is based on the following questions:

Are there differences between the emotional development of children raised in families and
institutionalised children?
Are there significant differences between the attachment behaviours of abandoned children and
children coming from secure environments?
Are there any correlations between the emotional development of children and the type of
attachment?
The objectives of the research are as follows:
To identify the emotional maturity of the children coming from secure environments and
institutionalised children
To highlight the predominant types of attachment in children from the two categories
To show whether there are significant differences between these categories with reference to the
attachment type
To establish the existence of a correlation between the emotional maturity level and the
attachment type of each category
2.2.

Research hypotheses

To answer these questions, I outlined a few hypotheses, as follows:

1) There are differences between the types of attachment in children raised in secure families and
institutionalised children.
2) There are significant differences between the emotional maturity level of children and the
environment they come from.
3) There are differences between the types of attachment in institutionalised children function of
significant life situations in the first 2 years of life.
4) We can suppose there is a statistically significant correlation between the emotional maturity
level and the attachment type.
5) There are differences regarding the emotional maturity level of children function of age.
2.3.

Participants

The research considered the formation of two definite groups, as follows:

- Children from a secured, family environment group A
- Children from an institutional environment, who are raised without parents group B
60 subjects from Bucharest were selected, in equal groups (N=30), all of them in school. For group
A, the selection was conducted in two middle schools, four classed, and for group B in four foster care
centres. Taking into account that during the selection process we discovered that in the schools and classes we
selected there were subjects from foster care centres i.e. institutionalised children, they did not take part in our
research. We considered it was important that the selection of group B be conducted in foster care centres
exclusively, and for group A the teachers were asked about the environment the students came from (families
or institutions, excluding the category of those who live in maternal centres with their mothers).
With reference to age, we investigated children aged 5.5-8.5, studying in 0, 1 st and 2nd grade. Later
on, we discovered that some of the investigated children, although they had the appropriate age for school (0
grade according to the current education system), were still in kindergartens. This was determined only in the
case of institutionalised children i.e. group B.
With reference to gender, group A includes 15 girls and 15 boys, while group B includes 10 girls and
20 boys.
Children in group A come from urban areas, organised families. While interviewing the adult we
discovered (the parent - in case of group B) that in some case the parents had separated. In group A, the
parents are high graduates, university graduates or postgraduates, while in group B, where data was available,
the parents had rather no studies, they graduated primary school or middle school or were high school
graduates at most.
2.4.

Instruments employed

In order to verify the proposed hypothesis, as well as to accomplish the previously outlined
objectives, the following instruments were employed:
a) Anamnesis
b) Observation grid
c) Emotional maturity test
Anamnesis is represented as a form for collecting anamnestic data created by the author of the paper
(Appendix no. 1). In the introductory part we inserted the passport data (name, surname, age, in school or
not), the environment the child comes from (family or institutional, keeping the selection structure of the
investigated groups), with the specification that the age at which the child was institutionalised was
introduced as a relevant aspect. Another element we wanted to reveal is the age of the parents when the child
was born, which is important from the perspective of the possible psycho-sexual parental maturity. The
number of the children that exist in a family can account for the childs level of emotional maturity, the
possibility that the parent/parents give him enough attention, the distribution of material resources between
family members. Where possible, we also collected data about the place of the investigated subject within the
phratry.
Further on, the anamnesis includes a series of items introduced from the data we appreciated as
significant in relation to the age until which the foundations of attachment are laid, the presence or the
absence of the person around whom the attachment type is built, its constancy in the childs life during that
period of time, as follows:
Data about the pregnancy; information that can be relevant under the aspect of the childs
potential pathology, be it organic or psycho-emotional that could be influenced by the type of
pregnancy, the mothers behaviour during pregnancy, consumption of substances or alcohol or
other medical causes.
Information regarding the persons who constantly took care of the child during his first two
years of life, with the purpose of detecting potential abandonment situations or abandonmentlike situations (including in families i.e. group A). We cross-analysed this item with another one
referring to the significant situations that occurred during the childs two years of life. Here we
enumerated deaths of significant persons, their serious medical conditions that deprived the
child of the presence of the persons, who could have been the central attachment figure,
separations of these persons due to divorces or other causes, such as a job in a different city or
country.
In the same category and using the same arguments, we introduced two items related to the
childs nutrition during his first two years of life. We found it interesting to know whether the
child was naturally (breastfed) or artificially fed. Breastfeeding (and its duration) correlated
with items regarding the mothers return to work, as well as the childs age and registering him
in a crche had as purpose identifying as many elements as possible outlining the mothers
involvement in the childs life and his separation from her. However, we did not consider the
mother should be the main attachment figure and that is why the structure of the form for
collecting anamnestic data aimed at obtaining as many data as possible leading to the person

around whom the attachment could have really been built.

The environment the child lived in during his first two years of life was analysed both
comparatively (in family or institutions and from what age) and from the perspective of the
persons who actually lived with the child, parents, grandparents or other situations that could
not have been predicted at the beginning of the research. A situation discovered during the
research was that of institutionalised children living here with their mothers until a certain age
a fact that must be taken into account when we think about the attachment type and the
attachment behaviour.
Data about the childs state of health during his first two years of life are important to assess the
potential psycho-emotional fragility of the child, the delays in emotional development and so
on.
Last but not least, we requested information about the education degree of the
parents/caretakers, the relation between the parents, as well as other events that would prove
relevant during the discussion with the adult and that were not included in the other categories
previously mentioned.

The observation grid (Appendix no. 3) was specifically structured for this research and is based on
the four types of attachment and the behaviour attached to each type, as they have been described by the
literature (Wallin, 2010), but also the behaviours specific to the childs personality development stage (Golu,
2010)
The observed behaviours were grouped function of the attachment type, as follows:
Secure attachment items 1 and 2
Avoidant attachment items 3 and 4
Ambivalent attachment items 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11
Disorganised attachment items 8, 10, 12 and 13
The answers were rated in five grades, from 1 to 5, as follows:
1- To a very small extent
2- To a small extent
3- Neither small nor great extent
4- To a great extent
5- To a very great extent
and resulted from observing the child during his interview.
The scores were obtained by adding the answers to the items specific to each attachment type and
dividing the result to the number of items. Choosing this method for calculating the score proved necessary as
a result of the inexistence of an equal number of items for each attachment type. We chose the resulted
dominant attachment as representative, i.e. the highest score.
Besides the two previously mentioned instruments, we added The Emotional Maturity Test
validated during 2003-2008 by Associate Professor Florinda Golu PhD, which is organised as a semistructured interview and from which we selected only the items in concordance the research objectives. The
first part is the adults interview and the second part is the childs interview (Appendix no. 2).
Due to reasons referring to the research hypotheses and its variables, respectively, the adult we
interviewed was the parent in case of the children in group A and the caretaker, respectively for the children in
group B. We did not use the component of this test targeting educators, as we preferred to have the issue of
the attachment result from analysing the information given directly by the child and the parent/caretaker. Our
choice was supported the statement of the author of the test that the childs attachment relation with his
parents and other reference adult persons in his life is the key element of the degree of emotional maturity and
becoming, coherent, healthy outlining of the personality as a whole (Golu, 2009, p. 60).
According to the author of the test, the dimensions considered are as follows:
Type and quality of attachment, establishing relations
Reaction to rules, limits, establishing boundary and differentiating contact
Identification process
Emotional availability, emotional openness
Tolerance to frustration
Attitude to participating in activities, participating in group activities versus degree of
egocentrism
Process of adjustment
Activism, dynamism, emotional nuances of curiosity, interest (as a type of reaction, life
orientation)
The parents/caretakers answered the questions below after completing a preliminary training:
Training: We are interested in what you, as a parent think and feel about your child. This interview
is they way in which we would like to learn more things about . (the childs name),
the relationship you have with him/her, what he/she feels and how he/she manifests.

10

In relation to the childrens interview, as the interviewing manner of the emotional maturity test is
that of the experiential psychodiagnosis (Golu, 2009,), we interacted with the children also by means of a
game of domino with applied figures, plastic geometrical shapes and drawing. During the research, we came
up with the idea to request the children to draw a happy child, a sad child and an upset child, besides the
drawings they wanted to make during the interview. Few of these works are shown as examples (Appendix
no. 5). As shown by the author of the emotional maturity test, the childs interview aims to catch the
emotional reactions and the mechanisms to cope with reality, as well as the stages of the identification and
adjustment process in the context of the relational and educational environment (Golu, 2009, p. 61).
The scoring method we used is counting the positive and negative characteristics included in the
answers of those interviewed (parent/caretaker and child), establishing the difference between them by
generating the final score, which represents the level of emotional maturity of the child from the parents or
the caretakers perspective in case of adult interviews and from the childs perspective, separately. We used
this method of quantification as it is specific to qualitative research.
2.5.

Data collection

For group A, the mini investigation was conducted in the schools where the children study, in the
schools Psychology office. The childrens parents were contacted at the end of the classes and were offered
verbal details about the research. They were invited to take part in the investigation if they wanted to. Those
parents virtually agreed received the Consent Form (Appendix no. 4), which includes all relevant information
about the research. Both children and parents were interviewed in the office previously mentioned, in the
same circumstances, each of them separately, with one exception.
In case of group B, the data collection was done in rooms made available by the management of the
foster care centres (reading rooms, studying rooms). The children in this group were also investigated
separately from the caretakers, except for one child who was interviewed together with the caretaker. In the
case of foster care centres, we signed a confidentiality agreement with the General Directorate of Social
Assistance and Child Protection using the form drafted by this institution. The distribution in the centres was
done by the competent specialised authorities.
3.
3.1.

RESULTS
Result of the research

1) There are differences between the types of attachment in children raised in secure families and
institutionalised children.
In order to test the research hypothesis, we used the Mann-Whitney test for non-parametric data, as
we have category variables. After applying this test, we obtained a score z = -1.76 with a significance p>0,05
(0.07), which invalidates the hypothesis.
Such a low difference makes us appreciate that the small number of subjects (60) determined the lack
of effect of the test.
Test Statisticsa
Attachment type

Mann-Whitney U

337.500

Wilcoxon W

802.500

-1.769

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)

.077

a. Grouping Variable: environment

Picture no. 1 Testul Mann-Whitney

11

2) There are significant differences between the emotional maturity level of children and the
environment they come from.
We used the T test for independent samples in order to test this hypothesis. With reference to the
level of emotional maturity appreciated by the parent/caretaker, we noticed there is not a statistically
significant difference t=1.18, sig>0.05 (0.23) function of the environment the subjects come from. With
reference to the level of emotional maturity appreciated by the children, we noticed there is not a statistically
significant difference t=0.52, sig>0.05 (0.52) function of the environment the subjects come from.
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test
t-test for Equality of Means
for Equality of
Variances
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig.
Mean
Std. 95% Confidence
(2Differe Error
Interval of the
tailed)
nce
Differe
Difference
nce
Lower Upper
Level of
emotional
maturity
appreciate
by the
parent/careta
ker
Level of
emotional
maturity
appreciate
by the child

Equal
variances
assumed

.091

Equal
variances not
assumed
Equal
variances
assumed
Equal
variances not
assumed

.071

.763

1.18
9

58

.239

4.500

3.785

-3.076 12.076

1.18 57.0
9
46

.239

4.500

3.785

-3.079 12.079

.791 .528

58

.600

.967

1.832

-2.701

4.635

.528

57.6
68

.600

.967

1.832

-2.702

4.635

Picture no. 2 T test for independent samples

3) There are differences between the types of attachment in institutionalised children function of
significant life situations in the first 2 years of life.
Test Statisticsa,b
Attachment type

Chi-Square

7.345

Df

Asymp. Sig.

.290

a. Kruskal Wallis Test

b. Grouping Variable: life situations significant to the subject during the first 2 years
Picture no. 3 Testul Kruskall-Wallis
This result indicates the fact there are no significant differences regarding the attachment type function of the
significant life situation in the first two years (2 = 7.34; p > 0.05).
4) We can suppose there is a statistically significant correlation between the emotional maturity
level and the attachment type.
We used the Spearmann correlation test for non-parametrical data and obtained a statistically

12

significant correlation between the level of emotional maturity appreciated by the parent/caretaker and the
childs attachment type of r= -0.279, sig<0.05 (0.03).
Moreover, we obtained a statistically significant correlation between the level of emotional maturity
of the child and his attachment type of r= -0.285, sig<0.05 (0.02).
Correlations
Attachment
type

Correlation
Coefficient
Attachment type
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Correlation
Level of emotional
Coefficient
Spearman's
maturity appreciated
rho
by the
Sig. (2-tailed)
parent/caretaker
N
Correlation
Level of emotional
Coefficient
maturity appreciated
Sig. (2-tailed)
by the child
N
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Level of
Level of
emotional
emotional
maturity
maturity
appreciated appreciated
by the
by the child
parent/careta
ker

1.000

-.279*

-.285*

.
60

.031
60

.027
60

-.279*

1.000

.208

.031
60

.
60

.111
60

-.285*

.208

1.000

.027
60

.111
60

.
60

Picture no. 4 Spearmann correlation test

5) There are differences regarding the emotional maturity level of children function of age.
Using the ANOVA test had as result there are not statistically significant differences between the
childs level of emotional maturity appreciated by the parent/caretaker function of the childs age sig>0.05
(0.79) and that there are no statistically significant differences between the childs level of emotional maturity
appreciated by the child function of the childs age sig>0.05 (0.49).
ANOVA
Sum of
Squares
Between
Level of emotional
Groups
maturity appreciated by
Within Groups
the parent/caretaker
Total
Between
Level of emotional
Groups
maturity appreciated by
Within Groups
the child
Total

df

Mean
Square

226.474

75.491

12540.509
12766.983

56
59

223.938

120.703

40.234

2814.547
2935.250

56
59

50.260

Sig.

.337

.799

.801

.499

Picture no. 5 ANOVA Test

3.2.

Psychological interpretation

In order to interpret psychologically the result obtained using the previously mentioned instruments,
we will analyse each instrument employed.

13

Anamnesis proved to be very helpful for the research, as it provided many information regarding the
childs history, especially during the first years of life, when, according to the attachment theory, the
foundations of the attachment are laid. We consider it is important to determine both for children raised in
families and for institutionalised children whether there was a constant caregiving person in the childs life
during this first period of time. At the same time, the existence of separate items for the significant situations
that occurred in the childs life, distinctly, both during the first two years and later on, allowed for the
separation in the parents and caretakers discourse of the data regarding the period when primary attachment
is developed from the later or current data, which helped the examiner to observe and interpret as accurately
as possible the childs psycho-emotional state at the moment of the examination. In the case of group A
(children from families), the parents were generally reserved in offering detailed or very accurate information.
They tended to cover up potential family differences, conflicts that could lead to ruptures in relationships
between partners or husbands and wives, as well as separations or divorces.
This first attitude could be the effect of the research topic, i.e. the reaction the impact of the words
attachment and emotional development have on the parents. They also open inner doors to their own
history by simple interrogation. However, we can suppose that this is the effect of the decision to present the
research topic and give people a certain time to think over wanting or not wanting to participate in this study
considering the fact that there were three cases in which parents requested by phone to meet the examiner,
without being contacted at the moment when we presented the research data. In all three cases the subjects
were mothers and all of them had been through a divorce, in which the father had left the family. All three
mothers had the tendency to minimise the effects of this break-up on the child. We must not disregard the fact
that these mothers were emotionally and cognitively preoccupied with the broken family, so they regarded this
research also as an opportunity to have a specialised psychologist confirm them the child was not affected, but
also to unload some of their own pressure caused by this life event, a catharsis.
The impossibility to select a larger number of children subjects in the group led us to discover
during the research that, in case of group A, we have four cases of divorce of the parents during the first two
years of life, three cases of separation or divorce after this age, as well as several conflict situations in the
family revealed by the parents or, sometimes, by the participating children. The existence of several items
accomplished it mission to cross-check the real situation the childs family in a manner that could highlight
the events marking the quality of the parent-child relationship under the aspect of the attention the parent
could give to his child, the capacity to actively involve in his upbringing and in all development stages
(physical, emotional, cognitive), to be responsive and sensitive to the childs needs. All these constituted a
prognosis for the quality of the attachment.
In the case of group B, we obtained more general information regarding each subject, with reference
to the age of institutionalisation and, for a part of the children, who raised them during the first two years of
life. The foster care centres that were allotted to us by the Directorate for Social Assistance and Child
Protection were generally reserved in offering information despite of the fact that we had previously signed a
confidentiality agreement. On the other hand, we can suppose there are no such personal data regarding each
child or that they are simply not collected, considering they are not of interest. In some cases, children
abandoned very early pass from one protection institution to another, and this can have as consequence the
failure to register the information we included in the anamnesis. Another impediment was the fact that it was
not possible for us to collect the anamnestic data din the childrens charts. They were told to us by the
caretakers who answered in the adults interview, hence their reality could be distorted by that persons
memory, including under the emotional aspect, as it is known that some of them are very attached to a child
or, the reverse situation, when due to a lack of an emotional bond between the caretaker and a child turns into
a lack of interest leading to providing incorrect data. With respect to the type of nutrition offered during the
first years of life, due to the absence of this information in both groups, in group B this information missing
completely, we decided not to use or to interpret these answers.
The items referring to the parents education level and the item registering the number of children in
the family of the subject highlighted clear differences between the two groups. In group A with children raised
in families, most children come from phratries with two-three children maximum; the tendency of the group is
towards one-child families. Also, in the case of group A, we have parents with university degrees and
postgraduates but also parents with high school degrees. In group B, the phratries are a lot larger, with three,

14

four, five up to nine children, the parents graduated primary school, middle school and sometimes high
school. Physical violence, alcohol consumption and drug consumption are present in these families.
As a limit, we must take into account the fact that this information do not exist in group A, but the
adult respondents might have avoided offering them, voluntarily or not, due to the topic of the research, the
emotional relation with the child and the potential fear that the aspects of abuse highlighted here could
generate judgements, they could be blamed or held responsible.
The conclusion of these items is that group B comes from socially disadvantaged categories, lacking
material resources, with a low education level, which are prone to abandonment or sending the children to
protection institutions.

The childs interview and the observation grid

Although we chose games and drawing as means of answering the interview, the children made
different choices, depending on age. Children aged 5.5 years old and 7 years old preferred to answer via
games and drawing more. We considered this to be in strong connection with the level of cognitive
development as, for example, it was difficult for them to understand the item How do you get along with
your mother, father, grandparents, friends?. It was difficult for them to represent the meaning of to get along
with somebody other than through a real situation. This is also because games are one of the main points of
interest for this category of children. Thus, children of a younger age in the groups answered to the previously
mentioned item easy or slowly. This type of reply was not taken into consideration as a way to avoid the
answer following the emotional impact generated by the quality of the persons that are the object of the
questions. Also due to the age and the quality of attention, children of a younger age were more impatient to
finish their tasks, moving on from one game to another. Children aged 7-8.5 were more engaged in their task,
paid more attention to their answers, their drawings indicated a new stage of development, they are more
serious, more refined also due to the fine movement coordination they acquired, which brings them
confidence.
The last item in the interview that requested the children to tell a story from their lives and to make
up a story with their favourite character split the children by age again. The little ones could not understand
the meaning of the word event and asked for explanations and the same thing happened with the word
invent. After they were provided with answers to help them represent these words, it was easier for them to
tell a story. However, in most cases, the story was inspired from cartoons, some aspects in it coming from the
childs imagination. In case of a subject who had recently lost his grandmother, a person that was significant
to him, the story he invented, as well as his drawings were connected to that person. Girls identified
themselves with female characters more easily, fairies, princesses that are saved by princes, while boys chose
male characters, most of them fighters fighting for different causes, saviours, heroes that bring justice to the
world and save it. There were a few extreme cases. One male child for whom we do not have any medical
information but showed symptoms of ADHD had as favourite character a very violent person who fights with
several weapons. The child admitted with a superficial guilty feeling he liked violent games. Another male
child chose to identify himself with a dog that wanted to save the world, saw what others could not see and
had a very bad mistress.
With reference to the contact with their self, little children needed drawings and games to describe an
emotion or they mimed it, not being able to verbally describe it. However, they were willing to answer
questions about emotions. Children over 7 years old were more reserved in providing details but they had the
cognitive capacity to speak about them. These different ways of relating to the same item is the effect of the
level of cognitive development but also of psycho-emotional maturity. The latter also encompasses a social
component that requires the subject to manage his emotions, especially the negative ones. They proved
abilities to play by themselves or with the others, showed empathy, searched for ways to comfort the other
(item what do you do when you see a child crying?) and most of them were able to express what they felt
themselves during those moments.
Questions regarding parents indicated the childrens capacity to empathise with them as well. Thus,
in cases of a family environment filled with conflicts and arguments, the children spoke about these situations
and showed their preference for one parent or the other. In the case of a male subject, his mothers break-up

15

from his father, which was not communicated to the child, doubled by the presence of another man in his
living home and in his mothers life had as effect a stronger connection to the father and his presence in all the
games, stories and events he created or told, as well as a repugnance and moral judgment of the mother. Fury,
discontent and aggressiveness were put in games or drawings as an expression of the way in which the child
understands what happens in the family.
Almost all children in group B stated they loved their mother or their parents, even in cases where
they had a reduced contact with their families. The fact that some of them did not have connections with their
natural parents led to additional questions. At the beginning we were tempted to consider that biological
aspects or aspects with reference to specific early maternal care had left their mark, so it was necessary to
return to the anamnestic information that would function as a filter for the psychological interpretation of this
type of response. As the childrens situations were significantly different during the first two years (they were
either raised by their mother or by a foster care parent but then in both cases they were abandoned later on, or
abandoned at birth or raised by their father for a few years and then abandoned), we continued the
investigation. We got to the conclusion that the mother the children referred to in their answers cannot be
always considered as the natural mother for the little ones (aged 5.5-7 years old), but rather the foster care
mother. Children in all foster care centres we went to call their caretaker mother. We were not even able to
determine precisely in what cases they talked about their natural mother or their caretaker and in what cases
they talked about any caretaker or any female person. As this was out of the scope of our research, we did not
study this aspect thoroughly. Nevertheless, as we know, the children tended to be friendly without
discrimination in this case, too, some of them even calling the examiner mother right from the first few
minutes after they met.
The fact that all the children were in school allowed for the development of social and moral feelings
that brought along the reporting of situations they considered incorrect, unfair to them or to other mates,
caretaker or that of a parent to the other parent.
The reaction towards rules is age-specific. Little children, aged 5.5-6.5 had a lower capacity to focus
on school activities, complain about them but search for ways to manage the impulse to give up the task,
listen to their teacher when they are asked to do something and also maintain the capacity to protest. Both
children in group A and those in group B positively relate to being in school, are interested and attracted to
school activities, feel good in social groups, made friends and are happy about being able to establish
friendships.
Especially in case of group B, the potential physical or emotional abuses led to an almost unitary
response to the idea of beating, older children beating little children, violence in general, expressing
complaint. This response could also speak about attachment relations, their secure or insecure character, the
impossibility to protect by taking refuge in a secure base. Some of the children used the caretaker or the
teacher as an attachment figure, this being the place where they feel they could go to ask for support, comfort,
protection, security. In the case of children that had recently been brought in foster care centres, the security
base remains the mother or, in one singular case, the father.
The adults interview revealed the parents difficulties to describe their childs personality using 5
words. Their first reaction was a blockage when they heard the word personality and then they were capable
to tell stories about their children in their own way. At the end we agreed on the 5 words to describe the
personality or relation, as a form of helping them to express the experience they told using a noun or an
adjective.
In group A, the parents spoke openly about their children, proving preoccupation for raising them,
love, the desire to have healthy children under all aspects (physically, mentally). But there were also situation
when they felt helpless, could not correctly interpret their childrens signals; their answers to their childrens
requests or behaviours are attuned. In most cases, this state of facts is the result of limited information
regarding the childrens stages of development, emotion decoding but also of objective factors related to the
parents involvement in professional activities, little time spent for interacting with the children, not so good
relations between the parents.
In group B, the caretakers felt more free when giving answers and they rather paid attention to not
reporting situations that might incriminate them in any way. We took into consideration the connections

16

created between caretakers and their favourite children, but the impossibility to always interviewing the
favourite caretaker also proved to be a limit of our research. The existing emotional distance between an
institutional caretaker and an institutionalised child is a positive factor influencing the expression of opinions
regarding the childs personality, the expectations the caretakers have form children. These are more realistic
and more oriented towards the real and individual possibilities comparing to the parents of the children raised
in families who tend to project more of their own wishes or frustrations to their children.
The adults in both groups proved having a good contact with the children, were capable to
characterise the childrens emotions and affects, to describe their relationship as well as the positive and
negative situations that occur during their interaction.
If in the case of the children raised in families (group A) the parents were preoccupied with finding
answers to the difficult situations they have with their children, especially those regarding the control of
emotions, impulsiveness, agitation and a low attention span, in case of institutionalised children (group B) the
caretakers were more detached. In group B we noticed a certain passivity related to the childrens upbringing
with the unspoken argument of the constitutional limits specific to each child, but also of the limits of the
institutional care and education system.
The attachment relations resulted from applying the instruments led to results that did not make the
difference between the two groups and the two care environments, respectively. Disorganised attachment was
represented in both groups, even if the literature and older research reported a larger number of subjects with
disorganised attachment in institutionalised children. In contrast to that, secure attachment is predominantly
associated with secure environments, these being families. However, as our analysis on a group of 60 subjects
revealed cases of secure and disorganised attachment in both groups, a detailed research of this situation is
necessary.
The comparison between the groups indicates a larger number of disorganised attachment (11) in the
institutional environment compared to the family environment (5), which, strictly speaking of the aspect of
this type of attachment, confirms the position in the theory. The interesting thing for us, however, is also the
fact that the descriptive statistical analysis highlighted the fact that for 4 subjects (out of 5) with disorganised
attachment, coming from families, no significant events during the first two years of life were reported, they
were raised by their mother or their parents, so they did not go through the experience of a separation,
divorce, they did not come from poor families. One single subject went through the experience of the divorce
of his parents during his first few years of life. In the group of children who now live in institutions, all
subjects (11) were cared for by their mother, parents or father during their first 2 years of life. At first, the
result is surprising and could lead to the conclusion that primary attachment really builds inter and
transgenerationally, so it could express the attachment of the main caring figure. However, when examining
the significant situations in the childs first 2 years of life we discovered that most of these children had been
abandoned (6), had lived the experience of a significant persons death (1), their parents had separated (2) and
in some situations no such events had taken place (3). It is understood that these children benefited from the
constant care of a person for a certain number of months, but experienced one of the above-mentioned
situations during the stage of attachment building, which is considered to be the first 2 years of life. The
interpretation of these results leads to the idea that both currents of thought are correct i.e. the attachment type
can be the mirror of the attachment of the main caring person, but also life experiences with a major impact
on the child can dictate the attachment type and even more so if we remember that disorganised attachment
was observed as a behaviour that lasts for a very short while, a few seconds, but which is significant due to its
intensity and characteristics. The experience of death or separation/divorce implies the disappearance of a
significant person a situation that the child can emotionally managed with great difficulty, or, indirectly, if
the parent-main attachment figure is not able to manage this loss in a healthy manner. Therefore the parents
own emotional void will mark the child who built a secure base in the person that is now drifting. Moreover,
the childs young age and, therefore, his emotional and cognitive development level will be a factor that
allows for the rapid development of the child, with him still being dependant on the adult and lacking the
ability to control his emotions.
At the opposite end, if we look at the secure attachment in institutionalised children (10), we notice
they, too went through the experience of a significant persons death (1), were victims of physical violence (1)
or were abandoned by their parents (3), while for others no such events were present (5). We therefore noticed
that, even when abandoned, children can show a secure attachment. The experience of physical violence can

17

keep attachment intact. The death of a significant person does not always affect the attachment type. The
interpretation of this data leads us to the following hypotheses: attachment type is not influenced radically by
the experience of abandonment, so we could consider three aspects the age at which the child was
abandoned, whether attachment had already been built or was built later on (in cases of abandonment, for
example, after 2-3 months during which the child chose a caretaker as attachment figure), the childs
resilience, an innate capacity, which could make difference between children.
We think that, for both attachment types, we should choose the category not present (authors note
(AN) no such events are present) as a limit to our research within the variable significant life events during
the first 2 years of life. The absence of the information or the incorrect presentation by caretakers or parents
compels us to treat this data with attention during its psychological interpretation.
In children raised in families (group A), no significant life events are reported in all cases of secure
attachment (14), while for the type of disorganised attachment (5), only one subject went through a divorce
during the first two years of life. These results consolidate the idea that resilience, the attachment of the main
caring figure and the childs age at the moment when a significant event with a major emotional impact is
produced are important factors in building attachment and attachment type.
Moving on, the research of the variables referring to later life events and attachment type for group B
revealed that among the children with disorganised attachment (11) there are more cases of abandonment (6),
no subject went through the experience of repeated abandonment, one subject was physically assaulted and
one subject was institutionalised due to his parents arrest. In comparison to that, in the group of those with
secure attachment (10), the number of those abandoned is higher (7), one subject had a parent under arrest and
one subject was exposed to physical violence, both reasons for institutionalisation. This analysis, too supports
the idea that, for situations that could fall into similar categories, we have opposed attachments, secure and
disorganised, which could account for the importance of the constitutional factors in adjusting to life
circumstances.
From the psychological perspective, invalidating the hypothesis assuming the existence of
differences between attachment types in children function of the environment thy come from can account for
the importance of innate capacities on the means of inner management of external life events, from the type of
relation with the main caring persons to objective events (separation from ill significant persons, death,
physical violence situations, arrest, etc.), and temper and resilience, respectively. However, the fact that
subjects of both groups benefited from the mothers, fathers or parents care during the first years of life,
even if for a period of time shorter than two years that we investigated can constitute a significant factor in
fixing attachment, according to this theory. This conclusion brings along also the fact that the adults
attachment is constitutively determinant of the childs attachment, without this conclusion being valid for any
real situation, as the research activity has shown.
Invalidating the hypothesis assuming the existence of differences between the levels of emotional
maturity of children function of the environment they come from, this research based on our observations
during the employment of the instruments indicates an emotional development within the age limits of the
interviewed subjects. We could interpret that the access of the children in both groups to education i.e. their
integration in social groups allowed them to obtain the age-specific acquisitions, cognitive or psychoemotional ones, the former being a foundation for building the childrens emotional life, even if not in the
sense of causality, as it is known that a high intellectual level does not imply the same result for the emotional
part. However, the ability to carry out tasks, to get involved in activities, to have almost as many friends as the
others around them allows for building the self-confidence with positive results on the level of emotional
adjustment. On the other hand, this is the age at which emotional adjustment increases as an effect of the
process of maturity, also under the neurobiological aspect. The fact that some of the children had life
experiences that might have had a negative effect on the emotional level may lead to the conclusion that such
situations, illness, death, divorce are temporarily destabilising, and the children in this group had the ability to
recover and go through these moments without them becoming traumatic. Also, the presence of the teacher
and friends can constitute stabilising factors on the level of emotional life and, sometimes, motivational
stimuli.
We appreciate the hypothesis assuming the differences between attachment type in institutionalised
children function of the significant life events lived during the first two years of life was invalidated as a
result of the fact the most institutionalisation experiences occurred after the age of 2, thus the type of
attachment could have already been built at the moment of institutionalisation. This fact should be correlated
with the idea that it is not major life events that affect the attachment type, but the modality to adapt to the
situation they created i.e. the childs resilience. A level of emotional development age-appropriate together

18

with the high resilience of these subjects may not turn life events, generally appreciated as having a traumatic
potential, into traumatising experiences.
We consider the statistical confirmation of the hypothesis regarding the existence of a significant
correlation between the childrens level of emotional maturity and the attachment type is the expression of the
way in which the subjects choose their coping strategies or fail to access them in the moments that recreate
the distressing situations, temporary situations that also have an impact over the childrens emotional state. On
the other hand, both groups showed the presence of negative life events that could create certain mental
representation regarding relations, the mental life of the other, his own mental life and the means to survive
face to face with the tensions coming from the inside or from the outside. The existence of such events in both
groups as we have previously shown when referring to the notion of secure environment can constitute a
factor for confirming this hypothesis. In a similar way, invalidating the hypothesis referring to the differences
between the emotional level of the children coming from families comparing to institutionalised children and
that referring to the differences between attachment types of the two groups consolidate the conclusion that
there is a significant number of children with secure attachment and insecure attachment in both groups, and
the children in this sample are not significantly different emotionally.
We consider the hypothesis referring to the differences between the groups regarding the level of
emotional development from the age perspective was invalidated as most of the subjects of the group (46) had
ages between 5.6-7, and the others (14) had ages between 7.1-8.6, equally distributed (23/23 and 7/7), thus the
analysis basically focused on the same age categories.
4.

CONCLUSIONS

The secure base is the return to the main attachment figure during the childs moments of distress, conditioned
by the availability of this figure to be optimally attuned with the childs need (Bowlby, 2011). The belief of
the father of attachment theory was that no parent will offer a secure base for his growing child unless he
intuitively understands and respects his childs attachment behaviour and if, at the same time, he considers
and treats this behaviour as being an integrand and important part of human nature, as I consider it to be. This
is the aspect under which the term dependence had such a regrettable influence. Dependence always carries
an unfavourable connotation and tends to be considered a characteristic only for the first few years a
characteristic that an individual should quit as fast as possible. As a result, it often happened in clinical circles
that, every time the attachment behaviour manifested at an older age, not only was it considered as regrettable,
but was even called regressive. I believe this is a great error of judgement (Bowlby, 2011, p. 40). This vision
over attachment behaviours is important for the following two discoveries: attachment behaviours are noticed
during a mans life, in his diverse interactions, but they can differ from one situation to another, while every
person maintains a stable attachment to attachment figures. This is how the concept of inner working model is
born.
These ideas were the foundation of this research, which proposed to comparatively study the
emotional development and attachment relations of institutionalised children and children raised in families,
specifically basing on the idea of inner working model and attachment as relation pattern that is initiated
starting from this inner model under distress conditions.
We analysed the invalidation of the hypothesis regarding the existence of differences between
attachment types in children function of the environment they came from under several aspects.
Firstly, this statistical result could be a consequence of the limits of the research under the aspect of
the sample constitution. The fact that the randomisation of the subjects in both groups was not possible from
reasons regarding the participants reservation was such a limit. On the other hand, the research topic can
emotionally stimulate the childrens parents/caretakers but also the employees of the authorities involved in
the approval process for conducting a research of this kind in the institutional environment. The bias that the
results of this research would confer a negative image to the adults caring for these children can limit the
access to a study of this kind. Moreover, from the same reasons, the parents of the children raised in families
did not reveal from the beginning the real family situation that might have constituted a reason for exclusion
from the sample. On the other hand, there is no definition of the notion of secure environment. Are we
referring to the current environment, the environment from the childs first years of life or does the family
have the characteristics of a secure environment? The research results show, however, that even if this aspect
could be regarded as a limit, it can be also treated as a positive factor in the sense that it is revealed that life
events that could generate emotional destabilisation in a child, according to the theory and clinical experience,
do not unitarily lead to changes in the attachment type neither in the secure one nor in the disorganised one.
Secondly, the absence of significant differences between the attachment types compared accounts for
the importance of innate abilities in the way of inner management of external life events, from the type of
relation with the main caring persons to objective events (separation from ill significant persons, death,
physical violence situations, arrest, etc.), and temper and resilience, respectively. However, the fact that
subjects of both groups benefited from the mothers, fathers or parents care during the first years of life,
even if for a period of time shorter than two years that we investigated can constitute a significant factor in
fixing attachment, according to this theory. This conclusion brings along also the fact that the adults
attachment is constitutively determinant of the childs attachment, without this conclusion being valid for any

19

real situation, as the research activity has shown.

A limit to our research, even if we appreciate it would not significantly modifiy the results, is the
evaluation of the threshold of age for building the attachment, which we considered to be the childs age of 2
years. In theory and practise, this is situated between 2-3 years. For this reason, in a future research we would
use the age of 3.
Another limit to our research was highlighted during the hypothesis regarding the differences
between the childrens level of emotional development and attachment type, a limit represented by the
impossibility to control the adults honesty when characterising the children. On the other hand, as this is a
research governed by the word relation, it is important we appreciate the subjectivity of the adult
respondents also as a way to reveal precisely the real relation between child and caretaker, which the
examiner will have to read in a different key. We can turn this means of observation from a limit to an
objective, by refining the instruments employed even from the moment we build them.
We appreciate the hypothesis referring to the differences between attachment type in institutionalised
children function of the significant life events lived during the first two years of life was invalidated as a
result of the fact the most institutionalisation experiences occurred after the age of 2, thus the type of
attachment could have already been built at the moment of institutionalisation. This fact should be correlated
with the idea that it is not major life events that affect the attachment type, but the modality to adapt to the
situation they created i.e. the childs resilience. We could also assume that the level of emotional development
of the children in this group, for which it has been proved statistically there is no difference when comparing
it to the children raised in families, indicates an increased resilience of these subjects, as life events do not
seem to have been traumatising. In the sense of research limits, as we do not have enough data about the
situation of the families of institutionalised children, we can also appreciate the hypothesis was not confirmed
statistically, but in reality, the disorganised, avoidant or ambivalent attachment of some of these children
could be in connection with the life events they experienced during these first two years.
We consider the statistical confirmation of the hypothesis regarding the existence of a significant
correlation between the childrens level of emotional maturity and the attachment type is the expression of the
way in which the subjects choose their coping strategies or fail to access them in the moments that recreate
the distressing situations, temporary situations that also have an impact over the childrens emotional state. On
the other hand, both groups showed the presence of negative life events that could create certain mental
representation regarding relations, the mental life of the other, his own mental life and the means to survive
face to face with the tensions coming from the inside or from the outside. The existence of such events in both
groups as we have previously shown when referring to the notion of secure environment can constitute a
factor for confirming this hypothesis. In a similar way, invalidating the hypothesis referring to the differences
between the emotional level of the children coming from families comparing to institutionalised children and
that referring to the differences between attachment types of the two groups consolidate the conclusion that
there is a significant number of children with secure attachment and insecure attachment in both groups, and
the children in this sample are not significantly different emotionally.
We consider the hypothesis referring to the differences between the groups regarding the level of
emotional development from the age perspective was invalidated as most of the subjects of the group (46) had
ages between 5.6-7, and the others (14) had ages between 7.1-8.6, equally distributed (23/23 and 7/7), thus the
analysis basically focused on the same age categories.
We can also think, as a closing note for the reflection over these hypotheses, that where there is a
good mentalizing ability, we also see an emotional capacity that mentally organises, not disorganises, which
can maintain the secure attachment. As an exception, as seen in chapter 1 during the analysis of several
international research studies, a secure attachment does not mean it is impossible for subjects to live
experiences of a disorganised attachment type in certain life circumstances. In a similar way, the access to a
healthy relationship under the aspect of psycho-emotional maturity either by adoption, a care system offering
proximity, consistency, sensitivity, or by psychotherapeutic intervention, can constitute a condition for the
transformation of a disorganised attachment into a secure attachment.
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