ATTACHMENT RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CHILDREN WITH AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS - THE ROLE OF DISORGANIZED EARLY ATTACHMENT PATTERNS

This article reviews recent attachment-related studies of early aggres sion. That aggressive behavior toward peers is related to disorganized or controlling patterns of attachment behavior toward parents but not to avoidant or ambivalent patterns. Longitudinal attachment studies i ndicate that risk factors identified in cross-sectional studies of agg ressive school-age children, such as family adversity, parental hostil ity, parental depression, and child cognitive deficits, are already ev ident in infancy and predictive of later aggression, before the onset of coercive child behavior. In infancy, these risk factors are associa ted with disorganized attachment behaviors toward the caregiver charac terized by signs of fear or dysphoria, irresolvable conflict between o pposing behavioral tendencies, and elevated cortisol levels after sepa ration. Disorganized attachment behaviors, in turn, predict aggression in school-age children with other family factors controlled.