INFANT-MOTHER ATTACHMENT IN CHILDREN WITH FAILURE-TO-THRIVE

This study may represent an advance in the study of failure to thrive (FTT), as (1) it is the first to use the disorganized/disoriented clas sification of infant-mother attachment (Main & Solomon, 1990) in a stu dy of children with FTT, and (2) it includes measures of social proces ses associated with individual differences in attachment. Twenty-six c hildren with FTT (10 ''organic,'' 16 ''nonorganic) and 28 normally gro wing children, ages 12 to 25 months, were seen in Ainsworth's Strange Situation. The FTT and control groups were equivalent on age of mother (28.0 and 28.6 years, respectively), annual family income ($37,700 an d $24,100), and mother's marital status (56% and 52% married). The sam ple included African-American, Caucasian, and Latino families. In addi tion, measures of mother-child interaction and mothers' reports of soc ial support and life stress were included. Children with FTT were less likely to show secure and more likely to show anxious, disorganized a ttachments than normally growing controls: Only 35% of FTTs were secur e, whereas 46% showed disorganized attachments. In contrast, 64% of co ntrols were secure and 7% were disorganized. Comparisons between FTTs and controls also revealed differences in maternal sensitivity and str essful social environments. There were no differences in patterns of a ttachment, level of acute malnutrition, maternal sensitivity, social s upport, or life stress between organic and nonorganic FTT groups, furt her discrediting this as a meaningful distinction. The organic and non organic groups differed only on a measure of chronicity of malnutritio n. These results support the notion that disrupted parent-child relati onships and stressful social environments are common in FTT, regardles s of the etiology of growth failure. The findings suggest that treatme nts of FTT must address psychological, as well as medical, problems in these families.