Failure to thrive: Risk for clinical disturbance of attachment?

This study tests the hypothesis that infants with failure to thrive (FTT) a re at risk for a clinical disturbance of attachment (defined as a combinati on of: (1) nonautonomous caregiver state of mind with respect to attachment , measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI); (2) nonbalanced caregiv er representation of the infant, measured by the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI); (3) problematic play interactions; and (4) problematic f eeding interactions). Participants were 57 infants (30 FTT, 27 non-FIT) and their primary caregivers, recruited from outpatient pediatric clinics. Car egivers were interviewed with AAI and WMCI and observed interacting with th eir infants during play and feeding. Results show that more infants with FT T than infants without FTT met some of the criteria for risk for a clinical disturbance of attachment -nonautonomous AAI and nonbalanced WMCI classifi cations, and less dyadic reciprocity during feeding. However, there were no group differences in play. Future directions for research are discussed.