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A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Mother–Child Attachment and Externalizing Trajectories in Boys and Girls

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Abstract

In clinically referred children, boys and those with disorganized mother–child attachments tend to show the most maladaptive externalizing trajectories; however, additional research is necessary to test whether these findings hold in a community sample. Therefore, 235 community children (106 boys) were followed from ages 6 to 15 years across six time points. Multiple-group linear growth curves with mother–child attachment as a time-invariant covariate were fit to the data to explore externalizing trajectories for boys and girls. Results showed that boys had higher initial externalizing levels than girls, and children generally experienced a decline in symptoms over time. No significant trajectory differences were found for girls, and boys with different attachment classifications did not differ on their initial externalizing levels; however, boys with avoidant attachments (with resistant attachments trending) experienced a steeper decline in externalizing symptoms longitudinally. Implications for intervention and prevention are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH57318 and R01 MH057318-06) awarded to Patrick T. Davies and E. Mark Cummings. We are grateful to the children and parents who participated in this project. We express our appreciation to project staff, graduate students, and undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Rochester who collected these data, and to Melissa R. W. George for her time and expertise in coding attachment data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Providence College, Providence, RI, USA

    Kelly A. Warmuth

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    E. Mark Cummings

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Patrick T. Davies

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  1. Kelly A. Warmuth
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  2. E. Mark Cummings
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  3. Patrick T. Davies
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Correspondence to Kelly A. Warmuth.

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Warmuth, K.A., Cummings, E.M. & Davies, P.T. A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Mother–Child Attachment and Externalizing Trajectories in Boys and Girls. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 53, 611–622 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01158-x

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