http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Attachment style and history of parents of aggressive children
Problem-solving skills training (PSST) combined with parent training (PT) were compared to teacher consultation as a preventive intervention with teacheridentified aggressive second- and third-graders. Lack of parent participation resulted in the PSST intervention being compared to consultation, and students whose parents completed >50% of PT sessions were dropped from subsequent analyses. Parents' attachment history on the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) and parents'attachment style on the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) were investigated as possible predictors of intervention responsiveness. Parents of aggressive children were compared to adults from previous samples on attachment history and attachment style. First, it was hypothesized that students receiving PSST would improve more than students receiving consultation on parent and teacher ratings of aggressive behavior, extemalizing behaviors, and total behavior problems; on classroom observations; on peer ratings of aggression and leadership; on self-perceived peer acceptance; and on social cognitive skills. Second, it was hypothesized that mothers' attachment style and attachment history would predict child responsiveness to both treatments. Finally, it was hypothesized that parents of aggressive children would differ from groups of normal adults on patterns of attachment style (more insecure patterns) and on attachment history (more negative). Repeated measures NMNOVAs and ANOVAs were used to investigate clusters of dependent variables and single dependent variables. Significant treatment and treatment-by-time interaction effects were found for the cluster of teacher-rated aggression. Children receiving consultation improved more than children receiving PSST on teacher-rated aggression. Significant effects for time were found for parentrated aggression and classroom observations, with both groups improving. No effects were found in the MANOVA for social-cognitive skills or for the ANOVAs for peerrated aggression or perceived social acceptance. A trend for time was found on peer perception of social competence Parent attachment history and AAS Close score combined were related to improvement on teacher-rated aggression, with high PARQ scores predicting less improvement for both treatments. Parents of aggressive children did not resemble previous samples of college students on attachment style, and seemed to belong to one homogeneous group. Clinical implications and future directions for research on attachment and the treatment of aggression are discussed.