Disorganized/disoriented attachment
Within the field of mother-infant studies the development of a category of disorganized/disoriented attachment ("D") has received much attention. More than 60 studies involving more than 5,000 infant-parent dyads have proved the validity of D and its importance for developmental psychopathology [1]. Studies on adrenocorticol responses and cortisol levels support the idea that children with D lack a coherent behavioural strategy for coping with stressors.

Research question
In the current classification system, one occurrence of a particular behaviour - lasting only a few seconds, within an observation period of 30 minutes - can be sufficient for the assignment of D (e.g. "while in apparently good mood, infant strikes against the parent's face or eyes"). We wanted to investigate whether children with a D-classification show an overall pattern of disorganized social behaviour with their parent.

Temporal patterns
The software package Theme, developed by M.S. Magnusson, recognises temporal behaviour patterns based on consistencies in [2,3]. Some temporal patterns may consist of behavioural event types that all belong to the same actor but in this study we were especially interested in the so-called dyadic patterns. In the dyadic patterns both parent and child are present as actor at least once.

Results
When children with a D-classification (n=13) were tested against children without a D-classification (n=13), no significant differences were found in separate social variables. However dyads with children with a D-classification had a significantly lower percentage of long dyadic temporal patterns (percentage for D-children 0.6±1.1, for non-D children 4.5±6.2). Significant differences in the effect of separation from the parent on heart rate were found between children with a D-classification and age and IQ matched children that had not received a D-classification [4].

Conclusion
The low number of long dyadic patterns in the children with a D-classification may be indicative of an overall pattern of disorganized social behaviour. Optimal social behaviour may involve achieving the right balance between variation and predictability; the optimal amount of patterns being dependent on many different variables like social environment, age of the child, and identity of interaction partner. We speculate that the number of patterns found in children with a D-classification is below this optimal number of patterns. More research is clearly needed on the important aspects of sequence and timing of behavioural elements.

References

1. IJzendoorn, M. van; Schuengel, C.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. (1999). Disorganized attachment in early childhood: meta-analysis of precursors, concomitants, and sequelae. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 225-249.
2. Magnusson, M.S. (1996). Hidden real-time patterns in intra- and inter-individual behavior: description and detection. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 12, 112-123.
3. Magnusson, M.S. (2000). Discovering hidden time patterns in behavior: T-patterns and their detection. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers, 32, 93-110.
4. Willemsen-Swinkels, S.H.N.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J.; Buitelaar, J.K.; van IJzendoorn, M.H.; van Engeland, H. (in press). Insecure and disorganized attachment in children with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder: relationship with social interaction and heart rate. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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