Decreasing Parental Withdrawal in a High-Risk Sample

Evidence is pointing to the dysregulating effect parental withdrawal can have on children’s development. Lyons-Ruth et al. (2013) found small to moderate effect sizes (r = .30 - .49) for the association between maternal withdrawal during infancy and later risk of psychopathology during adolescence (N = 43), above and beyond other forms of atypical parenting (e.g., frightening behavior) behaviors. Furthermore, experiments using the still-face paradigm demonstrated the robust effects maternal withdrawal can have on children’s regulatory abilities, such that infants became dysregulated in response to parents’ lack of facial expressions or responses to their children (Mesman, van IJzendoorn, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2009).

Given the known adverse effects parental withdrawal has on children’s development, it is important to improve parental responsiveness, especially when children are distressed. Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) is an attachment-based intervention that has been found to be efficacious at promoting parental sensitivity in high-risk birth parents, as well as in parents adopting internationally. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore whether parents randomized to receive ABC also demonstrate decreases in parental withdrawal.

Participants were 109 parent-child dyads who were randomized to receive ABC (n = 52) or a control condition (n = 57). Parental withdrawal was coded on a 7-point scale using the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE; Lyons-Ruth, Bronfman, & Parsons, 1999) coding system during the Strange Situation procedure (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The Strange Situation Procedure was conducted during the first follow-up visit one month after completion of the intervention. Children, on average, were 20.3 months old at the time of participation in the Strange Situation (SD = 6.3 months).

A one-way analysis of variance revealed a statistically significant difference between groups (F(1, 108) = 5.21, p = .02). Specifically, parents who were randomized to receive ABC demonstrated less withdrawal (M = 3.77) than parents who received a control intervention (M = 4.46). Results suggest that ABC is effective in decreasing parental withdrawal.