Attachment disorder symptoms in foster children: development and associations with attachment security.

Background: Children in foster care constitute a risk population for developing symptoms of attachment disorders. However, little is known about the longitudinal course of attachment disorders and their association with attachment security in foster children.

Method: This longitudinal study assessed attachment disorder symptoms in a sample of foster children (n = 55) aged 12 to 82 months.

Assessment of attachment disorder symptoms in foster children: comparing diagnostic assessment tools.

Background: Standardized methods for assessing attachment disorders are scarce but needed for research and practice.

Methods: In the current study, several assessments for attachment disorder symptoms are used within a German sample of foster children after being exposed to neglect and maltreatment in their biological families. The symptoms were assessed with four established assessment methods based on both parents' report and behavioral observation: The Rating for Infant Stranger Engagement, the Stranger at the Door, the Disturbances of Attachment Interview and the Reactive Attachment Disorder Questionnaire.

Inhibited symptoms of Attachment Disorder in children from institutional and foster care samples.

The main objective of the article was to study the prevalence of symptoms of the inhibited attachment disorder depending on type and quality of the caregiving environment. Analyses were based on data of a sample of institutionalized children from Georgia (N = 16), and two samples of foster children from Georgia (N = 27) and Germany (N = 55). Inhibited attachment disorder symptoms were assessed by the Disturbances of Attachment Interview (DAI) and the Rating of Inhibited Attachment Behavior (RInAB).