In Defense of Unresolved Attachment Re-Modelling Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment
In Defense of Unresolved Attachment Re-Modelling Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment
To cite this article: Marinus H. van IJzendoorn & Naomichi Makino (2023) In defense
of unresolved attachment: re-modelling intergenerational transmission of attachment,
Attachment & Human Development, 25:2, 311-321, DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2023.2187851
Introduction
The correspondence between parental attachment representations and infant attach
ment classifications, labeled “intergenerational transmission of attachment,” is one of the
core hypotheses of attachment theory. How parents or other caregivers look back on their
childhood attachment experiences as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview
(Hesse, 2016; Main et al., 1985) is suggested to shape their infants’ attachments as
observed in the Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978). The validity of the
Adult Attachment Interview hinges on its predicted associations with infant attachment
infant attachment classifications, and these data have been synthesized in two meta-
analyses (Van IJzendoorn, 1995; Verhage et al., 2016). In these meta-analyses, the resulting
4 × 4 cross-tabulations were analysed with adjusted standardized residuals showing
larger than chance correspondences between parental and infant attachments. A more
sophisticated approach is Correspondence Analysis (CA; Greenacre, 2006). A solution of
CA is commonly interpreted using a biplot to represent graphically the relations between
the two categorical variables, but CA can also be viewed as Canonical Correlation Analysis
(CCA) of categorical data (e.g. Greenacre, 2006; Hwang et al., 2009). In the latter approach,
we can examine the latent structure using a canonical loading and inter/intra correlations
between canonical variates, which is analogous to the exploratory factor analysis or
principal component analysis (EFA/PCA) interpretation procedure. Therefore, a next step
in the application of CA to cross-tabulated data is a CCA-based CA approach with oblique
rotation, which was adopted in the current study.
In his paper on the statistical underpinnings of the new CCA-based CA method with
oblique rotation, Makino (2022) used the cross-tabulation of parental and infant attach
ment classifications in N = 548 participants with their offspring from the first meta-analysis
in this field of inquiry (Van IJzendoorn, 1995). The first canonical variate for the parents
was based on a strong positive association with Dismissing and a negative association
with Autonomous, whereas the second canonical variate showed a strong positive
association with Unresolved and a negative link with Autonomous. For the infant attach
ment classifications, a similar dimensional structure was found, consisting of an Avoidant-
Secure and a Disorganized-Secure factor. The correlations between the canonical dimen
sions showed substantial associations between the parental Dismissing-Autonomous and
the infant Avoidant-Secure dimensions, and between the Unresolved-Autonomous and
Disorganized-Secure dimensions (Makino, 2022). Preoccupied representations and
Resistant infant classifications did not fit in this obliquely rotated CCA-based CA solution.
In the current study, we wondered whether a similar structure could be uncovered in
the much larger 4 × 4 cross-tabulation in the Verhage et al. (2016) meta-analysis. Our
hypothesis was that similar to the previous modeling with CCA-based CA by Makino
(2022) a more parsimonious latent model of intergenerational transmission of attachment
would be compatible with the cross-tabulated data. The use of correspondence analysis in
combination with canonical correlation with oblique rotation was hypothesized to lead to
a model that includes latent dimensions and uncovers the most important components of
intergenerational transmission of attachment. We do not aim at a defense of the catego
rical versus dimensional structure of attachment assessments, let alone of attachment
reality. In contrast, our main hypothesis was that Unresolved attachment representations
are part and parcel of the validity of the Adult Attachment Interview in predicting the
four-way infant attachment patterns apart from Preoccupied representations.
Methods
We applied CCA-based CA to the crosstabulation of AAI and SSP classifications as
presented in the paper by Verhage et al. (2016). In this analysis, we used two-
dimensional solutions in the same manner as Makino (2022). The row and column
solutions in CA have rotational indeterminacy, and thus they were rotated in order
to obtain the interpretable canonical loading matrices. In the CCA-based CA
314 M. H. VAN IJZENDOORN AND N. MAKINO
rotation, there are two approaches to rotate the solutions. One is referred to as the
concurrent rotation, and the row and column canonical loading matrices are
concurrently rotated by the same rotation matrix. The other is termed as the
separate rotation, in which the row and column loadings are separately rotated
by the different rotation matrices. We adopted the separate rotation approach
because the separately rotated solutions can achieve a simpler structure than
those given by the concurrent rotation (Makino, 2022; Satomura & Adachi, 2013).
The parent and infant canonical loading matrices were separately rotated by the
quartimin rotation method (Carroll, 1953), whose computer program has been
provided in the GPArotation package in R (Bernaards & Jennrich, 2005).
The canonical loadings are interpreted by considering their magnitude, which
indicates how strongly each of categories loads on a canonical variate. The com
monly used rule of thumbs is to ignore loadings which absolute values are lower
than some threshold value, e.g. 0.3. Cudeck and O’dell (1994) criticized this
practice and recommended that researchers consider standard errors or confidence
intervals of the rotated loadings. Therefore, we used the bootstrap method in
order to estimate confidence intervals of the rotated loadings and inter/intra
canonical correlations. Zhang et al. (2010) applied the bootstrap method to esti
mate confidence intervals of rotated loadings. We adopted their technique and the
bootstrap confidence intervals were constructed with 2,000 bootstrap samples in
the current analysis. There are several methods for assigning bootstrap confidence
interval. Here, we used the SE-based bootstrap confidence interval (Efron &
Tibshirani, 1993; Zhang et al., 2010).
Table 1. The rotated canonical loading matrices and their 95% confidence interval.
Canonical loadings 95% confidence interval
Dim1 Dim2 Dim1 Dim2
Dismissing 0.71 −0.30 [0.48,0.93] [−0.58,-0.02]
Autonomous −0.61 −0.41 [−0.80,-0.42] [−0.65,-0.18]
Preoccupied 0.35 0.14 [0.002,0.71] [−0.30,0.59]
Unresolved −0.05 0.85 [−0.33,0.23] [0.62,1.07]
Avoidant 0.84 −0.09 [0.63,1.04] [−0.26,0.08]
Secure −0.43 −0.58 [−0.60,-0.27] [−0.71,-0.45]
Resistant 0.28 0.25 [−0.10,0.66] [−0.12,0.61]
Disorganized −0.20 0.78 [−0.39,-0.02] [0.59,0.97]
Note. Canonical loadings in bold are those with a 95% confidence interval excluding zero.
Table 2. The rotated inter/intra correlations and their 95% confidence interval.
Correlations between canonical variates
Mother_dim1 Mother_dim2 Infant_dim1 Infant_dim2
Mother_dim1 1.00 [−0.12,0.02] [0.20,0.33] [0.05,0.22]
Mother_dim2 −0.05 1.00 [−0.17,0.03] [0.17,0.32]
Infant_dim1 0.26 −0.07 1.00 [−0.15,-0.02]
Infant_dim2 0.14 0.24 −0.08 1.00
Note. Correlations in bold are those with a 95% confidence interval excluding zero.
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 315
Results
In Table 1, the loadings of the classifications on the latent dimensions for parental
attachment representations and for the infant attachment classifications are presented.
The first dimension of the parental model was characterized by a large positive loading of
Dismissing and a large negative loading of Autonomous and this dimension was labeled
“Dismissing-Autonomous.” Preoccupied did load positively on this dimension too but less
strongly compared to Dismissing. Unresolved did not show a loading on this first dimen
sion but it loaded strongly on the second dimension. Both Autonomous and Dismissing
loaded negatively on this second dimension. Preoccupied did not load on this dimension.
For ease of comparison between dimensions, we labeled this second dimension
“Unresolved-Autonomous.”
For the first dimension of the infant attachment classifications, we found a clear
contrast between the positive loading of Avoidant and a negative loading of Secure
which led to the label “Avoidant-Secure.” Resistant showed a positive but lower loading
on this first dimension. The second infant dimension was dominated by the opposite
loadings of Disorganized and Secure, allowing for the label “Disorganized-Secure.”
Resistant loaded positively on this second dimension, similar to its association with the
first dimension but again with a weaker loading compared to Disorganized or Avoidant.
See Table 2 for the correlations between mother and infant canonical variables. See
Figure 1 for a graphical display of the dimensions and loadings, omitting loadings and
inter/intra correlations with a 95% confidence interval including zero.
In a final step, the associations between the parental and infant dimensions were
computed. The association between Dismissing-Autonomous and Avoidant-Secure
amounted to .26. A similar link (.24) was found between Unresolved-Autonomous and
Disorganized-Secure. See Figure 1 for the model including these associations.
Alternative solutions were probed as well. The 1-dimensional solution showed sub
stantial positive loadings of Autonomous (0.72) and Secure (0.69) and significant negative
loadings of smaller sizes for the other classifications. For the adult classifications, loadings
were as follows: Dismissing −0.49; Preoccupied −0.37, and Unresolved −0.33. For the
infant classifications, loadings were as follows: Avoidant −0.45; Resistant −0.35;
Disorganized −0.45. The 1-dimensional solution was supported by the so-called “average
Figure 1.
316 M. H. VAN IJZENDOORN AND N. MAKINO
rule,” but it only explained 59% of the total variances of the contingency table which may
be insufficient to capture a majority of the associations among the response categories. It
was therefore less preferred than the 2-dimensional solution explaining about 87% total
variances of the contingency table, likely to capture a majority of the associations among
the response categories.
The 3-dimensional solution also fitted the data. On the first adult dimension ,
Dismissing (−0.86) loaded highest; on the second dimension, Unresolved (0.88) loaded
highest, and Preoccupied (−0.95) loaded highest on the third dimension. Loadings of
Autonomous on the three dimensions were smaller, amounting to 0.51, −0.46, and 0.26
for dimensions 1, 2, and 3, respectively. On the first infant dimension, Disorganized (−0.85)
loaded highest; on the second dimension, Avoidant (−0.92) loaded highest, and Resistant
(−0.94) loaded highest on the third dimension. Loadings of Secure on the three dimen
sions were smaller: 0.52, 0.38, and 0.30 for dimension 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The
3-dimensional solution represented the contrasts of each of the insecure/non-
autonomous classifications against the secure/autonomous. The main purpose of CCA-
based CA was to obtain a meaningful structure in reduced space, and the 3-dimensional
solution was considered uninformative because no dimensional reduction was
performed.
Discussion
We uncovered an alternative model of intergenerational transmission of attachment with
latent dimensions underlying the categorical parental and infant attachment classifica
tions. The model showed specific linkages between two dimensions on both sides of the
dyadic transmission, from Dismissing-Autonomous to Avoidant-Secure and from
Unresolved-Autonomous to Disorganized-Secure, with substantial effect sizes that never
theless leave quite a lot of room for measurement errors and other predictors of infant
attachment. It should be noted that the correlations between the parental and infant
dimensions for the available data almost 30 years ago were about twice the size (.47 and
.41 for the first and the second dimension, respectively, see Makino, 2022). Measurement
errors in assessments of parental as well as infant attachment classifications may play an
important role in attenuating associations. But our model also resonates calls for a more
intensive search of understudied predictors, in particular contextual ones that explain part
of the variance of infant attachment classifications (Verhage et al., 2019). Family function
ing and child differential susceptibility to parenting seem excellent candidates to com
plement main effects of parental attachment representations in predicting child
attachment and bridging the transmission gap (Belsky & van IJzendoorn, 2017; Van
IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2019; Verhage et al., 2016).
The model shows that Unresolved and Disorganized do not dissolve in dimensions
dominated by Preoccupied and Resistant, which is in contrast with positions based on the
attachment style literature in social psychology (e.g. Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016), arguing
that Unresolved and Disorganized do not survive modeling as separate styles or classifica
tions but merge with the anxiety dimension that represents Preoccupied and Resistant.
Instead, in our model Preoccupied seems to have more affinity to Dismissing-
Autonomous than to Unresolved-Autonomous, whereas on the infant side for Resistant
the significance bar seems to be set too high to play a statistically warranted role at all in
ATTACHMENT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 317
In memory of Mary Main whose bold conjectures about Unresolved and Disorganized
inspired our statistical defense.
Author contributions
MHvIJ: conceptualization, methodology, validation, writing – original draft. NM: conceptualization,
formal analysis, methodology, validation, visualization, writing – review and editing.
Disclosure statement
The authors report that to their knowledge, there are no competing interests to declare.
Funding
The work of MHVIJ is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Spinoza
Award 2004.
ORCID
Marinus H. van IJzendoorn http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1144-454X
Naomichi Makino http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-3741
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