Infant Attachment Predicts Bodily Freezing in Adolescence: Evidence from a Prospective Longitudinal Study

Overview

Journal Front Behav Neurosci

Specialty Psychology

Date 2015 Nov 12

PMID 26557062

Citations 18

Authors

Hannah C M Niermann

Verena Ly

Sanny Smeekens

Bernd Figner

J Marianne Riksen-Walraven

Karin Roelofs

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Early life-stress, particularly maternal deprivation, is associated with long-lasting deviations in animals' freezing responses. Given the relevance of freezing for stress-coping, translational research is needed to examine the relation between insecure infant-parent attachment and bodily freezing-like behavior in humans. Therefore, we investigated threat-related reductions in body sway (indicative of freezing-like behavior) in 14-year-old adolescents (N = 79), for whom attachment security was earlier assessed in infancy. As expected, insecure (vs. secure) attachment was associated with less body sway for angry vs. neutral faces. This effect remained when controlling for intermediate life events. These results suggest that the long-lasting effects of early negative caregiving experiences on the human stress and threat systems extend to the primary defensive reaction of freezing. Additionally, we replicated earlier work in adults, by observing a significant correlation (in adolescents assessed as securely attached) between subjective state anxiety and reduced body sway in response to angry vs. neutral faces. Together, this research opens venues to start exploring the role of freezing in the development of human psychopathology.

Citing Articles

Irritability, Negative Life Events and the Course of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in a Clinical Sample of Youth: A Longitudinal Study.

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Oscillatory brain responses to emotional stimuli are effects related to events rather than states.

Luther L, Horschig J, van Peer J, Roelofs K, Jensen O, Hagenaars M Front Hum Neurosci. 2023; 16:868549.

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Abnormal physiological responses toward sensory stimulus are related to the attention deficits in children with sluggish cognitive tempo.

Yung T, Lai C, Chan C Front Neurosci. 2022; 16:875064.

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Freezing revisited: coordinated autonomic and central optimization of threat coping.

Roelofs K, Dayan P Nat Rev Neurosci. 2022; 23(9):568-580.

PMID: 35760906 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-022-00608-2.

Socioeconomic status in early adolescence predicts blunted stress responses in adulthood.

Loeb E, Gonzalez M, Hunt G, Uchino B, de Grey R, Allen J Dev Psychobiol. 2022; 64(6):e22294.

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