Indiscriminate friendliness and terror of strangers in infancy: Contributions from the study of infants in foster care
✍ Scribed by Kathleen E. Albus; Mary Dozier
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 121 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0163-9641
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
In this paper we present case studies of infants in foster care who have demonstrated indiscriminate friendliness and terror of strangers. Infants in foster care have endured attachment-related traumas well beyond the experience of most babies, including emotionally unavailable caregiving, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of caregivers, and the inevitable disruption in caregiving inherent in foster care placement. We assert that in some cases, such extreme circumstances force foster infants to develop anomalous coping mechanisms, particularly in situations that threaten the attachment system, such as the approach of a stranger. This population of infants thus provides an unfortunate opportunity to address questions of how disorders of attachment develop. We suggest possible explanations for the related phenomena of indiscriminate friendliness and terror of strangers.
RESUMEN: La actitud amistosa indiscriminada hacia personas extran ˜as o que no pertenecen al grupo, y la fuerte ansiedad hacia esas personas son dos cosas descritas en la literatura para el diagno ´stico de los trastornos de la afectividad (ve ´ase, Asociacio ´n Norteamericana de Siquiatrı ´a, 1994;Lieberman & Pawl, 1988;Zeanah, 1996; Zeanah, Mamman & Lieberman, 1993). Sin embargo, sorprende lo poco que la investigacio ´n se ha dedicado a esos patrones ano ´malos de conducta. En este ensayo presentamos casos de estudio de infantes bajo el cuidado de personas o familias adoptivas temporales, quienes han demostrado una actitud amistosa indiscriminada ası ´como un miedo hacia las personas extran ˜as o desconocidas. Dichos infantes han soportado traumas relacionados con la afectividad mucho ma ´s alla ´de la experiencia de la mayorı ´a de los bebe ´s, lo cual incluye la falta de cuidado emocional, abuso sexual y fı ´sico a manos