CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 638Attachment and Relationship DynamicsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

The significance of insecure and disorganized attachment for children's internalizing symptoms: a meta-analytic study

Groh, Ashley M, Roisman, Glenn I, van IJzendoorn, Marinus H, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J, Fearon, R Pasco·2012·Child Development
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01711.x
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This meta-analytic review examines the association between attachment and internalizing symptomatology during childhood, and compares the strength of this association with that for externalizing symptomatology. Based on 42 independent samples (N = 4,614), the association between insecurity and internalizing symptoms was small, yet significant (d = 0.15, CI 0.06∼0.25) and not moderated by assessment age of internalizing problems. Avoidance, but not resistance (d = 0.03, CI −0.11∼0.17) or disorganization (d = 0.08, CI −0.06∼0.22), was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (d = 0.17, CI 0.03∼0.31). Insecurity and disorganization were more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms. Discussion focuses on the significance of attachment for the development of internalizing versus externalizing symptomatology.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01711.x

Cites

99 of 99 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Meta-analyses have shown that children with insecure and disorganized attachment have greater risk for concurrent and later internalizing and externalizing difficulties and psychiatric disorders in adulthood.

    “Meta-analyses have shown that, in general, children with insecure and disorganized attachment have greater risk for concurrent and later internalizing and externalizing difficulties (Fearon et al. 2010, Groh et al. 2012) and psychiatric disorders in adulthood (Raby et al. 2018).”

    From Child Sexual Abuse as a Unique Risk Factor for the Development of Psychopathology: The Compounded Convergence of Mechanisms (2021) · cites this paper as Groh et al. 2012

  • Groh and colleagues' meta-analysis found small but significant links between attachment insecurity and internalizing problems, with avoidant patterns most strongly tied to internalizing disorders.

    “Based on a meta-analysis of attachment studies primarily concerned with samples examined in infancy and early childhood, including both community and clinical samples, Groh and colleagues (Groh, Roisman, van IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Fearon, 2012) reported small but significant associations between attachment insecurity and internalizing problems, with avoidant patterns most closely”

    From Prospective Relations between Family Conflict and Adolescent Maladjustment: Security in the Family System as a Mediating Process (2015) · cites this paper as Groh, Roisman, van IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Fearon, 2012

  • Attachment insecurity was more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms.

    “They also reported that attachment insecurity was more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms (see also Groh et al., 2012).”

    From Prospective Relations between Family Conflict and Adolescent Maladjustment: Security in the Family System as a Mediating Process (2015) · cites this paper as Groh et al., 2012

  • These attachment types have commonly been linked to internalizing and externalizing behaviours.

    “These types of attachment have commonly been linked to a catalogue of internalizing and externalizing behaviours (Colennessi et al. 2014;Groh et al. 2012;Jinyao et al. 2012).”

    From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Groh et al. 2012

  • In the absence of secure attachment, neurodevelopment may be undermined, making the person more vulnerable to further environmental insults and subsequent development of both internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, including anxiety, depression, substance misuse, maladaptive eating patterns, sexual risk behavior, and suicidality.

    “In its absence, neurodevelopment may be undermined, making that person more vulnerable to further environmental insults and subsequent development of both internalizing [36] and externalizing [37] behavioral problems, including anxiety, depression, substance misuse, maladaptive eating patterns, sexual risk behavior, and suicidality.”

    From Prevention and early intervention in youth mental health: is it time for a multidisciplinary and trans-diagnostic model for care? (2020) · cites this paper as [36]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Groh, A. M., Roisman, G. I., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Fearon, R. P.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • University of Leiden
  • University of Reading
Corresponding author
Groh, Ashley M
ORCID
Venue
Child Development
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2012-03-01
Volume
83
Issue
2
Pages
591-610
ISSN
  • 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-8624
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01711.x
OpenAlex
W2118748762
Semantic Scholar
1aaa3cc6768aac1af795b29740f57ac8c88a734e
Cited by
638
References
96
Citations by year
2026: 27 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 74 · 2020: 80 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 43 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 11
FWCI
4.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Child Development (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
insecure attachment, disorganized attachment, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, childhood, attachment avoidance, child psychopathology
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Age Factors, Anxiety Disorders, Child, Child Behavior Disorders, Child, Preschool, Defense Mechanisms, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Personality Assessment, Personality Disorders, Social Behavior Disorders, Somatoform Disorders, Statistics as Topic, Reactive Attachment Disorder

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review