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Bronfman, Elisa

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Bronfman

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Elisa

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Bronfman, Elisa

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2007 - 20092

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.72f45f50-6795-4d85-b675-2826f97a8aac

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    Infant genotype may moderate sensitivity to maternal affective communications: Attachment disorganization, quality of care, and the DRD4 polymorphism
    (Informa UK Limited, 2007) Gervai, Judit; Novak, Alexa; Lakatos, Krisztina; Toth, Ildiko; Danis, Ildiko; Ronai, Zsolt; Nemoda, Zsofia; Sasvari-Szekely, Maria; Bureau, Jean-Francois; Bronfman, Elisa; Lyons-Ruth, Karlen
    Disorganized attachment is an early predictor of the development of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Lyons-Ruth, Bronfman, and Parsons (1999) developed the AMBIANCE coding scheme to assess disrupted communication between mother and infant, and reported the link between maternal behavior and disorganized attachment. The Hungarian group found an association between a polymorphism of the DRD4 gene and disorganized attachment (Gervai et al., 2005; Lakatos et al., 2000, 2002). The present collaborative work investigated the interplay between genetic and caregiving contributions to disorganized attachment. Mother–infant dyads (138), from a Hungarian low-social-risk sample (96) and a US high-social-risk sample (42), were assessed for infant disorganized attachment behavior, for DRD4 gene polymorphisms, and for disrupted forms of maternal affective communication with the infant. In accord with literature reports, we found a robust main effect of maternal AMBIANCE scores on infant disorganization. However, this relation held only for the majority of infants who carried the short form of the DRD4 allele. Among carriers of the 7-repeat DRD4 allele, there was no relation between quality of maternal communication and infant disorganization. This interaction effect was independent of degree of social risk and maternal DRD4 genotype.
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    How mothers with borderline personality disorder relate to their year-old infants
    (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2009) Hobson, R. P.; Patrick, M. P.H.; Hobson, J. A.; Crandell, L.; Bronfman, Elisa; Lyons-Ruth, Karlen
    Background Women with borderline personality disorder have conflictual interpersonal relations that may extend to disrupted patterns of interaction with their infants. Aims To assess how women with borderline personality disorder engage with their 12 to 18-month-old infants in separation–reunion episodes. Method We videotaped mother–infant interactions in separation–reunion episodes of the Strange Situation test. The mothers were women with borderline personality disorder, with depression, or without psychopathological disorder. Masked ratings of maternal behaviour were made with the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification. Results As predicted, a higher proportion (85%) of women with borderline personality disorder than women in the comparison groups showed disrupted affective communication with their infants. They were also distinguished by the prevalence of frightened/disoriented behaviour. Conclusions Maternal borderline personality disorder is associated with dysregulated mother–infant communication.