Attachment Behaviors in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Examination of Factors Associated with Separation and Reunion

Background: Previous studies have emphasized the need for additional research on attachment behaviors of toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders with their mothers and fathers.

Objectives: To identify how diagnosis, parental gender, and cognitive skills are related to toddler’s responses in a modified Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP) with mothers and fathers.

Methods: Data were collected as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of children with ASD. Participants were referrals from four different regional state-funded sites (TEACCH Centers) in North Carolina and an autism center in Chicago. Participants were administered the PL-ADOS which included a modified SSP to elicit attachment behaviors of the children. Using diagnosis at age 9, 300 children were characterized as on the autism spectrum, 63 children as having non-spectrum developmental delays, and 56 children as typically developing. 390 children participated in a modified SSP with mothers and 125 children participated with fathers.

Results: Separation: Using generalized linear modeling, overall results indicate that neither diagnosis nor mental age were significant predictors of child response during separation to their mother or their father. However, children with ASD had significantly different responses toward mothers than fathers, (x²=19.81, df=1, p<.001), which was not observed in typical or non-spectrum children. Reunion: Using generalized linear modeling, results indicated a significant effect of diagnosis for reunions with mothers, (x²=14.705, df=2, p<.01). Children with ASD, unlike typical and non-spectrum children, had significantly different responses to their mothers than to their fathers, (x²=6.84, df=1, p<.05). Moreover, mental age was significant in predicting reunion responses toward mothers [t(276)=5.10, p<.001] and toward fathers [t(62)=4.05, p<.001] in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Conclusions: These results build on previous studies supporting the importance of reunion behaviors in differentiating ASD from developmentally delayed and typical children, and also suggest that observations of social behavior with fathers may also be useful.