Objectives: This study has investigated if a couple who has an individual script of secure attachment also has indicators of a secure joint attachment.
Methods: Three couples whose child has autism participated in the study. The individual attachment script was assessed by the Attachment Script Assessment – ASA, which identify if the subject has or not an access to a secure script. The couple’s attachment script was accessed by a semi-structured interview which was analyzed by content analysis. The assessment was conducted by two independent coders. The coders who assessed the interview were blind to the results of the ASA. The qualitative analyses of the interview generated the following categories: Task divisions between the couple, Situations of support and solidarity, Dissonance and antagonism, Individual characteristics (or features), Perception of the child, Conjugality and Social network.
Results: Main results showed that each couple had a different pattern of individual secure attachment. In one couple both partners had access to the secure attachment script; in the other, only one had this access to a secure attachment script; in the third one, both partners did not have the access to the secure script. The couples in which at least one member had access to the individual secure attachment script also tended to present indicators of joint attachment script, such as sense of a fair task division, empathy and ability to manage conflicts and to seek social support in and outside the family. Regardless the fact of having or not access to a secure attachment script, the three couples reported difficulties in their marital life, especially lack of intimacy. Finally, all couples reported a poor family support network. Their main support was their other children, although the couples with more joint attachment indicators tended to seek the professional network more often.
Conclusions: The results point to the potential relationship between individual and joint attachment script, leading to a promising area of studies and intervention with the parents that have a child with autism.
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