Elisa Bronfman

Publications (4)9.79 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: Judit Gervai

  Dataset: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2167962/

  Judit Gervai, Alexa Novak, Krisztina Lakatos, Ildiko Toth, Ildiko Danis, Zsolt Ronai, Zsofia Nemoda, Maria Sasvari-Szekely, Jean-Francois Bureau, Elisa Bronfman, Karlen Lyons-Ruth
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  ABSTRACT: Disorganized attachment is an early predictor of the development of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Lyons-Ruth et al. (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 (Lakatos et al., 2000; 2002; Gervai et al., 2005). The present collaborative work investigated the interplay between genetic and caregiving contributions to disorganized attachment. 138 mother-infant dyads, 96 from a Hungarian low-social-risk sample and 42 from a US high-social-risk sample, 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.
• Article: Parental depression and child attachment: Hostile and helpless profiles of parent and child behavior among families at risk.

  Karlen Lyons-Ruth, Amy Lyubchik, Rebecca Wolfe, Elisa Bronfman
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  ABSTRACT: This chapter considers the theoretical and methodological issues that may contribute to the current paradoxical state of the literature regarding parental depression and child attachment. The authors first briefly review the body of studies that have examined the parental depression-child attachment security link. They then consider 2 models of the parental depression-child insecure attachment relation, focusing on what they consider to be the most theoretically important 3rd variable that potentially mediates the relation between parental depression and child attachment. Next the authors present nationally representative survey data on the parenting correlates of depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers of children under age 3, data that describe the disparate parenting behaviors associated with depression. Finally, they integrate these findings with emerging results of attachment studies that demonstrate large differences in behavior between subgroups of parent-child dyads classified within the overall disorganized-controlling attachment classification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  10/2012;
• Source

  Available from: Karlen Lyons-Ruth

  Article: How mothers with borderline personality disorder relate to their year-old infants.

  R Peter Hobson, Matthew P H Patrick, Jessica A Hobson, Lisa Crandell, Elisa Bronfman, Karlen Lyons-Ruth
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  ABSTRACT: Women with borderline personality disorder have conflictual interpersonal relations that may extend to disrupted patterns of interaction with their infants. To assess how women with borderline personality disorder engage with their 12 to 18-month-old infants in separation-reunion episodes. 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. 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. Maternal borderline personality disorder is associated with dysregulated mother-infant communication.
  The British journal of psychiatry: the journal of mental science 10/2009; 195(4):325-30. · 6.62 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Karlen Lyons-Ruth

  Article: Infant genotype may moderate sensitivity to maternal affective communications: attachment disorganization, quality of care, and the DRD4 polymorphism.

  Judit Gervai, Alexa Novak, Krisztina Lakatos, Ildiko Toth, Ildiko Danis, Zsolt Ronai, Zsofia Nemoda, Maria Sasvari-Szekely, Jean-Francois Bureau, Elisa Bronfman, Karlen Lyons-Ruth
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Disorganized attachment is an early predictor of the development of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Lyons-Ruth et al. (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 (Lakatos et al., 2000; 2002; Gervai et al., 2005). The present collaborative work investigated the interplay between genetic and caregiving contributions to disorganized attachment. 138 mother-infant dyads, 96 from a Hungarian low-social-risk sample and 42 from a US high-social-risk sample, 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.
  Social neuroscience 02/2007; 2(3-4):307-19. · 3.17 Impact Factor