Blaise Pierrehumbert

• PhD
• University of Lausanne

The CaMir Adult Attachment Assessment Questionnaire is a self-report instrument based on Attachment Theory that assesses relationship models in adults and allows describing attachment strategies. The objective of this research was to develop a short version for the Chilean context. The results of two studies are presented. In Study 1, a reduced ver...

We assessed parental reflective functioning (PRF) with the Parent Development Interview-Revised and investigated its association with parenting behaviors, that is, autonomy support and psychological control (operationalized in terms of behaviors promoting and undermining autonomy relatedness), and stress responses (cortisol reactivity) during a par...

In molti contesti professionali, compreso quello del Tribunale per i minorenni, si fa riferimento alla teoria dell'attaccamento e alla relativa ricerca, con fraintendimenti ampiamente diffusi che spesso si traducono in applicazioni scorrette. La finalità di questa dichiarazione di consenso è, pertanto, quella di migliorarne la comprensione, contras...

Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period, with important changes occurring at biological, cognitive, emotional and social levels. As evidenced by several studies, adolescence is also a vulnerable period for the onset of serious mental disorders, which then tend to persist into adulthood. While there is ample evidence concerning risk factors...

La littérature scientifique a montré le rôle clé joué par les comportements d’attachement dans l’enfance et des représentations d’attachement à l’âge adulte pour reconnaître, traiter et réguler les émotions dans des situations stressantes. La pandémie COVID-19 due au virus SARS-CoV-2 a provoqué une importante détresse psychologique et a entraîné un...

Journal: "Emotion". We assessed parental reflective functioning (PRF) with the Parent Development Interview - Revised, and investigated its association with parenting behaviors, i.e., autonomy support and psychological control (operationalized in terms of behaviors promoting and undermining autonomy relatedness), and stress responses (cortisol reac...

The current study examined the effects of attachment on autonomy, relatedness, and emotion regulation during an attachment interview (Friends and Family Interview; FFI) and a Parent×Child Conflict interaction (Family Interaction Task; FIT) in 49 adolescents (11 to 17 years old). Disorganized adolescents displayed behaviors promoting autonomy and re...

La théorie et les recherches sur l’attachement sont utilisées dans de nombreux cadres d’application, y compris dans les tribunaux compétents en matière familiale [1], mais les incompréhensions sont fréquentes et sources d’erreurs lorsqu’il s’agit de les mettre en pratique. L’objectif de cet article de consensus est donc d’accroître la compréhension...

La teoría y la investigación sobre el apego se utilizan en muchos contextos aplicados, incluidos los juzgados de familia, pero hay malentendidos muy extendidos y que a veces dan lugar a aplicaciones erróneas. El objetivo de este documento de consenso es, por lo tanto, mejorar la comprensión, contrarrestar la desinformación y dirigir el uso de la te...

Adaptación y validación preliminar argentina del cuestionario de evaluación del apego (CaMir). El propósito de este estudio fue adaptar lingüísticamente y evaluar validez y fiabilidad del instrumento de evaluación de modelos individuales de relación del estilo de apego, CaMir (Cartes: Modèles Individuels de Relation), en una muestra argentina de ad...

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, e...

This paper discusses processes that may be involved in the intergenerational transmission of trauma, in the form of memory traces without any reminding. This process would constitute a specific type of “post-memory”. The central hypothesis, closely related to the attachment theory, assumes that when a traumatized person becomes a mother or a father...

Este artículo describe los procesos que permiten la inscripción transgeneracional de las huellas del traumatismo bajo la forma de una memoria sin recuerdos. Dicha transmisión constituye un tipo de posmemoria. La hipótesis, que proviene en gran medida de la teoría del apego, establece que cuando una persona está expuesta a un traumatismo y es a su v...

Journal: "Development and Psychopathology". The current study examined the effects of attachment on autonomy, relatedness and emotion regulation during an attachment interview (Friends and Family Interview; FFI) and a parent-child conflict interaction (Family Interaction Task; FIT) in 49 adolescents (11 to 17 years old). Disorganized adolescents di...

Des milliers de recherches ont montré, ces dernières décennies, le rôle déterminant que joue l'attachement dans l’équilibre psychologique et la santé mentale de l’individu, quel que soit son âge. Des outils d’évaluation de l’attachement ont ainsi été mis au point et permettent d’appréhender les modalités relationnelles de la personne en tenant comp...

Adolescence is an important developmental period, with changes occurring at biological, cognitive, affective and social levels. Adolescence is also a sensitive period for the onset of mental disorders, which tend to persist into adulthood. Concerning adoptees, during this stage, they become more concerned with thinking about who they are, where th...

Résumé L'attachement peut être décrit comme une compétence adaptative à réguler les émotions dans des conditions de stress, à l’aide de comportements d'engagement social volontaires et sélectifs. Ceci a été mis en évidence par la recherche tout au long de l'enfance. Nous nous sommes demandés si les représentations de l'attachement, plus tard dans l...

Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period, with changes occurring at the biological, cognitive, affective and social level. Adolescence is also a sensitive period for the onset of mental disorders, which tend to persist into adulthood. While there is ample evidence for risk factors of mental disorders in adolescence, a lot less is known about...

With advancing age, the elderly are exposed to multiple losses, be they cognitive, physical or relational. Attachment phenomena may hold particular relevance for older adults given the increased potential for separation, loss, vulnerability, and feelings of insecurity, in particular in those with cognitive disorders. In respect to that, attachment...

Attachment corresponds to an adaptive capacity to regulate emotions under stressing conditions, through voluntary and selective social engagement behaviors. This was evidenced by attachment researchers throughout childhood. We wondered whether attachment representations, later in life, could mediate stress responses, in the absence of familiar part...

Low agreement between self-reports and parent reports of the behavioral adjustment of adolescents has been widely documented in the literature. However, it has been little studied in connection with adoptees. In the current research, the magnitude of agreement between reports of adolescents’ behavioral problems given by the adolescents themselves a...

Attachment representations in children exposed to domestic violence, aged 3 to 7 years old The aim of this study is to analyze the attachment representations of a clinical sample of 10 children who stay with their mother in an Accommodation and Social Reintegration Centre and who have been exposed to domestic violence. As for methodology, the Attac...

The aim of this study is to analyze the attachment representations of a clinical sample of 10 children who stay with their mother in an Accommodation and Social Reintegration Centre and who have been exposed to domestic violence. As for methodology, the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton, Ridgeway & Cassidy, 1990) has been adapted in orde...

Attachment behaviors and representations are considered as universal. However, in Japan an over-representation of insecure-resistant attachment categorization has been observed. Several authors suggested this exception to be due to the presence of the concept of amae in Japanese culture; this concept refers to the notion of interpersonal dependency...

Résumé Les comportements et les représentations d’attachement sont généralement considérés comme universels, de même que la répartition des types d’attachement décrits par Mary Ainsworth chez le jeune enfant. Toutefois, des études, comme au Japon, ont trouvé une sur-représentation de certains types, en l’occurrence de l’attachement insécure-ambival...

Evaluations of evidence-based, easily accessible, psychological interventions to improve maternal mental health following very preterm birth are scarce. This study investigated the efficacy and acceptability of the expressive writing paradigm for mothers of very preterm infants. The level of maternal posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms was...

Preterm birth may represent a traumatic situation for both parents and a stressful situation for the infant, potentially leading to difficulties in mother-infant relationships. This study aimed to investigate the impact of an early intervention on maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms, and on the quality of mother-infant interactions, in a sample...

Preterm infants experience intense stress during the perinatal period because they endure painful and intense medical procedures. Repeated activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during this period may have long-term effects on subsequent cortisol regulation. A premature delivery may also be intensely stressful for the parents,...

Previous studies have found that mothers of very preterm infants often report symptoms of posttraumatic stress, which has been related to cortisol dysregulation. However, the exact nature of this association is not clear and can be different regarding the predominance of some specific symptoms of posttraumatic stress, as suggested by a recent model...

Child sexual abuse is associated with problems in children's emotional development, particularly increased insecurity of attachment. However, few studies have examined its effect on the organization of attachment representations in preschoolers, and the findings of those that have been conducted have not been entirely consistent. Therefore, this st...

2003-2013 : ten years of research on parents of infants with an orofacial cleft The birth of a child with an orofacial cleft may represent a traumatic event for parents, influencing their representions about the child, and the development of early relationships. This article proposes to review the results of 10 years of research in the scope of the...

Objective The main objective of this study was to assess mother-child patterns of interaction in relation to later quality of attachment in a group of children with an orofacial cleft compared with children without cleft. Design Families were contacted when the child was 2 months old for a direct assessment of mother-child interaction and then at...

Emotional and neuroendocrine regulation have been shown to be associated. However, results are inconsistent. This paper explores the functioning and relationships between these two systems in 54 healthy preterm and 25 full-term born infants at six months of age. Results showed significant differences between very preterm and full-term children in e...

Preterm birth represents an acute stress for infants considering their physical immaturity and painful care procedures they are submitted to, potentially leading to altered cortisol regulation. It also represents a traumatic event for parents, sometimes leading to psychological diseases with repercussions on mother-infant relationships. Thirty pret...

Being repeatedly confronted to very difficult situations since childhood influences the way indivuals will later respond to even mildly stressful events. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is a complex system implicated in regulating neuroendocrine responses to stress. Its activation produces among others the <stress hormonea, cortisol....

Shame and guilt. The birth of a child with a facial malformation Starting with a clinical analysis of the discourse of parents whose children are born with a cleft palate, and with the help of current psychodynamic theories, we have questioned the weight of shame and guilt at the center of the trauma that such a diagnosis represents and the psychic...

Objective : The main objective of this study was to assess mother-child patterns of interaction in relation to later quality of attachment in a group of children with an orofacial cleft compared with children without cleft. Design : Families were contacted when the child was 2 months old for a direct assessment of mother-child interaction and then...

Purpose: Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent disorders in childhood and adolescence. Both neurocognitive and environmental factors have been related to ADHD. The current study contributes to the documentation of the predictive relation between early attachment deprivation and ADHD. Method: Data were co...

Validation of a new scoring system for assessing emotional regulation using the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) The purpose of this study is to investigate psychometric properties of a new coding system for the Lab-TAB (Goldsmith & Rothbart, 1999). This coding system measures emotion intensity and regulation behaviors by 6-month...

Starting with a clinical analysis of the discourse of parents whose children are born with a cleft palate, and with the help of current psychodynamic theories, we have questioned the weight of shame and guilt at the center of the trauma that such a diagnosis represents and the psychic work that these two feelings impose and allow. We emphasize how...

Background: Associations between maternal sensitivity and child attachment have been established in many samples, but the strength of the association varies across populations. The sensitivity-attachment link has never been examined at the level of representations nor among premature samples. Objective: The present study is aimed at exploring as...

This study examines the quality of attachment in a group of 42 abandoned children living in residential institutions and 42 children living in their family of origin in Kinshasa, all aged four to seven years. The objective of this paper is to determine the effect of institutional care on the quality of attachment of abandoned children. The method i...

There are many factors contributing to individual variations in the response to stressful experiences. The present study evaluated the patterns of stress responses according to attachment representations in 28 adults from a community sample, plus 46 subjects expected to be particularly sensitive to stress, having been exposed during childhood and/o...

Although long-term implications of cancer in childhood or adolescence with regard to medical conditions are well documented, the impact on mental health and on response to stress, which may be an indicator of psychological vulnerability, is not yet well understood. In this study, psychological and physiological responses to stress were examined. Fi...

Introduction Long-term implications of cancer in childhood are well documented regarding medical conditions. Sequelae on mental health and on response to stress are yet not well understood. Objectives This study analyzes the association between stress responses and the experience of cancer in childhood, through biological and subjective measures o...

Feeding and Child-Mother Transmission Many authors have dealt with the role of feeding and food as integral to the mother-child relationship and have offered interpretations of the resulting disorders it may trigger. This article sets forward experimental substantiation of a central question – what exactly is transmitted from mother to child within...

This paper considers Bowlby's attachment theory as a framework to better understand parental as well as developmental issues associated with children's ADHD. Recent clinical observations and empirical studies reported frequent insecure attachments in children with ADHD. Moreover, several studies mentioned ADHD-like symptoms in children with an expe...

The CaMir is a questionnaire aimed at measuring attachment cognitions. It is based on subjects' evaluations of past and present attachment experiences and family functioning. It is a widely used tool both in research and in clinical settings. The aim of this study was to develop a short version of CaMir in Spanish (CaMir-R) and to obtain evidence a...

Objective: The announcement, prenatally or at birth, of a cleft lip and/or palate represents a challenge for the parents. The purpose of this study is to identify parental working internal models of the child (parental representations of the child and relationship in the context of attachment theory) and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in m...

Thirty-three families, each with a premature infant born less than 33 gestational weeks, were observed in a longitudinal exploratory study. Infants were recruited in a neonatal intensive care unit, and follow-up visits took place at 4 months and 12 months of corrected age. The severity of the perinatal problems was evaluated using the Perinatal Ris...

The human behavior is giving the entire picture of a person. The behavior is based on a complex combination of personal innate factors, experience and education and the social network within which the individual is integrated. Each moment the complex individual factors face external and internal environmental aspects which in turn, generate proacti...

The human behavior is giving the entire picture of a person. The behavior is based on a complex combination of personal innate factors, experience and education and the social network within which the individual is integrated. Each moment the complex individual factors face external and internal environmental aspects which in turn, generate proacti...

El CaMir es un cuestionario que mide las representaciones de apego. Se fundamenta en las evaluaciones que realiza el sujeto sobre las experiencias de apego pasadas y presentes y sobre el funcionamiento familiar. Es un instrumento ampliamente utilizado tanto en el ámbito de la investigación como en el ámbito clínico. El objetivo del presente estudio...

Adolescence is a particularly sensitive period for adoptees in regard to psychological, social, and physical transformations, particularly for children adopted from abroad. Past studies highlighted that age at adoption could have an effect on child development. Through our research on 350 internationally adopted adolescents in Quebec we show that t...

Résumé Plusieurs études ont souligné que la qualité de l’attachement aurait un rôle à jouer dans les répercussions psychologiques d’événements potentiellement traumatiques, tels que l’abus sexuel. Cette étude se propose d’investiguer le rôle médiateur de l’attachement sur l’association entre abus sexuel, survenu dans l’enfance et/ou l’adolescence,...

Several studies have shown that the quality of attachment could play a role in the individual's response to a potential traumatic event, such as sexual abuse. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of attachment as a potential mediator in the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and clinical outcomes, namely diss...

Premature birth is a stressful experience for parents. This study explores the links between maternal posttraumatic stress, maternal attachment representations of the infant and mother-infant dyadic interactions. The study enrols 47 preterm (GA<34 weeks) and 25 full-term infants. The Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire was adminis...

Objective To explore the impact of the age at adoption, gender and country from origin in developing problem behaviours for adopted adolescents.

The risk of adverse psychological outcomes in adult victims of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) has been documented; however, research on possible mediating variables is still required, namely with a clinical perspective. The attachment literature suggests that secure interpersonal relationships may represent such a variable. Twenty‐eigh...

Long-term implications of the exposure to traumatizing experiences during childhood or adolescence, such as sexual abuse, or cancer, have been documented, namely the subjects' response to an acute stress in adulthood. Several indicators of the stress response have been considered (e.g. cortisol, heart rate). Oxytocin (OT) response to an acute stres...

Objectives Evaluation of the symptoms of parental post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the severity of the prematurity, in mothers and fathers of premature babies.

Bowlby proposed that the individual's social experiences, as early as in infancy, contribute to the construction of Internal Working Models (IWMs) of attachment, which will later guide the individual's expectations and behaviors in close relationships all along his or her life. The qualitative, individual characteristics of these models reflect the...

The birth of a child with a facial cleft is often seen as a very stressing event for both parents. Risks of comorbidity, difficulty in nutrition or just aesthetical reasons are frequently invoked while describing this moment. The announcement of the deformation is felt like a brutal intrusion in representations associated to pregnancy. Then, we can...

The long-term implications of sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence (CSA) have been relatively well documented regarding attachment (disorganized attachment in childhood, unresolved trauma in adulthood), stress reactions (altered patterns of stress reactivity under experimental conditions), and psychopathology. Attachment has been shown to media...

This study was designed to estimate the validity and reliability of the .Cartes: Modèles Individuels de Relation (CAMIR)., in Chile. This inventory, based on attachment.s theory, it.s a auto-questionnaire evaluates the working models in adults and other scales relating to attachment. Participants were 578 individuals, 204 males and 374 females, 14...

Prematurity, parental experience and parent/infant relations : clinical elements and research data By means of qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews) and quantative ones, this article explores parental experiences, particularly traumatic ones, the quality of interactions and the representations of maternal attachment as well as the outcom...

Early intervention with Interactive Guidance and neuroendocrine reactivity modification of formal preterm born infants now 12 months old and their mothers The present project aims to assess the effects of an early intervention inspired from Interactive Guidance therapy, on later attachment quality and stress reactivity of prematurely born infants a...

By means of qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews) and quantative ones, this article explores parental experiences, particularly traumatic ones, the quality of interactions and the representations of maternal attachment as well as the outcome of the premature child born under 34 weeks of gestation. At 6 and 18 months, the quality of mothe...

El objetivo de esta investigación fue examinar la confiabilidad y validez del instrumento de evaluación de apego en el adulto, .Cartes: Modèles Individuels de Relation (CAMIR)., en la realidad sociocultural chilena. Este instrumento, basado en la teoría del apego, es un cuestionario de auto-reporte que evalúa los modelos operativos internos en adul...

Attachment behaviors and representations in the preschool years Using the « Attachment Story Completion Task », devised by Inge Bretherton early in the nineties, or other adaptations of story stem procedures, several coding systems have been designed in an attempt to document the construct of Internal Working Models, with a focus on children’s atta...

The article is a review of the latest findings concerning a coding system for the Attachment Story Completion Task (Bretherton & Ridgeway, 1990) in the form of a Q-sort for the examiner. This system assesses, as early as 3 years of age, attachment representational strategies via proximity scores with 4 prototypes (security, inhibition, hyperactivat...

Form and content of children’s attachment narratives : Clinical research perspectives Several samples of children (non-clinical as well as clinical samples, regrouping children born prematurely, children sexually abused, or with false allegations of abuse, children with pervasive developmental disorders, and children with hyperactivity and attentio...

Using the « Attachment Story Completion Task », devised by Inge Bretherton early in the nineties, or other adaptations of story stem procedures, several coding systems have been designed in an attempt to document the construct of Internal Working Models, with a focus on children's attachment narratives. For the past fifteen years, these procedures...