NCJ Number
212890
Journal
Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 5 Issue: 2/3 Dated: 2005 Pages: 43-66
Date Published
2005
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the published literature on attachment and social learning theories, developmental psychology, and parental beliefs in terms of how these areas inform the assessment and treatment of role reversal in child-parent relationships.
Abstract
The article reveals that a wide range of role-reversed behaviors in child-parent relationships exist and that some of these behaviors are part of the normal socialization process and help especially in the development of empathy. However, not all role reversals are normative and the literature clearly illustrates the early underpinnings of an infant’s capacity for role reversal. Interventions designed to treat role reversed attachment disorder in children are limited because of the disagreement concerning what constitutes an attachment disorder. The authors agree with previous researchers who have claimed that a micro-behavioral approach to the assessment of maternal sensitivity would provide critical information on the transmission of attachment organization from the parent to the infant. Specifically, interventions may draw on social learning theory to teach caregivers how their own signals and social cues reinforce role-reversed attachment disorders. Following a review of attachment theory, which contends that interaction experiences mold cognitive expectancies of relationships, the child development research literature is examined for how it might inform an understanding of the processes through which role reversal could arise. Future research should focus on the development of a sensitive, standardized instrument capable of identifying subtle patterns of early interaction related to the formation of pathological role-reversed behavior. References