Conference Agenda

Introduction: The Start for Life (SfL) programme is a £170 million package aimed at transforming support for families in England during the critical first 1,001 days, from birth to age two. SfL aims to strengthen parent–infant relationships, recognising the foundational role in early child development.

Aims: This poster presents early findings from the evaluation of the SfL programme, exploring families experiences of SfL funded services and the impact of this on parent infant relationships.

Methods: The study has been co-produced with an advisory group of parents and carers with lived experience. Using a longitudinal case study design, we followed 60 families living in SfL funded areas across the perinatal period. Interviews were conducted every 3 months. Depending on whether families were expecting a baby or had already given birth, the Pregnancy Interview (PI; Slade, 2007) or the Parent Development Interview (PDI; Slade et al., 2004) were collected. National data on parental depression, anxiety, and parent-infant relationships were collected pre- to post-interventions for more intensive services delivered through SfL. A cross-sectional survey of parents and carers living in SfL areas was carried out.

Results: Data from all sources will be analysed to examine parent–infant relationships and families experiences of relationally focused support.

Conclusions: The results will provide valuable insights into how government investment in the critical first 1,001 days strengthens parent–infant relationships and outcomes.

Background:

Attachment theory emphasises the central role of sensitive, attuned caregiving for children’s emotional regulation, security, and development. For children with social communication needs or differences, caregiver–child interactions may diverge from neurotypical patterns, potentially complicating pathways to secure attachment. However, attachment-informed interventions remain under-researched in this population, particularly at the level of observable interactional change. Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is a NICE-recommended, video-feedback intervention grounded in promoting parental sensitivity, reflective functioning, and relational attunement through guided review of successful moments of interaction. While VIG is increasingly used with families of children with diverse social communication profiles, its attachment-relevant mechanisms have not been systematically examined.

Objectives:

This study investigates whether and how VIG strengthens caregiver–child attachment-relevant interaction processes in families where children have social communication differences or needs. Specifically, it examines changes in caregiver sensitivity, attunement, and non-verbal synchrony from pre- to post-intervention. A secondary aim is to co-develop and pilot an attachment-informed observational framework with an advisory group of caregivers, practitioners, and people with lived experience, designed to capture diverse expressions of attunement beyond neurotypical interaction norms.

Methods:

Video data from up to 20 caregiver–child dyads recorded at the beginning and end of VIG will be analysed using the new coding scheme. Micro-analysis of responsiveness and interactional coordination will be complemented by Motion Energy Analysis to quantify non-verbal motor synchrony. Changes over time will be examined to explore shifts in relational dynamics.

Results:

Recruitment is ongoing, with completion by March 2026. We hypothesise that VIG will be associated with increased caregiver sensitivity, mutual responsiveness, and synchrony, reflecting strengthened attachment-relevant interaction patterns.

Conclusions:

Findings will deepen understanding of how sensitivity, contingency, and attunement are achieved through diverse interactional pathways. The study offers a novel, attachment-informed measurement framework for caregiver–child relationships where connection unfolds through non-traditional interactional pathways.

Introduction: In randomized clinical trials, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC; Dozier & Bernard, 2019) has been shown to improve parent sensitivity and normalize children’s diurnal cortisol regulation, with changes in parent sensitivity mediating intervention effects on child physiology (Garnett et al., 2020). The current community-based effectiveness study explored whether ABC led to stronger associations between caregiving quality and children’s physiology. Specifically, we examined whether ABC increased the biological salience of caregiving by strengthening coupling between parental sensitivity and children’s diurnal cortisol regulation.

Method: Participants included 102 parent-child dyads participating in a randomized clinical trial of ABC implemented in a community context. Parents were randomly assigned to receive ABC or be placed on a waitlist. At baseline (pre) and follow-up (post) visits, dyads participated in a video-recorded parent-child interaction task that was coded for parental sensitivity (i.e., “following the lead”) and provided child saliva samples at waking and bedtime across three days.

Results: In moderation analyses, participation in ABC moderated the association between parental sensitivity and children’s waking-to-bedtime cortisol change, b = -.22, p = .026. For children in the ABC condition, there was a strong negative association between parental sensitivity and diurnal cortisol change, b = -.19, p = .006, such that higher sensitivity was linked with a steeper (more healthy) cortisol decline across the day. For children in the comparison condition, the link between parental sensitivity and children’s cortisol was non-significant, b = .02, p = .729.

Discussion: In the context of community-based implementation, ABC strengthened the link between parent sensitivity and child cortisol regulation, indicating that sensitive parenting may have greater physiological benefits when supported by an intervention. These findings suggest that ABC does not simply shift children’s stress physiology on average, but rather enhances the degree to which caregiving quality becomes biologically meaningful for children.

Introduction: Stereotyped behavior, as well as disruptive behavior, self-injury, and aggression, is commonly seen among individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Severe forms occur in about 10% of individuals with ID (Emerson et al., 2001; Lowe et al., 2007), while milder forms in about 22.5% to 55 % (Cooper et al., 2007). These behaviors can place considerable strain on their parents and (professional) caregivers, resulting in fewer interactions, more negative responses, and a higher risk of maintaining or escalating challenging behavior (Simons et al., 2021). As stress can impair the ability to apply mentalizing skills, caregivers are encouraged to adopt a mentalizing stance, characterized by flexibility, tolerance, and reflective engagement, especially in emotionally challenging situations (Fonagy, 2004). To enhance these competencies, the Mentalization-Based Support Training (MBS-training) was provided during three half-day sessions with a study load of about 24 hours. Thus, the aim was to examine the effectiveness of the MBS-training in reducing caregiver stress, changes in mentalizing abilities, and the social validity.
Method: Participants (n = 100) were caregivers providing care for persons with ID in group-home facilities in the Netherlands. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), an adapted version of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) (Derks et al., 2023), and an adapted version of the Social Validity Scale (Jonker et al., 2015).

Results: After the training, participants reported significantly lower stress levels (p = .001). No statistically significant improvement was found on the RFQ. Analysis of the individual items of the Social Validity Scale showed that the participants perceived improvements in their mentalizing skills and in being more aware of their own emotions.

Conclusion: Participants perceived the training as instructive and supportive in understanding their own needs and those of their clients. Further development of the training and additional evaluation of its effects are recommended.

This research investigated the influence of early familial factors, particularly parental bonding and adult attachment style, on psychological distress in adulthood. While previous studies have demonstrated that parental warmth and attachment security promote favorable outcomes during childhood and adolescence, there is a paucity of research examining their enduring effects on adult well-being. The current study utilized a quantitative, cross-sectional survey methodology involving 50 adult participants (70% female; M age = 28.4 years). Participants filled out demographic questions, the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The analyses consisted of correlation, hierarchical regression, mediation, and one-way ANOVA. The results indicated that parental warmth was inversely correlated with avoidant and anxious attachment, as well as psychological distress, while coldness exhibited a contrasting relationship. Regression analyses demonstrated that anxious attachment significantly predicted distress independent of parental bonding, whereas avoidant attachment did not exhibit such predictive capability. Mediation models indicated that both avoidant and anxious attachment partially mediated the relationship between parental warmth and distress, with anxious attachment exhibiting a more pronounced effect. One-way ANOVA further indicated that securely attached individuals exhibited reduced distress in comparison to fearful-avoidant individuals. These results confirm attachment theory and parental bonding theory, highlighting that retrospective evaluations of early parental warmth have lasting impacts on adult attachment styles and mental health.The findings emphasize the importance of addressing attachment insecurity, especially anxiety, in clinical interventions, and indicate that family-oriented preventive measures can reduce susceptibility to distress. Subsequent research ought to improve these findings through larger, more heterogeneous samples and longitudinal methodologies.

Background. Bowlby’s attachment theory suggests that childhood upbringing and care is internalized as representations of relationships and carried forward across the lifespan. In adulthood, these representations can be assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), a semi-structured interview which assesses attachment representations by asking individuals to describe their early experiences with caregivers. Individuals who describe their early caregiving experiences consistently, and with emotional clarity are classified as secure. Individuals who describe their experiences in a contradictory way or become emotionally overwrought are classified as insecure. The extent to which AAI representations have their antecedents in actual childhood experiences (specifically, parenting behaviors) has been investigated in several longitudinal studies but has not been meta-analytically assessed. The present meta-analysis examines the predictive significance of parenting behaviors experienced in childhood to adult attachment representations.

Methods. A systematic search of databases (i.e., Medline, EMBASE, PsychInfo) identified 7,182 non-duplicate abstracts. Inclusion Criteria. Studies reported either 2, 3, 4, or 5-way AAI classifications, AAI coherence, or AAI security measured via Kobak Q-sort. Measures of parenting behaviors were assessed in an observational parent-child interaction (e.g., sensitivity, supporting autonomy). Following PRISMA (2020) guidelines 9 studies were included. 7/9 studies drew upon longitudinal data, and 2 studies examined concurrent associations.

Findings. Nine studies provided 19 effect sizes from 1,841 participants, observed parenting behaviors were associated with adult attachment security (r =.21, 95% CI[.16,.27], p< .001). Neither coding system (Main & Goldwyn vs. Kobak) nor age at AAI assessment moderated this association.

Conclusions. The present meta-analysis suggests that observed positive caregiving experience in childhood is linked to greater attachment security in adulthood. This meta-analysis was limited to a few studies; however, this is unsurprising given the inherently longitudinal nature of the present association. Despite this limitation, these findings reaffirm that the AAI has its origins in childhood experiences.

Sensitive discipline involves effective yet non-coercive strategies for parental limit-setting and guidance (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2003; van IJzendoorn et al., 2022). Another key aspect of positive parenting is maternal cooperation (i.e., allowing child-led exploration; Ainsworth et al., 1974). Social-cognitive models suggest that sensitive discipline attitudes can shape parenting strategies (Bandura, 1986). However, in cultures where parental control is more normative, maternal cooperation may be less directly affected by beliefs about discipline and instead depend more strongly on ongoing parental sensitivity.

The current study aims to examine the role of maternal attitudes towards sensitive discipline on observer-rated maternal sensitivity and cooperation during parent-infant interactions. Another goal is to delineate culture-specific patterns, whether behavioural or cognitive strategies shape cooperation among Turkish parents.

Maternal sensitivity and cooperation were coded for 40 dyads from videotaped play sessions, using the Ainsworth Maternal Sensitivity Scale by two independent coders (Ainsworth et al., 1974). Interrater reliability was excellent for both measures (ICCs = .92 – .93). Mothers completed the Maternal Attitudes toward Sensitivity and Sensitive Discipline Scale (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al., 2003).

Observer-rated sensitivity and cooperation were strongly positively correlated, r(38) = .93, p < .001. Parental attitudes towards sensitive discipline were not associated with observed sensitivity and cooperation. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that when controlled for sensitivity, parental beliefs towards sensitive discipline did not predict cooperation during play interaction. Instead, maternal sensitivity was a strong predictor of cooperative behaviour (B = .93, SE = .07, p < .001).

The present findings indicate that maternal cooperation is shaped by ongoing sensitivity rather than attitudes, potentially a culture-specific effect where control is normative. Overall, results can inform prevention studies to prioritise strategies to support maternal sensitivity over cognitions about sensitive discipline to increase parent-infant cooperation. Further research on varied manifestations of parental cooperation and responsiveness across cultures is warranted.

The pre-mentalization (PM) component of parental reflective functioning refers to parents' malevolent interpretation or lack of attention to the child's observed behavior (Luyten et al., 2017), whereas mind-mindedness (MM) captures the frequency and appropriateness of parents’ comments on their child’s mental state during everyday interactions (Meins, 1997; McMahon & Bernier, 2017). Maternal depression may undermine mothers’ ability to attend to their child’s mental states (Kaminer et al., 2007). Yet, existing research regarding the association between maternal depression, pre-mentalization, and MM is mixed, and evidence from non-WEIRD populations remains limited. To address this gap, this study examined the roles of PM and MM in maternal depression within a low-income community sample from Türkiye. Participants were 39 infants (Mage = 9.09 months, SD = .57) and their mothers (Mage = 32.10 years, SD = 4.64). Observational and mothers’ self-report data were collected in family health centers. Mother-infant dyads were videotaped through free-play, book-reading, and feeding for approximately 20 minutes. MM was coded using the Mind-mindedness coding manual, Version 2.2 (Meins & Fernyhough, 2015). PM (PRFQ; Luyten et al., 2017) and maternal depression (EPDS; Cox et al., 1987) were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that MM and maternal depression were positively correlated (r = .367, p = .021), whereas the association between PM and maternal depression was positive but not statistically significant (r = .239, p = .142). The association between PM and depression was positive in line with the literature, suggesting a possible co-occurrence of pre-mentalizing tendencies and depressive mood. The positive associations between MM and maternal depression are discussed in relation to hyper-mentalization (Georg et al., 2023).

Secure attachment develops through sensitive and reciprocal early parent-infant interactions and supports lifelong socio-emotional functioning, including self-esteem, coping, and resilience. In contrast, insecure attachment is linked to difficulties in emotion regulation and higher susceptibility to psychological problems. An estimated 15 million infants are born prematurely worldwide yearly. Although advances in neonatal care have substantially improved survival rates, preterm birth continues to be associated with elevated risks for socio-emotional and developmental difficulties. Preterm birth can disrupt the caregiver-infant relationship through increased parental stress and anxiety, as well as extended periods of separation. The overall developmental immaturity of preterm infants is also associated with reduced responsiveness, which can make interactions less reinforcing for caregivers. Furthermore, immaturity of the autonomic nervous system limits infants’ physiological regulation, limiting their ability to manage stress during interactions with caregivers. The cumulative demands placed on their parents may also undermine consistent sensitivity. Collectively, these factors may interfere with the development of secure attachment in preterms.

This study compares attachment in 5-year-old children born preterm and matched full-term peers, examining associations with early infant and parental physiology, parental reflective functioning, parental mental health, and neonatal factors. The sample includes 70 preterm and 32 full-term children. Attachment was assessed using the Story Stem Task and regulation through the Still-Face Paradigm, alongside stress physiology recordings during rest and interaction. Parental reflective functioning was measured using the Five-Minute Speech Sample and parental mental health via standardized questionnaires. Neonatal data, including gestational age, birth weight, kangaroo care, and invasive procedures, were retrieved from medical records.

Data collection is complete and analyses are expected to be finalized prior the congress. By investigating how prematurity and physiological, parental, and neonatal factors contribute to attachment development, this study aims to inform interventions supporting secure attachment development and foster long-term socio-emotional wellbeing in preterm populations.

This study examines how parents’ history of emotional abuse and neglect influences the quality of infant-directed speech (IDS). IDS is characterized by exaggerated and simplified language and is an indicator of maternal responsiveness to infants' needs (Spinelli et al., 2022). Caregivers who have experienced emotional maltreatment in childhood often have negative representations of parent-child relationships (Cicchetti & Toth, 2000), which could affect IDS. We hypothesized that mothers who experienced emotional abuse or emotional neglect, in which communication and affection were withheld, would have more negativity and less positivity in IDS. Participants were economically diverse and predominantly Hispanic (49.1%) and White (39.5%). Emotional abuse and neglect were assessed prenatally (T1) via the CTQ. At 6 months postpartum (T2), infant-worn audio-recorders (LENA) recorded 24-hour audio of naturalistic home interactions. AI models transcribed and coded audio for the degree of positivity and negativity of IDS on a 1-7 scale and demonstrated strong reliability with trained human coders, who coded a 48-hour subset (r=.80 for positivity; r=.75 for negativity). In a structural equation model, our preliminary analysis (N=124 at T1; N=35 at T2) found that, after controlling for the total amount of IDS, that contrary to expectations, parents who experienced greater childhood emotional abuse exhibited less negativity (β=-.427, p=.001) and more positivity within their IDS (β=.477, p<.000). Additionally, greater emotional neglect predicted less positivity within IDS (β=-.427, p=.035), but was unrelated to negativity. We found no relations between neglect or abuse and quantity of IDS (ps>.05). Full sample analyses will be conducted March 2026. Since there is a greater awareness of abuse over neglect, it may be that those who were emotionally abused engage in adaptive parenting strategies, producing more positive and less negative IDS. In contrast, emotional neglect involves withholding affection, resulting in a parenting model lacking both positivity and negativity.

Maternal stress has often been associated with developmental process and child outcomes. This is the case for both maternal prenatal stress and postnatal stress. The purpose of this study was to examine trajectories of maternal stress during the transition to motherhood with stress measures taken during pregnancy and at infant age 4, 8, and 16 months in a group of 148 mothers at moderate to high psychosocial risk. Maternal education, age, and income were controlled for and associations with negative life events (NLEs) across this time and maternal sensitivity during interactions at infant age 8 months were also documented. Three stress trajectories emerged: two trajectories that are characterized by low or moderate levels of stress and one increasing trajectory where levels start high and increase substantially to infant age 16 months. High levels of NLEs and low maternal sensitivity scores were observed for mothers classified in the increasing stress trajectory, even when sociodemographic variables were controlled. These results underline that the experience of stress across the transition to motherhood is not heterogeneous across women and that very high levels of stress during pregnancy may provide an important indication of developmental risk for the infant. Moreover, the identified stress trajectories appear to be closely linked to maternal sensitivity, which is itself strongly associated with the quality of infant attachment, highlighting a potential pathway through which maternal stress may influence early socio-emotional development.

Background: Although research has consistently shown a strong link between attachment anxiety and avoidance and lower relationship satisfaction (RS), the psychological mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. This study aims to examine how attachment dimensions associate with RS alongside conflict resolution strategies and cohabitation, in a non-clinical adult population. Method: Three hundred fifty-seven French participants recruited via social media and Rouen University’s mailing lists completed an online questionnaire measuring attachment dimensions by the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR; Brennan, Clark & Shaver, 1998); predominant use of certain conflict resolution strategies assessed using the Conflict Resolution Styles Inventory (CRSI; Kurdek, 1994); and relationship satisfaction assessed by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS-16; Spanier, 1976). A multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the strongest predictors of RS. Results: The findings indicated that problem-solving strategies and low attachment anxiety and avoidance were the strongest positive predictors of RS. Whereas attachment insecurity, particularly attachment avoidance was associated with lower RS, even more than destructive conflict resolution strategies such as conflict engagement. Results also show that participants with high attachment insecurity were also more likely to report using destructive conflict resolution strategies, both of which independently predicted lower RS. These findings support the hypothesis that attachment style and the quality of conflict resolution each play a distinct and important role in relationship satisfaction. No significant difference was found in relationship satisfaction between individuals cohabiting with their partners and those who lived separately, neither between genders. Discussion: The discussion highlights the central role of attachment insecurity and conflict engagement strategies in reducing relationship satisfaction, and underscores the protective value of problem-solving strategies in maintaining couples’ well-being.

Within medico-social care settings, professionals working with children are daily confronted with behavioral manifestations that make clinical care particularly complex. These manifestations may take the form of externalizing behaviors, occurring in the absence of reflective processing, or internalizing behaviors such as social withdrawal, depressive symptoms, or psychosomatic reactions (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). However, many professionals report feeling insufficiently trained and equipped to respond effectively to these challenges. In response to these needs, the Acséa organization has established a CIFRE partnership to host a doctoral project aimed at supporting care teams.

Children involved in child welfare services, most of whom have experienced early relational trauma, exhibit higher levels of behavioral difficulties than children not receiving such support (Guillemette et al., 2024). This vulnerability is notably associated with an overrepresentation of insecure and disorganized attachment representations (Toussaint et al., 2018). These attachment patterns are frequently linked to reduced mentalization capacities (Terradas et al., 2017) and lower levels of empathy (Berzenski & Yates, 2022), resulting in impaired emotional and behavioral regulation (Domon-Archambault et al., 2020).

The primary objective of this doctoral research is to examine the relationship between mentalization and empathy in children presenting behavioral difficulties, and to investigate how this relationship varies according to their attachment representations and the severity of early relational trauma. The study aims to develop clinical recommendations for professionals working with children aged 7 to 12 exhibiting either externalizing or internalizing behaviors.

To this end, children recruited from Acséa facilities will participate in assessments including questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and play-based tasks to evaluate the study variables. Rooted in practitioners’ expressed needs, this project seeks to provide theoretically grounded and clinically relevant tools while acknowledging both the realities of professional practice and the vulnerability of the children involved.

Leadership comes in many different shapes and forms. Accordingly, the ways how leadership is defined, classified and measured vary greatly, with a focus on traits, skills/abilities, behaviours or situations, and the use a variety of labels like transformational, authentic, servant, adaptive, inclusive or ethical. While all of these elements add valuable information, there is a lack of an overarching principle of leadership. We would like to suggest that this overarching principle of leadership should be attachment.

It may not be immediately obvious why attachment is foundational for effective leadership. Because to reach such a conclusion, one needs to ‘connect many different dots' in a way that is not usually and readily done. Our poster will explain this process of 'connecting many different dots' by illustrating the tight links between attachment and leadership. To do so, we will use practice- and evidence-based empirical and theoretical insights as part of the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment (SoNeAt).

We will point out the following. First, that social connection supports health via energy conservation and co-regulation (drawing upon Social Baseline Theory). Second, that attachment strategies affect workplace functioning, with insecure attachment styles requiring more compensatory energy, thereby reducing capacity for creativity, resilience and interpersonal effectiveness. And third, that caregiving and leadership intertwine, since leadership inherently involves caregiving roles. A leader’s attachment style shapes their caregiving behaviour and their team’s regulatory capacity.

Our attachment-informed leadership (AIL) framework is distinctive because it builds upon many years of experience and expertise at the intersection of developmental psychology, social psychology, social neuroscience and leadership. We are currently in the process of setting up a dedicated Centre for Attachment-Informed Leadership Studies (CALS) to further develop and promote our new attachment-informed leadership (AIL) framework. In that process, we are actively looking for collaboration partners and scientific advisors.

The prevention of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in children is a critical scientific and public health priority. Research highlights maternal sensitivity - defined as a caregiver’s ability to perceive, interpret, and respond appropriately to their child’s cues - and consistent but non-coercive discipline as key factors in reducing these behavioral issues. The Video-feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) aims to enhance maternal sensitivity and promote non-coercive discipline strategies. Meta-analyses have demonstrated its effectiveness in improving parental sensitivity, limit-setting practices, and child attachment security, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged families. However, evidence on its impact on externalizing behaviors remains mixed, with some studies suggesting delayed or context-specific effects. This study protocol outlines the evaluation of VIPP-SD’s impact on parental sensitivity, discipline, child behavioral problems, and parental mental health in Portugal. Additionally, it includes an assessment of the intervention’s cost-effectiveness through the analysis of health outcomes, resource utilization, and associated costs. The program consists of a baseline visit, four intervention sessions, and optional booster sessions, focusing on themes such as sensitive responsiveness, positive reinforcement, and empathetic boundary-setting. A total of 120 families from vulnerable populations in Portugal will be recruited and randomly assigned to the VIPP-SD intervention or to the same number of contacts without feedback on parenting. Trained interveners will deliver the intervention. Pre- and posttest assessments include observed and self-reported parenting behaviors, parental mental health, quality of life, and resource use. Follow-up assessments include questionnaires on parent and child variables. This study is designed to inform health policy decisions and the prioritization of cost-effective early interventions that support family well-being.

Secure, supportive relationships are central to healthy development and well-being across the lifespan, yet the successful implementation of attachment-based interventions depends on the readiness and capacity of non-profit organizations delivering them. Much of what we know about research partnerships centres academic perspectives, informed by experiences in healthcare, government, and funders, non-profit voices remain underrepresented. This study explores research readiness within non-profit agencies implementing the ATTACH™ intervention, an evidence-based parenting program designed to improve parents’ insight into children’s thoughts, feelings, and mental states, in families experiencing adversity (e.g., poverty, domestic violence, abuse).

Purpose: To understand how agency leaders and service providers, after participating in a real-world research collaboration (the ATTACH™ intervention), reflect on the feasibility, value, and success of ATTACH™ and similar research partnerships.

Methods: This secondary analysis focuses on interviews with ATTACH™ service providers and administrators (n=17) that were guided by Normalization Process Theory and explored participants’ understanding of ATTACH™, engagement with the intervention, operational challenges, and experiences on implementation. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and will be analyzed using qualitative content analysis. To identify barriers and facilitators, coding will be mapped onto domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to guide interpretation.

Results: Qualitative analyses are ongoing and will be finalized by Spring 2026

Conclusion: This research will advance understanding of non-profit leaders’ perspectives on the relational, organizational, and structural obstacles and opportunities shaping academic–community research partnerships, using the exemplar of ATTACH™. These findings have the potential to contribute to guidelines to more equitable and sustainable population health research partnerships. Examining leaders’ lived experiences of collaboration generates actionable insights to inform the design, implementation, and delivery of future partnership-based interventions, particularly those aimed at strengthening child–parent attachment in families affected by adversity, trauma, and vulnerability.

This research explores how attachment dimensions influence the psychological and physical experiences of adult choral singers. While communal singing is celebrated for its social benefits, many participants face Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). This study investigates whether a singer’s internal working model serves as a moderator between their anxiety levels and the satisfaction derived from performance.

Utilizing a sample (N=80) adult choral singers from amateur and semi-professional ensembles, the study employs the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revisited (ECR-R) and the Performance-specific Questionnaire for Musicians (PQM v.4). A central focus is the singer's perception of the choral environment and the conductor.

We explore the link between attachment security and the way choir members care for their health and bodies, examining whether relational security predicts more proactive vocal self-care or, conversely, if insecurity leads to somatic neglect or strain under stress.

By analysing the relationship between relational insecurity, somatic symptoms, and cognitive interference, this research highlights how attachment styles moderate the impact of MPA on performance satisfaction.

Nurturing parent-child interactions sit at the heart of the parent-child relationship and are key to children’s lasting social-emotional wellbeing. Many parenting programs are shown to foster these interactions, however there is a growing need for lower burden yet evidence-informed universal support to sit alongside these manualized programs. One approach is to distil some of the key effective elements of parenting programs into smaller packages of support that draw on parenting practices delivered within evidence-based programs. As part of our efforts to develop such support, we conducted an umbrella review to identify which parenting program elements are associated with improved parenting and children’s mental health. In this preregistered study, we identified 23 systematic reviews and (network) meta-analyses of randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the key elements of parenting programs. The reviews were identified via three scientific databases and independently screened by two reviewers before eligible review articles were quality rated with the AMSTAR-2. For each review, we retrieved the coding frameworks that were used to identify program elements and conducted a fine-grained mapping to a common parenting framework to allow comparability of results across reviews. Our preliminary findings indicate that while certain behaviour management techniques (e.g., praise) are associated with stronger program effects across ages, program elements that foster the parent-child relationship (e.g., maternal sensitivity) are particularly important to program effectiveness in under-fives. Notably, we found that while behaviour management elements tended to be discrete and specific in coding schemes, elements around the parent-child relationship were much broader and conceptual. This indicates the need for more work to refine the more specific elements of parent-child interactions that foster relationship quality in the early years to aid the development of low-burden evidence-informed universal support.

As part of our Leadership, Empathy, and Attachment Dynamics (LEAD) project, we study the relationships between individual differences in leadership styles and effectiveness (i.e., how employees engage with their leaders within organisational contexts), attachment, and cognitive versus affective empathy.

Results of previous questionnaire-based studies, predominantly within management disciplines, suggest that individual differences in attachment and empathy are associated with leadership styles and effectiveness. However, a deeper understanding of these intricate relationships, including behavioural observations and neural activity measurements at the interface of cognitive and relational neuroscience, is still lacking. Within LEAD, we are assessing individual and group behaviours across organisational settings from a neuro-leadership perspective (as a neuromanagement subdivision).

First, we will collect questionnaire-based data from Latin America and the United Kingdom, utilising a representative sample of leaders and individuals responsible for others in organisational contexts. Data collection will focus on leadership styles and effectiveness, attachment profiles, and cognitive and affective empathy traits, using four self-reports: (1) the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) evaluating three leadership styles: transactional, transformational, and  Laissez-Faire; (2) the Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) measuring leadership effectiveness; (3) the Relationship Structures (ECR-RS) questionnaire evaluating attachment anxiety and avoidance; and (4) the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) assessing cognitive and affective empathy. Subsequently, LEAD also foresees investigating interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) during leader-follower interactions. INS reflects the temporal alignment of brain activity during various leadership-related tasks and will be obtained through functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning.

At the conference, preliminary data from the questionnaire-based study will be available and, hopefully, reveal initial insights into the association between individual differences in leadership styles and effectiveness, attachment, and cognitive and affective empathy.

Overall, LEAD will yield novel insights into leadership effectiveness from an attachment perspective, with direct implications for leaders’ careers, employee well-being, and productivity, thereby further clarifying this complex relationship.

China’s dramatic marriage decline, from 13.47 million couples (2013) to 6.1 million (2024), may reflect shifting attachment-related concerns about intimacy, commitment, and interdependence. From an attachment theory perspective, adults’ working models of romantic relationships are shaped by expectations about emotional availability, trustworthiness, and the balance between closeness and autonomy. Understanding public attitudes toward marriage requires examining not only emotional sentiment but also the moral-relational reasoning underlying these evaluations. This study analyzed 219,358 marriage-related posts from two major Chinese social media platforms (Sina Weibo and Xiaohongshu) using large language model (LLM)-assisted content analysis to explore how attachment-relevant concerns manifest in online discourse.

Drawing on Shweder’s Big Three moral ethics framework, posts were coded for sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) and moral dimensions (Autonomy, Community, Divinity). Results revealed platform differences: Weibo discourse skewed positive, while Xiaohongshu was predominantly neutral. Most posts lacked explicit moral framing. However, when moral ethics were invoked, significant associations with sentiment emerged. Posts invoking Autonomy ethics (emphasizing personal independence and fear of constraint) and Community ethics (highlighting relational obligations and interdependence concerns) were predominantly negative, suggesting attachment-related anxieties reminiscent of avoidant and anxious attachment patterns respectively. Conversely, Divinity-framed posts tended toward neutral or positive sentiment, potentially reflecting secure attachment orientations that integrate intimacy with transcendent meaning.

These findings suggest that contemporary Chinese marriage attitudes reflect tensions between autonomy needs and relational embeddedness—core concerns in adult attachment. The study demonstrates LLMs’ utility for scaling qualitative analysis and offers insights for understanding how cultural-moral frameworks intersect with attachment processes, informing culturally sensitive relationship interventions.

Within the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), secure individuals can be subclassified as continuous- and earned-secures. Continuous-secures are individuals who coherently describe their childhood and characterize their early caregivers as supportive. Earned-secures are individuals who also produce coherent descriptions of their childhood but characterize their early caregivers as unsupportive. Research suggests that continuous- and earned-secures provide comparably supportive parenting (Pearson et al., 1994; Phelps et al., 1998; Saunders et al., 2011) and are roughly equivalent in terms of their romantic relationship quality (Paley et al., 1999). However, longitudinal evidence shows a mismatch between earned secures' retrospective accounts on the AAI and data collected in their childhood. In fact, prospective data reveal that these individuals received among the highest quality caregiving, despite their later reports suggesting otherwise (Roisman et al., 2002). This discrepancy may be explained by earned-secures reporting higher levels of depressive symptoms (Pearson et al., 1994; Roisman et al., 2002; 2006), which may contribute to more negative appraisals of their early lives. Despite these seminal findings, no systematic review has been conducted to confirm the correlates of earned-secure status. Therefore, the present study has three aims: (1) to compare the quality of adult relationship functioning (parenting and romantic relationship) between continuous- and earned-secures to one another and to insecures, (2) to compare the rate of depressive symptoms among these groups, and lastly (3) to examine the base rates of, and degree of convergence between prospective and retrospective approaches to classifying earned-security. Following PRISMA guidelines, 12 studies met inclusion criteria for the present meta-analysis. The study sample has undergone data extraction and analysis using r package metafor will be completed by February. By consolidating existing data, the present study will help clarify what is known about earned-security and its psychological and interpersonal correlates.

Introduction:

The bond between a caregiver and their child is highly important and has implications for a wide of range of individual and relational outcomes. Parenting interventions grounded in attachment and psychodynamic theory aim to support these relationships in the early years in order to promote healthy socioemotional development in the child. While commonly delivered, there is a need to identify which of these interventions are supported by evidence and isolate the caregiving strategies they aim to enhance. This study addresses this gap by examining the shared components of evidence-based interventions for families with children aged 0–5.

Aim:

The aim of this project was to identify the common elements of evidence-based psychodynamic- and attachment-based parenting interventions for 0-5s.

Materials and methods:

To identify evidence-based interventions, we first conducted a scope of recent systematic reviews of parenting interventions grounded in psychodynamic and attachment theory. We acquired training manuals or additional training materials for interventions that had a high-quality evidence base. We then conducted a large-scale common elements analysis of these materials, extracting the individual parenting techniques included in each intervention and identifying the most common across them. These elements were collated within a wider policy report in the United Kingdom, along with a map of the evidence-based interventions.

Results and conclusions:

Our search identified 80 psychodynamic or attachment interventions across three systematic reviews. A total of 13 interventions met inclusion criteria for our review and were analysed using a common elements approach. Preliminary results suggest that some of the most common elements addressed caregivers’ ability to empathise and take their child’s perspective, to respond sensitively to their child’s needs, and to support their child’s socioemotional development.

The present study explores whether clothing functions of people with physical disabilities (PWPD) are associated adult attachment states of mind as classified through the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) (George et al., 1985). Clothing choices extend beyond aesthetics, functioning as materials through which affect regulation, identity expression, and implicit narratives of self-esteem, belonging, and psychological safety are reflected (Kallstrom, 2009; Kang et al., 2013; Sontag & Schlater, 2004; Tiggemann & Lacey, 2009). Little existing literature links the emotion regulation functions of clothing to adult patterns of attachment, despite there being a possible overlap between attachment security/insecurity and allowing for clothing choices that may be associated with emotion-regulation, in terms of protecting and expressing the self. Participants were adults with physical disabilities recruited via flyers and social media, ranging in age from 22-35 years (M = 28.13, SD = 4.02), with 62.5% identifying as female, 25% identifying as male, and 12.5% identifying as non-binary. AAIs for the pilot sample (N=8) revealed 63% were deemed autonomous-secure (5/8). Clothing functions were assessed via the Wardrobe Interview (WI) (Woodward, 2016), a semi-structured interview examining participants’ relationships to and practices with their clothing, with both interviews administered via Zoom. It was hypothesized that higher WI scores across positive clothing function scales (e.g., comfortability, self-expression and individuality, and self-esteem related dress) would be associated with secure (vs. insecure) AAI classification. Preliminary results from a pilot subsample (n = 8) indicated that individuals classified as secure on the AAI showed higher WI scores for functionality toward application (ρ = .60), economic feasibility (ρ = .60), and self-esteem–related dress (ρ =.53), reflecting large effect sizes. The full sample (N = 46) will be analyzed by June 2026. Findings suggest that clothing functions may reflect underlying attachment related emotion regulation processes amongst PWPD.

Attachment representations in autistic adults have received limited empirical attention. Previous studies report that while individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can successfully participate in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), reduced coherence of mind is often expected. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has examined attachment representations in ASD adults using qualitative analyses of AAI discourse. This is the first study to apply the AAI to a Japanese sample of high-functioning autistic adults and to examine attachment-related discourse qualitatively.

Thirty high-functioning autistic adults in Japan completed the AAI as part of a broader clinical research project. This presentation focuses on in-depth discourse analyses of illustrative cases, examining how ASD-related features and states of mind with respect to attachment are reflected in AAI narratives. Two secure (F) cases and two cannot classify (CC) cases were selected because they were expected to exhibit the greatest differences in coherence.

The primary distinction between F and CC cases lay not in the type or severity of past attachment-related experiences, but in how those experiences were organized and represented in the individual’s current state of mind. In F cases, expressions of intense negative affect toward caregivers were accompanied by reflective monitoring which sustained meaning-making and an organized state of mind, thereby permitting integration of adverse experiences without loss of coherence of mind. In contrast, in CC cases, recalled experiences readily overwhelmed the present state of mind, with reflective monitoring operating defensively and leading to observable lapses in discourse monitoring and narrative disorganization.

As in normative samples, the distinction between F and CC cases was not in past attachment experiences themselves, but in whether recalling those experiences supported relational understanding or proved overwhelming. Importantly, this pattern was generally observed in autistic adults, through different communication styles and narrative expression uniquely associated with ASD.

Attachment theory offers a theoretical framework for understanding individual differences in emotional processing across adulthood. Insecure adult attachment orientations, attachment anxiety and avoidance, are linked to different strategies for responding to emotionally salient or attachment-related information. In recent years, electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to explore the neural correlates of these attachment-related differences. However, findings across studies remain heterogeneous, with substantial variation in experimental paradigms, EEG indices, and attachment measures. As a result, a synthesis of this literature is missing. The present meta-analysis aims to examine whether insecure attachment orientations in adulthood are related with distinct EEG patterns across different contexts, including emotion regulation tasks, exposure to emotional or attachment-related stimuli, and resting-state conditions. A systematic search will be conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science, covering studies published up to 2026. Eligible studies will include adult samples (≥18 years), validated measures of adult attachment (e.g., Adult Attachment Interview, ECR-R), and EEG outcomes such as frontal EEG asymmetry, event-related potentials (e.g., N170, LPP), oscillatory activity, microstates, and resting-state indices. Study screening and data extraction will be carried out independently by two reviewers. By synthesizing findings across experimental and resting-state paradigms, this review seeks to identify consistent EEG markers associated with attachment anxiety and avoidance.

Background: The Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) is a performance-based measure designed to assess attachment representations by analyzing mechanisms of defensive exclusion and segregated systems through "here-and-now" evocative stimuli. Compared to purely autobiographical and narrative tasks such as the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), which focus on linguistic coherence and linguistically mediated memory, the AAP may offer a complementary perspective by lowering the cognitive demands associated with historical reconstruction and verbal proficiency. This approach is of interest for integrating existing gold-standard data, providing potential insights into regulatory and defensive strategies across different developmental stages and clinical contexts.

Method: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across Scopus, EBSCO, PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL. The process yielded 8,622 initial records, which underwent a two-stage screening and methodological quality assessment (NOS; JBI). A total of 129 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis and 112 in the meta-analysis (n = 5,583), stratifying data among community, at-risk, and clinical samples.

Results: Using random-effects models (GLMM), analyses confirmed a risk gradient: Secure attachment prevalence decreases from community (29%) to clinical groups (4%), where Unresolved attachment emerges as the dominant marker (53%). In community samples, Dismissing attachment (29%) was as prevalent as Security. Demographically, adult males show lower odds of Security and, diverging from AAI literature, higher odds of Preoccupied attachment. Community adolescents display higher Security than adults, whereas clinical adolescents are characterized by increased Dismissing patterns.

Discussion: The AAP appears to possess a specific sensitivity toward "here-and-now" hyperactivation and deactivation patterns that may complement clinical assessment and case formulation. The instrument suggests potential utility in monitoring defensive organization across the lifespan, serving as a resource to enrich the understanding of attachment processes in research and intervention settings.

We examined how attachment anxiety and avoidance are associated with individuals’ own (actor effect) and their partners’ (partner effect) subjective experience of remembering romantic relationship memories. Sixty-nine couples (Mage = 31.77, SD = 9.42) who had been in a romantic relationship for at least 2 years completed the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) and reported two positive and two negative autobiographical memories from their current romantic relationship. After each memory, they filled out the Memory Experience Questionnaire—Short Form (MEQ-SF). Analyses within the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model indicated that attachment anxiety showed no significant actor or partner effects for phenomenological properties of positive memories. In contrast, individuals with a higher level of attachment avoidance remembered their positive memories in a less emotionally intense manner. Higher level of attachment avoidance was related to lower levels of accessibility of positive memories in men and lower levels of coherence in women. Women whose partners have higher levels of attachment avoidance were more likely to distance themselves from positive memories. For negative memories, attachment anxiety was related to sharing negative memories, and distancing from negative memories for both men and women, and women whose partner had a higher level of attachment anxiety were more likely to share negative memories. Men with higher attachment avoidance remembered their negative romantic relationship-related memories in a less coherent manner. These findings highlight distinct roles of attachment anxiety and avoidance in shaping both individual and dyadic autobiographical remembering within romantic relationships.

The rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligences (GAI), such as conversational chatbots and virtual assistants, raises new questions regarding their role in socio-emotional regulation. Beyond instrumental functions, these systems offer personalized, continuously available interactions that may activate attachment-related processes and support attachment needs. Attachment theory provides a relevant framework to examine why some individuals may turn to GAI as sources of reassurance or emotional support, particularly in contexts of perceived relational insecurity.

This study investigates the associations between attachment dimensions (anxiety and avoidance) and the use of generative AI for social or emotional support among emerging adults aged 18–25. A secondary objective is to test whether perceived social support (availability and satisfaction) mediates the relationship between attachment anxiety and GAI use. Based on prior attachment and digital media research, we hypothesize that higher attachment anxiety will be associated with greater use of GAI for emotional or social support, whereas links with attachment avoidance will be explored. We further expect that lower perceived social support will partially mediate the association between attachment anxiety and supportive GAI use.

The study adopts a multicenter, cross-sectional, non-randomized design, using online and paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Measures include attachment dimensions assessed with the ECR-RS, perceived social support measured by the SSQ-6, and an original questionnaire assessing GAI usage. The study has received approval from an ethics committee, and data collection is currently ongoing.

Expected findings aim to clarify how attachment-related needs shape emerging human–GAI relationships, contributing to attachment-based perspectives on digital socio-emotional regulation.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can challenge the development and wellbeing of children, parent-child relationships and parenting approaches. Research shows that children with ASD can form secure attachments; however, some studies report increased rates of insecure attachment in toddlers with ASD. The moderating role of the caregiver’s sensitivity and insightfulness is associated with greater security. Interventions for children with ASD mostly focus on specific child-development milestones, while attention to parenting and the parent–child relationship, as well as care tailored to the needs of parents of young children with ASD, are often lacking. Infant Mental Health (IMH) is the scientific field focusing on the important role of the parent-child relationship, and more specifically attachment, connection and co-regulation, in early child development. Interventions during early childhood can be transformative. Parent training for parents of children with ASD has shown a positive effect, supporting parent-centred approaches. The study design is a mixed method participatory action research. First, an experience-based co-designed approach will be used in the participatory development of an intervention. Parents as well as an expert panel (using the Delphi-method) will be surveyed. Secondly, the programme’s implementation and barriers/facilitators will be evaluated using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Furthermore, the hypothetical effect on parameters related to parental psychosocial functioning and parameters related to child developmental and behavioral functioning will be considered, alongside parent–child relational functioning and attachment security. Developing and implementing an IMH-sensitive early intervention (parent group programme) that explicitly prioritizes the parent-child relationship addresses several gaps in currently available interventions. Participation in this programme is hypothesized to have a positive impact on key attachment-related parameters including parental sensitivity, reflective functioning, and the quality of the parent–child relationship.

Introduction. Foster parents provide care for children who have often experienced early adversity and exhibit significant psychological burdens (Dubois-Comtois et al., 2021). Consequently, the foster caregiving role is complex and associated with challenging parenting situations. Wellbeing and resources of foster parents are critical for providing a stable family environment to vulnerable children. Previous research found elevated levels of parenting stress in foster parents which can be buffered by couple cooperation (Mancinelli et al., 2021). In the ER-PREP study we focus on various protective and risk-factors within the foster-parent-couple and their impact on parenting characteristics. The current analysis specifically focuses on foster parent’s adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), current relationship quality and the associations to parental sense of competence and parental reflective functioning.

Method. Data are collected from 150 foster parent couples caring for foster children aged 4 to 12 years. Both partners complete standardized questionnaires assessing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), relationship quality (PFB-K), parenting sense of competence (PSOC) and reflective functioning (PRFQ).

Results and Discussion. With data collection is still ongoing, we hypothesize that higher ACE scores and lower partnership quality will correlate with diminished parenting characteristics in terms of sense of competence and reflective functioning. Findings will be contextualized within existing research in non-foster populations. We aim to derive practical implications for trauma-sensitive intervention enabling foster parents to provide corrective attachment experiences for children at risk.

From an attachment perspective, emotional eating—defined as eating in response to emotional experiences in the absence of physiological hunger—may reflect difficulties in affect regulation rooted in early relational experiences. Parental psychological control, characterized by intrusive and autonomy-undermining practices, may compromise attachment security and interfere with the development of adaptive emotion-regulation capacities. However, little is known about how attachment-related processes differentially link maternal and paternal psychological control to emotional eating in emerging adulthood. This study examined whether attachment insecurity and emotion dysregulation serially mediate the association between perceived parental psychological control and emotional eating, distinguishing between maternal and paternal pathways. The sample included 426 Argentinian young adults (55.2% women; M_age = 21.75, SD = 2.36), recruited through a panel sampling procedure designed to reflect the national distribution of the population of that age. Participants completed self-report measures of maternal and paternal psychological control, attachment, emotion dysregulation, and emotional eating. Serial mediation analyses (PROCESS Model 6) were conducted separately for each parent. Distinct attachment-related pathways emerged. For fathers, psychological control was indirectly associated with emotional eating through increased attachment insecurity and subsequent emotion dysregulation, suggesting that paternal control may undermine the secure base function and compromise regulatory development. For mothers, the indirect effect operated primarily through emotion dysregulation, without a significant attachment pathway. These findings underscore the central role of attachment processes in understanding emotional eating and highlight differential maternal and paternal contributions to youths’ regulatory functioning. Clinically, results support the importance of assessing parent-specific attachment dynamics when addressing emotion dysregulation and maladaptive eating behaviors in emerging adulthood.

Preterm birth is considered a significant risk factor for children's later socio-emotional developmental outcomes. Secure attachment has been identified as a protective factor against internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in non-clinical and at-risk groups. However, findings regarding attachment security in preterm-born infants remain inconsistent, and studies focusing on attachment representations in preterm-born school-aged children in particular are still scarce.

Method: The present study included 44 preterm-born children (43.2 % boys) with a mean age of 7.7 years (SD = 1.0) at assessment. Children’s attachment representations were assessed using the German version of the Attachment Story Completion Task, while mothers’ attachment representations were measured with the Adult Attachment Projective. Internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems were evaluated using the Child Behavior Checklist 4-18.

Results: Only 22.7% of children and only 9.3% of mothers were classified as secure. Mothers with unresolved attachment representations reported higher internalizing behavioral problems in their children. Regression analysis revealed that children’s insecure attachment representations significantly predicted internalizing problems (β = -.40, p = .008), while maternal unresolved status showed a marginal effect (β = .26, p = .073). After including duration of hospitalization in the model (β = .42, p = .008), children’s attachment security remained significantly associated with internalizing problems. The final model explained 31 % of the variance in internalizing behavioral problems.

Conclusion: Secure attachment representations in preterm-born children might function as an important protective factor for internalizing behavioral problems, even when medical risk factors are taken into account

This study investigates how a secure attachment with a caregiver may influence children’s moral ideas and actions regarding economic inequality and wealth redistribution. This poster focuses on whether doll play indices of attachment security are associated with prosocial behaviour and attitudes related to economic and racial equity.

In the Story Stem Tasks, the child is presented with common familial dilemmas followed by, “Tell me what happens next.” This model captures children’s internal representations of how they expect adults to respond to their needs, their ability to cope with negative emotions, and their sense of the world as safe or dangerous. In the following task, children view two settings, the “Land of More” and the “Land of Less,” and are shown drawings of children differing in skin tones and socio-economic status (SES), represented by their clothing. Children are asked to assign characters to each land and respond to questions such as, “Do you think these children are in each land because of things that have happened to them in the outside world?” These responses allow researchers to interpret whether children regard SES as an essential characteristic or as something shaped by social construction. Further, at the end of the study, children are asked whether they would like to donate a portion of their compensation to a child in need, allowing researchers to assess their prosocial behaviour.

Results from our current sample of 31 participants support our hypothesis: Within the Bathroom Shelf, Lost Keys (r =.331, p< .05, one-tailed) and Noise at Night story stems (r =.337, p< .05, one-tailed), children who represent maternal characters as more supportive exhibit higher donation intention. In addition, children who depict rejecting parental behaviours in the Burnt Paw story stem are more likely to endorse essentialist explanations of inequality (r =.503, p< .05, one-tailed).

Background

Individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning (MMID-BIF) partially rely on others for care and support in daily life. As epistemic trust affects such reliance, it is important to be able to assess that. Therefore, we adapted the Questionnaire Epistemic Trust (QET) for people with MMID-BIF. Psychometric analyses revealed that most modified items functioned as intended, except five. Revision resulted in five newly formulated items. In this study, we evaluated the comprehensibility of the revised items by re-evaluating the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the revised QET.

Methods

In 2022-2023, 147 adults with MMID-BIF completed the Dutch and easy-to-read QET with 24 items. We are currently asking the participants to complete the revised QET, and we add the new data to the existing dataset. Using the extended dataset, we analyse the factor structure and internal consistency. We re-examine the convergent and discriminant correlations with measures of mentalizing (Dutch Reflective Functioning Questionnaire), emotional development (Scale for Emotional Development- Short and Questionnaire Emotional Development) and autistic traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient).

Results

The factor structure of the revised QET, derived from the previously adapted version, is compared with the factor structure of the adapted QET. Analyses of internal consistency determine whether the reliability of the questionnaire has improved. Correlations assess convergent and discriminant validity and examine whether the revised measure adequately captures the construct of interest.

Conclusion

We will discuss how the results of this study support the comprehensibility and psychometrics of the revised QET, as well as its value in the assessment of epistemic trust in people with MMID-BIF. This may guide further clinical practice and research on assessing epistemic trust in people with MMID-BIF.