IS THE APPROXIMATION RULE IN THE CHILD'S BEST INTERESTS?: A Critique from the Perspective of Attachment Theory

Family Court Review

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 481-493

  Riggs, Shelley A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS   (United States)

Author keywords

approximation rule; attachment; child custody; divorce

Indexed keywords

EID: 33847668366     PISSN: 15312445     EISSN: 17441617     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-1617.2005.00048.x     Document Type: Article

References (79)

1. Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1991). Attachments and other affectional bonds across the life cycle. In C. M. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 33–51). New York: Routledge.
2. Ainsworth, M. D. S., Bell, S., & Stayton, D. (1971). Individual differences in Strange Situation behavior of one-year-olds. In H. R. Schaffer (Ed.), The origins of human social relations (pp. 17–57). New York: Wiley.
3. Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
4. Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Eichberg, C. (1993). Effects on infant-mother attachment of mother's unresolved loss of an attachment figure or other traumatic experience. In C. M. Parks, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 160–183). New York: Routledge.
5. American Law Institute. (2002). Principles of the law of family dissolution: Analysis and recommendations. Newark, NJ: LexisNexis.
6. Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 226–244.
7. Bartlett, K. T. (2002). U.S. custody law and trends in the context of the ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 10, 5–53.
8. Belsky, J., Taylor, E., & Rovine, M. (1984). The Pennsylvania Infant and Family Development Project II: Origins of individual differences in infant-mother attachment: Maternal and infant dyad. Child Development, 55, 706–717.
9. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. I. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
10. Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. I. Separation. New York: Basic Books.
11. Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. New York: Routledge.
12. Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. III. Loss: Sadness and depression. London: Hogarth Press.
13. Bowlby, J. (1988). Developmental psychiatry comes of age. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1–10.
14. Braver, S. L. (2003). The “News” about divorce for family psychologists. The Family Psychologist, 19, 4–8.
15. Brennan, K., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Attachment styles and personality disorders: Their connections to each other and to parental divorce, parental death, and perceptions of parental caregiving. Journal of Personality, 66, 835–878.
16. Bretherton, I. (1990). Communication patterns, internal working models, and the intergenerational transmission of attachment relationships. Infant Mental Health Journal, 11, 237–252.
17. Bretherton, I., Ridgeway, D., & Cassidy, J. (1990). Assessing internal working models of the attachment relationship: An attachment story completion task for 3-year-olds. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 273–308). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
18. Bretherton, I., Walsh, R., Lependorf, M., & Georgeson, H. (1997). Attachment networks in postdivorce families: The maternal perspective. In L. Atkinson & K. J. Zucker (Eds.), Attachment and psychopathology (pp. 97–134). New York: Guilford.
19. Buchanan, C. M., Maccoby, E. E., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1992). Adolescents and their families after divorce: Three residential arrangements compared. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2, 261–291.
20. Buchanan, C. M., Maccoby, E. E., & Dornbusch, S. M. (1996). Adolescents after divorce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
21. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2001). Highlights of women's earnings in 2000 (Report 952). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.
22. Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1989). Disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships in maltreated infants. Developmental Psychology, 25, 525–531.
23. Carlson, E. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (1995). Contribution of attachment theory to developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology, vol. 1: Theory and methods (pp. 581–617). New York: Wiley.
24. Cassidy, J. (1999). The nature of the child's ties. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 3–20). New York: Guilford.
25. Colin, V. L. (1996). Human attachment. New York: McGraw-Hill.
26. Crittenden, P. M. (1985). Maltreated infants: Vulnerability and resiliency. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 85–96.
27. Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. (1996). Emotional security as a regulatory process in normal development and the development of psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 123–139.
28. Dozier, M., Stoval, K. C., & Albus, K. E. (1999). Attachment and psychopathology in adulthood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 497–519). New York: Guilford.
29. Egeland, B., & Farber, E. A. (1984). Infant-mother attachment: Factors related to its development and changes over time. Child Development, 55, 753–771.
30. Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse. Child Development, 59, 1080–1088.
31. Fonagy, P., Leigh, T., Steele, M., Steele, H., Kennedy, R., Mattoon, G., et al. (1996). The relation of attachment status, psychiatric classification, and response to psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 22–31.
32. Gardner, R. A. (1999). Assessment for the stronger, healthier psychological bond in child-custody evaluations. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 31, 1–14.
33. Greenberg., M. T. (1999). Attachment and psychopathology in childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 469–496). New York: Guilford.
34. Grossman, K., Grossmann, K. E., Spangler, G., Suess, G., & Unzer, L. (1985). Maternal sensitivity and newborn orienting response as related to quality of attachment in Northern Germany. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research (pp. 233–256). Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50 (1–2, Serial No. 209).
35. Hamilton, C. E. (2000). Continuity and discontinuity of attachment from infancy through adolescence. Child Development, 71, 690–694.
36. Hetherington, E. M., Bridges, M., & Insabella, G. M. (1998). What matters? What does not? Five perspectives on the association between marital transitions and children's adjustment. American Psychologist, 53, 167–184.
37. Howes, C. (1999). Attachment relationships in the context of multiple caregivers. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 671–687). New York: Guilford.
38. Jacobvitz, D., Hazen, N., & Riggs, S. (1997). Disorganized mental processes in mothers, frightening/frightened caregiving and disoriented, disorganized behavior in infancy. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, DC.
39. Johnston, J. R. (1995). Research update: Children's adjustment in sole custody compared to joint custody families and principles for custody decision making. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 33, 415–425.
40. Kelly, R. F., & Ward, S. L. (2002). Allocating custodial responsibilities at divorce: Social science research and the American Law Institute's approximation rule. Family Court Review, 40, 350.
41. Lyons-Ruth, K., Alpern, L., & Repacholi, B. (1993). Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom. Child Development, 64, 572–585.
42. Lyons-Ruth, K., Bronfman, E., & Parsons, E. (1999). Atypical maternal behavior and disorganized infant attachment strategies. In J. Vondra & D. Barnett (Eds.), Atypical patterns of infant attachment: Theory, research, and current directions. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.
43. Lyons-Ruth, K., Connell, D., Grunebaum, H., Botein, S., & Zoll, D. (1984). Maternal family history, maternal caretaking, and infant attachment in multiproblem families. Journal of Preventive Psychiatry, 2, 403–425.
44. Lyons-Ruth, K., & Jacobvitz, D. (1999). Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 520–554). New York: Guilford.
45. Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age six: Predicted from attachment classifications and stable over a one-month period. Developmental Psychology, 24, 415–426.
46. Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1998). Adult attachment scoring and classification system. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley.
47. Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents’ unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cichetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
48. Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research (pp. 66–104). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
49. Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1986). Discovery of a new, insecure-disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern. In T. B. Brazelton & M. Yogman (Eds.), Affective development in infancy (pp. 95–124). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
50. Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth strange situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 121–160). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
51. Main, M., Tomasini, L., & Tolan, W. (1979). Differences among mothers of infants judged to differ in security of attachment. Developmental Psychology, 15, 472–473.
52. McMillen, J. C. (1992). Attachment theory and clinical social work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 20, 205–218.
53. Mnookin, R. H. (1975). Child-custody adjudication: Judicial functions in the face of indeterminacy. Law and Contemporary Problems, 39, 226–293.
54. Onishi, M., Gjerde, P. F., & Block, J. (2001). Personality implications of romantic attachment patterns in young adults: A multi-method, multi-informant study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1097–1110.
55. Pearson, J., & Luchesi Ring, M. A. (19821983). Judicial decision-making in contested custody cases. Journal of Family Law, 21, 703–724.
56. Ricks, M. H. (1985). The social transmission of parental behavior: Attachment across generations. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research (pp. 211–230). Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50, (6, Serial No. 209).
57. Riggs, S. A. (2003). Response to Troxel v. Granville: The implications of attachment theory for judicial decisions regarding custody and third-party visitation. Family Court Review, 41, 39–53.
58. Riggs, S. A., & Jacobvitz, D. (2002). Expectant parents’ representations of early attachment relationships: Associations with mental health and family history. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 195–204.
59. Riggs, S. A., Jacobvitz, D., & Hazen, C. (2002). Adult attachment and history of psychotherapy in a normative sample. Psychotherapy.
60. Rosenstein, D. S., & Horowitz, H. A. (1996). Adolescent attachment and psychopathology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 244–253.
61. Rothbard, J. C., & Shaver, P. R. (1994). Continuity of attachment across the life span. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.), Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives (pp. 31–71). New York: Guilford.
62. Scott, E. S. (1992). Pluralism, parental preferences, and child custody. California Law Review, 80, 615.
63. Shaver, P. R., & Brennan, K. A. (1992). Attachment styles and the “Big Five” personality traits: Their connections with each other and with romantic relationship outcomes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 536–545.
64. Spangler, G., & Grossmann, K. E. (1993). Biobehavioral organization in securely and insecurely attached infants. Child Development, 64, 1439–1450.
65. Spieker, S. J., & Booth, C. L. (1988). Maternal antecedents of attachment quality. In J. Belsky & T. Nezworski (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment (pp. 95–135). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
66. Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. In M. Perlmutter (Ed.), Minnesota Symposia in Child Psychology: Vol. 16: Development and policy concerning children with special needs (pp. 41–83). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
67. Sroufe, L. A., & Fleeson, J. (1986). Attachment and the construction of relationships. In W. Hartup & Z. Rubin (Eds.), Relationships and development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
68. Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1977). Heart rate as a convergent measure in clinical and developmental research. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 23(1), 3–27.
69. Thompson, R. A. (1986). Fathers and the child's “best interests”: Judicial decision-making in custody disputes. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The father's role: Applied perspectives (pp. 61–102). New York: Wiley.
70. Thompson, R. A. (1991). Attachment theory and research. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Child and adolescent psychiatry: A comprehensive textbook (pp. 100–108). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
71. Thompson, R. A., Lamb, M. E., & Estes, D. (1982). Stability of infant-mother attachment and its relationship to changing life circumstances in an unselected middle-class sample. Child Development, 53(1), 144–148.
72. Troy, M., & Sroufe, L. A. (1987). Victimization among preschoolers: The role of attachment relationship history. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26(2), 166–172.
73. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2001). Highlights of women's earnings in 2000 (Report 952). Washington, DC: Author.
74. Van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Kroonenberg, P. M. (1988). Cross-cultural patterns of attachment: A meta-analysis of the Strange Situation. Child Development, 59, 147–156.
75. Vaughn, B., Egeland, B., Sroufe, A. L., & Waters, E. (1979). Individual differences in infant-mother attachment at 12 and 18 months: Stability and change in families under stress. Child Development, 50(4), 971–975.
76. Wallerstein, J. S. (1998). Children of divorce: A society in search of a policy. In M. A. Mason, A. Skolnick, & S. D. Sugarman (Eds.), All our families: New policies for a new century (pp. 66–94). New York: Oxford University Press.
77. Waters, E., Merrick, S. K., Treboux, D., Crowell, J., & Albersheim, L. (2000). Attachment security in infancy and early adulthood: A twenty-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 71, 684–689.
78. Waters, E., & Noyes, D. M. (19831984). Psychological parenting vs. attachment theory: The child's best interests and the risks of doing the right things for the wrong reasons. New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 12, 505–515.
79. Weinfield, N. S., Sroufe, L. A., & Egeland, B. (2000). Attachment from infancy to early adulthood in a high-risk sample: Continuity, discontinuity, and their correlates. Child Development, 71(3), 695–702.