Attachment state of mind and trauma in mother and baby home adoptees
Five adults aged over 55, adopted from mother and baby homes in the UK and Ireland, completed the Adult Attachment Interview. Researchers classified attachment states of mind and analysed interview themes. All five were classified as insecure and four as unresolved/disorganised. Their accounts concerned identity and belonging, trauma, silenced coping and adverse parenting.
Limitations: Five selected participants cannot establish prevalence among adoptees. Attachment classifications are not psychiatric diagnoses. The historical UK/Ireland sample has no regional breakdown in the abstract. Related pilot and doctoral publications may overlap. Publication relationship: this research was published by BAAF or in its Adoption & Fostering journal, now associated with CoramBAAF, an adoption-sector organisation. Publication does not establish that the organisation conducted the research; readers may take the institutional relationship into account.
- Research type
- Qualitative and attachment-assessment study
- Source reviewed
- Abstract
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Age group
- Adults
Study context and review
Age group as recorded: Adults
Adoption context: Mixed adoption pathways
Programme: Dalton midlife adoptee attachment studies
Institutional context: Adoption-sector advocacy/service organisation
Publication relationship: this research was published by BAAF or in its Adoption & Fostering journal, now associated with CoramBAAF, an adoption-sector organisation. Publication does not establish that the organisation conducted the research; readers may take the institutional relationship into account.
Relationship identified. Bibliographic relationships are not a bias or safety rating.
Topics: adoptee voice, attachment, historical adoption, identity, trauma
Review scope: Source checked: Abstract. This does not imply full-text or independent human verification.
Country as recorded: United Kingdom / Ireland
- Funding
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Commissioner
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Funder role
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Declared conflicts
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Recruitment
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Adoptee involvement
- Not yet checked for this entry
Entry: study_db78fa212445c29a