Visiting scholarship to Harvard Medical School as part of the PhD project: Attachment, risk and resilience among school-age children

The aim of this study is to determine and model how mental health among young immigrants are influenced by their attachment pattern (quality of relationship with their parents). This will be modelled as the interaction between attachment patterns, ethnici ty, family stress, social and economic context, and acculturation (adaptation to being part of two cultures). It is expected that effects of the interactiom between these variables on mental health differs between ethnical groups. The study includes child ren (n= 200, 50 % immigrants) aged 9-11, and their parents. The children are interviewed with the child attachment interview (Target et al, 2003) and assessed with measures on mental health and mental problems, life stressors, resources, and acculturation . Parents are screened for mental health problems, life stressors, and resources. The central research challenges in this project are to adapt both theoretical understanding of attachment, and the methods for assessing these, to a multi-cultural context. The results are expected to be important for clinicians in guiding application of family-interventions to immigrants, and for policy makers in adapting preventiopn work to this group.