Parental loss of close family members and propensities towards absorption in offspring

Parental unresolved/disorganized responses to loss assessed in the Adult Attachment Interview predict infant disorganized ( D) attachment. Parental experiences of loss near the birth of an infant should therefore increase the likelihood of D attachment to that parent. Liotti (1992) suggested that D attachment may increase tendencies to altered states of consciousness, and some support for this hypothesis has been obtained in clinical and high-risk samples. Here, Tellegen's Absorption Scale was used to measure propensities to altered consciousness in two low-risk samples of young adults (N = 136, N = 308). In both studies, participants whose parents experienced familial loss within two years of their birth showed elevated levels of absorption. These outcomes ( a) support the proposed connection between disorganized attachment and tendencies to altered consciousness, and (b) suggest that queries regarding parental loss experiences should be further explored as a 'rough and ready' estimate of disorganized attachment in large-scale studies.