Adult Attachment Style in Mothers of Children with Selective Mutism

선택적 함구증 환아 어머니의 성인애착유형

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the adult attachment style characteristics of mothers with selective mutism children and their relations to selective mutism. Methods :The subjects of this study were 15 mothers with selective mutism children who were diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria at psychiatry outpatient department of Kyungpook National University Hospital from March 1998 to February 2005. The controls of this study were 30 mothers with normal children who are in the second grade of elementary school in Daegu. We assessed the adult attachment style characteristics of these mothers by Revised Adult Attachment Scale, and Reciprocal Attachment Questionnaire-Korean version, self-report attachment style questionnaire. Results : 1) On the self-report attachment style questionnaire, it revealed that mothers with selective mutism children had both of the secure and the dismissing-avoidant types predominantly and the tendency that mothers with selective mutism children more commonly had dismissing-avoidant type than controls did. 2) On the comparison of attachment quality of mothers, although only the anxiety subscale difference was significant, it revealed that mothers with selective mutism children had generally lower score pattern in all of closeness, dependence and anxiety subscale than controls did. It was consistent with the consequence of self-report attachment style questionnaire in this study. Conclusion : This study showed that the distribution of adult attachment style of mothers with selective mutism children was different from those of controls. The dismissing-avoidant attachment style was predominant in mothers with selective mutism children. we suppose the possibility that the dismissing-avoidant attachment style of mothers with selective mutism children has relation with selective mutism.