Relaciones objetales y apego en niños institucionalizados

Abstract

The objective of the research was to explore the experience of object relations that institutionalized children hold with their linking figures as well as to evaluate the type of attachment of institutionalized children from 5 to 15 years of age. The tools used were the Attachment Styles Questionnaire, the Attachment Questionnaire for Children and the Family Drawing Test. With a mixed exploratory approach, the results of the study showed that the prevalence of attachments was similar, with avoidant attachment predominating. No significant differences were reported between attachment styles and ages. A prevalence of safe attachment with other children was found.
Finally, the way in which the children internalized the object relations with their linking figures was through a prevalence of valorization of the father, devaluation of the mother and fraternal rivalry as defense mechanisms, as well as with a prevalence of desire for family integration, feeling of anguish, and depression as the main topics addressed. Individual psychological attention to children is recommended, but mainly a stable affection on the part of the caregivers in an auspicious institution to potentiate the psychic resources present in the children, and work with their parents for a successful family reinsertion.

Date of Award	27 Nov 2017
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Angélica Quiroga Garza (Supervisor), David Zachary Hafner (Supervisor) & Paola Josefina González Castro (Supervisor)