Aggression and Suicidal Behavior
During Latency
 What
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is latency?
Follows conflicts produced by Oedipus
Complex
Sexual and aggressive drives become latent
or dormant, becoming sublimated in
industrious activities (e.g., hobbies, sports)
Peer relationships assume greater importance
Problems during Latency

Conflicts from the Oedipal period as well as
earlier periods (oral, anal periods) are poorly
resolved or not resolved at all
 Attachment insecurities assume different forms
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secure –confidence in relationships, goal-corrected
partnership, autonomy
Casual –minimizing or dismissing of attachment
needs
Busy – distracting oneself from affective components
of attachment through activity or displacement of
fears onto others (projection, reaction formation)
Controlling
• Punitive
• Caregiving
 Resulting
symptomatology—aggression or
depression
 Possible etiologies
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Wants to hurt others because not Oedipal
victor, not in control of parents (anal), or not
getting basic security needs met (oral)
Wants to hurt self because of guilty feelings
over being Oedipal victor, fantasies of having
destroyed mother (oral), need to destroy
internal representation of mother or father,
need to activate caregiver’s concern
Attachment Disorganization In
Prepubertal Psychiatric Inpatients
 Three
traditional patterns of attachment
(A, B, C)
 Fourth category (D)
 Four proposed subtypes of D—looking for
organization within disorganization
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Direct-aggressive outward
Direct-aggressive inward
Indirect-aggressive pseudosecure
Indirect-aggressive displaced
 Each
attachment pattern subtype is
coherently related to both psychiatric
diagnosis and clinical symptomatology, as
well as to what we know about the
relationship to the mother (but diagnosis
and symptomatology can imply other
pathways)
 Each child had experienced significant
separation from a significant or primary
caregiver
 Psychotic
features could be related to
disturbances in the attachment
relationship (difficulties with separation)
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Is the disorganization attachment-relevant, or
more global psychosis?
Is the disorganization attachment-relevant, or
more neurologically based?
Could florid psychotic features (in subtype 1
and 2) develop into more reality-based
disorganization (in subtypes 3 and 4)?
Effects of Attachment Disorganization
during Latency I (Solomon et al.)
 Children
who appear controlling upon
reunion appear frightened (chaotic or
inhibited) in story completions
 Frightened children appear more
aggressive at home and more hostile at
school then children with organized
attachment strategies
 Development of coding system related to
development sample (p. 460, 2nd column)
 6/13
D, 4/27 non-D fell into highest quartile
on CBCL
 7/11 D, 4/29 non-D fell into lowest quartile
of ISCS
Effects of Attachment Disorganization
During Latency II (Easterbrooks et al.)

Do attachment security and verbal intelligence
moderate the effects of psychosocial risk on
behavioral adaptation (aggression in
classroom)?
 How psychosocial risk is measured
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Family income
AFDC status (welfare)
Maltreatment reports to DSS
Law enforcement problems during past two years
Serious injuries or hospitalization of child during past
two years
Maternal depression (CES-D) ≥ 16 (clinical cutoff)
Sum = sum of yes scores to all six areas (composite
risk)
Correlation matrix
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Risk related to attachment security (p < .05)
Risk not related to attachment avoidance (n.s.)
Risk marginally related to verbal intelligence (p <.10)
Attachment security related to verbal intelligence (p <.05)
Attachment avoidance related to verbal intelligence (p <.05)
Attachment security related to attachment avoidance (p <.001)
Risk related to externalizing, total behavior problems
Attachment security related to internalizing, externalizing, total
behavior problems
Attachment avoidance related to internalizing, externalizing,
total behavior problems
Verbal intelligence not related to behavior problems

Predictions (R+A+V+R*A+R*V  behavior
problem)
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Risk predicted externalizing and total problems in both
mother and father reports
Attachment security predicted internalizing,
externalizing, and total problems, but only in teacher
reports
No interaction effects in behavior-problems analyses
Verbal intelligence did not predict behavior problems
Insecure attachments more likely to appear in clinical
range than secure attachments (88% vs. 45%, 100%
controlling)
Suicidal Behavior During Latency
 Maternal
suicidal ideas and gestures
(severity) related to child’s treatment
status (p < .01)
 Prevalence of diagnosis
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Inpatient: conduct disorder, MDD, Organic
Brain Syndrome, PDD, Schizophrenia, BPD
Outpatient: adjustment disorder
Nonpatient: anxiety disorder
 Variables
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associated with suicidal behavior
Recent general psychopathology
Preoccupation with death
Recent and past depression
Introjection (inpatient, nonpatient)
Past general psychopathology
Recent aggression (outpatient)