Trauma-Informed Education from the Perspective of Attachment Theory
Abstract
Situations that cause psychological trauma such as abuse, neglect and family dysfunction, affect a significant number of children. Experiencing threat in a close relationship combined with the unavailability of a responsive adult to soothe the child’s negative emotions leads to toxic stress negatively affecting brain development. Therefore, children with a history of trauma may manifest a variety of problems at school, including attention deficit, hyperactivity and emotional dysregulation. At the same time, adverse childhood experiences contribute to the development of insecure attachment styles, so that a child in a school environment may have difficulties trusting teachers, feel a lot of pressure and interpret behaviour of others as threatening. The child can also experience strong frustration in situations of failure and have difficulty resolving conflicts. Disorganised attachment has the most serious consequences.
The difficulties of students with a history of trauma require a specific response from schools, which is why there is a need for trauma-informed education. Attachment theory implies that the school should first provide a sense of emotional security for students, primarily through a relationship with the teacher who understands the student’s specific needs and actively sustains an emotional exchange with the student when faced with his/her problematic reactions.
References
Avery, J.C., Morris, H., Galvin, E., Misso, M., Savaglio, M. i Skouteris, H. (2021). Systematic review of school-wide trauma-informed approaches. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 14(3), 381–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-020-00321-1
Bailey, H.N., Moran, G. i Pederson, D.R. (2007). Childhood maltreatment, complex trauma symptoms, and unresolved attachment in an at-risk sample of adolescent mothers. Attachment & Human Development, 9(2), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730701349721
Bick, J. i Nelson, C.A. (2016). Early adverse experiences and the developing brain. Neuropsychopharmacology, 41(1), 177–196. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.252
Buchanan, G., Gewirtz, A.H., Lucke, C. i Wambach, M.R. (2020). The concept of childhood trauma in psychopathology: Definitions and historical perspectives. Childhood trauma in mental disorders: A aomprehensive approach. W: G. Spalletta, D. Janiri, F. Piras i G. Sani (red.), Childhood Trauma in Mental Disorders (s. 9–26). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49414-8_2
Cole, S., Greenwald O’Brien, J., Geron Gadd, M., Ristuccia, J., Luray Wallace, D. i Gregory, M. (2005). Helping traumatized children learn. Massachusetts Advocates for Children.
Fang, Y., Luo, J., Boele, M., Windhorst, D., van Grieken, A., Raat, H. (2022). Parent, child, and situational factors associated with parenting stress: a systematic review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02027-1
Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E.L. i Target, M. (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. Routledge
Hertel, R., Frausto, L. i Harrington, R. (2009). The compassionate schools pilot project report. Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Holmes, J. (2014). The search for the secure base: Attachment theory and psychotherapy. Routledge.
Howard, J. (2013). Distressed or deliberately defiant? Managing challenging student behaviour due to trauma and disorganised attachment. Australian Academic Press.
Hunt, T.K., Slack, K.S. i Berger, L.M. (2017). Adverse childhood experiences and behavioral problems in middle childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 67, 391–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.005
Jezierski, K. (2019). Recenzja książki: Brian Schiff (2017), A New Narrative for Psychology. New York (US): Oxford University Press. Psychologia Rozwojowa, 24(1), 99–104.
Kennedy, J.H. i Kennedy, C.E. (2004), Attachment theory: Implications for school psychology. Psychology in the Schools, 41, 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.10153
Lewis, S.J., Arseneault, L., Caspi, A., Fisher, H.L., Matthews, T., Moffitt, T.E., Odgers, C.L., Stahl, D., Teng, J.Y. i Danese, A. (2019). The epidemiology of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in a representative cohort of young people in England and Wales. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(3), 247–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30031-8
Lowell, A., Renk, K. i Adgate, A.H. (2014). The role of attachment in the relationship between child maltreatment and later emotional and behavioral functioning. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(9), 1436–1449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.006
Łosiak, W. (2023). Stres wojny i migracji – konsekwencje dla dzieci i młodzieży. Intercultural Relations, 7(13), 108–117. https://doi.org/10.12797/RM.01.2023.13.07
Martin, K., Dobson, M., Fitzgerald, K., Ford, M., Lund, S., Egeberg, H., Walker, R., Milroy, H, Wheeler, K., Kasten-Lee, A., Bayly, L., Gazey, A., Falconer, S., Platell, M. i Berger, E. (2023). International Trauma-Informed Practice Principles for Schools (ITIPPS): Expert consensus of best-practice principles. The Australian Educational Researcher, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-023-00648-2
Portwood, S.G., Lawler, M.J. i Roberts, M.C. (2021). Science, practice, and policy related to adverse childhood experiences: Framing the conversation. American Psychologist, 76(2), 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000809
Purvis, K.B., Milton, H.S., Harlow, J.G., Parris, S.R. i Cross, D.R. (2015). The importance of addressing complex trauma in schools: Implementing trust-based relational intervention in an elementary school. ENGAGE: An International Journal on Research and Practices in School Engagement, 1(2), 40–51.
Rees, C. (2008). The influence of emotional neglect on development. Paediatrics and Child Health, 18(12), 527–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paed.2008.09.003
Riggs, S.A. (2011). Childhood emotional abuse and the attachment system across the life cycle: What theory and research tell us. W: R. Reynome (red.) The effect of childhood emotional maltreatment on later intimate relationships (s. 5–51). Routledge.
Rzeszutek, M., Dragan, M., Lis-Turlejska, M., Schier, K., Holas, P., Drabarek, K., Van Hoy, A., Pięta, M., Poncyliusz, C., Michałowska, M., Wdowczyk, G., Borowska, N. i Szumiał, S. (2023). Exposure to self-reported traumatic events and probable PTSD in a national sample of Poles: Why does Poland’s PTSD prevalence differ from other national estimates? PLoS ONE, 18(7): e0287854. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287854
Schaffer, H.R. i Emerson, P.E. (1964). The development of social attachments in infancy. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29(3), 1–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/1165727
Shonkoff, J.P., Garner, A.S., Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, and Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Siegel, B.S., Dobbins, M.I., Earls, M.F., Garner, A.S., McGuinn, L., Pascoe, J. i Wood, D. L. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232-e246. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2663
Sroufe, L.A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E.A. i Collins, W.A. (2006). The development of the person: The Minnesota study of risk and adaptation from birth to adulthood. Guilford Press.
Steele, H. (2003). Unrelenting catastrophic trauma within the family: When every secure base is abusive. Attachment & Human Development, 5(4), 353–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616730310001633438
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://ncsacw.acf.hhs.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf
Thomas, M.S., Crosby, S. i Vanderhaar, J. (2019). Trauma-Informed practices in schools across two decades: An interdisciplinary review of research. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 422–452. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X18821123
Vang, M.L., Elklit, A., Simonsen, S., Austin, S.F. i Møller, S.B. (2023). Trauma exposure and diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders (fifth edition) posttraumatic stress disorder among Danish adults: Implications of narrow and broad operationalizations of criterion A. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001589
Verschueren, K., Koomen, H.M.Y. (2012). Teacher–child relationships from an attachment perspective. Attachment & Human Development, 14(3), 205–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2012.672260
Copyright (c) 2024 Elementary Education in Theory and Practice
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- When submitting a text, the author declares that he/she is the Author of the article (hereinafter referred to as the “Work”) and:
- he/she owns the exclusive and unlimited copyright to the Work,
- is entitled to dispose of the copyright to the Work.
Declares that it does not infringe any third party copyrights or legal rights.
Declares that there is no conflict of interest.
2. At the same time, the Author grants the Ignatianum University in Cracowa royalty-free, non-exclusive and territorially unlimited licence to use the Work in the following fields of exploitation:
- recording the Work in a hard copy, as well as on a digital or magnetic medium;
- reproduction of the Work using any technique, without limitation of the number of editions or copies;
- distribution of the Work and its copies on any medium, including marketing, sale, lending, and rental;
- introduction of the Work into a computer memory;
- disseminating the Work in information networks, including in the Internet;
- public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, as well as making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to it at a time and place of their own choosing;
- within the scope of dependent rights to the Work, including in particular the right to make necessary changes to the Work resulting from editorial and methodical development, as well as to translate the Work into foreign languages;
The licence is granted from the moment of the transfer of the Work to the Ignatianum University in Cracow. The Ignatianum University in Cracow is entitled to grant further sub-licences to the Work within the scope of the right granted. The licence is time-limited and it is granted for a period of 15 years, starting from the date of its granting.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish their text online (e.g. in their institution’s repository or on the institution’s website) before or during the submission process as this may lead to beneficial exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published text (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following portals of research associations:
- ResearchGate
- SSRN
- Academia.edu
- Selected Works
- Academic Search
