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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffReactive attachment disorder is rare. However, there are no accurate statistics on how many babies and children have the condition. Reactive attachment disorder begins before age 5, usually starting in infancy.
Factors that may increase the chance of developing reactive attachment disorder include:
- Living in an orphanage
- Institutional care
- Frequent changes in foster care or caregivers
- Inexperienced parents
- Extreme neglect
- Prolonged hospitalization
- Extreme poverty
- Physical, sexual or emotional abuse
- Forced removal from a neglectful or abusive home
- Postpartum depression in the baby's mother
- Parents who have a mental illness, anger management problems, or drug or alcohol abuse
References
- Reactive attachment disorder of infancy or early childhood. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed June 9, 2011.
- Haugaard JJ, et al. Recognizing and treating uncommon emotional disorders in children and adolescents who have been severely maltreated: Reactive attachment disorder. Child Maltreatment. 2004;9:154.
- Horner G. Reactive attachment disorder. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 2008;22:234.
- Reactive attachment disorder. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/reactive_attachment_disorder. Accessed June 9, 2011.
- Newman L, et al. Recent advances in the theories of and interventions with attachment disorders. Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 2007;20:343.
- Boris NW, et al. Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with reactive attachment disorder of infancy and early childhood. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. http://aacap.browsermedia.com/galleries/PracticeParameters/rad.pdf. Accessed June 9, 2011.
- Cornell T, et al. Clinical interventions for children with attachment problems. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing. 2008;21:35.
- Report of the APSAC task force on attachment therapy, reactive attachment disorder, and attachment problems. Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children. http://www.attach.org/apsac.htm. Accessed June 9, 2011.
- Coercive interventions for reactive attachment disorder. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/policy_statements/coercive_interventions_for_reactive_attachment_disorder. Accessed June 9, 2011.
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