Attachment models and familiar organisation in couples

Introduction. Children adoption may have a strong impact, positive and critical meantime, on the individual and conjugal balance of adoptive couples. The literature on attachment has shown how secure representation of adoptive parents has linked to a high quality of parenting, that forecasts a good outcome of the adoption. The aim of this study is to investigate the Internal Working Models (IWM)s and the representations of family organisation of couples at the beginning of the adoption process. Method. The sample is composed of 50 couples (N=100). Couples were assessed by the following instruments: Adult Attachment Interview (AAI, Main, Hesse, Goldwyn, 2008) to classify IWMs; 2) Family Life Space (Mostwin, 1982) to assess the “way to manage the space” in their family organisation. Results. Our results highlighted a prevalence of couples with secure attachment models (76%) and a lack of matching between partners who are both insecure. Therefore, there is a prevalence of couples with a classification considered as a failure to “manage the space”. (Fragmentation and Filling = 65%). Conclusions. The prevalence of participants with secure attachment representations (76%) suggests that couples in the pre-adoption stage are characterized by sensitivity and enhancement of affects in caregiving and they are well motivated with respect to the affective investment. On the other side, failures to manage the space show a difficulty of the couples in representing themselves as a balanced familiar organisation in this critical stage of their life cycle.