Judy Hutchings
Margiad E. Williams
Patty Leijten2
- 1Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention (CEBEI), School of Human and Behavioural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
- 2Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
A Correction on
Attachment, behavior problems and interventions
By Hutchings J, Williams M and Leijten P (2023). Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2:1156407. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2023.1156407
In the published article References (86–94) were not cited in the article. The citation has now been inserted in 5. A behavioral analysis of attachment paragraphs 3 and 4 and should read:
“Infants support seeking behavior comes under the control of reinforcement through parents/caregivers removing discomfort and providing comfort through gentle touch, etc. These sensitive parental responses establish parent-child relationships (86, 87).
The best predictors of secure infant attachment were explicit (contingent) behaviors that function as reinforcement, rather than implicit (non-contingent) parenting behaviors and interventions targeting them were more effective in changing caregiver sensitivity (88).
Further evidence for the ‘Learning Theory of Attachment’ (89) comes from experimental trials (80) and clinical work showing the development of secure attachment in children adopted after severe deprivation (90) or the disruption of secure attachments following severe life events (91)” and section 6. Intervention paragraphs 1 and 2 and should read:
“The frequent co-occurrence of behavior and attachment problems requires interventions that reduce both. In the past some attachment therapists/theorists did not accept the contribution of learning theory (7) or argued that behavioral challenges stemmed from underlying attachment causes and that behavioral parenting programs addressed symptoms not causes (92). Furthermore, despite strong evidence that behavioral programs reduce behavioral problems, some argued that non-violent discipline strategies such as time out, were inappropriate (54). Others suggest that behavioral programs worked with less damaged populations but were ineffective in addressing severe attachment difficulties (93).
The effectiveness of attachment-based interventions, in addressing behavioral, or co-occurring attachment and behavioral problems, is unclear (94)”.
The remainder of the reference citations are correct and should read:
86. Gewirtz JL. Identification, attachment, and their developmental sequencing in a conditioning frame. In: Gewirtz JL, Kurtines WM, editors. Intersections with Attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum (1991). p. 247–55.
87. Gewirtz JL, Peláez Nogueras MBF. Skinner's legacy to human infant behavior and development. Am Psychol. (1992) 47:1411–22. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.47.11.1411
88. Dunst CJ, Kassow DZ. Caregiver sensitivity, contingent social responsiveness, and secure infant attachment. J Early Intensive Behav Interv. (2008) 5:40–56. doi: 10.1037/h0100409
89. Bosmans G, Waters TEA, De Winter S, Hermans D. Trust development as an expectancy-learning process: testing contingency effects. PLoS One. (2019) 14:e0225934. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225934
90. Van IJzendoorn MH, Juffer F. The Emanuel Miller memorial lecture 2006: adoption as intervention. Meta-analytic evidence for massive catch-up and plasticity in physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. (2006) 47:1228–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01675.x
91. Sroufe LA, Egeland B, Carlson EA, Collins WA. The Development of the Person: The Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaptation from Birth to Adulthood. New York, NY: Guilford Publications (2005).
92. O’Connor TG, Matias C, Futh A, Tantam G, Scott S. Social learning theory parenting intervention promotes attachment-based caregiving in young children: randomized clinical trial. J Clin Child Adolesc. (2013) 42:358–70. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2012.723262
93. Green J, Goldwyn R. Annotation: attachment disorganisation and psychopathology: new findings in attachment research and their potential implications for developmental psychopathology in childhood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. (2002) 43:835–46. doi: 10.1111/1469-7610.00102
94. Axford N, Bjornstad G, Matthews J, Heilmann S, Raja A, Ukoumunne OC, et al. The effectiveness of a therapeutic parenting program for children aged 6–11 years with behavioral or emotional difficulties: results from a randomized controlled trial. Child Youth Serv Rev. (2020) 117:105245. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105245
The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.
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Keywords: childhood, attachment, behavior problems, parenting programs, behavioral analysis
Citation: Hutchings J, Williams ME and Leijten P (2025) Correction: Attachment, behavior problems and interventions. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 4:1650383. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2025.1650383
Received: 19 June 2025; Accepted: 4 July 2025;
Published: 24 July 2025.
Edited and Reviewed by: Eva Möhler, Saarland University Hospital, Germany
Copyright: © 2025 Hutchings, Williams and Leijten. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Judy Hutchings, ai5odXRjaGluZ3NAYmFuZ29yLmFjLnVr