Attachment and executive dysfunction in the homeless

What is it about?

The executive functions of the homeless may be contributing to the successor failureof social integration processes. The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between attachment and executive dysfunction in the homeless, specifically, to analyze the prevalence of adult attachment and executive dysfunction patterns, as well as the predictive power of different types of attachment for executive functioning. Participants were 107 homeless. Descriptive analysis revealed the prevalence of insecure attachment, and a high prevalence of clinically significant executive dysfunction. Regression analysis showed that attachment predicts all the executive functions, although the predictive power of attachment decreased when entering the variable drug addiction. People in a situation of chronic social exclusion are characterized by an insecure attachment style and moderate levels of executive dysfunction.

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Why is it important?

The inclusion of attachment and the executive functions in the same study offers the opportunity to combine a neuropsychological perspective with a perspective of parent–-child attachment, which allows us to better understand the nature of social issues like social exclusion. The relationship between attachment and executive functions has been studied in different populations, but never in the homeless.