The infant D category is assigned on the basis of interruptions and anomalies in organization and orientation observed during Ainsworth's strange situation procedure. In neurologically normal low-risk samples, D attachment is not substantially related to descriptions of infant temperament, and usually appears with respect to only one parent. Bowlby's theory is extended, with the proposal that certain forms of frightening parental behavior will arouse contradictory biologically channeled propensities to approach and to take flight from the parent.
Maltreated infants are therefore highly likely to be disorganized.
This suggests that infant D attachment may at times represent a second-generation effect of the parent's own continuing unresolved responses to trauma. Clinical implications are discussed.