PhD, Psychology, University College London

Attachment research, bonds between parents and children and intergenerational consequences of attachment, adoption and foster care

Miriam Steele bridges psychoanalytic thinking and clinical practice with contemporary research in child development. Her research began with “Intergenerational Patterns of Attachment,” one of the first prospective longitudinal studies incorporating the Adult Attachment Interviews and Strange Situation protocols. This work played a major role in introducing the concept of reflective functioning and provided empirical data demonstrating the importance of parents’ states of mind in children’s social and emotional development. Ms. Steele is now studying adoption and foster care with a focus on the impact of attachment representations from the perspectives of both children and adopters.

• Developmental Psychopathology
• Clinical Psychology Externship Seminar II
• Attachment Across the Lifespan

Steele, M., J. Hodges, J. Kaniuk, H. Steele, K. Asquith, and S. Hillman, “Forecasting Outcomes in Previously Maltreated Children: The Use of the AAI in a Longitudinal Adoption Study,” in H. Steele and M. Steele, eds., Clinical Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview (2008)

Baradon, T., and M. Steele, (2008) “Integrating the Adult Attachment Interview

in the Clinical Process of Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy

in a Case of Relational Trauma,” in H. Steele and M. Steele, eds., Clinical Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview (2008)

Steele, M., J. Kaniuk, J. Hodges, K. Asquith, S. Hillman, and H. Steele, “Measuring Mentalization Across Contexts: Links Between Representations of Childhood and Representations of Parenting in an Adoption Sample,” in A. Slade and E. Jurist, eds., Reflecting on the Future of Psychoanalysis: Mentalization, Internalization and Representation (in press)