Niños criados en cautiverio

Background: Uruguay suffered a military dictatorship (1973 - 1985). During this period some children were born or raised in jail together with their mothers. Objective: Explore the possible effects of captivity on the early lives of ten of those children, now in their thirties, who agreed to take part in this study. Method and material: We measured the attachment and psychological symptoms in this group of former children raised in captivity and in a sample control group using the Prototype Adult Attachment Interview (EPPA) and the SCL 90-R. This paper is an international enterprise involving researchers from the Universidad de la Republica and the Universidad Catolica of Uruguay and the Universidad del Desarrollo of Santiago de Chile. Results: a) attachment: 50% of the captivity sample subjects obtained values of predominant insecure attachment prototype P4 (overprotective). The control group showed predominant secure attachment in 80% of the subjects, and concerned/ambivalent attachment in 20% (P2, P5). b) psychological symptoms: there are statistical differences in prototype 3, 4, 5 and 6 between the captivity sample and the control group, with high scores in the captivity group. The SCL-90-R shows a high level of psychological symptoms in the captivity sample. Conclusion: There is a correlation between attachment and psychological symptoms. Higher psychological symptom scores correlated