ORCID

Abstract

BackgroundAttachment theory and emotional development are increasingly considered important for understanding distress in people with intellectual disabilities, yet no prior studies have empirically explored relationships between these constructs.MethodAdults with intellectual disabilities and informants were recruited from UK community organisations. Participants completed an attachment measure (AAP), brief cognitive measure, and questionnaire on perceived emotional support. Informants completed a distress measure (HoNOS-LD), emotional development measure (SED-S), and provided feedback on the SED-S. ResultsNo significant relationship was found between attachment and emotional development, though some specific associations emerged. Unresolved attachment was common. Discrepancies were observed between informant-reported and participant-reported data. Informants found elements of the SED-S inaccessible. Conclusion Explanations other than emotional development need to be considered to understand high levels of dysregulated attachment in adults with intellectual disabilities. Caution is needed when selecting between informant-based and direct measures. Adaptions to make the SED-S more accessible should be considered. Lay summary• We found that emotional development is not linked to how we think about relationships (attachment). We also found that lots of people showed an unresolved attachment, which means they feel mixed-up or scared about relationships. More research is needed to find out why this is.• People with intellectual disabilities sometimes gave very different answers than people who support them. This means researchers and clinicians need to think carefully about who they ask for information as they may mean different things.• Supporters said that one of the tools (SED-S) was hard to understand. This tool needs to be made easier to use.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Deanna Gallichan

Keywords

Attachment, emotional development, intellectual disabilities, Distress, AAP, SED-S

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2025

Embargo Period

2026-08-22

Deposit Date

August 2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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