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A growing body of work suggests that impaired attachment to a caregiver\u2014arising from erratic, neglectful, or abusive parenting\u2014mediates a substantial portion of ELA\u2019s long-term effects. Despite the conceptual and clinical appeal of this idea, the neural mechanisms by which ELA disrupts attachment and how altered attachment in turn produces diverse psychiatric and medical sequelae remain incompletely understood. In this review, we synthesize recent randomized controlled trials showing that strengthening caregiver\u2013child attachment can ameliorate a broad range of ELA-related outcomes. We also highlight key animal studies that illuminate the biology of attachment and outline critical priorities for future research.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biom16030452","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T12:42:16Z","timestamp":1773751336000},"page":"452","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Attachment Theory: Novel Clinical and Molecular Insights"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Zo\u00eb A. MacDowell","family":"Kaswan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-6609-779X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lauryn","family":"Giuliano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arie","family":"Kaffman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, Suite 901, New Haven, CT 06511, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2333794X221078708","DOI":"10.1177\/2333794X221078708","article-title":"The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Health and Development in Young Children","volume":"9","author":"Webster","year":"2022","journal-title":"Glob. 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