Development and Psychopathology, 9 (1997), 855–879 Copyright  1997 Cambridge University Press Printed in the United States of America Development and the fragmented self: Longitudinal study of dissociative symptomatology in a nonclinical sample JOHN R. OGAWA, L. ALAN SROUFE, NANCY S. WEINFIELD, ELIZABETH A. CARLSON, AND BYRON EGELAND Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota Abstract Dissociative behaviors and their relation to both the self and self-organization were examined using the developmental psychopathology perspective in a prospective longitudinal study of high-risk children. Participants were 168 young adults (n = 79 females, n = 89 males, age = 18–19 years) considered high-risk for poor developmental outcomes at birth due to poverty. The present study investigated whether trauma, sense of self, quality of early mother–child relationship, temperament, and intelligence were related to dissociative symptomatology measured at four times across 19 years. Findings were (a) age of onset, chronicity and severity of trauma were highly correlated and predicted level of dissociation; (b) both the avoidant and disorganized patterns of attachment were strong predictors of dissociation; (c) dissociation in childhood may be a more normative response to disruption and stress, while dissociation in adolescence and young adulthood may be more indicative of psychopathology; (d) preliminary support was found for a model proposed by G. Liotti that links disorganized attachment, later trauma, and dissociation in adulthood; and (e) strong support was found for N. Waller, F. W. Putnam, and E. B. Carlson’s contention that psychopathological dissociation should not be viewed as the top end of a continuum of dissociative symptomatology, but as a separate taxon that represents an extreme deviation from normal development. How often have you found yourself in some velopmental precursors of psychopathological behavior to a more comprehensive develop- location but do not remember how you got there? Many people would say that they have mental psychopathology perspective that seeks to further our understanding of both norma- experienced this situation, but infrequently. Imagine, however, if that happened to you tive development and psychopathology by ex- amining both in concert. We argue that such quite often. That is the paradox of psycho- pathological dissociation: many of the symp- a perspective is necessary to understand the emergence of dissociation. toms are common behaviors or experiences that are taken to extremes, which is why the developmental psychopathology perspective Dissociation is pertinent to a discussion of dissociation. Dissociation refers to a wide variety of behav- The present study goes beyond examining de- iors that represent lapses in psychobiological and cognitive processing. Recent typologies This research was supported by a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Service (MC-R-270416) and the Wil- of dissociation have identified three main cat- liam T. Grant Foundation, New York, and is currently egories of behavior (Waller, Putnam, & Carl- supported by the National Institute of Mental Health son, 1996): amnesia, absorption, and deper- (MH-40864). sonalization. Dissociative amnesia involves Address correspondence and reprint requests to: John suddenly finding oneself in situations or faced R. Ogawa, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Rd., Minneapolis, MN, 55455. with evidence that indicates that you have 855