Influence Of Early Attachment

• Effects of Institutionalisation

  An institution is a place dedicated to rearing children away from the family home. Children will adopt the norms and rules of the institution and as a result lose their personal identify which can cause aggression, and problems with social interaction.
• Rutter study

  Aim: to examine the effects of institutionalisation. Procedure: 165 Romanian orphans. 111 were adopted into Britain before the age of 2 years and 54 after the age of 2. Assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years for physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. Findings: IQ negatively correlated to age of adoption. Disinhibited attachment (clingy and overfamiliar) found in those adopted later. Those adopted before the critical period recovered quicker. Physical delay was observed in those adopted later. Conclusion: institutionalisation can have long term negative effects.
• Bucharest Early Intervention Project – Zeanah

  Assessed attachment using the SS in Romanian children who had been institutionalised or not. Secure attachment was high amongst the non institutionalised children, but low amongst the institutionalised group. Many children from the institutionalised group had attachment disorders such as disinhibited attachment (clingy and overfamiliar) or reactive attachment disorder (withdrawn).
• Institutionalisation Evaluation

  Research has RWA. The enhanced understanding of negative effects has a positive impact on employment of key workers in institutions and changes to adoption procedures. Problems generalising from Romanian studies as standards of care were particularly poor - may not reflect all institutions. Groups were not randomly assigned in Rutter’s study. More sociable children may have been selected to be adopted and children with more problems may have not. No way of telling if the institution caused the effects or they were disabled from birth.
• Institutionalisation Evaluation

  Institution may have been a confounding variable and it was really with babies from birth. Although most of the research is very ethical, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, did randomly allocate some of the sample to foster homes or to remain in the institutions which is ethically questionable.
• The influence of early attachment

  Children develop an internal working model which is a template for all future relationships and is based on the relationship they had with their primary attachment figure. This blueprint for attachment will predict how all future relationships will be. Secure attachments will lead to autonomous adults who have positive relationships with their peers, partners and own children. Insecure attachments will, however have problematic future relationships.
• Hazen and Shaver – adult partner relationships

  The ‘Love Quiz’ questionnaire assessed volunteers’ attachment type and their current adult relationships. 620 people responded. Secure types had happy, trusting and friendly relationships / avoidant types were doubtful about love / resistant types were insecure and vulnerable to loneliness.
• Bailey – adult relationships with own children

  99 mothers were assessed using the adult attachment interview and their children were assessed using the strange situation. The adult attachment type of the mother predicted the child’s behaviour in the strange situation.
• Smith and Myron Wilson – childhood peer relationships

  Reviewed the literature on attachment types and found that: Avoidant children were most likely to be bullied / Resistant children were most likely to be the bully / Secure children were not involved in bullying.
• Early Attachment research evaluation

  A lot of the research has issues with internal validity - Hazan and Shaver’s quiz is susceptible to a response bias or social desirability as it is a self report. Therefore it may not accurately measure the internal working model. The idea that our early attachment experiences predict our later relationships is deterministic and raises moral questions regarding accountability for behaviour.
• Early Attachment research evaluation

  This research questions if people should be held accountable for their actions. For example if a person is treating their partner in an abusive way, but were abused themselves as a child, are they to blame? There has been research that criticises the idea that our early attachment experiences influence later behaviour by Koluchova. The Czech twins were isolated and deprived of love and affection and yet turned into happy, trusting adults with good bonds with their children.