Influence of Early Attachment on later Relationships

• use of the internal working model

  this model of what a Childs first relationship is like with their mother acts as a template for future relationships. a child who's first relationship with a caregiver is reliable and caring will assume this is how it's meant to be, replicating these action later on in life in relationships and friendships. Same goes for bad early relationships with mother
• relationships in later childhood

  • attachment type is associated with the of peer relationships in childhood.
  • securely attachment infants usually form the best childhood friendships, where insecurely attached infants have trouble with friendships.
  • bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type
  • rowan Wilson and Peter smith assessed the link between attachment type and bullying in 196 children from London ages 7-11 using questionaries
  • secure children weren't involved with bullying, insecure avoidant were victims, insecure reistant were bullies
• study of relationships in adulthood procedure

  • cindy hazan and philip shaver analysed 620 replied to a love quiz printed in an American newspaper.
  • first section was assessed peoples current or most important relationship, second section assessed general love experiences e.g number of relationships and their section assessed attachment type.
• findings of study of relationships in adulthood

  • 56 percent of respondents were classes as securely attached, 25 percent insecure avoidant and 19 percent insecure resistant
  • those reporting secure attachments were more likely to have good and long lasting relationships, insecure avoidant were more likely to be jealous and have fear of intimacy.
  • show that patterns of behaviour are reflected in relationships