The influence of early attachment on later relationships

    Cards (19)

    • the internal working model -
      Bowlby (1969) - a baby's first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representstion of this relationship
    • what does this internal working model acts as a template for -
      acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships.
    • why is quality of babies first attachment crucial

      bc this template will affect nature of their future relationships.
    • a baby whose first experience is of a loving relationship with reliable attachment figure -
      will tend to assume this is how relationships are meant to be
      will seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them - without being too uninvolved or emotionally close - is insecure avoidant attachment
      or being controlling and argumentative - is insecure resistant attachment.
    • a child w bad experiences of first attachment -
      will bring these bad experiences to bear on later relationships
      may mean they struggle to form relationships in first place or may not behave appropriately within relationships - is displaying insecure avoidant or insecure resistant behaviour towards friends and partners.
    • relationships in childhood - what is attachment type associated with -
      the quality of peer relationships in childhood.
    • securely attached babies - childhood -

      tend to go on to form best quality childhood friendships
    • and insecurely attached babies - childhood -

      they later have friendship difficulties.
    • bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type - Wilson and Smith (1998) -
      they assess attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in one hundred and ninety six children aged seven to eleven from london
      secure children - were very unlikely to be involved in bullying
      insecure avoidant - most likely to be victims
      insecure resistant - were most likely to be bullied.
    • internal working models affect two major adult experiences -
      romantic relationships

      and parental relationships with your own children.
    • a study in romantic relationships and attachment - the love quiz -
      Hazan and Shaver (1987)
      study of association between attachment and adult relationships
      analysed replies to a love quiz printed in local american newspaper
      section one - respondents current or most important relationship
      section - assess general love experiences such as number of partners
      section - asking respondents to choose with of three statements best described their feelings
    • hazan and shaver (1987) findings -
      fifty six percent respondents - securely attached
      twenty five - insecure avoidant
      and nineteen - insecure resistant

      those reporting secure attachments most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences

      avoidant respondents - reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy

      suggest - patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships.
    • relationships in adulthood - McCarthy (1999) -
      studied adult women assessed when babies to establish their early attachment type
      those assessed as securely attached babies - had best adult friendships and romantic relationships

      adults classed as insecure resistant as babies - had particular problems maintaining friendships

      those classed as insecure avoidant - they struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships.
    • how does the internal working models affect child's ability to parent their own children -
      ppl base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed through generations of a family.
    • Bailey et al (2007) -
      they considered attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers
      mother baby attachment assessed using strange situation
      mothers attachment to own mother assessed using an adult attachment interview
      majority of women had same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers
      show how attachment types and behaviour is based through generations through the internal working model.
    • strength - research support -
      P - one strength of research into attachment and later relationships is supporting evidence
      E - reviews have concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment emotional well being and attachment to own children
      E - how strong relationship is between early attachment type and later development depends both on attachment type and aspect of later development
      E - while insecure avoidant attachment conveys mild disadvantages for any aspect of development, disorganised attachment is strongly associated with later mental disorder
      L - means that secure attachment as a bbt conveys advantages for future development while disorganised attachment appears to seriously disadvantage children.
    • limitation - validity issues with retrospective studies -
      P - is that early attachment is assessed retrospectively.
      E - most research are not longitudinal - same person is not revisited - instead researchers ask adolescent and/or adult ptps questions about their rations ooo w parents and identify attachment types from this - causes two validity problems - asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of ptps. and means it is hard to know whether what is being assessed is early or adult attachment
      L - that the measures of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors, making them meaningless.
    • limitation - confounding variables -
      P - the existence of confounding variables.
      E - studies that assess attachment in infancy means assessment of early attachment is valid
      E - but may still have validity problems bc association between attachment quality and later development may be affected by confounding variables.
      E - for example - parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development.
      E - and genetically influenced personality may be an influence on both factors
      L - means we can never be entirely sure it is early attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development.
    • balancing opportunity and risk
      the influence of early attachment is probabilistic - means an insecure attachment does not invariably cause inc risk of later developmental problems - is not inevitable to have unsuccessful romantic relationships bc of early attachment experiences - may be more likely, but there are other factors involved

      by knowing someone's attachment status - can intervene and help their development - but we may become too pessimistic, and create a self fulfilling prophecy.
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