Influence of Early Attachment on Future Relationships

• This section is about the Influence of Early Attachment on childhood and adult relationships
• How does Internal Working Model affect later relationships?

  The schema that has been developed based on our attachment to our primary caregiver sets a template for how relationships work.

  Examples are;

  • Can people be trusted
  • What constitutes a loving relationship.
• What does the Continuity Hypothesis suggest?

  An individual'S future will follow a pattern based on the internal working model

  • This pattern includes an individual's childhood friendships, adult partners and parenting relationships with their children.
• What research supports that our attachment styles have an effect on us in our later life?

  Hazen and Shaver
• What did Hazan and Shaver argue?

  An adults relationship type is a continuation of their infant attachment style and can be classified using Ainsworth secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types.

  • Children with a secure attachment type will become more socially capable in childhood and adulthood than insecure types due to effective IWM
• What does Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Theory suggest?

  Children with disrupted attachment with their primary caregiver in the critical period will have problems with social, emotional and intellectual developments which in-turns affects the quality of adult relationships.
• EVALUATIONS - STRENGTH

  RESEARCH SUPPORT - Hazan and Shaver: Love Quiz

  In this study, 620 Participants responded to a newspaper love quiz.

  • Questions included feelings on romance and categorised participants adult relationship styles into;
  • Secure - looked for balance between closeness and independence.
  • Avoidant - Avoided intimacy
  • Resistant - Can't cope well with independence.

  Secure - 56%

  Avoidant 25%

  Resistant 19%
• What did Hazan and Shaver's Study show?

  There is a link between early attachment and adult relationships
• EVALUATION - STRENGTH

  RESEARCH SUPPORT - McCarty

  They studied 40 adult women who were assessed for attachment style using the strange situation as infants.

  It was found that adults with long-lasting secure friendships and romantic relationships were securely attached in infancy.

  • Those assessed as avoidant had poor romantic relationships.
  • Resistant had poor friendships.

  Support that early attachment style is linked to the quality of adult romantic relationships and friendship .
• EVALUATION - WEAKNESS

  Most of the research on the influence is correlational.

  • It is impossible to establish the cause and effect relationship between childhood and adult relationships - there could be another variable such as poverty.
• EVALUATION - WEAKNESS

  Researches into this explanation tends to rely on self-reporting infant relationships which reduces the validity.

  Early infant relationship styles may not be recalled accurately because of memory or may be reported inaccurately.

  • This could be due to demand characteristics or social desirability bias.