influence of early attachment

• Internal working model


  A mental representation of a baby's first relationship with their primary attachment figure, which acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships
• Quality of a baby's first attachment


  Powerfully affects the nature of their future relationships
• Secure attachment in childhood


  Associated with the best quality childhood friendships
• Insecure attachment in childhood

  Associated with friendship difficulties, including bullying behaviour
• Internal working models


  Affect adult romantic relationships and parental relationships with own children
• Classic studies on attachment and adult relationships

  • Hazan and Shaver (1987)
  • McCarthy (1999)
• Attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family
• Insecure-resistant babies are the most likely to struggle to get on with friends as they get older
• Secure attachment in childhood is associated with the best adult friendships and romantic relationships
• Insecure-avoidant attachment in childhood is associated with struggles with intimacy in romantic relationships in adulthood
• People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model, so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations
• The majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers
• Hazan and Shaver (1987) found that 56% of respondents were identified as securely attached, with 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant
• Securely attached respondents were the most likely to have good and longer-lasting romantic experiences, while avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy
• Patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
• There may be important factors other than early attachment that influence later development
• Most measures of attachment used in studies have validity issues, as they don't necessarily reflect early attachment but rather current attachment
• Confounding variables like genetically influenced personality may affect both attachment quality and later development
• An insecure attachment does not necessarily cause developmental problems, as a host of other factors are involved
• Knowing someone's attachment status provides an opportunity to intervene and help their development, but this knowledge should not lead to being too pessimistic and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy