Influence of attachment in childhood

• The continuity hypothesis is the idea that there is consistency between early emotional experiences and later relationships, and it sees children’s attachment types being reflected in these later relationships. This idea is based on the internal working model, which was proposed by Bowlby in his monotropic theory.
• Bowlby sees attachment as monotropic, where infants have an innate tendency to form an attachment to one particular person. This attachment is the strongest of them all, forming a model for future relationships, which the infant will expect from others.
• According to Bowlby (1969), later relationships are likely to be a continuation of early attachment styles (secure and insecure) because the behavior of the infant’s primary attachment figure promotes an internal working model of relationships.
• Childhood Relationships

  • According to Bowlby’s theory, when we form our primary attachment, we also make a mental representation of what a relationship is (internal working model), which we then use for all other relationships in the future, i.e., friendships, working, and romantic relationships. In other words, there will be continuity between early attachment experiences and later relationships. This is known as the continuity hypothesis.
• Childhood Friendships

  • According to attachment theory, the child who has a secure attachment style should be more confident in interactions with friends.
• Childhood relationships - Evaluation

  • Considerable evidence has supported this view. For example, the Minnesota study (2005) followed participants from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behavior. Securely attached children were rated most highly for social competence later in childhood and were less isolated and more popular than insecurely attached children.
• Childhood relationships - Evaluation

  • Hartup et al. (1993) argue that children with a secure attachment type are more popular at nursery and engage more in social interactions with other children. In contrast, insecurely attached children tend to rely more on teachers for interaction and emotional support.
  • Explain how the Internal working model affects adult relationships.
• Adult Relationships - Parental Style

  • Research indicates an intergenerational continuity between adult attachment types and their children, including children adopting the parenting styles of their own parents. People tend to base their parenting style on the internal working model, so the attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family.
• Adult Relationships - Parental Style - Evaluation

  • Research by Bailey (2007) found that the majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers.
  • Harlow’s monkeys showed a link between poor attachment and later difficulties with parenting because they had a lack of an internal working model.
• Romantic Relationships

  • There also appears to be a continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later adult romantic relationships. This idea is based on the internal working model, where an infant’s primary attachment forms a model (template) for future relationships.
  • The IWM influences a person’s expectation of later relationships thus affecting his attitudes toward them. In other words, there will be continuity between early attachment experiences and later relationships.
• Romantic Relationships - Evaluation

  • Adult relationships are likely to reflect early attachment style. This is because the experience a person has with their caregiver in childhood would lead to the expectation of the same experiences in later relationships. This is illustrated in Hazan and Shaver’s love quiz experiment.
• Romantic Relationship - Evaluation

  • This supports the idea that childhood experiences significantly impact people’s attitudes toward later relationships. The correlation between adult’s attachment style and their memories of the parenting style they received is similar to Ainsworth’s findings, where children’s attachment styles were correlated with the degree of sensitivity their mothers showed.