Influence of early attachment on later relationships

• First attachment is a template for future relationships

  The quality of a child’s first attachment is crucial because it provides a template that will affect the nature of their future relationships. This is due to the influence of the internal working model created by that first attachment
• good attachment = good relationship expectations 


  a child whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure assumes this is how all relationships are meant to be. they will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them
• bad attachment = bad relationship expectations


  a child with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these experiences to bear on later relationships. this may mean they struggle to form relationships in the first place or they do not behave appropriately in them
• childhood = link with friendships and bullying

  • securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships (Kerns 1994)
  • securely attached children are less likely to be involved in bullying whereas insecure avoidant children are most likely to be victims and insecure resistant are most likely to be bullies (Myron-Wilson and Smith 1998)
• adulthood - link with parenting style and romantic relationships

  • people base their parenting style on their internal working model
  • bailey (2007) found that the majority of mothers had the same attachment classification to their babies as they had to their own mothers
  • Hazan and Shaver found a link between attachment type and quality of adult romantic relationships.
• what was Hazan and Shavers study in 1987

  the love quiz
• procedure of Hazan and Shaver 1987

  • researchers analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an american local newspaper
  • the quiz assessed 3 different aspects of relationships:
  • current and most important relationship
  • general love experiences
  • attachment type
• findings of Hazan and Shaver 1987

  the respondents attachment type was reflected in their romantic relationships:

  • secure respondents were most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic relationships
  • avoidant respondents tended to be jealous and fear intimacy
• one strength is strong research support

  there are many studies showing a link between infant attachment type and later Developement, including bullying, success in romantic relationships and parenting. a review by Fearon and Roisman (2017) concluded that infant attachment influenced Developement in many ways. disorganised attachment was most predictive e.g. of later mental disorder. this means that insecure attachment appears to convey a disadvantage for children’s Developement.
• one strength is strong research support: counterpoint

  however, not all evidence supports the link between infant attachment and later Developement. for example the Regensburg longitudinal study (Becker-stoll 2008) found no evidence of continuity of attachment type from age 1 - 16 years. this means its not clear how strongly attachment influences later development
• one limitation is validity issues with retrospective studies


  most studies assess participants attachment type in adulthood (not in infancy) using questionnaires or interviews. these rely on honest answers. a further problem is that these studies assess attachment in late childhood or adulthood and assume that it has remained the same since infancy. this means that the measures of attachment may not be valid
• another limitation is possible confounding variables 


  some studies do make assessments of infant attachment and flow up children, assessing their later Developement. however, these studies may be affected by confounding variables. for example parenting style and personality might affect both attachment and later Developement. this means we cn never be entirely sure that it is infant attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development