influnence of early attchment on adult relationships

• what did Bowlby suggest about influence of early attachment on childhood & adult relationships?

  there will be continuity (similarity or connection) between your experiences as baby/your attachment type or quality and relationships later in life (in adulthood & childhood)
• What did Bowlby say when we form our first main attachment?

  We form an internal working model which is a mental template for what a relationship is and how to behave
• what have early attachments been found to determine?

  various personality types which can influence many parts of your life but one notable part is your parenting style when you have a child of your own
• What has been found in how people raise their children?


  we are more likely to raise our children similarly to how we were raised as our internal working model was built using our parent's parenting style as a template
• Who demonstrated this?

  BAILEY ET AL 2007

  result of this is that you and your child will have similar attachment type to that of you and your parents , this is why attachment style tends to be passed on through generations of a family
• What does the internal working model affect?

  your expectations of others and subsequently your attitude towards them which would have an impact on quality of romantic relationship in adulthood

  e.g someone who is insecure resistant may have trust issues and find it hard to commit to one person
• What can a child's internal working model lead to ?

  development of an attachment disorder if they experience abuse or neglect in their childhood

  they may grow up to resist or reject intimacy in their adult relationships

  may also lead to lack of responsiveness or excessive over - familiarity
• Evaluation influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationship :) supported by BAILEY 2007

  found majority of women ( out of 99 studied) had same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers

  supports idea of continuity suggested by Bowlby

  the IWM we develop in response to our first attachment that we develop in response to our first attachment to our primary attachment figure contain our perceptions of what normal relationship looks like and we seek such relationships in accordance with our IWM
• Evaluation influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationship :( reductionist & deterministic


  due to suggesting influence of early attachments is deterministic so poor-quality attachment inevitably means individual will become bad parents themselves and be unable to form 'normal' romantic relationships and friendships in adulthood

  suggests insecurely attached infants doomed to grow up and have bad adult relationship when of course is not true

  there many cases of insecurely attached children growing to have strong happy relationship
• Evaluation influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationship :) Hazen & Shaver supported idea of early attachments had significant impact


  Hazen & Shaver supported idea that quality/type of early attachments have a significant impact on our ability as adults to form attachments

  H & S found those who were securely attached as children has happier & longer lasting relationships those who insecurely attached had more divorces tended to believe love was rare

  supports idea childhood experiences have significant impact on peoples attitude towards later relationships