Influences on early attachment on later relationships

• Attachment with parents - > Relationship with peers - > later romantic relationships
• The attachment type you develop in childhood will continue into later relationships ( continuity hypothesis )
• CHILDHOOD

  Attachment is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood - securely attached infants go on to form the best quality friendships while insecurely attached infant struggle ( Kerns, 1994 )

  Bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type:

  Myron-Wilson and Smith ( 1998 ) found that insecure-avoidant infant are most likely to be bullied wile insecure-resistant infants are most likley to be bullies ( questionnaire to 196 children aged 7-11 from London ).
• ADULT RELATIONSHIPS

  McCarthy ( 1999 ) - studied 40 adult women whose attachment types have been recorded in infancy and found: ( longitudinal and prospective )

  Anxious-avoidant infants grew up to have the most difficulty in romantic relationships

  Anxious- resistant grew up to have the poorest relationships

  • Securely-attached infants grew up to have the most successful romantic relationships and friendships.
• Hazan and Shaver ( 1987 ).

  A: to test the internal working model

  P: ‘love quiz’ in a news article in an American small town, self-report quiz asked questions about current attachment experiences and history to identify current and childhood attachment types, questionnaire asked questions. About their attitude towards love, assessment of the IWM. 620 responses, 205 from men, 415 from women, from a fair cross-section of the population.
• F: found that prevalence of attachment styles was similar to that found in infancy - 56% were classified as secure, 25% avoidant, 19% resistant, positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences, secure described love experience as happy,friendly and trusting, emphasised being able to accept and support their partner despite faults. More enduring - 10 yers on average compared 5-6 for resistant and avoidant.

  Finally found relationship between conception of love ( IWM ), attachment type - securely attached individuals tended to have a positive working model.
• Adults recollections are likely to be flawed when asked about past experiences, their memories may be flawed as memories from our past aren't always accurate
• Longitudinal studies support the findings

  Simpson et al's study found that participants who were securely attached as infants were rated as higher social competence as children, who were closer to their friends at age 16 and were more expressive and emotionally attached to their romantic partners in early adulthood
• The above supports the view that attachment type does predict early relationships in adult life and may offer a more accurate representation of early attachment influences
• Fortunately, this is not the case as researchers have found plenty of instances where partners were experiencing happy relationships despite not having been securely attached as infants
• Alternative explanation - feeney ( 1999 ) argues that adult attachment patterns may be properties if the relationship rather than the individual such as the relationships being guided be a self-verification process - confirm your expectations of relationships, therefore it is the adult secure relationships that is SHOWING THE ADULT ATTACHMENT TYPE, RATHER THAN VICE VERSA - MEANS THAT ANOTHER EXPLANATION MAY ACCOUNT FOR THE STAGES OF EARLY ATTACHMENT RESEARCH.

   

   

   
• Parenting

  Internal working model affects the child’s ability to parent their own children

  People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model, so attachment types tend to be passed on through generations of a family

  Bailey et al ( 2007 ) - they considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their on mothers, mother-baby attachment was assessed using the strange situation and own mother attachment was assessed using an adult attachment interview

  Majority of women have the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers