Attachment and later relationships

• Importance of the Internal Working Model in later relationships

  • IWM provides infant with a mental representation for current and future relationships
  • IWM serves two functions - to provide a child with an insight into the caregiver’s behaviour
  • Continuity hypothesis sees these as attachment types being reflected in later romantic and platonic relationships
  • IWM also provides child with template of how all relationships should be’
  • Those more strongly attached are more likely to have socially and emotionally competent relationships in later life
• Later att. AO3 - Evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed

  • IWMs predict continuity between security of an infant’s attachment and that of later relationships
  • Zimmerman assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachment to parents
  • Very little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachment which would not be expected if internal working models were important
  • Therefore due to inconsistencies in research the internal validity of the theory is reduced
• Later att. AO3 - Association does not mean causation

  • Research is correlational and cause-and-effect cannot be established - implication that infant attachment type causes the attachment
  • Often alternative explanations for the continuity of relationships
  • For example third environmental factors such as parenting style or child’s temperament may have a direct effect on both attachment and the child's ability to form relationships with others
  • Researchers unable to conclude causality of later relationships is the IWM, meaning correlational research is not very reliable due to an array of results
• Later att. AO3 - Influence of early attachment is probabilistic

  • Clarke and Clarke describe the influence of infant relationships as problematic
  • But people are not doomed to always have bad relationships just because of attachment problems, they just have a greater risk of problems
  • Theory of the importance of IWM in relationships is highly deterministic as it ignores the view that individuals can change and have free will, suggesting there is no room for change
  • Suggest that the approach is too pessimistic and over-exaggerates the role of IWM in affecting future relationships
• (A)PFC - Love Quiz Study (Hazan and Shaver) - Romantic 


  P - Conducted a 'love quiz' assessed respondents current or more important relationship, general love experiences such as number of partners and attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of three statements best described their feelings.

  F - 56% of respondents- securely attached

  • 25% insecure-avoidant
  • 19% insecure-resistant
  • Found strong correlation between infant attachment type and adult romantic love style

  C - Those reporting secure attachment were most likely to have longer lasting romantic experiences
• (A)PFC- IWM Study (Bailey et al) - Parenting


  P - Looked at mothers and measured their infants attachment style using the strange situation and assessed their attachment style as children to their own mothers using interviews

  F - Found mothers who reported poor attachment with their own mothers were also likely to have poor attachment with their own children

  C - They concluded early attachment style of mother is passed onto their children and then subsequently to future generations raising the possibility that attachment styles and parenting abilities run in families.
• How the Internal Working Model influences parenting

  • 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 attachment type tends to be passed on through generations.
• (A)PF(C) - Minnesota study (Soufre et al) - Childhood

  P - Followed participants from infancy to late adolescence

  F - Found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behaviour. Securely attached children were rated most highly for social competence later in childhood, were less isolated and more popular in than insecurely attached children

  C - Considering the role of the IWM, infants who are securely attached will have positive expectation that others whom they relate to will be trustworthy and friendly in return
• • (A)PF(C) - Attachment type and bullying involvement (Myron-Wilson and Smith) - Childhood


  P - Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from London

  F - Secure children where very unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure-avoidant were most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant were most likely to be bullies
• Continuity hypothesis and relationships in childhood


  • Sees children’s attachment types being reflected in their later relationships
  • Idea is based upon the internal working model where an infant’s primary attachment forms a model for future relationships
  • The quality of the child’s first attachment in crucial because it affects the nature of their future relationships