Influence of early attachment on future relationships

• According to Bowlby, the quality of the child's first attachment with the primary attachment figure forms a mental representation for future relationships
• An infant whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure will assume this is how relationships are meant to be
• Securely attached infants will seek out functional relationships in the future and will behave functionally within them
• An infant with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences to later relationships
• Poorly attached infants may struggle to form future relationships
• Poorly attached infants may not behave appropriately in future relationships
• Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood
• Securely attached infants tend to form better quality childhood friendships, whereas insecurely attached infants have friendship difficulties (Kerns, 1994)
• Attachment type can predict bullying behaviour
• Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 in London
• Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) found that securely attached children are unlikely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant children were most likely to become victims and insecure-resistant children were most likely to be bullies
• McCarthy (1999) studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were infants to establish their early attachment type
• McCarthy found those who were securely attached as infants had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships
• Adults classed as insecure-resistant as infants had problems maintaining friendships and those who were insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
• Hazen and Shaver (1987) aimed to see the association between attachment and adult relationships
• Hazen and Shaver's procedure

  1. Assessed current and most important relationships
  2. Assessed general love experiences (no. of partners)
  3. Assessed attachment type
• Hazen and Shaver found that those who reported being securely attached had good, long-lasting romantic relationships and those who were insecurely attached tended to show feelings of jealousy, fear of intimacy, tended to divorce and believe love was rare
• Hazen and Shaver's study suggests adult romantic relationships depend on childhood attachment type
• Internal working model affects future parenting styles
• Through the IWM, attachment types are passed on from one generation to the next
• Bailey et al (2007) considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers
• Bailey et al found the majority of women had the same attachment with their babies and their own mothers
• STRENGTHS

  • Research support- Fearon and Roisman (2017) concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment
• LIMITATIONS

  • Confounding variables- Parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development
  • Validity issues with retrospective data- most studies are not longitudinal, memory may be distorted
  • Influence of early attachment is deterministic- Clarke and Clarke (1998) described the influence of infant attachment as deterministic