Attachment is a crucial factor in developing successful relationships between both parents and children, and romantic partners (Davies, 2011; Gowen & Nebrig, 2001). This essay will discuss the function of attachment and the different classifications of adult attachment towards their families, including children and partners. It will then move on to discuss how an insecure attachment as a child can be transmitted to adulthood and new relationships across generations if there is no intervention, and the effect this may have on relationships. Following this, I will discuss possible types of intervention such as earned security, and how this can benefit both Sam and Mal’s romantic relationship, and their relationship with their nephew Johnny who …show more content…
Children and adults with this attachment style often have high levels of self-reliance to avoid rejection, and lack visual emotion (Davies, 2011; Hepper & Carnelley, 2012). Children form this attachment style after experiencing constant rejection and anger from parents, and have no sense of security or safe-haven. In adulthood, avoidant attachment to partners or family correlates with negativity towards trust, respect and empathy (Hepper & Carnelley, 2012), and little desire for comfort or physical contact. Insecure ambivalent attachment is the next insecure style and consists of a need for attachment but lack of confidence in its availability from an attachment figure (Anderson & Alexander, 2005; Davies, 2011). Ambivalent attached children are often anxious and are fearful of exploration and social situations, and overly nervous of separation. In adulthood, this ambivalent attachment moulds into attachment anxiety, where one is constantly seeking reassurance and overreacts to negative feedback (Hepper & Carnelley, 2012). This causes issues in romantic relationships because one partner is unable to deal with feedback and prompts frustration and conflict in the other partner. Johnny, however, has an insecure disorganised attachment style, the third insecure style. This style correlates with anxious and untrusting behaviour and disoriented thoughts (Anderson & Alexander, 2005; Davies, 2011; Gowen & Nebrig, 2001). Johnny …show more content…
For example, parents who were abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children than parents who were not mistreated throughout childhood (Davies, 2011; Gowen & Nebrig, 2001). The attachment styles of an individual gradually develops by internal working models depending on how the child has been cared for over time (Bretherton, 1990; Davies, 2011). The internal working models are developed of both self and others and form expectations of behaviour and relationships with others. Working models are usually stable over one’s life, but may be changed through positive experiences and intervention, allowing one to better their attachment relationships, or may be threated through negative experiences such as a divorce or death (Gowen & Nebrig, 2001; Hare, Miga & Allen, 2009). The transmission of attachment styles, therefore, occur through an unchanged working model that one creates of themselves, that is then passed on to ones’ children. Johnny’s mother Gina was brought up through a neglectful childhood with a lack of love and support, and when becoming a parent, treated Johnny in a similar way. Regardless of trying to be a good parent, Gina’s internal working model that was developed when she was a child consisted of incapable and inconsistent behaviours. Gina’s negative attachment relationships led her to develop
The first stage of the cycle is the man experiences rejection by his current partner. The past experience of rejection by the man's previous attachment relationships will be able to detonate by contact with his current partner's behaviour of rejection. Brown et al. (2010) pointed out that previous experiences of rejection weaken a man's ability to cope with present rejection. Such experiences include excessive rejection, punishment, neglect and abandonment. According to Bowlby's attachment research (as cited in Bretherton, 1992, p. 769), repeated threats of rejection may lead to excessive separation anxiety. Thus, an anxiously attached man tends to be the one being rejected or abandoned several times by parents or previous partner in his past life experience. Substantial research has been carried out which indicated a link between attachment style and man's abusive behaviour (Brown et al., 2010). Other than that, a man received excessive punishment during their childhood is more likely a troublesome individual (Fergusson & Lynskey, 1997). Therefore, when a m...
The attachment theory helps to examine who we form relationships with, why these relationships work or fail, and how the relationships help to develop us in adolescence and on to adulthood. Mary Ainsworth stated a child/infant needed a secure base from where they could explore the world (Bretheron, 1992). Ainsworth stated a secure base is an emotional rich environment (1963). She also formulated the ideal of maternal instincts allow the mother to meet the infants need and with that ability, the infant-mother attachment is solidified. Ainsworth methodology made it possible to test and empirically prove attachment theory (Bretheron, 1992). The attachment theory highlights the importance of a secure base, infants and young
...s one with the knowledge necessary to incorporate methods for evoking change and empathize. It becomes easier to understand how certain maladaptive behaviors are developed as certain characteristics are learned patterns and not solely based on one’s personality. There are very many areas of attachment that need to be studied. As the population of minorities, working mothers, single parent homes, and children in the foster care system rise the ability to assess their ability to attach as well as develop new attachments is crucial. The works by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and Main have provided me with new interest in the attachment styles of children to their caregivers. It has allowed me to adjust the way in which I interact with my own daughter and other children in my presence to help establish new and beneficial adult attachments so that they can grow and feel empowered.
Criticisms of attachment theory have come mainly from the feminist schools of thought since the theory has been used to argue that no woman with a young child should work outside the home or spend time away from her baby (Goodsell and Meldrum, 2010). Children’s experience and development also depend on what happens after early years, whether bad or good later in life may change a child’s emotional development, e.g. lack of basic needs, diet, education, stimulation such as play might affect a child’s development (Rutter, 1981) Difference in cultures have to be taken into consideration as well. A study by Schaffer and Emmerson (1964) provided contradictory evidence from Bowlby’s attachment theory. They noted attachment was more prominent at eight months, and afterwards children became attached to more than one person. By one year six months only 13%of infants had one attachment. This study by Schafer and Emmerson (1964) concluded care giver can be male or female and mothering can be a shared responsibility. Social workers should therefore understand that parents are not totally responsible for the way the children develop. They did give them their genes and therefore do have some influence. Attachment theory also fails to consider the fact that the father and siblings, and other close relatives can also
The client had developed a dismissive attachment style characterized by two coexisting, but conflicting internal working models. The first working model was a conscious model in which she viewed herself as capable and strong and others as insufficient and needy. The second internal working model was unconscious and refers to her internal belief that she was flawed, inadequate and dependent on others. By validating and gaining insight into the client’s subjective experience, we were able to work on the client’s ability to tolerate the anxiety of her need for connection and the lack of safety she felt in her relational world to express that need. Using my own countertransference and making enactments explicit, we could challenge these internal working models and begin to explore new ways of being. Slowly, she was able to experience a new way of understanding her relational needs, tolerate the grief of lack of attunement from her attachment figures, and develop more intrapsychic space for her affective
Admittedly, many psychologists define attachment as an enduring affectionate bond that one person forms between himself and another person throughout life. Since Mary Ainsworth provided the most famous research: strange situation, offering explanations how each individual differences in attachment. However, in this Adult Attachment Style questionnaire that I took, I found many factors relevant to attachment as it was defined in the textbook. For example, in the textbook, it defines attachment based on Ainsworth research, the strange situation by observing attachment forms between mother and infants. Which they are described in four attachment styles: securely attached, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant, and insecure disorganized. The questions on the questionnaire were based on those areas to determine my style of attachment.
It has been proposed that infant attachment styles do not change after the first year of life, the following essay will argue against this prompt in that ones attachment style will change continuously throughout life. Attachment theory is based on the joint work of Bowlby and Ainsworth (Bretherton, 1992). In recent years the idea of ‘attachment’ has become and increasingly popular debate within developmental psychology (Bretherton, 1992). Attachment theory provides an explanation on how parent and child relationships are formed and the important role they play in child development. However majority of the research into attachment has focused on identifying the stability of attachment rather then identifying the possible insatiability of
According to (Pittman, Keiley, & Kerpelman, 2011), Bowlby theorized that it is the interactions between people that form connections and develop attachments. There are four different types of attachments; secure, avoidant, and anxious ambivalent. When we look at this theory applied to children we see that a secure attachment is when children are most comfortable when their parents are around and are easy to soothe by the parents. Insecure or avoidant attachment is when the child doesn’t prefer to be near the parents and could care less if the parents are absent. This happened when the parents failed to meet their child’s needs, despite a child expressing their needs. Anxious ambivalent attachment is when the child won’t leave their parents side, even if it is to explore their surroundings, is distraught if the parents leave, and mistrusting if the parents try to comfort after leaving (Arnett, & Maynard,
There is much debate surrounding the subject of infant attachment styles and the resounding effect they have on adult relationships. Attachment theory highlights the influence of early experience on shaping children’s conceptualization of responsiveness and trustworthiness of a significant other (Frayley, Roisman Booth-LaForce, Owen & Holland, 2013). The theory also suggests that an individual that is cared for consistently and responsively will assume that others will be supportive and available when necessary (Ainsworth Blehar, Waters & Wall, 1978). This assumption is influential of the way individuals control attachment behaviour and can consequently effect social development and interpersonal relations (Frayley et al., 2013). A prevalent
Attachments are formed with parents; this contributes to give a sense of who we are and who we will become in later life. However where these attachments are broken the child needs to have a secure attachment established with an alternative adult care giver,...
Attachment, the product of nature and nurture, is critical to human development. Children learn about important aspects of their physical, emotional and social world through experience. The value of this experience is directly proportional to the quality of the attachment children are forming with their caregivers. Through the positive experience of emotional connectedness, children learn to build and maintain loving, trusting and secure relationships with others. If the caregivers are available to them, sensitive to their signals, consistently responsive to their needs, infants develop secure style of attachment. If the caregivers are indifferent or neglectful, inaccessible, unresponsive and unreliable, infants are prone to developing anxious, avoidant or disorganized attachment style (Pearce, 2009). Difficulties in forming childhood relationships significantly increase likelihood of interpersonal conflicts in adulthood. Anxiety disorder, PTSD, dissociative identify disorder, borderline, narcissistic personality disorder are dysfunctions that are linked to attachment insecurities. Interpersonal adult conflicts, such as divorce, family abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse, substance abuse are responses to emotional dysregulation caused by deep wounds in
Attachment is described as the close emotional bond between two people and Attachment Theory (AT) generally concentrates on the early bonds in a person’s development as well as the effects that these bonds have on later socio-emotional development. While emphasis on attachment as an antecedent for future behavior and personality has decreased somewhat in recent years, it is interesting to note that the DSM IV-TR includes a “reactive attachment disorder” which it states is caused when extreme circumstances prevent proper attachment development.
Psychologist, Mary Ainsworth expanded upon Bowlby's original work. She conducted a study labelled the ‘Strange Situation’. In the study, based upon the children’s reactions, Ainsworth described three major styles of attachment: secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, and avoidant-insecure attachment. Work by Stroufe and Waters in 1977, further supported Ainsworth's attachment styles and have indicated that attachment styles also have an impact on behaviours later in life (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Researchers have found strengths in attachment patterns established early in life can lead to a number of outcomes. For example, children who are securely attached as infants tend to develop stronger self-esteem and better self-reliance as they grow older. These children also tend to be more independent, perform better in school, have successful social relationships, and experience less depression and anxiety (Birns, 1999, p. 13).
John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure, insecure/resistant, insecure/avoidant and disorganized/disoriented, later leading to research studies done to observe this behavior and how it affects a child in their adolescence and adulthood.
During the first few stages of both theories, we see challenges in the development of the child and we also see challenges that a child might face during some, if not all forms of attachment theory. For example, a parent ignoring the child and speaking to them in a negative manner during insecure-avoidant attachment can be challenging for a child and lead to insecurities and the feeling of not being loved and/or wanted. Additionally, the theme of independence is seen throughout both theories and can also be related specifically to insecure-avoidant attachment where the child does not focus his or her attention on the parents but instead looks to the outside world for assistance. Both theories, as well as attachment theory, has an impact on childhood