Attachment Research Paper

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Abstract

Attachment theory, put forth by John Bowlby, postulates that infants develop strong emotional ties to consistent caregivers during the first year of life and that these ties are crucial for the individual’s normal social–emotional development and well-being. Bowlby, a British psychiatrist, combined ideas from psychoanalysis, ethology, and evolution to develop a theory regarding the attachment behavioral system— its nature, function, and development. Mary Ainsworth, Bowlby’s collaborator, provided empirical support for many of Bowlby’s ideas in her in-depth observations of mother–infant interactions at home and in a laboratory environment. Ainsworth also developed a laboratory observation procedure, the Strange Situation, which enabled her to identify individual differences in attachment organization among 1-year-old infants. The Strange Situation procedure, currently the most widely used and validated measure of attachment security during infancy, is composed of a series of short separations and reunions between an infant and his or her caregiver, usually the mother. It enables psychologists to classify the quality of an infant’s attachment to a caregiver into one of three major categories: secure attachment, anxious– avoidant attachment, or anxious–resistant attachment. A fourth category, disorganized/disoriented attachment, was added more recently. Ainsworth and colleagues also demonstrated that the caregiver’s sensitive responsiveness to the infant’s signals and cues is important for the formation of secure attachment. This finding has been replicated in many subsequent studies, although not always so strongly. Research on attachment yields some interesting findings regarding the inter-generational transmission of attachment, the stability of attachment throughout the life span, and the role of early attachment in later child outcomes, particularly in the areas of emotion regulation, cognition, social adjustment, and mental health. Because early attachment relationships are viewed as crucial to later development, there is a growing number of prevention and intervention programs designed to promote attachment security among populations at risk for insecure attachment relationships. The effectiveness of these programs has varied. Ever since it was first introduced, attachment theory has played a central role in shaping our understanding of child development and parent–child relations, as reflected in developmental theory and research, clinical and applied settings, and policymaking.

Outline

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Measurement
4. The Antecedents of Attachment Security
5. Attachment Throughout the Life Span: Stability and Change
6. Attachment and Subsequent Child Outcomes
7. Applied Aspects of Attachment

1. Introduction

Attachment theory centers on the notion that emotionally responsive care, including love and nurturance from a primary caregiver, is essential for healthy and normal development. John Bowlby, the founder of attachment theory, used the term ‘‘attachment’’ to describe the emotional connection that develops between an infant and a primary caregiver through patterns of interaction that evolve over time. According to attachment theory, during the first year of life, infants develop special ties to their primary caregivers (i.e., attachment figures). Every infant invariably becomes

attached unless no single caregiver is continuously present to care for the child (e.g., as in some institutions and orphanages). The particular nature or quality of the attachment relationship will vary, depending on the history of interaction patterns within the dyad. In particular, the consistency and appropriateness of the caregiver’s response to the infant during times when the infant feels stressed or threatened, defines the pattern of interactions that develop during the first year. When the caregiver is consistently sensitive and responsive, a secure attachment typically ensues, whereas insensitive or inappropriate responding usually leads to an insecure attachment relationship.

After the attachment is formed, the infant shows a preference for the attachment figure. This is particularly evident during times of stress or emotional upset. When scared or distressed, the infant actively seeks comfort and reassurance from the caregiver and is not easily comforted by other individuals. The presence of the attachment figure is reassuring and enables more competent exploration of the environment. Mary Ainsworth, Bowlby’s collaborator, noted that in a secure attachment relationship, the attachment figure provides both a ‘‘safe haven’’ during times of need and a ‘‘secure base’’ from which to explore.

Bowlby viewed the attachment system as a biobehavioral system that organizes behavior. The set goal of this system is to maintain proper access and proximity to the caregiver during times of need to ensure the protection and survival of the young. The attachment system operates in interaction and in collaboration with other behavioral systems (e.g., fear, exploration, sociability).

Attachment relationships are believed to play an important role throughout the life cycle. Although the specific behavioral markers of attachment change, their function remains the same. During times of need, infants, older children, and adults alike all seek comfort and support from significant others who are seen as more capable of coping with these situations. As individuals mature, new attachments are typically formed, but the early attachment relationships remain important because they are thought to exert an effect on subsequent behavior and close relationships.

2. History

2.1. John Bowlby (1907–1990)

Bowlby, a British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst by training, was one of the first to systematically observe the negative effect of impoverished family life and the lack of consistent care on the development of young children. He suggested, based on his work with hospitalized and homeless children during the 1940s, that a child needs to experience a close, warm, and consistent relationship with his or her mother or another permanent caregiver so as to develop normally.

Influenced by ethology and evolutionary theory, Bowlby rejected the then widely accepted notion that an infant’s tie to his or her mother is rooted in the mother’s role as a provider of food or oral gratification. Lorenz’s observations of the ‘‘imprinting’’ phenomenon in geese during the 1930s demonstrated that an organism can become ‘‘attached’’ to its caregiver through a process unrelated to feeding. Harlow’s laboratory studies of rhesus monkeys during the 1950s and 1960s also demonstrated that needs other than hunger are important in the formation of the infant–mother tie. For example, monkeys ‘‘raised’’ by two kinds of surrogate mothers—a wire mesh ‘‘mother’’ to which a bottle with milk was attached and a terrycloth surrogate ‘‘mother’’ with no milk bottle—preferred the soft cloth mother, spending most of their time clinging to her for comfort and rushing to her when frightened. They spent little time on the wire mother, approaching her only when wanting to be fed. Influenced by these and other studies, Bowlby posited that the need for proximity to a caregiver is a biologically based primary need that evolved to ensure the protection and survival of the young.

Bowlby also argued that it is children’s actual experiences with caregivers (e.g., lengthy separations, lack of consistent care) that determine their well-being and adjustment. This view was at odds with the notions accepted by the psychoanalytic community, which placed greater emphasis on children’s fantasy lives than on their actual experiences with caregivers.

These disagreements led Bowlby to establish his own research unit at the Tavistock Clinic in London, where he proceeded to develop his groundbreaking ideas. His work is summarized in the trilogy titled Attachment and Loss, published in 1969, 1973, and 1980, as well as in many other books and research papers. The focus in Bowlby’s writings was primarily on the evolutionary origin and function of the attachment system, how it organizes behavior, its developmental course, and the effects of early separations and loss of attachment figures on a person’s well-being and adjustment. The work of Ainsworth provided empirical grounding for Bowlby’s theoretical thinking, extended Bowlby’s ideas on attachment, and brought to the forefront a focus on different patterns of attachment organization.

2.2. Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999)

Ainsworth met Bowlby during the early 1950s at the Tavistock Clinic. She subsequently carried out an observational study in Uganda designed to examine Bowlby’s ideas empirically. After returning to the United States, she proceeded to conduct a second attachment study in Baltimore, Maryland, involving intensive home observations of 23 mother–infant dyads. As part of the Baltimore study, Ainsworth also developed a systematic laboratory observational method that enabled her to observe the reactions of infants to short sequences of separations from their mothers. This procedure, known as the Strange Situation, allowed her to identify individual differences in infants’ attachment to their mothers, that is, their different strategies of using the mother when dealing with the stress brought about by brief separations. The Strange Situation procedure initially yielded three types or classifications of attachment: a secure pattern and two insecure classifications (anxious–avoidant and anxious–resistant attachment). The procedures and findings of the Baltimore study are summarized in the book Patterns of Attachment, published in 1978. Ainsworth’s work generated a surge of empirical studies that employed the Strange Situation and focused on individual differences in attachment security.

3. Measurement

Over the years, researchers have developed a variety of measures to assess attachment patterns at various ages. The most widely used and best validated assessment procedures employed with infants, children, adolescents, and adults are described in what follows.

3.1. Assessing Infant Attachment

3.1.1. The Strange Situation

3.1.1.1. Procedure

For more than 30 years, quality of parent–infant attachment has been assessed using the Strange Situation procedure developed by Ainsworth in the Baltimore study. This procedure, which is appropriate to use with infants ages 12 to 18 months, involves a series of moderately stressful separations (3 minutes each) and reunions (3 minutes each) between the infant and a caregiver while in an unfamiliar playroom. Two systems are activated during the Strange Situation procedure: exploration (of a new environment, toys, and people) and attachment (through the repeated separations and reunions). The Strange Situation procedure enables researchers to examine how the infant uses the caregiver to cope with stress. The infant’s strategy is thought to reflect his or her accumulated experience as it pertains to the caregiver’s availability during times of need.

3.1.1.2. Attachment Patterns

Ainsworth identified three major attachment classifications. Secure infants use their caregivers as a ‘‘secure base’’ for exploration. These infants rely on occasional visual, verbal, or physical contact with their mothers as a basis for their own initiated exploration of the environment. When their mothers leave the room, secure infants may or may not cry. On reunion, these infants either greet their mothers positively or, if upset, go to them for comfort and then shortly after return to activities associated with exploration.

Infants who show patterns of insecure attachment of the avoidant type exhibit little or no reference to their mothers while exploring the room and show no overt signs of distress on their mothers’ departure (although some studies have shown that these infants do show physiological markers of stress during separation). Most important, on reunion, these infants actively ignore and avoid their caregivers (e.g., by looking away). Insecure–resistant (or ambivalent) infants are preoccupied with their mothers’ presence, often unable to leave their sides even in light of curious attempts to explore their new environment. When their mothers leave the room, these infants become extremely distressed, and on reunion, the infants refuse to settle and to resume exploration, clinging to their mothers and at the same time expressing anger and dissatisfaction. The large body of work using the Strange Situation shows that across cultures, the majority of all infants (approximately 65%) are securely attached to their mothers, whereas the remainder are classified as insecure. The distribution of insecure attachment classifications (i.e., frequencies of the avoidant and resistant patterns) appears to be affected by cultural context. In Western Europe and the United States, the avoidant type is more prevalent than the resistant pattern, whereas the opposite has been observed in some other cultures (e.g., in Israel).

A fourth category of attachment classification was added in 1986 by Main and Solomon because studies showed that there are infants whose behavior does not correspond with any of the three existing classifications. During the Strange Situation, these infants showed sequences of unusual behavior with no clear purpose or orientation (e.g., freezing, falling prone).

They seemed to lack an organized strategy for coping with the stress of the situation and looked ‘‘confused’’; thus, they were classified as having disorganized/disoriented attachment to their caregivers. Disorganized classification is given in addition to one of the other classifications. In normative middle-class populations in North America, approximately 14% of infants are judged to be disorganized. The rate is somewhat higher (24%) in low-socioeconomic status samples.

3.1.1.3. Validity

Evidence supporting the validity of the Strange Situation (i.e., its capacity to indeed capture the organization of the child’s attachment system) comes from the correspondence between Strange Situation classification and Ainsworth’s home observations of the same 23 infant–mother pairs. Ainsworth and colleagues found a strong association between infants’ Strange Situation classification and their secure base behavior in the home. Secure infants were much more likely than insecure infants to exhibit a good balance of exploratory and proximity-seeking behavior, to transition smoothly between the two, and to enjoy and be comforted by physical contact. In contrast, insecurely attached infants showed disturbed balance between attachment and exploration behavior, had difficulty in transitioning from one to the other, and often expressed negative affect during physical contact with their mothers. Further supporting evidence comes from several studies that found links between the Strange Situation classification and infants’ secure base behavior in the home as assessed by the Attachment Q-sort. Finally, additional less direct evidence for the validity of the Strange Situation comes from its links to prior maternal behavior and subsequent child outcomes.

3.1.2. The Attachment Q-Sort

An alternative to the Strange Situation is the Attachment Q-sort developed by Waters and Deane in 1985. The AQS requires observers to describe a target child’s home behavior by sorting a set of items according to how well they each describe the particular child (from most characteristic to least characteristic). Version 3.0 of the AQS consists of 90 items depicting a wide array of child home behaviors. A continuous measure of security is derived by comparing the sort describing the child of interest with a criterion sort developed to describe the ideal secure child. An advantage of the AQS is that it is suitable for use with a relatively wide age range (from 1 to 4 years). Both mothers and independent observers may use the AQS, although mothers have to become familiar with its items and observe their children for a few days in the home environment prior to their finally sorting all of the items from most characteristic to least characteristic of their children.

Findings regarding the association between the Strange Situation classifications and AQS security score have been mixed; some studies have found correspondence, whereas others have not. Overall, it appears that correspondence is better when independent observers, rather than mothers, are used. Summarizing more than 130 studies, a recent meta-analysis showed moderate convergence between observer-reported AQS security and Strange Situation security. Observer reports of AQS security were also found to be quite strongly linked to maternal sensitivity. This suggests that the AQS, when rated by observers, is a reasonable alternative to the Strange Situation. On the other hand, maternal-reported AQS security had weaker associations with both Strange Situation security and maternal sensitivity assessments, suggesting that mother-reported AQS scores are less adequate at assessing attachment security.

3.2. Measuring Attachment During Childhood

Beyond infancy, measurement of the attachment relationship relies heavily on observations of children’s behavior on reunion following relatively long separations from parents (30–60 minutes). Children’s emotional expression during separation and reunion, as well as their patterns of verbal and nonverbal communication with their caregivers, is examined and used to determine their attachment classification. The three main attachment patterns identified in children parallel those identified in the Strange Situation. A child can be described as secure (also referred to as balanced), as avoidant (also termed defended), or as dependent (parallel to the resistant classification during infancy and also referred to as coercive or involving). Children classified as disorganized during infancy typically exhibit controlling role reversing behavior on reunion during childhood, taking either a caregiving or a punitive role toward their parents. Narrative measures attempting to assess children’s symbolic representations of attachment have also been developed. These measures use projective techniques. They ask children to respond to pictures or story-stems depicting relevant attachment scenes. The narratives constructed by the children are then coded and scored for attachment style. Finally, the AQS can also be used with young children to obtain a measure of attachment security.

3.3. Assessing Adult Attachment Representations

During adolescence and adulthood, attachment is most often assessed through structured interviews or questionnaires. The central instrument is the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) developed by Main and colleagues. Throughout the interview, the individual is asked to describe his or her relationships with caregivers during childhood and to illustrate these descriptions with specific examples. The individual is also asked to describe situations where he or she needed support from those attachment figures (e.g., when the individual was hurt or upset) as well as relevant experiences of loss or trauma. The interviews must be transcribed verbatim and scored by a trained coder.

The AAI is designed to assess the individual’s current state of mind with respect to attachment rather than what his or her early attachment classification might have been. Thus, scoring of the AAI is based on the coherence of the narrative produced by the individual during the interview rather than on an assessment of his or her early life experiences.

The AAI yields adult attachment classifications that mirror the patterns identified in the Strange Situation. Securely attached adults are referred to as ‘‘autonomous’’ or ‘‘free to evaluate’’ because they appreciate close relationships and value their effect. They are reflective and open, and they speak about early experiences in a coherent and objective manner, even when such experiences were difficult or painful. Insecure adults could be classified as either ‘‘dismissing’’ (parallel to avoidant during infancy) or ‘‘preoccupied’’ (parallel to resistant attachment during infancy). Dismissing individuals minimize the effect of meaningful relationships in their personal history. They may idealize or derogate their attachment figures. When asked to support their descriptions of their relationships with specific examples, they are often unable to remember relevant incidents. Preoccupied (or ‘‘enmeshed’’) individuals are unable to detach themselves from irrelevant details associated with their past history and are so wrapped up in their

‘‘old’’ experiences and feelings that they fail to provide an overview. They appear to still be immersed in anger over old issues and unable to ‘‘let go.’’

Finally, the coding of the AAI also yields a score of the individual’s unresolved loss or trauma (when such painful experiences had occurred). This score is based on indications of disorganization and disorientation in thinking and affect during the discussion of the loss/ trauma (e.g., speaking of a dead person as if he or she were alive, going into an extreme amount of detail when describing the events surrounding the loss).

AAI classifications have been found to be stable over time and unrelated to intelligence, general memory skills, or the individual’s narrative style about topics irrelevant to attachment. Some empirical evidence regarding the validity of the AAI comes from numerous studies that found links between mothers’ AAI classification and the quality of their caregiving behavior to their own children at home as well as their own children’s attachment classification. More direct evidence that the AAI indeed reflects how adults interact with attachment figures when coping with stress is still relatively scarce. In one relevant study, engaged couples who completed the AAI were observed during a standard marital interaction task. AAI security was associated with more adaptive use of the partner as a secure base to obtain support as well as with greater propensity to serve as a secure base for the partner and provide such support. More research linking the AAI to adult secure base behavior is still needed.

Other interview procedures have also been developed to assess adult attachment. For example, the Current Relationship Interview (CRI) was developed by Crowell and Owens to assess attachment within current close relationships. Finally, self-report questionnaires are used as well for the assessment of attachment styles, particularly in the context of adult romantic relationships. Of these, the most widely used are Hazan and Shaver’s Attachment Style Questionnaire and Bartholomew and Horowitz’s Relationship Questionnaire. Overall, studies examining the associations between questionnaire measures and the AAI have produced mixed findings; several studies find little or no relationship, whereas a few studies report moderate associations. More research is still needed concerning the relationship among various measures of adult attachment.

4. The Antecedents Of Attachment Security

Because attachment describes an aspect of the relationship that develops between an infant and a caregiver, both members of the dyad influence the nature and quality of the attachment relationship that emerges. These two classes of antecedents are reviewed in what follows. Genetic influences on attachment are also considered.

4.1. Caregiver Influences on Attachment Security

4.1.1. Parental Caregiving Behavior

In Ainsworth’s studies, infant attachment classification was found to be strongly linked to prior maternal behavior in the home. The extensive home observations revealed that the mothers of secure, avoidant, and resistant infants differed qualitatively in their styles of caregiving. Specifically, mothers of infants later found to be secure during the Strange Situation at 12 months were highly sensitive, responsive, and accepting. They responded consistently and appropriately to their infants’ signals (e.g., crying) and were affectionate when holding and taking care of their infants. In contrast, the mothers of avoidant infants were observed to be consistently insensitive and rejecting. They were interfering and showed an aversion to close physical contact with their infants as well as a relative lack of emotional expression. Finally, infants classified as resistant had mothers who were inconsistently responsive. They were generally insensitive to their infants’ signals but were not highly rejecting. They were inept at holding their infants and responding to signals, but they showed no aversion to close physical contact with their infants. Therefore, the strategies employed by the insecure infants during the Strange Situation were seen as adaptations to the nonoptimal caregiving they have received and come to expect.

Overall, Ainsworth and colleagues found a very strong positive association between observer ratings of maternal sensitive responding and Strange Situation security. A considerable body of subsequent work employing the Strange Situation has generally replicated this link between early maternal sensitive and responsive caregiving and secure attachment in the Strange Situation, although the effects observed in those replication studies were considerably weaker than those reported by Ainsworth and colleagues. Three separate meta-analytic studies summarizing this body of work all concluded that the replication studies, taken together, showed a moderate linkage between maternal sensitive responding and infant security. Therefore, it appears that maternal sensitive and responsive caregiving plays an important, but not an exclusive, role in the formation of infant attachment security as assessed by the Strange Situation.

In addition to attachment security, the antecedents of attachment disorganization have been the subject of much theorizing and research. Hesse and Main posited that disorganized attachment is the result of frightening or frightened behavior on the part of the caregiver. The underlying assumption is that these circumstances present a very difficult situation for the infant because the same person who is supposed to help alleviate the child’s fear is also the person who causes it or is also afraid and unable to help the child. This leads to an approach–avoidance conflict and to behavioral disorganization. Support for this proposition is found in studies of children who are maltreated. These children show significantly higher rates of disorganized attachment than do children who were not abused or neglected.

4.1.2. Parental Attachment Representations

Another variable that has been systematically linked to infant attachment security in the Strange Situation is maternal attachment security as assessed by the AAI. Thus, secure autonomous mothers typically have secure infants, dismissing mothers tend to have avoidant babies, and preoccupied mothers often have resistant infants. Finally, maternal unresolved loss or trauma as assessed by the AAI has been found to predict disorganized/disoriented infant attachment. This correspondence in attachment patterns, referred to as the ‘‘intergenerational transmission of attachment,’’ has been found across many studies, even when the AAI was assessed prior to the infants’ births. One study involving grandmothers as well as mothers and infants also found transmission of attachment across three generations. The correspondence between parental and child attachment is greater for mothers than for fathers, possibly because mothers typically serve as the primary caregivers.

How is attachment security passed on from parent to child? The main process suggested by attachment theory is through the quality of caregiving provided by the parent. Indeed, research has shown that a substantial part of the correspondence between parent AAI and infant Strange Situation classification (approximately 23–25%) is due to the level of maternal sensitive responsive caregiving. However, a large portion (75–77%) of the correspondence is not explained by quality of caregiving, at least as assessed in the relevant studies (this discrepancy has been labeled the ‘‘transmission gap’’). Thus, additional processes must play a role in the transmission of attachment security from generation to generation. Some of these processes may involve genetic transmission of attachment or child influences on attachment security.

4.2. Genetic Transmission of Attachment

Beyond caregiver sensitive responding, another mechanism that might underlie the transmission of attachment from parent to child is through their shared genes. Several twin studies have explored the potential genetic component of attachment development. Overall, these studies show a negligible role for genes, and a paramount role for the environment, in the formation of attachment security during infancy. However, it is possible that genes might be implicated in attachment security beyond infancy; one twin study with preschoolers found evidence for a small genetic effect. With respect to attachment disorganization, the pattern of findings has been inconsistent. Some studies (including a small-scale molecular genetics study) found evidence for heritability, whereas a recent twin study found no evidence for genetic influence on attachment disorganization. Further research is needed to elucidate the role played by nature on the formation and maintenance of attachments throughout the life cycle.

4.3. Child Influences on Attachment Security

4.3.1. Child Temperament

Although attachment researchers have traditionally focused on caregiver contributions to attachment security, infants themselves also play an important role in the formation of parent–child interaction patterns. Recall that attachment to caregivers is established during the first year of life, but long before then infants already exhibit their individuality in their affect and behavior, referred to as temperament. Many different aspects and components of early temperament have been identified, and their effects on the nature of parent–child interactions have been examined. Some aspects of temperament seem particularly relevant to infants’ expression and regulation of attachment behavior, for example, proneness to distress (e.g., difficultness, emotionality, negative reactivity) and ability to regulate distress effectively. Therefore, the potential influence of these temperamental features on the development of attachment security has been the subject of much debate and investigation.

In the strongest form of critique, some temperament researchers have argued that the Strange Situation reflects infants’ temperamental characteristics rather than their accumulated experience regarding caregivers’ responsiveness to their expressed needs. However, this analysis seems too biased in the direction of temperament effects and overlooks some important evidence. It appears that attachment classifications cannot be reduced to temperamental characteristics.

Today, it is generally acknowledged that both parent and child characteristics play a role in the formation of a secure attachment. In general, small to moderate associations between aspects of temperament and attachment security have been found, particularly when the AQS, rather than the Strange Situation, was used to assess attachment security. These studies show that infants who are more prone to distress early in life (e.g., difficult, reactive) generally show less secure base behavior later on. However, beyond ascertaining the relative contribution of parent and child effects, it seems that the greater challenge for researchers during the upcoming years is to uncover how the two classes of antecedents interact in the formation of attachment. It seems likely that infants’ temperament affects parents’ ability to provide sensitive and responsive caregiving. Keeping highly irritable infants soothed and content is more demanding than caring for

‘‘easy’’ babies. Thus, infants prone to distress may elicit a lower level of sensitive responding, compared with calmer infants, from the same parents. Moreover, aspects of the environment (e.g., SES, family constellation, culture, support systems) also exert their effects on the two partners and the dyadic process. For example, parents who are exposed to high levels of stress or have little social support may be less able to provide responsive caregiving, particularly when caring for highly irritable infants.

4.3.2. Attachment in Children with Special Needs

In addition to temperament, other infant characteristics can influence the development of attachment security. Of special interest to researchers is the potential effects of infants’ special needs (e.g., a serious medical condition, premature birth, developmental delay) on the formation of attachment security. It has been speculated that infants’ medical or developmental problems (and parental perceptions of these problems) might disrupt parent–infant interactions and thus hamper the development of secure attachments. However, studies have generally found that this is not the case. A meta-analysis summarizing this work showed that the majority of medically compromised infants were securely attached to their mothers. Yet, some conditions can delay the time course of the formation of early attachments. For example, studies on infants with Down’s syndrome generally show that the emergence of early attachment is slower in this group.

5. Attachment Throughout The Life Span: Stability And Change

Attachment theory posits that early attachment relationships serve, to a large extent, as a model for later close relationships. According to Bowlby, based on the early history of interactions with a caregiver, an infant develops internal representations or implicit ideas of both self and the attachment figure (e.g., a view of the self as worthy of love and of the mother as available and responsive). These internal representations, termed ‘‘internal working models,’’ guide the individual’s processing of relevant information and thus affect how the person approaches new situations. It is through these internal working models that early attachments are thought to influence later development and relationships. Because internal working models are believed to operate largely outside the realm of consciousness, they are considered quite resistant to change. However, such change is possible as a result of significant life events and new relationships. Thus, attachment theory hypothesizes that (a) there should be some degree of stability in individuals’ attachment representations or internal working models throughout the life span and (b) change in the nature of these internal representations is not random but rather linked to important life events (negative or positive) or to new meaningful relationships (dysfunctional or constructive).

Findings from a number of independent long-term longitudinal studies generally reflect this complex mixture of stability and change. In these studies, attachment security was assessed during infancy using the Strange Situation and again during late adolescence or early adulthood using the AAI. Some of these studies found considerable stability in individuals’ security status, whereas others found no such continuity. Importantly, stability of attachment appears to be linked to the characteristics of the samples involved. Thus, stability of attachment from infancy to adulthood is more likely to be found in individuals brought up in stable and low stressed families than for those raised in highly stressed and unstable family environments. Moreover, across various samples, change from early security to later insecurity was not arbitrary. Rather, such change was often linked to negative life events that likely affected the quality of caregiving experienced by the child (e.g., loss of a parent, divorce, serious physical or mental illness).

6. Attachment And Subsequent Child Outcomes

With the gradual unfolding of attachment theory, and particularly since the Strange Situation was established as a valid measure of attachment during infancy, researchers began to examine the implications of early attachment relationships for later child outcomes. The underlying assumption in the majority of these studies is that positive attachment relationships (usually classified as secure) would be associated with positive outcomes and that negative attachment relationships (usually classified as insecure) would be associated with less positive or even negative outcomes. In other words, researchers hypothesized, and findings generally support the notion, that secure infants would subsequently show better adaptive skills in the areas of cognitive, emotional, and social development, whereas insecure infants’ development may be associated with maladaptive characteristics in various domains.

6.1. Emotion Regulation

Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to manage and cope successfully with various levels of emotional arousal, including negative emotions, in response to external events and internal stimulation (e.g., anxiety, excitement). Current views suggest that the attachment system itself provides a basic mechanism for emotional regulation. Studies show that during the years when the attachment relationship is formed, children who develop secure attachment ties to their caregivers express a variety of emotions freely, whereas children who form insecure–avoidant attachment ties tend to inhibit emotions. Overall, studies following children from infancy to early childhood have found that secure children are spontaneous in their expression of a variety of emotions, read the emotional cues of others better, and generally tend to be more emotionally positive. Insecure children, particularly those with an avoidant classification, tend to exhibit minimal emotional expressiveness overall, and particularly restrain the expression of negative emotions. Also, these children tend to misperceive others’ emotional displays, and to exhibit inappropriate affect considering the emotional climate of the circumstances (e.g., show anger when expressing positive emotions would be more appropriate).

6.2. Prosocial Behavior and Interpersonal Relationships

Longitudinal studies have found that a history of responsive care resulting in secure attachment is associated with a number of positive social developmental outcomes. Yet it is difficult to draw certain conclusions as to the role of early attachment security in later social competence because the parent–child relationship involves many aspects in addition to attachment. In general, findings suggest that children who were classified as securely attached during the first year of their lives were judged during the preschool years to be more socially competent and empathic toward their peers, as well as to have higher self-esteem, than children with a history of insecure attachment. During middle childhood, children who were classified as secure in their early attachment relationships were also found to be more socially accepted by their peers and more adept at forming close friendships than children who were classified as insecure. Moreover, secure infants grow to be adolescents who are more capable of creating intimacy than do insecure infants. However, the correlational nature of this evidence precludes any firm conclusions regarding the causal role played by attachment security. The early attachment relationship is only one component within a larger developmental context predicting later competence in interpersonal domains.

6.3. Cognitive Development

Studies have found relations between classification of attachment during infancy and specific cognitive functions during childhood. The most consistent evidence indicates that secure infants grow to have some cognitive advantages over insecure infants. Caution should be exercised in interpreting results regarding the relations between early attachment classification and later cognitive performance given that findings generally refer to the social aspects of cognition (social cognition), particularly problem solving, reasoning, and information processing within social contexts. However, there is some evidence suggesting that secure infants grow to have better cognitive functioning in the areas of attention, memory, and generalization during childhood than do insecure infants.

6.4. Problem Behavior and Mental Health

Research has shown that children with an insecure attachment history are more likely to develop behavioral and emotional problems than are children who had secure attachment relationships during infancy. Children with an insecure–avoidant history were found to exhibit more negative ‘‘acting out’’ behaviors, as well as to suffer from more depressed moods and anxiety during the preschool and early school years, compared with children who were securely attached, although the magnitude of these effects was generally small. Moreover, an avoidant–disorganized attachment classification during infancy was found to predict hostile and aggressive behavior during the school years. As with the other domains of development, no research provides evidence that insecure attachment is the primary factor, or even one of the more important factors, underlying any psychological disturbance.

It has also been argued that early insecure attachment contributes to psychopathology during adolescence and adulthood. Most notably, disorganized attachment during infancy has been linked to greater psychopathology in general during late adolescence, as well as to a specific type of psychological disturbance, namely dissociative symptoms. Infants identified as disorganized during the Strange Situation were found to report more dissociative states and experiences during late adolescence, reflecting disturbances of memory, identity, awareness, and cognition (e.g., lack of memory for significant past events). In addition, studies examining adult attachment have found a high proportion of insecure AAI classifications among psychiatric patients, although it might be that the psychiatric problems are affecting these individuals’ responses during the AAI (rather than these individuals’ state of mind with respect to attachment, or their attachment history, being the cause of the disturbance). A recent review suggested that dismissive adult attachment style is associated with acting out or externalizing disorders, whereas preoccupied attachment is associated with depression and anxiety or internalizing disorders. More research is still needed to elucidate the role played by early attachment in psychological disturbance later in life.

7. Applied Aspects Of Attachment

Since attachment theory was first articulated by Bowlby during the 1950s and 1960s, it has had a substantial impact on how early parent–child relationships are viewed. This, in turn, has shaped the thinking and practices of clinicians and policymakers. These influences are presented in this final section.

7.1. Interventions with Infants and Young Children

Although Bowlby’s ideas, when first introduced, were met with strong resistance on the part of the psychoanalytic community, over the years practitioners have come to incorporate many of these notions into their clinical work. Specifically, because early secure attachment is associated with positive child outcomes, interventions that focus on the enhancement of attachment security in populations at risk for developing insecure attachment have been developed. There are two main approaches that guide these intervention attempts. The first aims at improving the quality of parental caregiving behavior, particularly parental sensitivity. The second approach is typically more long term and focuses on altering the parent’s insecure mental representations or implicit ideas of attachment into more adaptive secure ones. Of course, the two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and both can be incorporated into the same intervention.

7.1.1. Enhancing Parental Sensitivity

Improvement of the quality of caregiving behavior is typically done by first observing how the mother interacts with her infant. Many programs, as well as individual clinicians, that practice mother–infant psychotherapy use videotaping of mother–infant interactions to learn through observation about the strengths and weaknesses of each mother’s caregiving style. Portions of the videotaped material are then shown to the parent to identify moments where she interpreted her child’s signals correctly and responded appropriately as well as moments where she ignored or misinterpreted her child’s cues. More general patterns of parental responding to the infant are also identified and discussed. Through this process, the clinician improves the parent’s ability to read the child’s various cues and signals and to respond more sensitively and appropriately to them. Examples of the use of this process in interventions are the STEEP (Steps Toward Effective Enjoyable Parenting) program developed at the University of Minnesota, the Infant Parent Program at the University of Michigan, and a preventive intervention study conducted in The Netherlands by van den Boom. In addition, similar principles of enhancing responsive caregiving through the provision of information, feedback, modeling, and support often guide individual clinicians when working with mother–infant dyads.

7.1.2. Changing Internal Working Models

Interventions and therapies that attempt to modify insecure internal working models of attachment typically involve parents discussing and reflecting on their experiences with their own early attachment figures (i.e., their parents). The goal is to gain insight into the effects of these early (often negative) childhood experiences on the parents’ current caregiving practices. The underlying assumption is that working through these early anxiety-provoking experiences will lead to the adoption of more secure internal working models of attachment, thereby preventing the replication of the same maladaptive interaction patterns with their own children. Note that although this approach focuses on the parents’ internal representational level, parenting behavior is also addressed, but without the intense behavioral focus involved in the first approach to intervention discussed in the previous subsection.

Overall, a meta-analytic review of intervention programs using attachment theory in individual, dyadic, or group settings suggested that short-term, behaviorally based interventions with a specific focus were more effective in improving mother–infant quality of interaction and attachment security than were interventions focused on parental internal representations. However, the magnitude of the effects was generally small. Moreover, enhancing maternal sensitivity was found to be a more consistent outcome of interventions than was the effect on infant attachment classification.

7.2. Policy

Attachment theory has had an impact not only on the work of researchers and individual clinical practitioners but also on policymakers. Early on in his career, Bowlby and his colleague, John Robertson, observed and documented the emotional difficulties that hospitalized children exhibited when forced to separate from their parents. At the time, parents were not allowed to stay with their sick children, and children were forced to spend days and weeks with only brief, highly controlled visits from their parents. A filmed documentation of one hospitalized child’s grief and pain over her separation from her parents had a tremendous impact on hospitals’ practices and policies. Today, in most hospitals, parents are allowed and encouraged to spend unlimited time with their hospitalized children.

Child care policies were also largely affected by Bowlby and his followers’ views on the importance of high-quality caregiving. One important area is the care provided for orphans and children who need to be removed from their parents’ care. In the past, these children were typically put in institutions such as residential nurseries and orphanages. This practice was criticized by attachment theorists because the emotionally detached style that characterized care in these institutions did not enable the children to form meaningful relationships with consistent caregivers. As a response to the criticism of institutionalization, there has been a growing tendency to rely on foster care in an attempt to promote more intimate personalized caregiving within a family context. However, this alternative often appears to be less successful than expected because many children are passed on from one foster family to another for short amounts of time.

Finally, another area in which attachment theory has had an influence is how nonmaternal care during the day, and particularly group day care for infants and young children, is perceived and evaluated. In general, research shows that nonmaternal care, including group day care, does not, in and of itself, disrupt children’s attachment security to their parents. However, low-quality day care—marked by large group size, high caregiver–child ratios, high turnover of caregivers, and lack of personalized caregiving—can be detrimental to infant–mother attachment security, particularly when other risk factors are present. This highlights the importance of providing infants with good quality day care settings to enable them to form meaningful relationships with consistent caregivers.

References:

1. Atkinson, L., & Zucker, K. (Eds.). (1997). Attachment and psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press.
2. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base. New York: Basic Books.
3. Bretherton, I., & Waters, E. (Eds.). (1985). Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1–2, Serial No. 209).
4. Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P. R. (Eds.). (1999). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. New York: Guilford.
5. Goldberg, S. (2000). Attachment and development. London: Arnold.
6. Goldberg, S., Muir, R., & Kerr, J. (Eds.). (1995). Attachment theory: Social, developmental, and clinical perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
7. Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.). (1990). Attachment in the preschool years. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8. Parks, C. M., Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Marris, P. (Eds.). (1991). Attachment across the life cycle. London: Routledge.

See also:

• Psychology Research Paper Topics
•  Psychology Research Paper Examples

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