AS ATTACHMENT; INFLUENCE OF EARLY ATTACHMENT ON LATER RELATIONSHIPS

Question 1

Describe the influence of early attachment

on childhood relationships (also define continuity hypothesis)

Answer 1

• ** CONTINUITY HYPOTHESIS; SEES CHILDRENS’ ATTACHMENT TYPES AS BEING REFLECTED IN THEIR LATER RELATIONSHIPS ***
• Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships
• Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) used std questionnaires to assess attachment type and involvement in bullying of 196 London kids 7-11 yrs old.
• Found that securely attached kids were v unlikely to be involved in bullying and tended to have good friendships, whilst Type A tended to be victims and Type C tended to be bullies. Both Type A and Type C had friendship difficulties

Question 2

Describe the influence of early attachment

on romantic relationships and adult friendships (also define continuity hypothesis)

Answer 2

• ** CONTINUITY HYPOTHESIS; SEES CHILDRENS’ ATTACHMENT TYPES AS BEING REFLECTED IN THEIR LATER RELATIONSHIPS ***
• Type B tend to have best relationships and friendships whilst Type A have problems w/ intimacy in relationships and Type C have problems maintaining friendships
• Hazen and Shaver (1987) analysed 620 responses to a “love quiz” they put out in newspapers
• Found that Type B tended to have much longer lasting relationships than A or C, (Type A had average of 6 yrs, B = 10 yrs and C = 5 yrs)
• Also found that Type B had a much more positive internl working model

Question 3

Describe the influence of early attachment 
on parenting (also define continuity hypothesis)

Answer 3

• ** CONTINUITY HYPOTHESIS; SEES CHILDRENS’ ATTACHMENT TYPES AS BEING REFLECTED IN THEIR LATER RELATIONSHIPS ***
• Ppl in adulthood tend to parent based on their own experiences
• Bailey et al (2007) used observation to assess 99 1 yr old infants’ attachments to their mums, then used std interviews to determine attachment of the mums to their own mothers
• Mums who had secure attachment to their own parents tended to have v good attachment to their infants

Question 4

Evaluate the influence of early attachment

on later relationships

Answer 4

(-) Most research lacks validity as it uses self-report techniques to determine quality of attachment; recall may be poor and it’s not possible to verify; could also suffer from social desirablity bias
(-) Only correlation, not causatio; the good attachment doesn’t necessarily CAUSE the good relationships, it may be due to other factors, e.g. temparament (child’s genetically influenced personality)
(-) Zimmerman (2000) found no correlation between infant attachment quality and quality of adolescent attachment to parents; counter-evidence to internal working model/ continuity hypothesis
(-) Clarke and Clarke (1998) say that infant attachment is just one factor and people aren’t doomed to bad future relationships; could be socially sensitive/ damaging to tell ppl that their infants will struggle with future relationships based on their attachment when this is not the only factor