Attachment in child behaviour Flashcards
What is attachment?
Attachment- An enduring emotional relationship between 2 people (child & primary caregiver)
- Starts early- from 7 months (to around 3y)
- Involves physical proximity seeking
- Provokes separation anxiety
- Provide comfort, care, security & safe base for exploration
What is the purpose of attachment?
- Provides comfort, care, security & safe base for exploration.
- Promotes optimal development of the brain, which is heavily involved in emotional regulation.
Examples of innate infant behaviours to enable social interaction
Crying - child requires adult’s attention e.g. wanting food.
Looking -communication strategy.
Smiling - starts as reflex, becomes social. When children smile, they get a positive response from their carers.
Cuddling - human reflex, allows physical contact.
Babies have a clear preference for their caregiver’s face, voice, smell & touch
Signs of separation anxiety?
- Protest
- fear
- anger
- cry
- refuse to interact
What are the 4 types of attachment?
- Secure attachment
- Avoidant attachment
- Ambivalent attachment
- Disorganised attachment
How does secure attachment develop?
- A child is secure in their environment.
- A child becomes hungry/tired/scared.
- Child becomes anxious, so it starts crying- attachment behaviour
- Carer re-establishes proximity & responds to child’s needs
- Anxiety of the child decreases.
- Attachment behaviour drops e.g. child stops crying.
- Leads to increase safety and security.
Cycle starts again
Note: view cycle on notes
Traits of securely attached children?
- Greater emotional & social competence.
- Greater resilience
- Higher self esteem & independence.
- Positive peer relations
- Better overall psychological health
- Secure attachments w/ own children.
- Sense of security & safety to explore, play & learn.
Securely attached children have: sensitive, warm, responsive parents that meet their needs consistently.
How does avoidance/ ambivalent attachment develop?
- Seperation, fear, discomfort.
- Anxiety and attachment behaviour e.g. crying.
- Unavaliable care giver e.g. rejecting, indifferent, insensitive, inconsistent.
- Prolonged periods of distress & emotions are not soothed or managed.
- Episodes repeat themselves many times = insecure attachments.
- Children develop strategies that will help w/ this type of attachment e.g. demand attention (behavioural problems).
- no return to safety
CYCLE
Episodes repeat themselves many times = insecure attachments. Most children will develop strategies that will help with this type of attachment e.g. demand attention (behavioural problems).
How do disorganised attachments develop?
- Seperation, fear, discomfort.
- Anxiety and attachment behaviour e.g. crying.
- Neglectful, abusive parents
- Carers are the source of stress
- Unresolved fear, trauma, helplessness, confusion
- Collapse of emotional strategies to cope.
- No return to safety!
Cycle
What are the implications in the future for insecurly attached children?
- Poor emotional & social competence
- Poor regulation of emotions
- Difficulties at school, more likely to be bullied
- Difficult in showing empathy
- Unregulated biological stress system; abnormal patterns of cortisol realise
- Lower self esteem, lack of trust in others
- Emotional & behavioural problems- depression, aggression, over controlling or over compliant behaviour
What type of parenting leadings to insure attachment?
Insecurely attached children have: unavailable, inconsistent, unresponsive (or abusive) parents.
LEARN that carer is unable to meet their needs & is unavailable
Why are insecurely attached children more likely to develop emotional & behavioural problems than securely attached ones?
Develop distorted views:
- Of themselves as unworthy of love
- Of others as emotionally unavailable (or causing them confusion, harm & pain)
When is attachment relevant in clinical practise?
During pre & post-natal reviews- mothers w/ post pregnancy depression make it harder to form attachment w/ baby, earlier intervention placed, earlier support
When children do not reach normal developmental milestones e.g. physical development, emotional & social skills, language (no one to talk to or engage w/ as no safe place, not stimulated by environment)
When children struggle at school due to behavioural or emotional difficulties
In clinical populations- children w/ mood disorders, clinical anxiety & depression, attachment disorders
What are the risk factors and signs of poor attachment?
- Recognise risk factors:
- Pre or post-partial depression
- Poor maternal mental health
- Teenage mothers who are inexperienced
- Parent alcohol or drug use
- Lack of family support - When children aren’t reaching milestones.
- No one to talk too
- Physical development could be slow e.g. not allowed to crawl. - Struggles at school
- Check root of difficulties
- Triad therapy can help - mothers can learn or relearn how to attach w/ children. - Children w/ psychatric problems
