Early Attchment and Later Relationships Flashcards
What does the internal working model help explain ?
Adult relationships
What did Kerns (1994) state ?
- attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood
- securely attached infants go on to form the best quality friendships
- insecurely attached infants struggle
What did Myron- Wilson and smith (1998) discover ?
- gave a questionnaire to 196 children age 7-11 from London
- found that insecure-avoidant infant are most likely to be bullied while insecure - resistant infants are most likely to be bullies
Who conducted the “ influence of early attachments “ study ?
Hazan and Shaver (1987)
What was the procedure to Hazan and shavers love quiz ?
analysed 620 replies to a love quiz printed in a local newspaper
The quiz had 3 sections
What were the 3 sections to the love quiz ?
- Assessing respondents current or most significant relationship
- General love experiences
- Assessing attachment type by responding to one of three statements
What were the results of the love quiz ?
- there was a correlation between the type of childhood attachments and peoples later views on romantic love
- secure children were more likely to have happy and trustworthy relationships
- insecure - avoidant children ended up fearing intimacy
- insecure - resistant children were more likely to be worried that they weren’t loved in their relationships
What was the conclusion of Hazan and Shavers study ?
Their findings provide support for Bowlbys internal working model - that early attachments do influence adult relationships
What were the statistics of the results in the love quiz ?
56% of respondents classified themselves secure
25% avoidant
19% resistant
What were some evaluation points of the love quiz ?
- quiz relied on people thinking back to their childhood which isn’t always accurate
- study used a volunteer sample so a certain type of person might be more likely to respond
- people may have answered untruthfully to show themselves in a better light
- did repeat the study in 2003 and find similar results
Why was the adult attachment interview created ?
To assess the relationship between early childhood attachments and later adult attachments
What is the adult attachment interview based off ?
I doesn’t necessarily matter exactly what the childhood attachment was it’s how it was remembered
This supports the internal working model
Who conducted the adult attachment interview ?
Main et al (1985)
What is the continuity hypothesis ?
Suggests future relationships will follow the pattern based on this template, impacting childhood relationships , adult relationships and even their relationships with their own children
What was the adult attachment interview ?
- the semi structured interview involves a series of questions about childhood attachment relationships and how these were seen to influence later relationships
- interviewee gave 5 adjectives explaining their relationship with their parents
- they were then asked to explain why they chose them
- they were asked about times when they were upset if they ever felt rejected and how they believe their early experiences influenced adult attachment
- the 5 categories were then : secure, dismissing , preoccupied or unresolved/ disorganised
What did Main et al (1985) show via this study ?
That the categories of adult relationships could be predicted from peoples recall of their childhood attachments
What did Bailey et al. (2007) investigate ?
- assessed 99 mothers/ infants using the strange situation and interviews
- found that the majority of mothers had the same attachment type with their infant as with their mother
What did McCarthy (1999) investigate ?
- studied 40 adult women who had been assessed as children in their early attachment types
- those who had been assessed as securely attached as infants had the most secure and best adult friendships and relationships
- those who had been assessed as insecure and resistant as infants struggled to maintain friendships
- those who had been assessed as insecure- avoidant struggled with intimate relationships
This research supported the work of Bowlby and Hazan and Shaver
What is the cycle of privation ?
Those children who experience privation go on to have difficulties caring for their own children
What did Quinton et al (1984) research ?
- compared 50 women who had experienced institutional care as children with 50 women who hadn’t
- women who were raised in institutions were more likely to have parenting difficulties later in life —> suggests there’s a cycle of privation
- thus their children are deprived of a strong maternal attachment and may then be less caring to their children and so on
What is reactive attachment disorder ?
Parker & Forrest (1993) outlined this rare but serious condition which occurs in children who have been permanently damaged by early experiences such as privation of attachment
What are symptoms of reactive attachment disorder ?
- an inability to five or receive affection
- dishonesty
- poor social relationships
- involvement in crime
What did Freud and Dann (1951) research ?
- studied 6 children who were rescued after WWII
- they had been orphaned during the war at a few months old and raised within a deportation camp
- although they were looked after by the Jewish people passing though to the concentration camps the children didn’t have time to form any adult attachments instead forming binds amongst themselves
- when the war ended , the children were adopted by British families and have since shown few signs of a troubled upbringing
- having a normal level of intelligence and maintaining normal relationships
