Early Attchment and Later Relationships

Question 1

What does the internal working model help explain ?

Answer 1

Adult relationships

Question 2

What did Kerns (1994) state ?

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

What did Myron- Wilson and smith (1998) discover ?

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

Who conducted the “ influence of early attachments “ study ?

Answer 4

Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Question 5

What was the procedure to Hazan and shavers love quiz ?

Answer 5

analysed 620 replies to a love quiz printed in a local newspaper

The quiz had 3 sections

Question 6

What were the 3 sections to the love quiz ?

Answer 6

1. Assessing respondents current or most significant relationship
2. General love experiences
3. Assessing attachment type by responding to one of three statements

Question 7

What were the results of the love quiz ?

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

What was the conclusion of Hazan and Shavers study ?

Answer 8

Their findings provide support for Bowlbys internal working model - that early attachments do influence adult relationships

Question 9

What were the statistics of the results in the love quiz ?

Answer 9

56% of respondents classified themselves secure

25% avoidant

19% resistant

Question 10

What were some evaluation points of the love quiz ?

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

Why was the adult attachment interview created ?

Answer 11

To assess the relationship between early childhood attachments and later adult attachments

Question 12

What is the adult attachment interview based off ?

Answer 12

I doesn’t necessarily matter exactly what the childhood attachment was it’s how it was remembered

This supports the internal working model

Question 13

Who conducted the adult attachment interview ?

Answer 13

Main et al (1985)

Question 14

What is the continuity hypothesis ?

Answer 14

Suggests future relationships will follow the pattern based on this template, impacting childhood relationships , adult relationships and even their relationships with their own children

Question 15

What was the adult attachment interview ?

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

What did Main et al (1985) show via this study ?

Answer 16

That the categories of adult relationships could be predicted from peoples recall of their childhood attachments

Question 17

What did Bailey et al. (2007) investigate ?

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

What did McCarthy (1999) investigate ?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

What is the cycle of privation ?

Answer 19

Those children who experience privation go on to have difficulties caring for their own children

Question 20

What did Quinton et al (1984) research ?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

What is reactive attachment disorder ?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What are symptoms of reactive attachment disorder ?

Answer 22

• an inability to five or receive affection
• dishonesty
• poor social relationships
• involvement in crime

Question 23

What did Freud and Dann (1951) research ?

Answer 23

• 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