Families and Attachment : Beyond infancy Flashcards
• Who do infants attach to?
? Initially thought to be with the mother
• Bowlby’s (1953) “maternal deprivation” theory- it should be the mother. Just after the war mothers were at home.
what do studies now suggest about who infants attach to?
multiple-
• Grandparents, older siblings can act as secure bases too- eg longitudinal Hawaiin study
• Infant-mother attachment and infant-father attachment can be very different (Van Ijzendoorn and De Wolff, 1997)
Give an example of multiple attachment?
• Replicated in Israeli kibbutzim (Fox, 1977)- All the parents go to work and then go to a communal nursery. Commune nurse and parents are secure base.
Why are children impacted by poor attunement?
children are egotistical and thinks the thing that is wrong is caused by them
What happens in the 4th and 5th phases of attachment?
less dependant on physical proximity
what does a child develop?
an internal working model of the attachment they have experienced
• This is a cognitive structure that embodies the memories of the day-to-day interactions with the attachment figure
• This guides the child’s actions as they grow up and into adulthood (based on their past experiences)
What are the developmental outcomes of different attachment patterns?
• Attachment type/ pattern does predict/ correlate with other aspects of development as the infant develops
What did Oppenheim et al 1988 find?
that secure attachment to mother at 12 months predicted better
- curiosity and problem-solving at 2 years old
- social confidence at 3
- empathy and independence at 5.
What was Kochanska’s (2001) study and what did he find?
followed infants longitudinally from 9 – 33 mths and observed emotions in laboratory episodes designed to elicit fear, anger and joy
• He found that overtime attachment made a difference:
• Avoidant infants became more fearful
• Ambivalent infants became less joyful
• Disorganised infants became more angry
• Securely attached infants showed less fear, anger or distress
What are the
developmental outcomes of different attachment patterns?
- The attachment pattern a child has influences the internal working model that they take into older childhood and adulthood
- Understood to be a life-span construct – it will affect how they are in the future
- Adult versions of different attachment styles exist
What would an insecurely attached child find difficult in school?
- Primary school? Behaviour. Avoid the things they don’t understand. Sharing.
- Teenage years? Concentration, aggression. If they haven’t learnt by now how to regulate their emotions it can impact their school life
Can the impacts of being insecurely attached change in later years?
- Significant research and debate over when and how much changes are possible
- There is evidence for some degree of continuity through life but also considerable evidence that this can be affected by life events, counselling, clinical treatment or reflection
- Internal working models can be updated and modified when
- new interactions are experienced or
- when the person reaches a higher stage of cognitive understanding
what can we do in school and EY settings to help change an internal working model?
. Create safety and predictability in the setting eg having a timetable
2. Build a relationship with the child
3. Teach empathy and emotions
4. Provide support for the adults
BUILD A RELATIONSHIP
• Engage with the child.
• Pay close attention to direct and distorted requests for help, accept this is going to happen, consider how to help the child learn to do this more acceptably
• Support child to regulate their emotions (eg. to get them under control).
• Support child to manage shame.
• Respond through “PLACE” not anger or criticism.
Teach Emotions
• Use the materials to help children express, identify and self regulate their emotions
Support for the Adults
• These children can be challenging to work with
• Those working with the child will need
• Good support.
• Opportunities for reflection and planning.
• Good Supervision.
