Influence of Early Attachment on Later Relationships

Question 1

Relationships in Later Childhood (1)

Answer 1

=> Kerns, 1994: Found securely attached infants tend to form best quality childhood friendships while insecurely attached infants later having friendship difficulties

=> Myron-Wilson + Smith (1998): Assessed attachment type + bullying involvement in 196 children aged 7-11 in London
=> Found: Type B unlikely to be involved, Type A often victims, Type C most likely bullies

• Attachment type associated w/ quality of peer relationships

Question 2

Relationships in adulthood w/ romantic partners

Answer 2

McCarthy (1999); studied 40 adult women who were assessed as infants to establish attachment type

=> Those assessed as type B infants had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships

Question 3

Hazan + Shaver’s Love Quiz - Procedures + Findings

Answer 3

• Analysed 620 replies to quiz in local US paper assessing amount/most important relationships general love experiences e.g no of partners=> 56% Type B, 25% Type A, 19% Type C
  => Securely attached ppl were most likely to have good long-lasting romantic experiences
  => Avoidants tended to reveal jealousy + fear of intimacy

Question 4

Evaluation of Love Quiz

Answer 4

• Qs w/ limited options force pps to choose answers that don’t represent their experiences
• Being a quiz in newspaper, pp want take it seriously/ have limited responses/ inaccurate
• Published in local paper makes findings limited to narrow population - can’t genaralised to other groups
• Lower validity as retrospective data may be inaccurate or warped by later life experiences

Question 5

Relationships in adulthood as a Parent

Answer 5

Bailey et al (2007) - found out of 99 mothers, majority had same attachment type as their mothers (assessed by interview) as their babies (assessed by strange situation)

THUS: Internal Working Models (IWM) affect childs ability to raise their own children as parents tend to base their parenting style on their IWM so attachment types are passed by generations

Question 6

Issues of Validity (AO3)

Answer 6

=> Most studies rely on self report techniques and many use retrospective data (like Love Quiz)

=> ‘Social desirability bias’ => pp present themselves in the best light

Question 7

Evidence on continuity of attachment type is mixed (AO3)

Answer 7

=> Zimmerman (2000) assessed infant attachment type + adolescent attachment to parents
Suggests little association between quality of infant + adolescent attachment

Question 8

Association doesn’t equate Cause (AO3)

Answer 8

=> Attachment type in infancy is associated w/ attachment type in adulthood doesn’t mean 1 causes the other

=> The child’s innate temperament or environmental factors like parenting style may influence both - the 3rd factor

Question 9

Self Report Techniques are Conscious while our IWM is Unconscious (AO3)

Answer 9

We aren’t aware of IWM’s direct influence while questionnaires + interviews rely on our conscious awareness of relationships

 => MEANS any evidence gathered about the IWM from self report questionnaires is limited and potentially invalid (not measuring what is intended)