influence of early attachment on later relationships Flashcards
who suggested that a baby’s first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship
bowlby (1969)
what does the internal working model act as
template for future childhood & adult relationships
what leads to an individual having fulfilling & functional relationships
the quality of a babies first attachment must be of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure
who created the ‘love quiz’
hazan & shaver 1987
aim of hazar & shaver 1987
to investigate if there was a correlation between an infant’s early attachment type & their future approach to romantic relationships
procedure of hazar & shaver 1987
- developed love quiz consisting of 2 components:
1. measure of attachment type = simple adjective checklist of childhood relationships w/ parents & parents’ relationship
2. love experience questionnaire = assessed individual beliefs on romantic love eg. if lasted forever - printed in local newspaper (‘rocky mountain news’) & readers sent responses
- analysed first 620 replies from people aged 14-82
- classified respondents accorded to mary ainsworth’s attachment types & looked for corresponding adult love styles
findings for securely attached (type B) of hazar & shaver 1987
- love experiences described as happy, friendly & trusting
- accept partner regardless of faults
- more enduring relationships
- initial passion reappears time-to-time
- ‘romantic love’ never fades
- happy to be dependent on others/depended on
- happy to be close to others
findings for insecure-avoidant (type A) of hazar & shaver 1987
- feared intimacy
- emotional highs/lows
- jealous
- believed they didn’t need love to be happy
- uncomfortable being close &/or depending on others
findings for insecure-resistant (type C) of hazar & shaver 1987
- love was involving obsession
- desire for reciprocation
- emotional highs/lows
- extreme sexual attraction & jealousy
- worry that partners didn’t love them/would abandon them
- desire for intense closeness could frighten others away
conclusion of hazar & shaver 1987
evidence to support the concept of internal working model having a life-long impact. however, they concluded that not everyone stayed true to their infant attachment style & some people grew as they got older.
kerns (1994)
securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached babies later have friendship difficulties
myron-wilson & smith (1998) procedure & results
bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type
procedure:
- assessed attachment type & bullying involvement using standard questionnaires
- 196 children aged 7-11 from london
results:
- secure children unlikely to be involved in bullying
- insecure-avoidant children most likely to be victims
- insecure-resistant children most likely to be bullies
which 2 major adult experiences does the IWW effect
- romantic relationships
- parental relationships w/ own children
who completed another study on the affect of IWW on adult relationships (other than hazan & shaver 1987)
McCarthy (1999)
procedure of mccarthy (1999)
- studied 40 adult women who’d been assessed as babies to establish attachment type
results of mccarthy (1999)
- those assessed as securely-attached had best adult friendships & romantic relationships
- those classed as insecure-resistant had problems maintaining friendships
- those classed as insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
who completed a study on the affect of IWW on the ability to parent their own children
bailey et al. 2007
procedure of bailey et al. 2007
- considered attachments of 99 mothers to their babies & own mothers
- mother-baby attachment assessed via strange situation
- mother-mother attachment assessed via adult attachment interview
results of bailey et al. 2007
- majority of women had same attachment type as their babies & mothers
AO3
+)
P: research support for research into attachment & later relationships
E: reviews of studies linking attachment to later development (eg. fearon & roisman 2017) have concluded early attachment consistently predicts later attachment, emotional well-being & attachment to own children. the strength of the relationship between early attachment type & later development depends on which attachment type & aspects of later development. even though insecure-avoidant attachment doesn’t show many disadvantages for development, disorganised attachment is strongly associated with later mental disorders.
T: secure attachment as a baby seemingly conveys advantages for future development whilst disorganised attachments may be seriously disadvantageous to children
COUNTERPOINT
-)
P: not all evidence supports existence of close links between early attachment & later development
E: regensburg longitudinal study (becker-stoll et al. 2008) followed 43 individuals from 1 year old. at age 16, attachment was assessed using adult attachment interview & there was no evidence of continuity
T: it’s not clear to what extent the quality of early attachment really predicts later development - may be other important factors
-)
P: early attachment assessed retrospectively
E: most research on link between early attachment & later development aren’t longitudinal. instead, researchers usually ask adolescent/adult participants about their relationships with parents & identify attachment type. this causes 2 validity problems - for example, asking questions relies on honesty & accurate perception of participant. secondly, it’s very hard to know whether what is being assessed is early attachment or adult attachment.
T: measures of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded by other factors making them meaningless
-)
P: confounding variables
E: some studies assess attachment in infancy (eg. mccarthy) meaning assessment of early attachment is valid. however, these studies may have validity problems due to associations between attachment quality & later development being confounded. for example, parenting style may influence attachment quality & later development. on the other hand, genetically-influenced personality may be an influence on both factors
T: we can never be entirely sure it’s early attachment & not other factors influencing later development
-)
P: alternative explanations
E: temperament hypothesis (kagan 1982) argues some infants are born with an innate personality making them more friendly & so it’s easier for the mother/caregiver to be caring & nurturing whereas, other infants may have difficult personalities that will make it less likely for the mother to want to comfort them
T: thus, early attachment type may not be a valid explanation for impacts on later adult relationships
