influence of early attachment on later relationships Flashcards
what did John Bowlby suggest
John Bowlby suggested that a child having their first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation of this relationship
what is the internal working model
internal working model acts as a template for future relationships
why is the quality of a child’s first attachment important
it’s important because the first attachment acts as a template and will poweful affect the nature of their future relationships
if a child’s first experience is:
-loving relationships with a reliable caregiver will tend to assume that this is how relationships are meant to be
This means they will seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them
bad experience of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences to later relationships in the first place or they may not behave appropriately
-when they have them, they may display type A or C behaviour towards friends and partners
what are the things that attachment associated to
it is associated with the quality of peer relationship in childhood
relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
relationships in adulthood as a parent
how does attachment type affect relationships in childhood
SECURELY ATTACHED infants -
tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendship
INSECURELY ATTACHED infants- later has friendship difficulties (Kern 1994)
what was the study that showed that attachment types can affect friendships in later childhood
PROCEDURE:
ROWAN MYRAN- WILSON and PETER SMITH (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using STANDARD QUESTIONNAIRES in 196 children 7 - 11 from London
FINDINGS:
secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying
insecure - avoidant children most likely to be victims
insecure resistant children were most likely to be bullies
how are the relationships in adulthood with romantic partners affected by attachment types
in a study of attachment and both romantic relationships and friendships GERARD McCARTHY (1999) studied 40 adult women who had assessed when they were infants to establish their early attachment type
SECURELY ATTACHED -
infants had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships
INSECURE - RESISTANT
infants had particular problems maintaining friendships in adulthood
INSECURE - AVOIDANT
infants struggled within intimacy in romantic relationships as adults
what study shows how attachment type can affect relationships in adulthood with romantic partners (and friendships)
CINDY HAZAN and PHILIP SHAVER (1987)
conducted a classic study of the study of the association between attachment and adult relationships
PROCEDURE:
analysed 620 replies to a “love quiz” printed in an American local newspaper
the quiz had three sections:
-first assessed respondent current or most important relationship
- second part assessed general love experiences such as number of partners
- the third section attachment type by as kind respondents to choose which of three statements best described their feelings
FINDINGS:
56% of respondents were identified as securely attached with 25% INSECURE - AVOIDANT
Those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and longer romantic experiences AVOIDANT RESPONDENTS tended to reveal jealously and fear of intimacy
These findings suggest that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
what else does the internal working models also affect
the internal working models also affect the ability to aren’t their own children
people tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family
what study shows how relationships in adulthood as a parent is affected as attachment type
a study by BAILEY ET AL (2007)
they considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies to their own mothers
Mother - baby attachment was assessed using the STRANGE SITUATION and mother - own mother attachment assessed using an adult attachment interview
majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers
