Influence of early attachments on later relationships

Question 1

Internal working model

Answer 1

Those had positive first attachment will assume that is how all relationships are meant to be, so will seek out functional relationships that are not too uninvolved or emotionally close (insecure-avoidant attachment) or being controlling or augmentative (insecure-resistant attachment)

• Child with a bad experience of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences into later relationships - may struggle to form relationships in the first place or may not behave appropriately within relationships (insecure-avoidant relationships or insecure-resistant relationships)

Question 2

Relationships in childhood

Answer 2

• Attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood
• Securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached have friendship difficulties (Kerns 1994)
• Bullying behaviour can be predicted from attachment type
• Rowan Myron-Wilson and Peter Smith (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from London

Secure children were unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure- avoidant children were most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant children were most likely to be bullies

Question 3

Relationships in adulthood

Answer 3

• Internal working model affects romantic relationship and paternal relationships with your own children
• Romantic relationships studied by McCarthy (1999) studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were babies to establish their early attachment type. Those who were securely attached had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships. Insecure-resistant babies had problems with friendship as adults, and those as insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
• Parent relationships:
• People base their parenting model on internal working model so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family
  -Heidi Bailey (Ainsworth) - attachment of 99 mothers using the Strange Situations and the majority of women had the same attachment classification to both babies and their mothers

Question 4

Strength - research support

Answer 4

• Review of studies has found that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment and emotional wellbeing. The strength of the relationship between early attachment type and later development depends on the attachment type and the aspect of later development
• Means that secure attachment as a bay appears to convey advantages for later development, while disorganised attachment appears to disadvantage children

Question 5

Counterpoint to research support

Answer 5

• COUNTERPOINT - Not all evidence supports the existence of close links between early attachment and later development. E.g. the Regensburg longitudinal study (Becker-Stoll et al, 2008) followed 43 individuals from one year of age
  ○ Age 16 - attachment was assessed using the adult attachment interview and there was no evidence of continuity
  Means it is not clear to what extent quality of early attachment really predicts later attachment

Question 6

Limitation - confounding variables

Answer 6

• Influence of early attachment on later development is the existence of confounding variables
• Some studies assess attachment in infancy which means the assessment of attachment is valid
• However, these studies may have validity problems because associations between attachment quality and later development may be affected by confounding variables, e.g. parenting style
• Genetically-influenced personality may influence attachment quality and later development
  -Means we can never be sure that it is early attachment and not some other factors that is influencing later development

Question 7

Balancing opportunity and risk

Answer 7

• Seems likely that the influence of early attachment is probabilistic (Clarke and Clarke 1998)
• Means an insecure attachment does not invariable cause increased risk of later development problems, no one is inevitably going to have unsuccessfully romantic relationships because of their early attachment experience
  • Other factors are likely to be involved
  • But knowing someone’s attachment status we have an opportunity to intervene and help their development
    -However, we may also become too pessimistic and create a self-fulfilling prophecy