Influence of Early Attachments on Later Relationships

Question 1

What is the internal working model?

Answer 1

John Bowlby (1969) suggested that a baby’s first relationship with their primary attachement figure leads to a representation of their relationship. This acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships.

Question 2

What is the influence for a baby whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment?

Answer 2

They will tend to assume this is how relationships are meant to be. They will seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them.

Question 3

What is the influence for a child with bad experiences of their first attachment?

Answer 3

They will bring these upon later relationships. They will struggle to form relationships and may not bheave appropriately within them.

Question 4

How may insecure-avoident attachment types behave in a relationship?

Answer 4

They may be too uninvolved or emotionally close.

Question 5

How may insecure-resistant attachment types behave in a relationship?

Answer 5

They may be controlling and argumentative.

Question 6

How may attachment types as a baby influence childhood friendships?

Answer 6

Securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships, whereas insecurely attached babies later have friendship difficulties.

Question 7

What was Rowan Myron-Wilson and Peter Smith’s 1998 study?

Answer 7

They assessed attachement type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from London.

Question 8

What were the results of Rowan Myron-Wilson and Peter Smith’s 1998 study?

Answer 8

Secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant children were the most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant children were most likely to be the bullies.

Question 9

Who were the participants in Hazen and Shaver’s 1987 study?

Answer 9

They had 620 replies. 620 were male and 415 were female. 42% were married and 31% were dating.

Question 10

What was the procedure for Hazen and Shaver’s 1987 study?

Answer 10

• Love quiz: current relationships, general experiences eg number of partners, adult attachment styles.

Question 11

What were the findings of Hazen and Shaver’s 1987 study?

Answer 11

• 56% securely attached.
• 25% insecure avoidant.
• 19% insecure resistant.

Question 12

What was the procedure for McCarthy’s 1999 study?

Answer 12

• 40 children (female) - attachment type assessed.
• assessed as adults - quality of friendships.

Question 13

What was the findings of McCarthy’s 1999 study for secure attachment?

Answer 13

Women who had been securely attached as babies developed the best adult friendships and romantic relationships.

Question 14

What was the findings of McCarthy’s 1999 study for insecure-resistant attachment?

Answer 14

Those identified as insecure-resistant as babies experienced difficulties maintaining friendships.

Question 15

What was the findings of McCarthy’s 1999 study for insecure-avoidant attachment?

Answer 15

Those classified as insecure-avoidant struggled with forming intimate romantic relationships.

Question 16

What is the influence of parenting styles?

Answer 16

People tend to base their parenting style on the internal working model so attachment type is ‘passed on’ from generation to generation.

Question 17

What research supported early attachments on later relationships by showing that early attachment cab predict later development?

Answer 17

Fearon and Roisman (2017) found secure attachment leads to better emotional wellbeing and relationships, while disorganised attachment is linked to mental health problems.

Question 18

What did the Regnsburg longitudinal study find relating to early attachments on later relationships?

Answer 18

Followed 43 people from age one. When they were assessed at age 16, no clear connection was found between their early attachment and later relationships.

Question 19

What is the issue with research on attachment relying on retrospective studies?

Answer 19

They ask teens or adults to recall their early relationships with parents to determine attachment type. This reduces validity as their memories may be incorrect, either incidently due to time or purposefully due to bias from current relationships with parents.

Question 20

What is the issue with confounding variables of studies on attachment?

Answer 20

Confounding variables (eg parenting styles and personality traits that may affect early attachment and later development) mean that we cannot be sure if early attachment is the main influence on later development or if other factors are responsible.