Roman Orphan Studies: Influence of early stage attachment on later relationships

Question 1

internal working model

Answer 1

bowlby: a babys first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship. this internal working model acts as a template for childhood and future relationships. a babies first attachment is crucial. a baby whose first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure will tend to assume this is how relationships are meant to be. a child with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences to bear on later relationships. this may mean they struggle to form relationships in the first place or they may not behave appropriately within relationships, displaying insecure-avoidant or insecure-resistant behaviour towards friends or partners.

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 babies later have friendship difficulties. in particular, bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type. Myron-Wilson and Smith assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standardised questions in 196 children aged 7-11 from lonndon. secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying. isecure- avoidant children were most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant were most likely to be the bullies.

Question 3

relationships in adulthood (procedure) 1

Answer 3

Hazan and Shaver: The Love Quiz- conducted a study of the association between attachment and adult relationships.
they analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ in an american ocal newspaper. the quiz had three sections. the first assessed respondents current or most inportant relationship. the second part assessed general love experiences such as numberof partners. the third section assessed attachent type by asking respondents to choose which of the three statements best described their feelings

Question 4

relationships in adulthood (findings and conclusions) 1

Answer 4

56% of respondents were identified as securely attached, with 25% insecure- avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. those reporting secure attachments were most likely to have good and long lasting romantic experiences. the avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy. these findings suggests that patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships.

Question 5

relationships in adulthood (procedure) 2

Answer 5

McCarthy studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were babies to establish their early attachment type. those assessed as securely attached babies had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships. adults classed as insecure-resistant as babies had particular problems maintaining friendships whilst those classed as insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships.

Question 6

relationships in adulthood 3

Answer 6

internal working models also affect he childs ability to parent their own children. people tend to base their own parenting style on their internal working model so attachment type tends to pass on through generations of a family. Recall the study by Bailey et al. they considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers. mother-baby attachment was assessed using the strange situation and mothers attachment to their own mother was assessed using an adult attachment intervie. the majority of women had the same attachemtn classification both to their babies and their own mothers.