The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

Question 1

what is the continuity hypothesis

Answer 1

Assumes that emotionally secure infants will grow up to be emotionally secure and socially competent adults.
Thus, those who experience insecure attachments in childhood will experience social and emotional difficulties in adulthood, which could affect their relationships.

Question 2

what is the internal working model

Answer 2

Bowlby argued that it develops from early attachment experiences and acts as a template for all later relationships, containing a cluster of concepts about relationships.
It generates expectations about what intimate, loving relationships are like, thus enabling the individual to predict the behaviour of other people (peers, romantic partners) in the future.
Therefore, the assumption is that if the individual has positive early attachment experiences, then they will develop positive expectations towards future relationships.

Question 3

in The Minnesota Longitudinal Study (Sroufe et al. 1989)
what did it suggest

Answer 3

This suggests that there is continuity between early attachment style and later social/emotional behaviour, supporting Bowlby’s ‘continuity hypothesis’. This can be explained in terms of the internal working model because securely attached infants have higher expectations that others are friendly and trusting, which would enable easier relationships with others.

Question 4

The Influence of Early Attachment on Adult Relationships

Answer 4

Research indicates an intergenerational continuity between adults’ attachment types and their children, including children adopting the parenting styles of their own parents.

There also appears to be continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later adult relationships.

However, those who fail to achieve secure attachments in childhood are not necessarily condemned to a life of broken relationships, divorce and a cycle of inadequate parenting. Research indicates that it is possible for such individuals to develop secure adult relationships.

Question 5

what did Quinton et al. (1984) do

Answer 5

Quinton et al. (1984): compared a group of 50 women who had been reared in institutions (children’s homes) with a control group of 50 women reared at home.
When the women were in their 20’s it was found that the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as parents i.e. more of the ex-institutionalised women had children who had spent time in care.

Question 6

what does Quinton et al. (1984) research suggest

Answer 6

This suggests that there is continuity between poor attachment in infancy and later difficulty with parenting.

Question 7

what was the aim of Hazan and Shaver (1987) ‘The Love Quiz’

Answer 7

To explore the possibility that attachment theory offers a perspective on adult romantic love and to create a framework for understanding love, loneliness and grief at different points in the life cycle.

Question 8

what was predicted in Hazan and Shaver (1987) ‘The Love Quiz’

Answer 8

There would be a correlation between adults’ attachment styles and the type of parenting they received.
Adults with different attachment styles will display different internal working models of themselves and their major social-interaction partners.

Question 9

How were the participants recruited in Hazan and Shaver (1987) ‘The Love Quiz’

Answer 9

Hazan and Shaver placed a ‘Love Quiz’ in the Rocky Mountain News.

Question 10

what were the participates asked in Hazan and Shaver (1987) ‘The Love Quiz’

Answer 10

Respondents were asked which of three descriptions best applied to their inner feelings about romantic relationships. These descriptions related to secure attachments, insecure-avoidant attachments and insecure-resistant attachments.
Participants also completed a checklist describing childhood relationships with parents, relating to the same attachment types.

Question 11

what was the volume of data analysed in Hazan and Shaver (1987) ‘The Love Quiz’

Answer 11

They analysed 620 responses, 205 from men and 415 from women, from a fair cross-section of the population.
They also analysed 108 students’ responses. These participants answered additional items focusing more on the ‘self side’ of the mental model, as well as items measuring loneliness.

Question 12

what did they find in the love quiz

Answer 12

They found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences.
Securely attached adults described their love experiences as happy, friendly and trusting; they emphasised being able to accept and support their partner despite their faults. These relationships were more enduring - 10 years on average - compared to 5 and 6 years for resistant and avoidant participants.

Question 13

how did the different attachment types respond to current love experiences

Answer 13

Secure adults: Relationships are positive, secure and stable
Insecure-avoidant adults: Fearful of closeness, jealous
Insecure-resistant adults: Preoccupied by love, Obsessive

Question 14

how did the different attachment types respond to attitudes towards love

Answer 14

Secure adults: Trust others and believe in enduring love
Insecure-avoidant adults: Love is not lasting nor necessary for happiness
Insecure-resistant adults: Fall in love easily, but have trouble finding true love

Question 15

how did the different attachment types respond to memories of the mother-child relationship

Answer 15

Secure adults: Positive image of mother as dependable and caring
Insecure-avoidant adults: Remember mothers as cold and rejecting
Insecure-resistant adults: Conflicting memories of mother being positive and rejecting

Question 16

how did the different attachment types respond to divorce

Answer 16

Secure adults: 6%
Insecure-avoidant adults: 12%
Insecure-resistant adults: 10%

Question 17

Findings of the love quiz - insecure avoidant

Answer 17

Insecure avoidant participants were more doubtful about the existence or durability of romantic love. They also maintained they didn’t need love partners to be happy.
It is likely that in infancy, these individuals experienced an indifferent caregiver. This informed their internal working model about the love provided by others.
They learnt not to expect much in relationships, which carried over into their adult relationships.

They found a relationship between the conception of love (the internal working model) and attachment type - securely attached individuals tended to have a more positive internal working model.

Question 18

what were the conclusions of the love quiz

Answer 18

Adults’ internal working models differ according to attachment type:
Securely attached adults are more positive and optimistic about themselves and (potential) love partners.
Insecurely attached adults are more vulnerable to loneliness.

This suggests that attachment type in infancy affects an individual’s perception of the self, relationships and expectations of others.

Individual experiences of relationships mould different internal working models that inform the quality of subsequent relationships.

Question 19

P:The research relies on retrospective accounts to classify attachment types

Answer 19

E:Such recollections about their early attachment experiences are likely to be flawed as our memories of the past are not always accurate.
C:This reduces the internal validity of the study

Question 20

P:The research is correlational, which means that we cannot determine a cause-effect relationship between early attachment and later relationship experiences.

Answer 20

E:It may be possible that innate temperament is an intervening variable causing both attachment and later love relationships.
According to Kagan’s temperament hypothesis, an infant’s temperament affects the way a parent responds and therefore may determine an infant’s attachment type.
The individual’s temperament may also explain their issues with subsequent relationships.
C:This reduces the internal validity of the study

Question 21

P:There is further research support for Hazan and Shaver’s findings

Answer 21

E:Kirkpatrick and Davis (1994) studied 300 dating couples for 3 years, finding that those identified as having secure childhood attachments were more likely to have stable and satisfying relationships.
C:This supports the idea of continuity from an internal working model. Securely attached infants would have had higher expectations that others are friendly and trusting, enabling easier relationships.

Question 22

P:The internal working model is not fully supported

Answer 22

E:Zimmerman et al (2000) found that attachment style at 12-18 months of age did not predict the quality of later relationships, while life events experienced i.e. parental divorce, had a much larger influence.
C:This research was further supported by Hamilton (1994) who found that securely attached children went on to have insecurely-attached relationships if they experienced negative life events.

Question 23

what is the temperament hypothesis criticised for

Answer 23

The temperament hypothesis is a criticism of the idea that early attachment types are linked to later relationships, because it suggests that an individual’s innate emotional personality (‘temperament’) influences the quality of their attachments with caregivers and later relationships with adults, rather than their attachment experiences.

For example, those with an easier temperament may have more successful adult relationships because they are easier to interact with.

Question 24

P:The continuity hypothesis is overly determinist, suggesting that very early experiences have a fixed effect on later adult relationships. It does not consider the influences of a partner’s attachment type or the multiple relationships over time that may transform one’s internal working model.

Answer 24

E:Wood et al. (2003) believes the quality of relationships results from the interaction of two people’s attachment styles. Therefore, insecurely attached people can have secure relationships if they are in relationships with securely attached people.
CThis undermines the continuity hypothesis, as it suggests that childhood attachment style doesn’t always translate into adulthood.