influence of early attachment on later relationships

Question 1

internal working model

Answer 1

template for future childhood and adult relationships

quality of baby’s attachment crucial as powerful affect on nature of future relationships

bad experiences bring bad experiences to later relationships

Question 2

relationships in childhood

Answer 2

securely - best quality

insecurely - friendship difficulties

bullying
- securely less likely to be involved
- avoidant bullied
- resistant bullies

Question 3

relationship in adulthood

Answer 3

romantic relationship and parental relationship with own child

hazan and Shaver - love quiz
McCarthy

people tend to base parenting style on internal working model
- Bailey et al

Question 4

Hazan and Shaver

Answer 4

love quiz
- assessed current relationships, general love experiences and choose which three statements described feelings

56% - secure
25% - avoidant
19 - resistant

secure - good and longer-lasting romantic relationships
avoidant - jealousy and fear of intimacy

Question 5

McCarthy

Answer 5

40 adult women - assessed when babies
secure - best adult relationships
resistant - problems maintaining relationships
avoidant - struggled with intimacy

Question 6

Bailey et al

Answer 6

attachments of 99 mothers to babies and their own

strange situation and mother’s using adult attachment interview
majority had same attachment classification

Question 7

research support - eval

Answer 7

P - strength is supporting evidence
E - reviews of evidence saw early attachment consistently predicts later attachment, emotional well-being and attachment to own children
E - depends both on attachment type and aspect of later development eg disorganised attachment and later mental disorder
L - secure attachment has advantages and disorganised disadvantages

P - not all evidence supports close links
E - Regensburg longitudinal study
E - 43 individuals from age of 1 - at 16 attachment assessed and no evidence of continuity
L - not clear to what extent the quality of early attachment predicts later development

Question 8

validity issues with retrospective studies

Answer 8

P - limited as assessed retrospectively
E - ask adult questions about relationships with parents
E - need to have honest answers and hard to know whether assessing early attachment or adult attachment - validity issues
L - measures of early attachment in most studies confounded

Question 9

confounding variables

Answer 9

P - limited as existence of confounding variables
E - some studies assess attachment in infancy which means assessment of early attachment is valid
E - validity problems because associations between attachment quality and later development eg genetically influence personality
L - never sure that it is early attachment and not other factors