12. Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

Question 1

what can be meant by later relationships

Answer 1

• childhood relationships
• adulthood relationships

Question 2

Outline the influence of early attachment on later relationships

Answer 2

The internal working model (as previously discussed by Bowlby) suggested that a child having their first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation of this relationship

this internal working model acts as a template for future relationships

in other words, the quality of the child’s first attachment is crucial because it will affect the nature of their future relationships

a child’s whose first experience of a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver will tend to assume that 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