The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships,

Question 1

Bowlby (1969)

Answer 1

According to Bowlby (1969) later relationships are likely to be a continuation of early attachment styles (secure and insecure) because the behavior of the infant’s primary attachment figure promotes an internal working model of relationships which leads the infant to expect the same in later relationships. This is the continuity hypothesis.

Question 2

Evaluation for Bowlby (1969)

Answer 2

Considerable evidence has supported this view. For example, the Minnesota study (2005) followed participants from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behavior. Securely attached children were rated most highly for social competence later in childhood, were less isolated and more popular than insecurely attached children.

An alternative explanation for continuity in relationships is the temperament hypothesis which argues that an infant’s temperament affects the way a parent responds and so may be a determining factor in infant attachment type. The infant’s temperament may explain their issues (good or bad) with relationships in later life. For example Manlove et al. (2002) fathers are less likely to be involved with their infant if the infant has a difficult temperament.

Question 3

Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 3

Hazan and Shaver (1987) - Hazan and Shaver aimed to understand if childhood attachment type would predict the behaviours and attitudes of adults with regards to romantic relationships. Hazan placed a ‘love quiz’ in a newspaper which measured individuals’ attachment experiences as children and current attitudes to love and romantic relationships on over 600 American males and females. 56% of respondents were secure, 25% avoidant (insecure-avoidant), and 19% were anxious (insecure-resistant). They were judged secure if they balanced closeness and independence, avoidant if they were mostly independent, and anxious if they were not very independent.

There was a strong correlation between childhood attachment type and adult attachment type. Securely attached adults believed in enduring love and were less likely to get divorced, Insecure-avoidant types were fearful of emotional closeness and believed love was not long-lasting, and Insecure-resistant types were preoccupied by love, fell in love easily but had trouble finding real satisfaction with partners. Percentage of types was similar to those typically found in Ainsworth’s strange situation.

This supports the hypothesis that parenting styles create an internal working model which influences attachment type which has long-lasting consequences on personality and motivation.

So Hazan and Shaver concluded that adult relationships are a continuation of the infant types according to Ainsworth’s secure and insecure resistant and avoidant categories.

Question 4

Evaluation for the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships,

Answer 4

•Research by Bailey (2007) found that the majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers, suggesting that attachment style is passed on intergenerationally.

•McCarthy (1999) studied 40 women who had been assessed for attachment style while in infancy and found that those assessed as secure in infancy were more likely to be in secure adult relationships (both friendships and relationships) and also had higher self-esteem. Insecure-avoidant had particularly poor romantic relationships, while resistant had poor friendships. Both insecure groups were more likely to have lived with a deviant partner. This suggests that early attachment style is linked to the quality of both adult relationships and friendships.

•Zimmerman (2000) studied a group of children growing up in Germany, and found that child attachment type did not predict adult attachment type. Life events such as the divorce of parents or parental illness or death had much more influence on later security. This suggests there are individual differences in the influences of early attachment type on later relationships. It suggests that there are other, perhaps more important, influences on adult relationships.