Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

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The internal working model of an infant is though to predict the likely outcomes of behaviour in childhood and adulthood

kerns 1994 found that’s curly attached infants are more inclined to have good quality peer relationships during childhood, whilst infants with a secure attachment type are likely to have difficulties with making or maintaining friendships

sroufe et al 2005 conducted the Minnesota child parent stayed and found that infants who were rated high in social competence during childhood were more empathetic, popular and felt less isolated

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Hazan and shaver reported a positive correlation between early attachment type and experiences in love.

those who reported secure attachments in childhood were most likely to have loving and lasting romantic relationships in adulthood

respondents to the questionnaire who’s answers indicated an insecure-avoidant attachment type from infancy were more likely to report feelings of dislike in relation to intimacy.

those individuals with an insecure-resistant attachment type were more likely have shorter relationships compared to secure respondants.

AO3 - issue with investigations of the influence of attachment on later relationships and the role of the internal working model is that the research is correlational

whilst an association had been found by many researchers indicating the quality of later relationships is heavily influenced by attachment type from infancy, this does not determine causality.

Fraley et al 2002 found that the correlations were not always strong positive ones either, with correlation coefficients ranging from +1.0 to +5.0

this means that correlation research in this area is not very reliable due to an unstable array of results

AO3 - methodological issues with assessing attachment type retrospectively

much research such as the ‘love quiz’ by Hazan and Shaver rely upon self report from adult participant about their memories from infancy and childhood.

recollections form years gone by are likely to be impaired and any answers provided my lack accuracy due to deterioration which lowers the internal validity of findings

this problem is further compounded by the possibility that individuals may not report honestly or even have an insight into their own template of expectations since the internal working model is an unconscious framework

Ao3 - have very set views on the outcomes of future behaviour

research into the impact of attachment on childhood and adult relationships have very set views on the outcomes for future behaviour

consequently this presents a deterministic view of behaviour which suggests that an infants early attachment experiences will have severe consequences on childhood and adulthood behaviours including mental health.

however not all psychologists (e.g humanistic psychologists) prescribe to deterministic views and many would argue that humans have free will and the ability to overcome negative childhood experiences and go on to form happy and healthy adult relationships.