11. early attachment influence on later relationships

childhood relationships

affiliations with other people in childhood, including friends and classmates, and with the adults such as teachers

adult relationships

• relationships the child goes on to have later in life as an adult

• include friendships and working relationships but most critically relationships with romantic partners and the person’s own children

what affects later relationships

1. internal working model

2. attachment types

subsections in textbook

1. internal working model

2. relationships in childhood

3. relationships in adulthood

internal working model

bowlby suggested a baby’s first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship

this internal working model acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships

why is the quality of a baby’s first attachment crucial

• because this template will powerfully affect the nature of their future relationships

• a baby whos first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure will tend to assume this is how relationships are meant to be

• they will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them ie without being too uninvolved or emotionally close (typifying insecure avoidant attachment) or being controlling and argumentative (insecure resistant attachment)

relationships in childhood

• attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood

• securely attached babies tend to form best quality childhood friendships, insecurely attached have friendship difficulties

research by myron-wilson and smith

• assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires

• 196 children ages 7-11 from london

• secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying

• insecure avoidant most likely to be bully victims

• insecure resistant most likely to be bullies

relationships in adulthood

internal working models affect two major adult experiences

1. romantic relationships

2. parental relationships with own children

romantic relationships

research by

1. hazan and shaver

2. mccarthy

hazan and shaver - procedure

conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships

• analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an american local newspaper

• three sections:

  1. assessed respondents current or most important relationship

  2. assessed general love experiences such as number of partners

  3. assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which of three statements best described their feelings

findings and conclusion

• positive correlation between attachment style and romantic relationship experiences

• securely attached people had happy, trusting experiences and long lasting relationships

• insecurely attached people had much shorter relationships

support concept the internal working model has a lifelong effect on attachment and relationships

mccarthy research

• studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were babies to establish their early attachment type

• those securely attached had best adult friendships and romantic relationships

• insecure resistant had problems maintaining friendships

• insecure avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships

parental relationships with own children

people tend to base parenting style on their internal working model, so attachment type tends to be passed on through generations of a family

recalled study by bailey et al

• considered attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and own mothers

• mother-baby attachment assessed using strange situation and mothers attachment to own mother using an adult attachment interview

• majority of women had same attachment classification both to their babies and own mothers

evaluation

1. research support (& counterpoint)

2. validity issues

3. contradictory research

research support

myron-wilson and smith

hazan and shaver

bailey et al

CP causation

• correlational and lack control over EVs

• limits ability to conclude that early attachment influences future behaviours in relationships

contradictory research

• some studies eg becker-stoll et al 2008 found no link between early attachment and later friendships after following 43 individuals from one year of age

• challenged idea that early attachment alone determines later relationship outcomes

• suggests other factors, such as life experiences, may also play a role in development

validity issues with retrospective studies

• many studies rely on adults recalling childhood attachments which may not be reliable

• self report methods can be biased as people may misremember or idealise their past experiences, making it vulnerable to social desirability bias

• limits validity of research on attachment and later relationships, suggesting that longitudinal studies which follow individuals from infancy, providing more reliable data