'Attachment Styles' Article
Attachment styles are characterized by different ways of interacting and behaving in relationships
During early childhood, these attachment styles center on how children and parents interact
In adulthood, attachment styles describe patterns in romantic relationships
Attachment: a special emotional relationships that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure
The roots of research on attachment began with Freud’s theories about love, but another researched named John Bowlby is usually credited as the father of attachment theory
‘lasting psychological connectedness between human beings’
He believed that early experiences in childhood are important for influencing development and behavior later in life
He also believed that attachment had an evolutionary component in aiding in survival and was an essential part of human nature
Characteristics of attachment:
Proximity maintenance: the desire to be near the people we are attached to
Safe haven: returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the fact of fear or threat
Secure base: the attachment figure acts as a base of security from which the child can explore the surrounding environment
Separation distress: anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attachment figure
Factors that influence attachment styles:
Consistent care leads to trust
Early experiences are critical
Expectations stem from experiences
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation assessment:
The study was conducted in the 1970s by Mary Ainsworth
It involved observing children between the ages of 12 to 18 months responding to a situation in which they were briefly left alone and then reunited with their mother
Here’s what happened:
The parent and the child are alone in a room
The child explores the room with parental supervision
A stranger enters the room, talks to the parent, and approaches the child
The parent quietly leaves the room
The parent returns and comforts the child
Ainsworth concluded that there were three major styles of attachment: secure, ambivalent-insecure, and avoidant-insecure
Researchers Main and Solomon added a fourth attachment style known as disorganized-insecure attachment
Numerous studies have supported her conclusions
Later experiences matter, too: a lot of time has elapsed between infancy and adulthood, and all of those intervening experiences also play a significant role in shaping adult attachment styles
How people with different styles view love:
Securely attached adults tend to believe that romantic love in enduring
Ambivalently attached adults report falling in love often
Avoidantly attached adults describe love as rare and temporary
Secure attachment characteristics:
As children:
Separates from parent
Seeks comfort from parents when frightened
Greets returns of parents with positive emotions
Prefers parents to strangers
As adults:
Have trusting, lasting relationships
Tend to have good self-esteem
Share feelings with partners and friends
Seek out social support
Ambivalent attachment characteristics:
As children:
May be wary of strangers
Become greatly distressed when parents leave
Do not appear comforted parents return
As adults:
Reluctant to become close to others
Worry that their partner does not love them
Become very distraught when relationships end
Avoidant attachment characteristics:
As children:
May avoid parents
Do not seek much contact or comfort parents
Show little or no preference for parents over strangers
As adults:
May have problems with intimacy
Invest little emotion in social and romantic relationships
Unwilling or unable to share thoughts or feelings with others
Disorganized attachment characteristics:
At age 1:
Show a mixture of avoidant and resistant behavior
May seem dazed, confused, or apprehensive
At age 6:
May take on a parental role
Some children may act as a caregiver toward the parent ‘
Because the child feels both comforted and frightened by the parent, confusion results.