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Attachment Theory And Children Of Divorce

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Brittany Almony 05/10/2015 Social Psychology Attachment Theory and Children of Divorce Attachment theory, or styles, is the way we describe relationships and bonds between people. In this particular case it will be about the bond between two parents and the child as they struggle through the troubles of divorce. In Dean McKay’s article “The Trauma of Divorce: Reducing the Impact of Separation on Children” we see that he identifies divorce for children as trauma, and that because of trauma they become less secure in attachment. He begins to show the multiple ways that divorce can cause an impact on children, if the child is going through an attachment stage. McKay also begins to tell of how attachments can become weakened through divorce (McKay, 1997). His main area of concern though is that if the attachment is weakened as a child how does it both them as an adult? In the article McKay states, “Divorce is a time of tremendous upheaval in families. Given the disruption, should the divorce process occur at a point where the child’s attachment style is not fully developed, it stands to reason that the likelihood of secure attachment…is reduced.” This shows that in order to provide for the child they need to create a balance between them where the child can grow to have a more stable environment, even if both parents aren’t in the same living quarters. Then he begins to go through the multiple stages of a child and their styles of attachment to their parents. According

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