Attachment Theory. Madeline Fuller. April 22, 2017. •Introduction.

John Bowlby developed his Attachment Theory to examine and explore the contextual relationships between a child and their caregiver and their behavioral repercussions. He describes it is “a way of conceptualizing the propensity of human beings to make strong affectional bonds to particular others and of explaining the many forms of emotional distress and personality disturbance, including anxiety, anger, depression, and emotional detachment, to which unwilling separation and loss give rise” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 127). An infant’s attachment to their primary caregiver establishes a sense of security, through protection, so the infant is able to explore the world with confidence and without threat and risk. During a child’s

In order to develop consistency, it is important to understand the importance of the setting where, practitioner perceptions that characterises the setting (a microsystem) and interactions (proximal processes) within the setting can have an impact on a child’s behaviour. More’s (2013) research revealed that having a supportive peer group around provides practitioners with opportunities for joint thinking and problem solving and acts as a source of emotional support and that managing challenging behaviour can be made more effective by working as a team. In addition, practitioner perceptions of having a consistent group also help in managing behaviour. Frequent changes to the group can have implications for how consistently the behaviour policy

' (Haith, 2014b, p. 466) Although a secure attachment does not occur from birth, ‘babies show signs of attachment through smiling, eye contact and crying. ' (Brandon et al., 2015) This shows the child 's main caregiver needs to begin to bond with their child for them to form a secure attachment. Bowlby believed ‘caregivers who neglect their children, bring up avoidant children. ' (Larose, & Bernier, 2001, p. 96-120). ‘Ambivalent/resistant children show negative behaviours to gain attention from others. ' (Kobak et al., 1993, p. 231-245) These statements show children who have an insecure attachment with their caregiver have a risk in behaviour problems. They will also have a less chance of developing their social and emotional skills effectively.

When we were a child we all had something to be attached to rather it was a toy or our parents. Where does this feeling come from or how do we become attached to these certain things? According to Merriam Webster dictionary the meaning of attachment is “the state of being personally attached or the physical connection by which one thing is attached to another” (Webster, 1828). Attachment is learned when we are infants and taught by our caregivers, they can affect social development and how we treat each gender, attachment can affect our relationships as adults, and attachment can help protect our memories.

The Attachment theory is a psychological, ethological and evolutionary theory that gives a descriptive and explanatory framework of understanding interpersonal relationship between human beings. Presented by John Bowlby, the important tenet of this theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to progress generally.

As a criminologist who has studied early crime prevention I have recognized a theme of the background of children who grow up to become criminals. It all starts when the mother becomes pregnant but it really starts to impact the child right at birth. If mother and child are not properly able to create a connection right after birth, for example having the baby taken away for medical purposes, it can cause the mother to not feel like the mother. That disconnect can last for a long time leaving the child now at a later age feeling a form of loneliness or neglect, leading them to commit crime.

The Development of Attachment Theory and Its Strengths and Limitations English psychiatrist John Bowlby is a leading and influential figure within the history of social reform. His work has influenced social work policies and legislation relating to child psychiatry and psychology. Bowlby was trained as a psychoanalyst, and was influenced by Freudians theories, but became influenced again in his attachment theory by the work of ethologists. The ethologists theory concentrates on looking at the role parents play rather than only the child. Bowlby believes that parenting has strong ties with biology and it explains why there are such strong emotions attached.

This essay will examine key research of attachment theories, parenting styles and emotional needs of children and how parents and carers support that. Attachment theory is the basis of building relationships with your care givers and people around you. I will be describing how attachment theory relates with the emotional needs of the children and how parenting can influence this. Children either develop a secure or an unsecure attachment with their caregiver, either plays a huge part in their children’s emotional development. It needs to be explained throughout this essay what it is that parents and carers can do to provide secure attachments with our children, and support their children’s emotional needs.

Although the study is thorough in describing findings among those who are adopted from institutions, specifically orphanages, the study falls short of describing attachment patterns with children who are adopted at birth and had no experience with institutions. Therefore, I do not believe that the study conducted by Marcovitch et al. (1997) describes attachment among all adopted children, but it does describe how children who spend a considerable amount of of their first year of life in orphanages are more likely to have issues later in life since attachment theorist believe that attachment or lack thereof can affect cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). In fact, the outcomes of children who spend a majority of their early years in an institutional setting can be attributed to the “lack of an attachment figure” (Marcovitch et al., 1997, pp. 19).

Much emphasis has been placed in the field of child development and the role that early providers possess when it comes to the needs of children at the early stages of life. Whether conceptualizing socialization and priming with Locke’s “tabula rosa/blank slate” or Rousseau’s “preassembled moral schema” approach to child development, this “window of opportunity” is both fleeting and permanent. Every interaction molds the individual into the person they are to become, and the bond that the dependent child forms with the caregiver is a precedent to the numerous relationships and attachments they will create as an adult. Granted that the provider/nurturer fulfills the needs of attachment and attentiveness for the offspring, this will determine the success of progressing through child developmental stages, and leads to a higher propensity of social adaptiveness. Inversely, if the aforementioned things are absent in a child’s early years, detrimental effects could occur, including stints in physical, social, and mental development. This is dependent upon the severity and duration of neglect, and has been seen in clinical cases that appears as psychological phenomena to both the general public, and researchers alike.

B1/A2/A*1-John Bowlby’s attachment theory is a positive aspect to this transition as the child are likely to gain secure attachments with their key worker which enables them to work closely with each other, this then allows the child to be more comfortable with any support they receive throughout the process, however the child may become too attached to their key worker and may face issues later when the times comes for them to separate therefore it is important for children to spend time with other members of staff. Children can be attached to other practitioners other than their key worker so it is important for both to communicate to ensure that the key worker knows everything about the child and keep on track with any paperwork they have to complete about the child and keep track of the child’s progress and development. I think that Bowlby attachment theory is important within this transition as the child going into care needs a secure attachment to someone as the attachment to their parents will be disrupted and the child needs someone for support especially a child of this age. The child can make an attachment to their foster carer however this also may be difficult if the child is in temporary foster care and are removed from care, this may cause the child distress as all the attachments they have made are being disrupted. There are many criticism of Bowlby’s theory, one of these are that Bowlby believed that ‘Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only

Attachment theory is accepted by most psychologists and psychiatrists as the best explanation for how we develop the capacity to form relationships with others and relate to our environment. It asserts that the methods we use to relate to others, manage our needs, express our demands, and shape our expectations for the world are rooted in our relationships with our early caregivers. Through these interactions we learn to balance our feelings and need states with others and to establish our varying degrees of independence, dependence, power, and control. Attachment also impacts self-esteem through the experience of conflict with caregivers.

From my standpoint, the concept of love is puzzling and we have struggled to understand it for many years. My own definition of love is an opening to our hearts and mind which causes an emotion that holds the most happiness. Over the years, researchers have developed theories and perspectives of love. According to Family and Personal Development it stated, “Attachment theory focuses on how children develop attachment to their caregivers, usually their parents, in infancy.” (265) Although this theory is a child development theory, it has been applied to adult attachment since the late 1980s. Also including, the development of intimate and love relationships. Attachment starts at a young age, beginning with parents, followed by peers, close friends,

“Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space” McLeod (2009), as a core component of social and emotional development, the necessity and role of caregivers is a heavily researched area. Theories differ on the impairment that a crippled or complete lack of attachment causes to an infant in terms of social, emotional or intellectual development. These theories range from Harlow’s unethical work with infant rhesus monkeys to Chisholm’s study of Romanian orphans, the work remains relevant however in order to be aware of how to support or setback the deleterious affects that studies appear to be congruent on occur in infants of abuse or that have been abandoned.

problems because they tend to lack economic security and adequate time with parents”. The simple statement that raw criminals are products of single-parent adolescence is absurd. What this writer must understand is that it can be extremely difficult for one parent to raise a child by themselves for many reasons. A single-parent must work full time to be able to afford to provide for themselves and their child. They must also be able to still have time to offer an exuberant amount of emotional time for the well being of their child. However, even though this may seem impossible, it can be done.