Different Styles Of Attachment : The Level Of Care, Attention, And Type Of Relationship

The representations of attachment disorder in children include such thoughts as: “I am bad and unlovable,” “my caregiver will not protect me from traumatic experiences,” and I am not able to get my caregiver to “respond consistently to my needs”. These children view their caregivers as unreliable, unresponsive, rejecting, and threatening. They should be responded to with empathy and calm as a means to reduce their arousal, as opposed to anger and discipline which can heighten the adverse physiological and behavioral outcomes the child is experiencing.

' (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.

A child should have the ability to have secure and nurturing attachments that offer emotional warmth and security from a care giver. This will offer security and safety to the young person. As well as secure attachments, the young person will benefit from having positive relationships with wider family and friends, these relationships can have a huge impact on the young person’s self-esteem. The young person should live in an environment that is

Infants with secure attachment feel comfortable and confident separating from their caregiver. In the toddler 's eyes, their caregiver is a base for exploration that provides assurance and enables experiences of discovery. Infants with secure

A healthy or secure attachment develops over time because of a caregiver’s consistent, sensitive care that they have towards a young child. Each time a caregiver interacts in ways that focus fully on the individual child, it furthers connections. When a caregiver attempts to read a baby’s cues and tries to respond to the child’s needs and wishes, the baby learns the caregiver is a source of comfort and security. Children with secure attachments learn that their world is a safe place because the people in it are caring and understanding. They also learn that their ways of communicating result in others responding and understanding them. This reinforces their efforts to continue to express themselves to others. Consistent back-and-forth exchanges that happen over time are one of the ways to build positive relationships. Children with secure attachments feel confident in exploring their environment, which allows them to learn. It’s the accumulation of intimacy during these numerous interactions that turns ordinary tasks into a relationship-based curriculum.

Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)

As implied by many physiologist a child’s attachments style is the building blocks to his or her mental development. A child like a structure is sure to crumble if there is a crack in their foundation. Foster children have the potential to stand tall or crumble due to neglect. Attachment styles tend to vary in foster children since they bounce from home to home. In this paper I will discuss the attachment styles foster children share with both their biological and foster parents, as well as the foster child’s potential outcome due to these styles. In order for children to develop

Secure attachment is commonly considered the healthiest style of attachment. This bond results when a caregiver responds to the child’s needs in an appropriate manner. The child will learn that the caregiver will be responsive and available (Romero). When parents provide a safe and secure environment, a child can build a nurturing relationship. Most of all, a child will simply feel valued and loved (Greenberg; Romero).

As a whole, attachment theory investigates the process in which “children form ties to caregivers that vary in terms of the security of the bond” (Kerns, Tomich, Aspelmeier, Contreras 2000, p. 614). Better bonds between parents and children lead to better attachment of the child to the parent. If a child is attached well, they will “…use the primary caregiver as a secure base from which to explore [their environment] and, when necessary, as a haven of safety and a source of comfort (5)” (Benoit 2004, p. 542). Parents need to be available to children as a source of security, but at the same time let their children develop independence to explore their surroundings and make choices for themselves.

It is of great importance to form secure attachments in childhood with a caregiver. For example, having high-quality attachment relationships in childhood are precursors for healthy emotional development, physical health, mental health (Ranson & Urichuk, 2008). Insecure children are at a greater risk for later behaviour problems, emotional dysregulation, psychopathology, and lower cognitive performance. In addition, families living in high psychosocial risk experience greater challenges in the caregiver-child relationship. For example, research has shown that maltreatment and socioeconomic disadvantage can lead to disorganized attachment relationships in which there is no systematic approach to using others as a secure base and there is fear

After taking the Attachment Styles and Relationship, the result shows that I am in the secure adult quadrant. I am strongly agree with the result since I was really honest when I was answering the questions. On the scale ranging from one to seven on anxiety, my score was one point eighty-three, and on the scale ranging from one to seven on avoidance, my score was two point twenty-two, which is pretty low. I think the attachment that I have today is linked to the way how I was raise, and whose I grew up with. Back in Vietnam when I was a kid, I have been told that my mom love me a lot, she always bring me with her whenever she goes, and wherever she goes. After my mom died when I was ten years old because of cancer, I started to hang out with people around my neighborhood, all of them are at least five years older than me, and they treated me like a little brother. They were always protect me from others, taking care of me, buy me food, teach me about life, and showed me the real world. I hung out of them for about six years, and than I went to America. The most import things that I learned from them is respect, love, and be open to people. I think the attachment that I got today, secure adult attachment, is stable since when I was a kid because the place where I grew up was full of love, happy, everything is about respect, and open up to others. I born in the place where was full of struggles, gang, bad people, but luckily I was raised by loving people, happy, positive, and

Signs of a secure attachment as a child include they are able to separate from their caregiver, children seek comfort from caregiver when they are frightened, children can greet caregiver with positive emotions upon caregivers return, and the child prefers the caregiver over strangers (Hazan & Shaver, 1990). Signs of a secure attachment in adults include having trusting and lasting relationships, Adults who have high self-esteem tend to have more secure attachments, they are comfortable sharing feelings and thoughts with friends and partners, and tend to seek out social groups (Fraley & Shaver, 2000).

An infant with a secure attachment style has a natural bond with their parent, where they are able to trust them, at the same time leaving their side to discover and explore their surroundings. In an insecure/resistant attachment the relationship the child has with their mother or caregiver is very clingy, thus making them very upset once the caregiver is away. When the mother or caregiver is back they are not easily comforted and resist their effort in comforting them. In an insecure/avoidant attachment the infant is, “indifferent and seems to avoid the mother, they are as easily comforted by a stranger, as by their parent” (Siegler 2011, p.429). Lastly, the disorganized/disoriented attachment is another insecure attachment style in which the infant has no way of coping with stress making their behavior confusing or contradictory. Through these brief descriptions of the attachment theory, many researchers have defined the turning point in which each attachment definition can have an influence on one’s self esteem, well-being and their marital relationship.

SECURE ATTACHMENT - According to psychologytoday.com “about 55% of people emerge from childhood with secure attachment styles” which makes it the largest attachment group . When a child has secure attachment the parent is a form of security. When the parent is away from the child may seem distressed. But when the parent returns they will sometimes seek affection or simply seem happier. Consistently catering to a child's needs, sensing their emotions and providing supportive response to their needs can lead to this attachment style.

A child’s interaction with caregivers can affect them for the rest of their lives. Attachment and parenting styles play a role in a child’s personality, social, and cognitive skills. It is important for adults to understand the severity of attachment and positive relationships with children.