Does attachment theory provide a sound basis for advice on how to brin

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) also formulated a theory of attachment based on their longitudinal study of 60 babies in Glasgow looking at the gradual development of attachments; they visited them monthly for the first year of their lives and returned again at 18 months. (Bailey et al. 2008). Similar to Bowlby’s research, Schaffer and Emerson also formulated four key stages of attachment and produced

Attachment is described as an "affectionate reciprocal relationship between an individual and another individual." Much psychological research has been carried out into the types of attachments that infants form with their caregivers, and the results gained from these studies show how early attachments can affect children whether positively or negatively.

Theories about the bond between the child, its primary caregiver and its impact on child development had been numerous over the 20th century, yet nothing of scientific foundations could be said with regard to child-parent relationships and its effects, be they positive or negative. This was until John Bowlby developed his theory about attachment and Mary Ainsworth developed a method for assessing infant attachment, the strange situation. The strange situation has influenced our understanding of the importance of attachment between a child and its primary caregiver by giving us perspective on how the type of care given up to the first 18 months can set a precedent on the

In 1958, the Attachment theory came into existence. It was developed by John Bowlby on the notion that the quality of the parent -child relationship was essential for development and mental health (Howe, 2011, pg, 7). This thinking was in the context of distress shown by children when separated from their parents or when in unfamiliar surroundings. While having credit for the emergence of the attachment theory, Bowlby subsequently carried out a lot of research work with Mary Ainsworth concluding that children view their attachment figures as both a ?safe haven? to return to for comfort and protection and also a ?secure base? from which to explore their environment. The birth of children gives rise to the need to feel loved and wanted by caregivers, (Maclean and Harrison,2015 pg, 103), the absence of which might result in a range of behaviors to either

Research shows that ‘traditional families’ provide the basic needs for the children and offer them a stable family. If parents / families meet the basic needs of that child and they are meeting all the child’s emotional needs, it should not matter what label you are tarnished with, O’Neill, 2002, p103 cited in Montgomery, such criticism suggest close ties between parenting and social and cultural ideolgioes of the time. Different gender roles within the family can form secure attachments with the children as much as the mother. Research show that children with secure paternal attachments go on to develop healthy attachments. Parenting styles could however have detrimental effects to

Early attachments of children to their caregivers are a widely studied subject among psychologists. Childhood attachment theories draw their theses and components from cognitive, behavioral, and psychoanalytic branches of psychology; in the form that attachments deals with what a child is thinking, doing, and the analyses of these attachments in later life (Weiten, 2005). "Attachment refers to the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants and their caregivers." (Weiten, 2005) The age that attachments start forming is usually between 6 to 9 months, depending on the child; prior to this, a child can be handed off to babysitters with little protest, but after attachments begin forming children may develop separation anxiety (Weiten, 2005, Wicks-Nelson & Israel, 2009).

Attachment is a key developmental goal in early childhood, and refers to the evolutionary drive for a young child to maintain proximity with a caregiver for the purposes of safety, protection, and regulation. Once attachments have been formed, the child can use the caregiver as a secure base to explore the environment and as a source of support and comfort when distressed. Young children begin to develop attachments with caregivers at a cognitive age of about 7 to 9 months; at this time the child will begin to show a preference for the attached person and may begin to object to being separated or show wariness with other, less familiar adults.

The negative criticisms for this research was that it a highly artificial and lacked ecological validity. Also, the attachment type couldn't happen if it was a fixed characteristic of the child. This is because if the family circumstances changed, then the attachment style would also change. Attachments are a feature to a unique relationship and could be different between a mother and her child, and a father and his child. The final criticism for this study was that it was very unethical for psychologists to

Attachment theory “is one of the complex influences on children’s development and the emotional, behavioural and social difficulties” (Payne, 2016, 43). Another limitation is attachment focuses on the mother as being “the primary attachment figure, when in fact, a father or sibling can have the same types of attachment with the infant at the same time” (Lee, (n.d.)). Due to the critique of attachment theory, it is difficult to know whether or not attachment will affect the child even as an

Research suggests that infant’s brain continues to develop long after birth and infant’s first relationships have long-lasting effects on their later learning and development. John Bowlby’s attachment theory focuses on the idea that the bond between a child and mother, is an important part of children’s healthy emotional development in their childhood and later in life. A key point of Bowlby’s theory shows that infants go through stages when forming relationships with caregivers. Bowlby suggests that infants that are six weeks to six- eight months old, start to respond differently to caregivers they know, then to strangers. They then start to show signs of attachment to a familiar caregiver from this age (Berk, 2013, p. 429).

The following explores a 15 minute observation of mother and child. The observation includes the child’s developmental milestones, social and emotional behaviours, a relevant theory of development, signs of attachment displayed as per Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment as cited in Berk (2012), developing sense of self and empathy.

Attachment theory, according to Morelli and Rothbaum (2007), is the development of a child’s relationships with the self and others necessary for the psychological health of the individual. It refers to the meaningful connections an individual makes with people. The quality of attachment one has with others widely affects their development, especially during their childhood (Morelli & Rothbaum, 2007). Attachment theory mainly focuses on the infant-mother bond, as it is important that the attachment formed is secure for the infant’s well-being and development (Morelli & Rothbaum, 2007).

John Bowlby, who originally developed the theory of attachment, describes it as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings” (Somerville, 2009). Furthermore, there are four main characteristic of infant attachment, proximity maintenance, safe haven, secure base, and separation distress. Proximity maintenance is the desire to stay close to the people we have formed an attachment. Safe haven refers to the action of returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety when danger or fear is present. A secure base is a place where the attachment figure acts as a base of security from which a child can explore the surrounding world. Separation distress is the anxiety that occurs when the attachment figure is absent (Cherry, 2011).

In the first few months of life, the sole purpose of any child’s behaviour is to survive. This, more often than not, results in actions that reduce the risk of harm and increase the chances of longevity. Of these behaviours, some argue that the most influential is attachment behaviour. “Attachment behaviour is any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope with the world”(Bowlby, 1982). Therefore, children will make an effort to stay close to and under the protection of their primary caregiver. According to Webster, “through interactions with their primary caregiver, the child develops expectations and understandings about the workings of relationships. These mental representations of relationships become internalized to the degree that they influence feelings, thought and behaviour automatically and unconsciously” (1999, p.6). Moreover, the response of the identified individual plays a huge role in the child’s perception of the outside world. If the caregiver responds to the child’s needs in a caring and protective manner, the child will feel safe and comfortable in his or her surroundings. If, on the other hand, the caregiver is often emotionally and/or physically unavailable, the child is likely to

Attachment theory is a concept that explores the importance of attachment in respect to direct development. “It is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space” (Bowlby, 1969; McLeod, 2009). It is the relationship that develops within the first year of the infant’s life between them and their caregiver. The theory also relates to the quality of the attachment that is shown in the behavior of the infant (Rieser-Danner, 2016). Attachment theory shows that infants need a close nurturing relationship with their caregiver in order to have a healthy relationship. Lack of response from the caregiver