How Attachment Affects Your Adult Relationships

The attachment style that an individual exhibits as an infant can affect their adult romantic relationships. An attachment pattern is established in early childhood attachments and continues to function as a working model for relationships in adulthood. This model of attachment influences how each of us reacts to our needs and how we go about getting them met. The ability to recognize one 's attachment can help someone to understand their strengths and vulnerabilities in a relationship.

Everyone has an attachment style from which they developed in the first two years of their life. This attachment style tends to stay consistent with each person throughout their lifetime and affects their social-emotional development, and thus relationships with other people. Attachment styles greatly affect the choice one makes in life partners, and how they parent their own children. It is important for everyone to gain insight on their own attachment style if they are to know their emotional limits and how to strengthen their flaws in order to develop a better-self and stronger relationships with other people (Norcross, 2011). It is even more so important for caregivers to be aware of their attachment style and how sensitively available they are to the children in their lives. How the primary caregiver responds to the child’s needs, determines the attachment style the child will acquire. To develop a secure attachment the child needs to establish confidence in a reliable caregiver. In this paper I will be talking about the behaviors and interactions that I observed while watching the film “Babies”, and what attachment styles may be formed as a result of those interactions.

While attachment styles displayed in adulthood are not necessarily the same as those seen in infancy, research indicates that early attachments can have a serious impact on later relationships. For example, those who are securely attached in childhood tend to have good self-esteem, strong romantic relationships and the ability to self-disclose to others. As adults, they tend to have healthy, happy and lasting relationships. For more information, see this article on attachment styles.

Fraley (2002) completed a meta analysis of studies concerning attachment in order to investigate the level of attachment pattern’s continuity throughout life. The study indicated that there was a certain stability of the attachment pattern, and that the stability is independent of time. Even though it is theorized that a secure pattern will be likely to stay unchanged, it is still indicated that experiences such as bad relationships will be able to change the attachment pattern (Fraley,

Researchers have begun to use attachment theory, as a framework for understanding interpersonal and emotional outcomes of adults. Attachment theory also creates, an understanding of how parent relationships, affects a child’s early physiological development throughout adult-hood. In the past, research done on father -child relationships, has generally, focused on the attachment the child develops, when the father is absent in the child’s early stages of development. In my research, I found recent studies, performed on father-child relationships, and how secure attachment bonds are developed, when the father is not only present, but positively active in the child’s life. The active presence of a father during the first years of a child’s life are important in the development of the child’s social skills. This topic was specifically close to heart, because my father was an absent alcoholic drug addict for the first ten years of my life. He has been sober now for nine years, and I wonder how his absence and sobriety have affect my attachment bonds and social skills.

Attachment theory is an emotional bond that connects one person to another. Attachment theory deals with intimacy in relationships and the impact an attachment can have across a person’s lifespan. Attachment theory usually focuses on the relationships between a child and a parent/caregiver or between partners. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth are responsible for the creation of attachment theory after they began to work on mother-infant interactions. There were three categories that were formed due to their findings; Secure, Insecure, Anxious attachment with 3 sub categories avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. According to the article on Attachment style and the Cognitive Representation of Communication Situation attachment theory is associated specifically with communicative behavior in relationships. The bond between a child and mother is the primary force of infant development as per Bowlby and Ainsworth.

The attachment theory of Bowlby (1980) helps to explain human bonding, conceptualize attachment, and proximity seeking. According to Lee and Hankin (2009) comfort received from caregiver reassure a child that at the time of distress caregiver will be with them. Furthermore, Lee and Hankin (2009) explains that the attachment within infant-caregiver is regarded as a basis for future relation dynamics of a child. Child, who is having anxious attachment are having difficulty to take caregiver as a secure person and they are characterized as anxious person (Lee & Hankin, 2009). Hamilton (2000) explained about a 12-year longitudinal study that found infant attachment style helps to predict attachment style in adolescence. In addition, a meta-analysis

Attachment style is a profound effect not only on our emotional development, but also upon the health of our relationships. A child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong consequences. It is important to be aware of attachment during infancy and early childhood in order to raise secure, independent and empathetic children. A secure, trusting attachment to parents during childhood forms the basis for secure relationships and independence as adults. It affects everything from our partner selection to how well our relationships progress to, sadly, how they end. That is why recognizing our attachment pattern can help us understand our strengths and vulnerabilities in a relationship. An attachment pattern is

Whether you grew up with organized or disorganized attachment, every type effects how you handle relationships as an adult. Rising studies show that connection early on has a sufficient role in adulthood bonds (Morris & Weiss, 1982). The process of studying infant to adult attachment was mainly started by two men named Hazan and Shaver in 1987. Shaver and Hazen (1988) connected their theory to past establishments of how we love. They also gave sufficient support for the three different attachment types. Positive characteristics in relationships correlate to secure attachment; Couples who show less intimacy and happiness tend to be involved in avoidant attachment; anxious-ambivalent attachment correlates to couples who show no satisfaction, except intimacy. (Feeney & Noller, 1990). Thanks to all the data and studies collects

The role of attachment styles is also assumed to have a big impact on anxiety disorders in adulthood. Attachment is important in all stages of human life; in childhood it allows a child to maintain connection with a parent for protection and survival and in adolescence and adulthood it allows an individual to seek a safe haven and develop intimate relationships both which help deal with stress. Attachment styles are divided into three categories: secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent attachment and avoidant attachment. Adults and adolescents that are securely attached tend to have high self-esteem and enjoy intimate

Firstly, they looked at a number of couples, they would find out the nature of their attachment within their relationship by using the “love quiz” (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), then they would be exposed to certain stressor stimuli and their reaction would be observed by Hazan and Shaver. They found that even in cases of adults a strong attachment is still very important, Hazan and Shaver (1980) concluded that a balance intimacy with independence within a relationship is best, if the attachment was too strong both parties would be over dependent, and if the attachment was weak there would be a lack of intimacy with feeing of inadequacy ("How Your Infant Attachments Can Affect You In Later Life",

John Bowlby was the founder of attachment theory. Bowlby (1988) states that attachment behaviours are a biological function that serve the purpose of gaining security and protection from attachment figures who are perceived as being “better able to cope with the world” (p. 26). These biological functions can be recognised in specific conditions and behaviours that will assist in us in gaining or maintaining closeness and proximity to attachment figures. Attachment figures can be our parents, or can be other

The following examples of attachment styles are a result of controlled studies which were conducted in a laboratory environment. The theories that unfolded, as a result of these studies, were pioneered by John Bowlby in the 1950s. Later, in the mid-1960s, Mary Ainsworth, a student of Bowlby, conducted further studies to help solidify theories of attachment between mother and child. These classic sets of experiments are referred to at the Strange Situation and continue to be used today to help us understand the bonds that are created and how they may predict future behaviors.

The issue of attachment is one that influences an individual throughout their life, affecting many aspects of their development. It is first formed during infancy between the child and their primary care giver and is maintained over the course of their lifespan. The level of attachment that is formed during infancy creates a foundation for psychological development in the course of the individual’s life (Santrock, 2013). Attachment security can be an indication of the quality of an individual’s future relationships, as well as challenges that may arise from such interactions. The following will discuss the attachment theory, biological influences of attachment, factors that contribute to the type of attachment formed during infancy and early childhood, and its impact and complications throughout each stage of development from infancy through late adulthood.

Researchers have been looking at theories to show how important relationships are in people’s lives and attachment theory has allowed them to understand human behavior in a variety of ways. Feelings, such as anger and romantic love, can be directly correlated to the attachments received as a child.