Influence of Culture on Parenting Practices and Child Development

Although secure attachment during infancy is the foundation for continued healthy positive development during the lifespan, it is important to understand that other factors can have a significant effect on development later in life (i.e. illness, loss, and trauma). However, research has shown the importance of consistent care giving that is responsive and nurturing and the caregivers’ ability to effectively accommodate more difficult temperament characteristics ,as well as other factors, influence the development of healthy attachment{{64 Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian 2003}}. Research has also shown that infancy and early childhood is the period of development where scaffolding begins and continues (Vygotsky, 1978; Zhao & Orey,1999).

The fascination about attachment and its impact on children has been prominent in our society for many years. The general notion is that a secure environment provides children with a foundation for establishing healthy relationships in the future. However, the exact environmental factors that nurture insecure attachments remain questionable. Further, the exact genetic variables that may play a role in shaping attachment is also still relatively unknown. Current research suggests that there is a bidirectional relationship between the environment and genetics. While researchers still do not know which component has the dominant role or if an egalitarian role exists, this paper presents current research on the environmental and genetic factors that appear to increase children’s risk for developing insecure attachments. This paper provides valuable insight on what behaviors caregivers should engage in with their infants as well as other environmental factors that can indirectly affect the attachment building process and possible genetic factors as well. It is hoped that this paper will encourage future research to become more informed on what predispose individuals to insecure attachment so that their environmental experiences can be enhanced as need be despite any possible genetic disadvantages they may have.

The significance of the early attachment bonds between infants and their mothers, as well as other primary caregivers, on a child’s development has been documented extensively in literature (Snyder, Shapiro, & Treleaven, 2012; Dozier, Lindhiem, & Ackerman, 2005). A mother’s capacity to adjust, regulate, and interact with her infant has extensive cognitive and developmental outcomes (Bowlby 1988; Shapiro 2012). One’s experiences in early childhood create the foundation from which perceptions of the self and others are created. These experiences are linked with the development of neural pathways in the brain that regulate responses to stress (Marmarosh & Tasca, 2013), and influence attachments and the ability to develop relationships throughout life (Snyder, Shapiro, & Treleaven, 2012).

Attachment is a necessity in psychological development, because it has long term effects on the infant's entire life. Parents will want to develop a secure attachment with their child by building up a sense of trust. Furthermore, the development of trust and a secure attachment all depends on the parents' interactions starting at birth: neglectful parents, who don't respond within a reasonable amount of time to their crying baby, will not have a strong attachment with the baby. He or she will feel abandoned, resulting in slower brain development and difficulties at coping to new social interactions in toddlerhood. On the other hand, parents, who almost immediately respond to their child's cries, will have a strong attachment. This will lead

Bowbly (1973) referred that the attachment system to be in relation to brain development, this is normally shaped by early caregiver experiences. Babies develop a secure attachment if they have been brought up with caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their needs, who are reliable, constant and non- hostile to the child’s responses. These experiences give children the ability to build internal models of relationships, which will then influence the degree to how they see themselves to be loveable, and to the degree, which they perceive others being supportive, dependable and also non-threatening towards them. However, when children experience unresponsiveness from their caregivers this can develop into insecure attachment. Insecure attachment is more than likely to happen when parents are neglectful.

The essence of attachment to a developing infant cannot be overstated. It is at the heart of healthy child development. Also, it lays a foundation when it comes to relating with others. It plays a crucial role in influencing the parent's ability to nurture and to be responsive to their children. The effects of attachment to the developing infant are long-term. Bowlby, the developer of the theory of infant-caregiver attachment, attachment security determines the infant’s preferential desire for contact with his or her caregiver (Levine, 23). The child uses the caregiver as a “secure base” from which to explore the environment. When infants develop securely attached relationships to their caregivers, they will have positive behaviours in the future. They also tend to show resiliency to new environments.

Attachment theory has proven to be one of the most beneficial frameworks for understanding risk and protection factors within developmental psychology (Bowbly, 1973). Attachment theory has proven to be one of the most beneficial frameworks for understanding risk and protection factors within developmental psychology. Bowbly (1982) suggested that children form mental representations of relationships based on their interactions with their primary care giver. Which form a cognitive structure of embodying memories based on these daily interactions with their attachment figure (Bretherton et al. 1990

Theories abound in regards to parenting styles, attachments, bonds and the relationships that ensue. However, regardless of the theory, one subscribes to it has been noted that a child requires, warmth, security, and confidence to meet the demands of the world. Psychologists posit that how a child and their caregiver form an attachment has long-term ramifications on all the child’s relationships. The attachment formed with the primary caregiver provides the child with the expectations they will carry with them as they form new and lasting relationships. Meeting the needs of an infant/child can help to form secure attachments. Inconsistent responses will produce a child who has insecure attachments. This is seen when there is a delay in

Myers (2014) explains that attachment is the bond between a child and a caregiver: it can be secure or insecure. In order to foster attachment there needs to be not only nourishment, but comfort and familiarity with the caregiver. When children are insecurely attached they are less likely to explore their environment freely. Securely attached children have very attentive mothers who respond well to their needs. Inattentive mothers tend to foster insecure attachment in their children by not attending well to their needs. Our genes also help to form our personality, but programs used to train parents to be sensitive to their child 's needs can slightly affect attachment in infants. Children can suffer from health issues, psychological problems, and even have lowered IQ because of deprivation of attachment (Karen, 1994).

Throughout life individuals build attachments to others weather they are healthy or destructive. The act of building an attachment begins in the early infant stages of life. Attachment is an emotional bond between an infant or toddler and primary caregiver, a strong bond that is vital for the child’s normal behavioral and social development (Dictionary.com, 2016). All children build an attachment not all attachments are lasting. Throughout this paper we will discover the effects of attachments and what happens when that attachment is broken.

It was in 1951 that John Bowlby began to write about the opposing influence on development of insufficient parental care and called attention to the acute distress of young children separated from their primary caregivers. (Barth, 2005) The quality of early attachment relationships is correlated with future personality and brain development. “The Attachment Theory is a foundation theory, developed by Bowlby. It focusses on the form, quality, and strengths of human attachments made in early life and their effects on development in pro social behaviors” (Tuner, 2011, p.30). Practitioners have found that the importance of forming a bond with a child from birth has the possibility to shape the life of a person.

Through much research and experimentation, it has been proven that there are three main attachment styles that children might have. These three forms of attachment include: secure attachment, avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment (Grison, 2016, p.128). Based on those attachment patterns observed by Mary Ainsworth’s “Strange-Situation Test”, a child who has a secure attachment with their caregiver will be “distressed when the caregiver leaves and quickly comforted when they return” (p.128). Oppositely, a child with an avoidant attachment is “not distressed when the caregiver leaves and avoids them when they return” (p.128). In addition, an ambivalent attachment is reflected when a child is “inconsolably upset when the caregiver leaves and will both seek and reject caring contact when the caregiver returns” (p. 128). Each of these types of attachment result directly from the relationship that a child has with their parents. If a child spends a lot of time with their parents, they are

Secure Attachment Style is described as “a pattern of attachment in which an infant readily separates from the parent, seeks proximity when stresses, and uses the parent as a safe base for exploration” (Boyd & Bee, 2014, p.136). There is a vast amount of research regarding the importance of the parent-child relationship to the development of children into adulthood. According to an article in the Journal of Adolescence, “In the context of emotional development, according to secure base theory, parents who function as available and responsive care-givers (i.e., are

Already since the 1960’s, medical research has shown the importance of the early bonds created by parents and their children. These theories on attachment have demonstrated the effect of attachment with social and emotional development and its direct relationship with future behavioral issues. Numerous studies have shown the existing links between early security and insecurity in the early relationships formed by the child, and future outcomes in his teenage and adult behaviors. Nonetheless, most of these studies have not considered the effects of early attachment between the child and the individual parent. That is, there are very few studies which have concentrated their research in the mother-child interaction, and father-child interaction. Still, these studies have shown that children’s attachment at an early age demonstrate good emotional health (as related to attachment to the mother), and behavior regulation (when considering attachment to the father). Generally though, the final results have been similar to those shown when the studies considered attachment to both parents.

John Bowlby theorized attachment as the emotional bond between a parent and their child (Stevenson-Hinde, 2007). How secure this bond is can influence a variety of areas in the child’s development. A parent can secure this attachment by how they interpret and respond to their child’s needs. There are four attachment patterns that can form, secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. A child who is secure in their attachment is able to regulate their emotions in stressful situations, explore their environment, and displays positive social behaviors. When a child is insecure or disorganize they are at a risk of displaying problematic externalized behaviors and issues with controlling their emotions. The impact of how attachment affects a child’s external behaviors from infancy through adolescence will be evaluated within this paper.