Parental Attachment Analysis

Attachment is defined as a deep, affectionate, and enduring emotional bond that forms between two people, namely an infant and a caregiver. It is developed during the first years of an infant’s life and has four types depending on the quality of the attachment: secure, ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganised. It has been reported that approximately only 60 to 65 percent of children form secure attachment to their caregivers. Research indicates that the early attachment relationship is an essential foundation for later development. Insecurely attached infants are more likely to grow into aggressive, defiant and hyperactive individuals with lower academic skills compared to securely attached children, they are also more prone to psychiatric disorders and other problems. In contrast, individuals who form a secure attachment in their infancy are more resilient to depression, parental stress, family instability, and poverty compared to those who form an insecure attachment. Given the prevalence and consequences, it is important to educate parents on the impacts that attachment quality can have on a child’s development and later life.

The formation of attachment begins at birth with the child forming some type or form of attachment with their parents or primary caregiver. Hopefully, the child is able to form a proper or secure attachment with their parent or primary caregivers because the attachment formed between the parents or primary caregiver acts the foundation for how well the child will be able to form attachments with others outside the immediate family (Gullone, Ollendick, King,2006).This is because the type or level of attachment the child was able to form with his or her parent generally predicts the type or level of attachment the child will form with others outside their intermediate family. However, as the individual interacts with the outside world more and

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).

Pioneered by John Bowlby, the formation of attachment theory, stems from the concept that intimate and comforting relationships between child and caregiver, establishes a sense of security and fosters positive social and emotional development (Ogilvie, Newman, Todd & Peck, 2014). Although attachment theory was primarily focused on understanding the temperament of infants, it has since been illustrated that attachment can define human experience from ‘cradle to grave’ (Chopik, Edelstein & Fraley, 2013).
 Those described as securely attached, (who receive supervision and discipline from a caregiver) develop a healthy perception of the world, displaying high levels of self control; beneficial in steering themselves away from delinquent

Attachment Theory Summary According to Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, and Dewees (2014), Attachment Theory (A.T.) was proposed by John Bowlby who hypothesized that children and caregivers bond excessively during the primary months of a child’s life. (p.108) Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, and Dewees further claims that the bonding or lack of bonding critically impacts the person's ability to attach and make meaningful relationships throughout life (p. 109). Furthermore, Bowlby asserts “children who form an attachment to an adult that is, an enduring and socio-emotional relationship are more likely to survive” (Kirst-Ashman and Zastrow, p. 147). Therefore, if a child’s attachment process is interrupted it can cause issues

Attachment theory is rooted in the biological concept that children seek proximity to their parents or caregivers as a mean to survive stressful or dangerous situation. Interaction between children and their care givers are integrated into representational or internal working models that guide children understanding of current and future relationships, including expectations regarding the trustworthiness and predictability of others. Attachment security is fostered when children trust that their care-givers are accessible and capable of responding to their needs and safety. Parental divorce is a stressful time that may initiate different changes.

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 is the formation of a two-way emotional bond between a child and an adult caregiver. It is an important part of developmental psychology, which is concerned with reasons and causes for human behaviour, addressing both nurture and nature aspects of childrearing. John Bowlby (1907-1990) is a key psychologist involved in the studies and theories concerning attachment. He summarised his point and the reason for attachment as follows:

Styles of Attachment. Adult attachment is typically understood by use of a two-dimensional model that can be sorted into four quadrants: secure, dismissive, preoccupied, and fearful. (Unger & De Luca, 2014) Secure attachment is perceived as the ideal attachment orientation, resulting in low levels of both anxiety and avoidance, suggesting that the individual believes they are worthy of love, are trusting of others, and have a sense of relational competence. (Muller, Gragtmans, & Baker, 2008) The other 75% of the possible attachment orientations are labeled as “insecure,” implying a lack of availability of the individual’s caregivers in early infancy and either high in anxiety or avoidance. Within insecure attachment, measures suggest three

The secure style happens most often when infant is separated for the caregiver and is trying to regain the closeness, by coming back together with the caregiver. The avoidant style is represented by the infant ignoring the caregiver when the when they leave the presents of the infant. Then once the caregiver returns there is no response from the infant. In this stage the infant has become accustom to being ignored. The resistant-ambivalent style is characterized by a preoccupation or fixation on the caregiver in which the caregiver is alternately sought for comfort and rejected. This shows that the needs of the infant are not being meet. Lastly in the disorganized style it is often seen when the infant has been mistreated by the caregiver. In this case infants my have experienced trauma early on. (Hardy, 2007) The Attachment Theory helps practitioners understand how to best provide help to children and adults. In the Strengths approach, rating for child and mother are provided by the Strange Situation Procedure, parent attachment was assessed with the Marvin’s Caregiver Scales. (Tuner, 2011) Here it is shown how the severity of attachment is measured.

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

The current study investigated the relationship measures of attachment security, parental sensitivity, emotional availability, and child attachment classifications in high-risk parent-child dyads. The first hypothesis was only partially supported, all home- and lab-based measures were positively related but were not all significant. Consistent with past research, home-based measures of attachment security and parental sensitivity were strongly positively related, which adds to the literature supporting the validity of the AQS and MBQS-mini (Tarabulsy, et al., 2009). Moreover, these findings were anticipated as the two measures are complementary and can be assessed using the same parent-child observations. Parental sensitivity was related to all EA dimensions. In contrast, attachment security was not related to any dimensions of EA, except the dimension of adult structuring. The latter findings failed to replicate results in past research which linked measures of attachment security to dimensions of EA (Biringen et al., 2014).

How does attachment influence the social and emotional development of the child? A child’s social and emotional development has significant implications for the social functioning of a child throughout their lives, in their education, friendships and employment. A child with poor or social and emotional development are at risk of experiencing poor relationships with peers, academic problems and can lead them into involvement in unsociable activities or crime. Research suggests the key to social and emotional development lies in the child’s early relationship with parents and caregivers. It is believed that children develop and thrive better when they are brought up in an environment where the caregiver satisfies a child’s needs physically and emotionally.

According to the research done by Mario Mikulincer, there is a correlation between attachment style and the mental representation of the self. Six studies were done in order to determine the association between attachment style and multiple aspects of the mental representation of the self in adolescents. “Results indicated that secure and avoidant persons had a more positive view of themselves than anxious-ambivalent persons,” (Mikulincer 1995). Additionally, secure people were found to have a more balanced, complex, and organized self-structure than insecure people, either avoidant or anxious-ambivalent.

al. 2013). Notably, secure attachment is advantageous for children confronting diverse levels of hardship, with early involvement of a secure base and self-regulation skills inspiring resiliency. Wright (2010) similarly highlights this vital “…role of both autonomy and connectedness in…psychological development” (par.46). Consequently, endorsement of social and emotional health, as demonstrated by Mitcham Primary through innovative pedagogy and reciprocal relationships, is vital for high self-esteem and confidence (Observation Scales Overview). This addresses the paramount principles of “emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, [and] resilience”, as defined by the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF website, p.22). The value of strong attachment in stimulating self-concept and emotional intelligence is further endorsed by the theory ‘circle of security’; which interrelates emotional neuroscience with the attachment theory, and further highlights the importance of a safe and secure base to promote emotional intelligence