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The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships -…
The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships - Adult relationships
There also appears to be continuity between early attachment styles and the quality of later adult relationships
However those who fail to achieve secure attachments in childhood are not necessarily condemned to a life of broken relationships , divorce and a cycle of inadequate parenting as research indicates that it is possible for such individuals to develop secure adult relationships
Romantic love conceptualised as an attachment process - Hazan and Shaver ( 1987 )
Aims/Hypotheses
To explore the possibility that attachment theory offers a perspective on adult romantic love and to create a framework for understanding love , loneliness and grief at different points in the life cycle
It was predicted that
There would be a correlation between adults attachment types and the type of parenting they recieved
Adults with different attachment styles will display different characteristic mental models of themselves and their major social interaction partners
Procedure
Respondents to a love quiz in a local newspaper were asked which of 3 descriptions best applied to their inner feelings about romantic relationships
These descriptions related to secure attachments , insecure avoidant attachments and insecure resistant attachments
Participants also completed a checklist describing childhood relationships with parents , relating to the same attachments types and two samples were tested
Sample one comprised 205 men and 415 women , between 14 and 82 years of age , 91% describing themselves as heterosexual . 42% were married , 28% were divorced or widowed , 9% were co-habiting and 31% were dating
Sample two comprised 108 students (38 men and 70 women) who answered additional items focusing more on the self side of the mental model , as well as items measuring loneliness
Findings
Securely attached - 56% (both samples)
Insecure avoidant - 23% (sample 1) and 25% (sample 2)
Insecure resistant - 19% (sample 1) and 20% (sample 2)
In both samples those described as securely attached described the most important love relationship they ever had as 'happy , friendly and trusting' . These participants had longer lasting relationships and if they got married they tended not to divorce
Securely attached participants expressed belief in lasting love . They found other trustworthy and had confidence in themselves as likable
Insecure avoidant participants were more doubtful about the existence and durability of love . They also said that they don't need a partner to be happy
Insecure avoidant participants expressed more self doubt compared with both other types but compared with the insecure resistant participants didn't repress feelings of security
Both insecure types were vulnerable to loneliness
Conclusions
The percentages of adults in the different attachment types match those of children in Ainworths strange situation studies
The correlation between adults attachment types and their memories of parenting style they recieved is similar to ainsworths findings where childrens attachment types were correlated with the degree of sensitivity shown by mothers
Adults mental models differ according to attachment styles . Securely attached are more positive and optimistic about themselves and love partners , compared with either insecurely attached types
People with insecure attachment are vulnerable to loneliness
Evaluation
The researchers provided a typical account of the processes involved in a romantic attachment and an understanding of individual differences in adult relationships , as well as a connection between infant attachment theory and theories of romantic love , which stimulated research in the area
The research showed continuity of childhood attachment style into adulthood doesn't always occur . Continuity decreases as individuals progress further into adulthood . The average person participates in several important friendships and love relationships , providing many opportunities for revising mental models of self and others . Main (1985) support this optimistic view , finding that some adults in insecure relationships with parents produced securely attached children . They had mentally worked through their unpleasant experiences and now had mental models of relationships more typical of the securely attached
Attachment types identified by the strange situation only relate to the quality of relationship with one person . Therefore an adults choice of a paragraph describing their attachment style might only relate to their current relationship
McCarthy (1999) assessed the quality of adult relationships of 40 women aged 25 to 44 with childhood insecure attachments . Women with insecure avoidant attachments had less successful adult romantic relationships , while those with insecure resistant attachments had problems forming non romantic adult friendships , supporting the idea of the internal working model
Kirkpatrick and Davis (1994) studied 300 dating couples for 3 years , finding that those identified as having secure childhood attachments were more likely to have stable and satisfying relationships , supporting the idea of continuity from the internal working model
Kunce and Shaver (1994) found that women classed as having childhood insecure resistant attachments reported the highest levels of 'compulsive caregiving' - they were most likely to agree with statements such as 'i can't seem to stop mothering my partner'
Brennan and Shaver (1995) found that individuals classified as insecure avoidant were willing to engage in sex in the absence of strong feelings of love or an enduring relationship . Similarly Hazan and Shaver (1994) found that such individuals were more likely to have one night stands and sex outside established relationships and they preferred purely sexual contact , for example oral or anal sex , to more emotionally intimate sexual contact , such as kissing and cuddling . This again supports the concept of the internal working model
Evaluation
Wood (2003) believes that the quality of relationships results from the interaction of 2 peoples attachment styles . Therefore insecurely attached people can have secure relationships if they are in relationships with securely attached people
The internal working model is not fully supported . Steele (1998) found that only a small correlation of 0.17 between having a secure attachment type in childhood and early adulthood , while Zimmerman (2000) found that attachment style at 12-18 months of age did not predict the quality of later relationships , while life events experienced such as parental divorce had a much larger influence .Hamilton (1994) found that securely attached children went on to have insecurely attached relationships if they had experienced negative life events
The temperament hypothesis sees the quality of adult relationships as being determined biologically from innate personality , suggesting that attempts to develop better quality relationships by changing peoples attachments styles to more positive ones wouldn't work
