Early Attachment Theory Essay
Introduction – the central importance of early attachment relationships in development
Development is shaped to a very significant degree by the relationships we have with our primary attachment figures. These earliest relationships are crucial as they represent our first emotional and social interactions, are the first means by which we learn about ourselves and the world, and lay the foundations for adjusted development, emotional wellbeing and later successful interpersonal relationships (ref). Bowlby, the founding father of attachment theory, describes how in ideal circumstances our attachment relationship with our primary caregiver– in the majority of cases our mother- is organized in such a way that we come to view our caregiver and later, other people, as reliable, loving and dependable; the world as a safe place to be explored with confidence, and ourselves as worthy and deserving of love (ref). We will return later to this theory and specifically to the development of internal working models which shape our perceptions of ourselves and others, but for now it is sufficient to acknowledge that the establishment of a secure attachment relationship with a primary caregiver sets up the developing child for optimal psychological wellbeing and adjustment (ref).
Attachment style was later described in more detail by Ainsworth and colleagues (ref) and was experimentally operationalised as the Strange Situation Experiment (ref) which remains the gold standard for assessing attachment style to this day (ref). Both Ainsworth’s early studies (ref) and a large number of replications since (ref) have consistently found that approximately two-thirds of infants and children display a type of secure attachment to their primary
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Cognitive developmental outcomes dsadsaf Biological and physical health consequences of maternal depression asadasd Mechanisms
Attachment dsada Parenting behaviours cdsadadsa Genetic influences
Caveats
Limitations of the research
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