Attachment

• A deep and enduring connection established between a child and caregiver in the first several years of life.

Attachment

• Basic trust and reciprocity

• Exploration

• Self-regulation

• Identity

• Prosocial moral framework

• Core belief system

• Defense against stress/trauma

Attachment

• Established in the context of a relationship that includes:

• touch

• eye contact

• smile and positive affect

• need fulfillment

Secure Attachment

• Self-esteem• Independence/autonomy• Resilience• Impulse control• Long-term friendships• Relationships with authority figures (including parents)• Prosocial coping skills• Trust, intimacy and affection • Positive belief systems • Empathy, compassion, and conscience• Behavioral performance and academic success• Promote secure attachment with own children

Disrupted Attachment• Low self-esteem• Needy, clingy or pseudo-independent• Decompensate under stress• Lack self-control• Unable to develop/maintain friendships• Alienated from/oppositional with parents other authority

figures• Antisocial attitudes/behaviors• Aggression/violence• Incapable of genuine trust, intimacy, affection• Negative, hopeless, pessimistic view• Lack empathy, compassion, remorse• Behavior/academic problems• Perpetuate cycle

History of Attachment Theory

• John Bowlby• Affectionless/homeless children• Ethology• Bowlby conclusions: • instinctual behaviors keep mother close• smile is a social releaser• certain conditions increase attachment• maternal deprivation/separation traumatic• loss causes pathological mourning

Attachment History

• David Levy

• Loretta Bender

• Harry Bakwin

• Rene Spitz

• James Robertson- stages of emotional reaction to loss/separation

• Harry Harlow

History of Attachment

• Mary Ainsworth• Uganda Study• Secure Base• Phases of Attachment• undiscriminating• differential responsiveness• separation anxiety• active initiation• stranger anxiety

Mary Ainsworth

• Strange Situation• Attachment Patterns• Secure• Insecure• Resistant/Ambivalent• Avoidant• Parenting Dimensions: acceptance,

cooperation, sensitivity, and availability

Developmental Studies

• Mary Main longitudinal study

• disorganized attachment

• internal working model

• Allan Sroufe

• High risk population

Cultural Variations

• In U.S., one-third (middle class families) insecurely attached

• Percentage higher in high-risk families

• Results consistent in all cultures

• Universal and culture-specific aspects of attachment

• German replication: avoidant attachment

• Israeli kibbutzim: ambivalent attachment

Romantic Attachment

• Adult Attachment Interview (Mary Main)

• Secure- balance attachment/autonomy

• Preoccupied- abandonment, anxiety/anger

• Dismissing- compulsively self-reliant

• Fearful- self-doubt, lack of strategies

Childhood Peers

• Important for social development

• Piaget: equal power among peers

– Requires cooperation, negotiation skills

• Sullivan: Peers important after age 6

– Changing interpersonal needs

• Harris: Parental influence is overrated

– Peers more important for development

Peer Relations• 18 mo: first peers

–Turn taking

–Reciprocal play

• Age 2-12: increasing time spent–Same sex peers

–Similar age and play preferences

Peer Acceptance• Sociometric techniques

–Most popular kids• Attractive, intelligent

• Socially competent

–Rejected kids• Highly aggressive

• Socially isolated, overly sensitive, submissive

Play• Age 1-2: Pretend play

• Age 2-5: Social play

• Age 5-6: Rule-based games

• By age 11-2: Rule flexibility

• Play is beneficial–Cognitive development

–Social skills