THE IMPACTS OF SECURE AND INSECURE ATTACHMENTS THROUGHOUT LIFE

American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR) 2024
A J H S S R J o u r n a l P a g e | 67
American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR)
e-ISSN : 2378-703X
Volume-08, Issue-09, pp-67-70
www.ajhssr.com
Research Paper Open Access
THE IMPACTS OF SECURE AND INSECURE
ATTACHMENTS THROUGHOUT LIFE
Nazmiye ARDUÇ , Cansu Selin YURTSEVEN , Elif Berfin BEYHAN
1
Phd Clinical Psychology,Dogus University,
2
PhD Student in Clinical Psychology, İstanbul Aydın University,
3
Clinical Psychology Graduate Student,İstanbul Okan University,
ABSTRACT : The relationship between an infant and his/her mother has always been a central point in
psychology. Accordingly, John Bowlby developed the attachment theory along with his first student then
colleague Mary D. Salter Ainsworth. Bowlby’s hypothesis is that during the evolution of the humans, babies
who had a close relationship with their mothers where better at surviving Bowlby suggests that a child forms
only on attachment at the beginning and that the person attached acts as a secure base in the exploration of the
world. The attachment relationship is same kind of prototype for all future social relationships therefore the
disruption of this attachment can have serious results. In the light of this statement this paper will attempt to
discuss the effects od secure and insecure attachments on the psychological development of children and the
importance of these attachments in their adult relationships by using Bowlby’s and Ainsworth studies as well as
the articles written by Ainsworth herself, Sroufe & Waters, and Fonagy.
KEYWORDS:Attachments Styles,Children, Psychological Development, Relationships
I. INTRODUCTION
The relationship between an infant and his/her mother has always been a central point in psychology.
Psychologists, especially Freud, focused on the patients’ childhood and their relationship with their mother to
find the roots of their psychological issues. However, one of these psychoanalysts, John Bowlby took another
direction by developing the attachment theory along with his student and later colleague Mary Salter Ainsworth.
Bowlby’s hypothesis is that during the evolution of humans, babies who had close relationship with their
mothers were better at surviving. According to Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment, babies are born
with a biological program to create bonds (attachments) with others in order to survive, Bowlby believed that
attachment behaviors come from instincts and they will become out when the child is face to face with a threat-
like separation, insecurity and fear- to his/her closeness to his/her mother. What shapes this attachment is not
food but care and responsiveness. Bowlby suggest that a child forms only one attachment at the beginning and
that the person attached acts as a secure base in the exploration of the world. The attachment relationship is
some kind of prototype for a future social relationship. Therefore, the disruption of these attachment can have
serious results. In the light of this statement, this paper will attempt to discuss the effect of secure and insecure
attachments on the psychological development of children and the prominence of such attachments in their adult
relationships by using Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s studies as well as the articles written by Ainsworth herself,
Sroufe and their colleagues.
II. METHODS:
Bowlby and Ainsworth based their attachment theory on an experiment. In this experiment, babies from
12 to 18 months old were first left alone for a short period of time. Then, they were reunited with their caregiver
(mostly, their mother). Researchers observed the reactions of the babies at the time they were reunited with their
caregiver. They found three types of attachment: secure, ambivalent/insecure and avoidant/ insecure
attachments. Later, Fonagy et al. based their article on a similar research conducted by Anna Freud Centre –
University College London Parent-Child Project to find out the harmony between the security of the parent and
the security of the infant's with that parent. In the context of that study, Fonagy et al. focused on measuring the
parent's capacity of understanding the mental states of their baby. This measurement is called Reflective Self-
Function. It is based on The Adult AttachmentInterview transcripts introduced by Mary Main and closely related
to infant security classification based on Strange Situation assessments. Sroufe et al., on the other hand, focuses
on the organizational conceptualization of attachment and use Bowly's (1969) conceptualization as a starting

point for an organizational view of attachment. By approaching toattachment as behavior and to attachment
classifications as behavioral categories, they adopt the organizational view to analyze interactive behavior and
the bonding process.
Recently, Mary Main and her associates have devised an Adult Attachment Inventory. This inventory is used as a
tool to look into the attachment relationships in adults. In fact, this interview/inventory mainly concentrates on
past and present relationships with parents. However, Main suggests that in this interview they assess the
interviewee's "representationalmodel of relationships". The source of this model is the representations of the
person's "early attachment figures".
III. FINDINGS:
Bowlby's most significant conclusion, which was based on the empirical evidence, was that to be a
mentally healthy grown-up, "the infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate, and continuous
relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment"
(Bowlby, 1951, p. 13).
On the other hand, according to Ainsworth, it was clear that a baby loves his mother because she fulfills his/her
needs. Based on her researches with Bowlby, Ainsworth classified three basic relationship patterns in school-age
children who were away from their parents because they were in a senatorium and returned to their parents after
a long time: 1) children who had strong positive feelings for their mothers; 2) children who had remarkable
ambivalent relationships; 3) children who had "non-expressive, indifferent, or hostile relationships with mother."
(Bowlby, Ainsworth, Boston, & Rosenbluth, 1956).
Here are main characteristics of the three types of attachments according the researches conducted by Bowlby
and Ainsworth:
Secure Attachment: Securely attached children are stressed distress when they are separated from their
caregivers and are happy when their caregiver returns. These children feel secure and they can depend on their
adult caregivers. Although the child can be upset because he/she is left by the adult, he/she has a feeling of
security because he/she believes that the caregiver will come back. Securely attached children want to be
comforted by the caregiver when they are scared. These children are aware of the fact that when they need, the
caregiver will give them comfort and the feeling of security.
Ambivalent Attachment: Ambivalently attached children are generally very stressed when the caregiver leaves.
This attachment style is not very common. Research shows that ambivalent attachment is caused by the frequent
absence of the mother. As a result, these children cannot rely that their mother (or caregiver) will be present
when they need her.
Avoidant Attachment: Children who have avoidant attachment usually ignore their parents or caregivers. These
children do not prefer their mother over a stranger. Research suggests that this attachment style may the result of
abusive or neglectful caregivers. If children are punished when they rely on their caregiver, they will learn not to
ask for help in the future. (http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/a/attachment01.htm)
The interview designed by Mary Main and her associates in order to determine the types of attachments,
however, is partially structured with probes for descriptions of relationships specific supportive memories,
contradictory memories, assessments of relationships". The categories of attachment patterns obtained at the
interview do not consider the content as it is. Instead, the interviewer pays attention to how much the
interviewee fails to remember of early childhood discrepancies and incoherency. In short, the researchers found
three main patterns of attachment: 1) autonomous, 2) detached, and 3) "enmeshed-together with a number of
sub- patterns".
`
To prove the validity of these patterns, Main compared the parental pattern and the pattern of the infant's
attachment, Main also reportedtogether with her associates, a six-year follow-up study of the parent's pattern
with his child's pattern. "The security of the mother's representational model of attachment was found to be
strongly correlated with the security of the child's attachment to her (r=0.62). The comparable correlation for
fathers was weaker but nonetheless significant (r=0.37)"(Ainsworth1984).
IV. DISCUSSION:
The notion of "understanding of mental states has several important implications for the psychoanalytic
theory of normal development, parenting, and the vicissitudes of the infant- caretaker relationship" (Fonagy et
al., 1991). This means that while the capacity to observe the other as a being those functions psychologically, the
inner perception of "primary objects" can be assumed to go through a significant change. Only after this change
occurs that the "mental representation of the other and all the things that is not part of the "experiential simple
self" will start thinking, feeling, desiring, wishing and believing. The object, in this case the mother, will simply
"act, behave, or do". The representation of this as to interact "with the self in a physical world of temperatures,
textures, movements, visual patterns, sounds, and so on." The mother of the young infant may witness to her
own harmony with the infant by means of her own actions. However, the baby has limited understanding of
his/her mother's actions. He/she only perceives the pleasure gained through the momentary experience. "The

internal representation cannot include the mental states of lovingness or concern, only its manifestation: a sense
of warmth and safety (Sandler, 1960).
As to the organizational view of the infant-adult attachment relationship, it is safe to say that it is
somewhat consistent with the study of normative patterns of attachment behavior, as well as social learning and
cognitive approaches. From the perspective of organizational view, interactive behaviors and the bonding
process need to be thoroughly analyzed. Likewise, it is important to understand the cognitive structures that
back up "the development of the affective bond" and organize the attachment behavior regarding "internal and
external inputs." (Sroufe & Waters, 1977) It would be wise to say that individual differences need to be
considered while adopting the organizational view to understand the importance of infant-caregiverbonding.
The research of Roger Kobak shows that autonomous children, in other words, children who are securely
attached to parents, make the best social adjustment when they find new friends and new people at college. The
results are based on some self-report inventories and also on the Block adjustment Q-set, which are independent
ratings filled by the newly-met people. When students who were securely attached children are compared with
insecure students, the former is rated as more insightful, self-confident, less vulnerable and they have got less
negative affect and more social presence; whereas the latter and the enmeshed group are identified as insecure.
The children with enmeshed attachment pattern to parents see themselves as less social, and were rated by
people around them as less insightful, socially less related, and they were reported to have more negative affect
and to be less self-confident and more vulnerable.
However, something interesting came up with detached students: their answers to the self- report
inventories were similar to those of the secure students but they reported less support from family. Although
their reports stated that they did not have a problem in social adjustment, the ratings from their fellow students
suggested otherwise. Their fellow students rated them as much less well-adjusted socially and emphasized that
they had less insight and more negative affect. The results of the detailed findings clearly show that *detached
defense makes them less socially perceptive and responsive and generally more cut-off from positive relations
with their peers." (Ainsworth, 1984).
Kobak's findings with young adults are similar to those of Cassidy: avoidant six-year-old children
report in a defensive manner that they do not have any flows. The findings of Julia Green are also alike. She
states that the mothers of avoidant one-year-old babies reported that they are mildly stressed (according to
Abidin's Parenting Stress Index. On the other hand, the mothers of securely attached babies generally reported
that they were moderately stressed. These studies indicate how defensive people with avoidant or detached
patterns of attachment are. This shows that when people report that they feel secure, self-confident, stress-free or
socially capable, there is more reason to believe that they are more prone to be insecure, have lower self-esteem,
and feel incompetent and stressed (Ainsworth, 1984).
V. CONCLUSION
When the research and studies conducted by prominent psychologists like Bowlby, Ainsworth, Sroufe,
Waters, Fonagy and others, it is clear that the type of relationship developed between a baby and his/her mother
has a notable impact on the baby's future relationships. For instance, a baby who develops a secure attachment
in his/her childhood generally has high self-esteem, solid romantic relationships and is able to open
himself/herself up to others. These children become adults who usually have healthy, happy and permanent
relationships. As to children who do not develop secure attachments with their caregiver, researchers suggest
that their failure to develop secure attachments when they are little results in ill behaviors in childhood and
throughout their life. The children suffering from oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD)
or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), usually show attachment problems. It is likely that these problems
occur because of the abusive behaviors, negligence or trauma that they had experienced as a baby. Although
attachment styles shown in adulthood may not necessarily be the same as those shown in infancy, several
researches suggest that attachment formed as an infant may have a serious impact on later relationships. It is
important to note that the individual's report on his/her current self-esteem, social adjustment, stress level and so
on does not indicate whether the psychological problems experienced as an adult are the result of an unhealthy
attachment as a baby because individuals with insecure or ambivalent attachment with their mother as an infant
fail to remember this and overestimate their current situation.
REFERENCES
[1]. Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1984), Attachment Across the Life Span. The Thomas William Salmon Lecture,
sponsored by the section on Psychiatry of the New York Academy of Medicine.
[2]. Bowlby, J, Ainsworth, M., Boston, M., & Rosenbluth, D. (1956), The effects of mother-child
separation: A follow-up study. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 29, 211-247.
[3]. Bowlby, J. (1958), The nature of the child's tie to his mother. International Journal of Psycho Analysis,
XXXIX, 1-23.
[4]. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York:
Basic Books.

[5]. Cassidy, J. (1988), The self as related to child-mother attachment at six. Child Development, 59, 121-
134.
[6]. Cherry, K., Attachment Theory: An Overview of Attachment Theory. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/a/attachment01.htm
[7]. Fonagy, P., Steele, M., & Steele, H., Moran, S. G., Higgitt, C.A., The Capacity for Understanding
Mental States: The Reflective Self in Parent and Child and Its Significance for Security of Attachment.
Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol. 12, No. 3, Fall 1991.
[8]. Kobak, B. R., & Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation,
and perceptions of self and others. Child Development, 59, 135-146.
[9]. Sandler, J. (1960). The background of safety. In J. Sandler (Ed.), From safety to superego: Selected
papers of Joseph Sandler (pp. 1-8). London: Karnac. (1987 Reprint).
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1184-1199

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