6.5 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attachment in children | 5/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_in_children | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:31:29.069516+00:00 | kb-cron |
Research based on data from longitudinal studies, such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and the Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaption from Birth to Adulthood, and from cross-sectional studies, seeking to show associations between early attachment classifications and peer relationships typically fails to control for social background variables when seeking correlations between attachment classifications and other child behaviours, such as competence with peers. This is a general problem. Lyons-Ruth, for example, concluded that 'for each additional withdrawing behavior displayed by mothers in relation to their infant's attachment cues in the Strange Situation Procedure, the likelihood of clinical referral by service providers was increased by 50%.' But no attempt was made to assess the social background of the children who had better or worse outcomes. Similar problems infect most longitudinal claims about secure children, for example, that they have more positive and fewer negative peer reactions and establish more and better friendships. The possibility that infants are competent in peer-groups before by nine months of age (before attachments have formed) has never been investigated in attachment research, though such competence is now proven. Few if any rigorous studies which control for social background variables of the children it compares show even weak association between early experience and a comprehensive measure of social functioning in early adulthood but, if we ignore social background, early experience may seem to predict early childhood representations of relationships, which in turn may be held to correlate with later self and relationship representations and social behaviour. In like fashion, some studies have been claimed to show that infants with a high-risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) may express attachment security differently from infants with a low-risk for ASD. On lie grounds, behavioural problems and social competence in insecure children may be said to increase or decline with deterioration or improvement in quality of parenting and the degree of risk in the family environment.
== Changes in attachment during childhood and adolescence == Childhood and adolescence allows the development of an internal working model useful for forming attachments. This internal working model is related to the individual's state of mind which develops with respect to attachment generally and explores how attachment functions in relationship dynamics based on childhood and adolescent experience. The organization of an internal working model is generally seen as leading to more stable attachments in those who develop such a model, rather than those who rely more on the individual's state of mind alone in forming new attachments. Age, cognitive growth, and continued social experience advance the development and complexity of the internal working model. Attachment-related behaviours lose some characteristics typical of the infant-toddler period and take on age-related tendencies. The preschool period involves the use of negotiation and bargaining. For example, four-year-olds are not distressed by separation if they and their caregiver have already negotiated a shared plan for the separation and reunion. Ideally, these social skills become incorporated into the internal working model to be used with other children and later with adult peers. As children move into the school years at about six years old, most develop a goal-corrected partnership with parents, in which each partner is willing to compromise in order to maintain a gratifying relationship. By middle childhood, the goal of the attachment behavioural system has changed from proximity to the attachment figure to availability. Generally, a child is content with longer separations, provided contact—or the possibility of physically reuniting, if needed—is available. Attachment behaviours such as clinging and following decline and self-reliance increases. By middle childhood (ages 7–11), there may be a shift toward mutual coregulation of secure-base contact in which caregiver and child negotiate methods of maintaining communication and supervision as the child moves toward a greater degree of independence. The attachment system used by adolescents is seen as a "safety regulating system" whose main function is to promote physical and psychological safety. There are two different events that can trigger the attachment system. Those triggers include, the presence of a potential danger or stress, internal and external, and a threat of accessibility and/or availability of an attachment figure. The ultimate goal of the attachment system is security, so during a time of danger or inaccessibility the behavioural system accepts felt security in the context of the availability of protection. By adolescence we are able to find security through a variety of things, such as food, exercise, and social media. Felt security can be achieved through a number of ways, and often without the physical presence of the attachment figure. Higher levels of maturity allows adolescent teens to more capably interact with their environment on their own because the environment is perceived as less threatening. Adolescents teens will also see an increase in cognitive, emotional and behavioural maturity that dictates whether or not teens are less likely to experience conditions that activate their need for an attachment figure. For example, when teenagers get sick and stay home from school, surely they want their parents to be home so they can take care of them, but they are also able to stay home by themselves without experiencing serious amounts of distress. Additionally, the social environment that a school fosters impacts adolescents attachment behaviour, even if these same adolescents have not had issues with attachment behaviour previously. High schools that have a permissive environment compared to an authoritative environment promote positive attachment behaviour. For example, when students feel connected to their teachers and peers because of their permissive schooling environment, they are less likely to skip school. Positive-attachment behaviour in high schools have important implications on how a school's environment should be structured. Here are the attachment style differences during adolescence: