PREVIOUS : Attachment Theory #3

SITE : ATT style QUIZ (short)

DURABILITY
Psychoanalyst John Bowlby believed that “ATT behavior characterizes human beings from the cradle to the grave” (1979),  & that it’s instinctive in infants. His main research goal was to describe & explain how children become emotionally attached to their primary caregivers, & are emotionally distressed when separated from them.
ATT behaviors are activated by any situation which seems to threaten the achievement of proximity (staying physically near the parent/ main caretaker).

Based on Bowlby & M’s work (1965 thru 1988), the most common opinion is that a person’s ATT style formed in childhood will be maintained throughout life.
More recent theorists disagree – indicating that ATT bonds are flexible, that dynamic changes can & do occur, & on a quite short time scale.

Research shows that not all children who experience inadequate & abusive parenting go on to develop an insecure attachment style, just as not all children who receive emotionally attuned, available, or responsive care-taking automatically develop a secure attachment style. 

PERSPECTIVES
🔅Organizational : “Early experiences should be construed not as determinants of development, but rather as setting the stage for optimal psychological functioning” (see here). So while childhood may create a specific ATT type, later events & environment will determine whether the early patterns will remain in place or change.

🔅Differentiation of ATT representations : This suggests that over a person’s life span, rather than updating existent representations (changing our image of the original caretakers), new ones are created (added) when we bond with other people

🔅Socialization–selection asymmetries : Att bonds & representations are more or less stable at different stages of life, with more stability during adulthood – compared to adolescence – & for more established relationships, as with one’s parents. (see here).

A Minneapolis U. 30 yr. longitudinal study found that :
Of the participants who had experienced significant loss or stress, 44% changed attachment categories from infancy to early adulthood, versus only 22% who had not experienced negative life events.  (MORE….)

So, as adults, forming positive new relationships can create improved changes in the “working model” of the Self & Others. Such improved experiences can help some people override the traumatic influence of their first 6 years with family, indicating that ATT styles may not be set in stone. While there are no guarantees, both risk & protective factors have a major impact.

The good news is, it’s never too late to develop a secure attachment. The style you developed as a child based on your
relationship with a parent or early caretaker doesn’t have to define your ways of relating to those you love in your adult life.

By identifying your original ATT style, you can see ways you defend yourself from getting close enough to suitable people who you can become emotionally connected to, and then work toward developing an “earned secure attachment.”

One essential way to do this is by “making sense” of your story. The key to making the shift is to write a coherent narrative of your childhood experiences. That kind of inventory actually rewire your brain, which helps cultivate more security within yourself & so in your relationships.

NEXT : SECURE ATT, #1