life span: Theory and evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 137(1), 19–46. doi: 10.1037/a0021367.
2 Groh, A. M., Roisman, G. I., Booth‐LaForce, C., Fraley, R. C., Owen, M. T., Cox, M. J., & Burchinal, M. R. (2014). The Adult Attachment Interview: Psychometrics, stability and change from infancy, and developmental origins: IV. Stability of attachment security from infancy to late adolescence. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79(3), 51–66. doi: 10.1111/mono.12113.
Discussion/Essay Questions
1 Attachment behaviors express themselves differently across development. The adolescent developmental stage was not included by Fraley and Speiker (2003a) in Figure 4.2. How would you expect attachment behaviors to express themselves during adolescence?
2 Are parents to blame if their children have an insecure attachment? Provide evidence for your answer.
3 Describe both the dimensional and categorical models of attachment.
4 Explain at least three ways in which research has shown that attachment impacts our everyday lives.
Glossary
Anxious‐avoidant insecure attachment is seen in a child who will tend to ignore the caregiver during both separations and reunifications.
Anxious‐resistant (or ambivalent) insecure attachment is seen in a child who will explore less than a child with a secure attachment when his caregiver is present.
Attachment insecurity develops when an internal working model of the self as unworthy of care and others as unreliable caregivers emerges.
Attachment security emerges when the needs of a young child are consistently met and his or her internal working model generally espouses a view of him‐ or herself as worthy of care and others as reliable caregivers.
Autonomous (i.e., securely attached) adult is one who values attachment relationships and is able to talk about caregiving experiences in a way that is balanced, coherent, consistent, and open.
Borderline personality disorder is a mental disorder characterized by instability in mood, behavior, and relationships.
Clinical samples are groups of research participants who are diagnosed with a mental disorder and receiving mental healthcare in, for example, an outpatient clinic or a psychiatric hospital.
Dismissing adults will tend to de‐emphasize the impact of caregiving experiences (particularly negative ones) and will struggle to provide answers that thoroughly describe early caregiving.
Disorganized adults show evidence of prior difficult caregiving experiences (like abuse or loss) that are unresolved in adulthood.
Disorganized attachment refers to children that cannot be classified into one of the main attachment categories. Behaviors commonly observed among children with a disorganized attachment include contradictory behaviors; behaviors that are incongruent with affect; stereotypic, jerky movements; and freezing.
Dissociative symptoms are associated with disorganized attachment and can include temporary lapses in memory, sense of unreal‐ness, and disconnection from those around you.
Externalizing symptoms are behavior problems including non‐compliance and hostility.
Internal working model was developed by Bowlby and can be understood as a template that we carry with us, across development, and use to make sense of ourselves and our social world.
Internalizing symptoms are emotional in nature and include depressive and anxious symptoms.
Longitudinal study is a research design that collects data from the same group of people across time.
Meta‐analytic studies combine the results from many previously published studies to give us a better picture of how research has accumulated across time.
Preoccupied adults will produce an interview that is dominated by excessive attention towards his or her caregivers and anger may dominate the interview.
Secure attachment is seen in a child who will be observed exploring the playroom while her caregiver is in the room but, when the caregiver leaves the room, the child will become upset.
References
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14 Booth‐LaForce, C., Groh, A.