Abstract
Attachment
refers to the close emotional relationship formed between a caregiver and their
infant in the first few years of life.
The relationships and interactions a child experiences during the first
3 years of life affect the child’s social and emotional wellbeing later in
life. This can be either a positive or
negative outcome, depending on the type of attachment formed between the
primary caregiver and the child. This
essay reviews the development of secure attachments versus insecure attachments
and briefly discusses child developmental theories relating to attachment
security and wellbeing, including Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory, Erik
Erikson’s psychosocial theory and John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Research evidence indicates that children
chronically exposed to negative environments are more likely to form insecure
parent-child attachments that impair a child’s health, wellbeing and
development. In contrast, the parents of securely attached children provide an
improved quality of care that is more sensitive, consistent and responsive to a
child’s needs, with improved social and emotional wellbeing and development of
the child. It will be argued that a
child’s social and emotional wellbeing is enhanced through the development of
positive attachments during the first 3 years of life.
Importance of Positive Attachments
from Zero to Three
and Children’s Wellbeing
From the moment of birth, an infant interacts
with many people in the social environment.
These interactions together with relationships formed during the early
years, when attachments are formed have a profound effect on a child’s social and
emotional wellbeing (Berk, 2012, Kochanska, 2001; Siegel, 2001). McCain and Mustard (1999) proposed that the
development of a child’s brain, especially during the first three years, effects
the emotional growth and social competence during later life. Furthermore, Siegel (2001) recognised that caregivers
play an important role in a child’s healthy development since the child relies
on the caregiver to provide emotional support and to manage their emotional
reactions, thoughts and feelings. During
the first years of life, an infant’s brain is vulnerable to adverse experiences
such as stress, and as a result the capacity for emotional self-regulation and
future emotional competence is dependable upon positive social interactions and
parent-child attachment security, including parental sensitivity (Schore, 2001;
Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).
The attachment relationship between a
child and their primary caregiver, usually the parents (Brown, Mangelsdorf
& Neff, 2012, p. 422), can be classified into different attachment styles
(Berk, 2012; Cameron, 2008; Kochanska, 2001). Whether a child develops secure or insecure
attachments depends on many factors such as infant and parent characteristics,
stressors, cultural values, community resources and family circumstances such
as marital support and financial stress (Berk, 2012; Cameron, 2008). These factors contributing to the
parent-child attachment security are explained within child developmental
theories that are discussed within this essay.
Psychoanalytical and ethological
theories of Urie Bronfenbrenner, Erik Erikson and John Bowlby propose various factors
fundamental to the development of the child and the affect it has on the
child’s social and emotional wellbeing.
These include the quality of relationships, interactions with people including
the social environment and the emotional attachments formed (Berk, 2012).
It will be argued that a young child’s
social and emotional wellbeing is enhanced by the development of positive
attachments during the first three years of life. According to Berk (2012), a positive parent-child
attachment facilitates a greater chance for optimal growth and development than
an insecurely attached child, who is more likely to have experienced a lack of sensitive,
responsive caregiving, physical deprivation and in extreme cases, abuse or
neglect.
The essay examines attachment security in
relation to a child’s social and emotional wellbeing. The essay identifies factors that affect attachment
security, and then focuses on insecure attachments and the risk factors
associated with impaired attachment security, and finally the identification of
parenting interventions as a way to maintain and support a positive
parent-child relationship.
Secure
attachments
The development of a secure attachment is
fostered by a consistent, sensitive and emotionally available parent who provides
a child with the opportunity to form a close bond. The parent is tuned in to their child’s
needs, observing body language and behaviour and responds appropriately to the
infant’s cues (Berk, 2012). Attunement supports the infant’s social and
emotional development through regulating the parent-child interactions that
contribute to brain maturation (Siegel, 2001).
According to Kochanska (2001), trust in the caregiver and continuity of
care also contributes to secure attachments.
Parents’ of children with secure attachments are more likely to be
emotionally available and sensitive to their child’s needs. A child who is securely attached develops
positive relationships with others (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Therefore attachment security can be
described as the parent acting as the secure foundation, allowing the child to trust
the parent and explore the environment at his or her own free will (Cameron,
2008).
Emotional availability
and emotional competence
Volling, McElwain, Notaro and Herrera
(2002) carried out a short term longitudinal study, investigating the emotional
status of both mother and father dyads, the individual disparity between parent
and infant behaviour, infant emotional competence, attachment and emotional
self-regulation. The study was conducted
in two parts. The first part
investigated aspects of attachment when the infants were 12 and 13 months
old. The second part of the study
involved the children, then 16 months old, in an observational task
investigating emotional availability. The results indicated that when the
parents were more emotionally available (interacting in a sensitive and
positive manner) during play sessions, the child tended to respond in a
positive way. The results of the
teaching task found that as the task became more challenging for the child,
only those securely attached were able to regulate their emotions as compared
to children identified as insecurely attached who displayed more negative emotions
and behaviour. The research also
advocated that in a family where both parent-child relationships are insecurely
attached early in life, the child is left in a fragile state, unable to
emotionally self-regulate. Based on
observations of the father-child relationship, the study supports research that
a parent’s early emotional availability during infancy is related to the
development of a child’s ability to self-regulate their emotions (Volling et
al., 2002). The results of this study
are consistent with Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, taking into account
that during the first year of basic trust verses mistrust, if the caregiver
consistently interacts in a positive way with sensitivity, warmth and empathy,
the infant places trust in the caregiver and therefore feels safe to explore
the surrounding environment (Berk, 2012).
According to Berk (2012), Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory highlighted
that for each stage of a child’s development, psychological conflicts occur
that can be resolved either positively or negatively, depending on the quality
of the relationship. This impacts on
whether a healthy or poor outcome is achieved.
Parental sensitivity, involvement
and continuity of caregiving
Furthermore, a more recent study by Brown,
Mangelsdorf and Neff (2012) investigated associations between father
involvement, paternal sensitivity and father-child attachment at 13 months and
3 years using methods including a questionnaire, video encoding from
observations and a father-child play task.
The results indicated that involvement, sensitivity and secure
attachment at 3 years are significantly related, and that 13 month olds
attachment to their father predicted the fathers’ sensitivity at 3 years. Involvement and sensitivity together
predicted father-child attachment at 3 years. Thus, parental sensitivity is one
predictor of attachment security. Moreover,
Brown et al. noted that the continuity of the father-child attachment security
remained stable from 13 months to 3 years of age, suggesting additional
benefits for the continuity of social and emotional wellbeing of the child. The
study suggested longitudinal associations such as parental sensitivity, relating
to the quality of the father-child relationship, in sustaining a positive
father-child relationship (Brown et al., 2012).
Brown, McBride, Shin and Bost (2007) (as cited in Brito, Barr, Rodriguez
, & Shauffer, 2012) further support the finding of parental sensitivity and
attachment security, stating that “The quality of the parent-child interaction
is more important than the quantity of involvement” (p. 27), however if the
father is involved and the interactions are of a positive nature, this too
benefits emotional self-regulation and social competence of the child (Cabrera,
Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000; Coley, 1998, as cited in
Brito, Barr, Rodriguez & Shauffer, 2012), suggesting that attachment
security is very complex, determined by multiple factors. The research findings of Gunnar, Brodersen, Nachmias,
Buss and Rigatuso (1996) in their study examining stress reactivity and
attachment security in 18 month olds, found that those infants securely
attached at 18 month had mothers who provided continuity of care that was responsive
and sensitive during the previous year, as compared to those children determined
as insecurely attached. Thus the findings
by Gunnar et al. (1996) provide further evidence to support the correlation
between parental responsiveness, sensitivity and attachment security.
A clear link can be seen between secure
attachments during the early years and the development of social-emotional
competence during childhood and later in life. According to Denham, Wyatt,
Bassett, Echeverria and Knox (2009), the emotional availability of the parents
influences the emotional competence of the child, thus supporting the findings
by Volling et al. (2002). Mechanisms
such as the continuity of the parent-child attachment and emotional security in
establishing social and emotional competence in later life, as derived from a
secure parent-child relationship, are consistent with Bowlby’s attachment
theory (Kochanska, 2001). John Bowlby
theorised that human attachments developed from an evolutionary perspective of
the survival of the species. The deeply rooted symbiotic relationship between
an infant and the primary caregiver results in the formation of an emotional
bond during the first year of life (Berk, 2012, Schore, 2001; Stronach et al.,
2011). According to Cameron (2008), fundamental
to Bowlby’s attachment theory are the contributions of responsive and sensitive
caregiving to the development of secure attachment relationships. Bowlby observed that underlying a child’s
mental health and wellbeing is how capable a child is of managing stress (Schore,
2001). Bergin and Bergin (2009) advocate
a similar proposal to Schore (2001) in that “attachment is the foundation of
socio-emotional well-being” (p. 141). Consequently,
the findings by Brown, Mangelsdorf and Neff (2012), who suggested that continuity
of attachment security throughout life benefits a child’s social and emotional
development, are supported by Bowlby’s premise.
Insecure
attachments
In contrast, insecure attachments can be
characterised as avoidant, ambivalent or disorganised, depending on the ease at
which a child responds to their caregiver after a period of separation
(Cameron, 2008; Kochanska, 2001).
Insecurely attached children may show signs of being unresponsive,
distressed and anger, not easily comforted or hesitant to explore the
environment (Berk, 2012; Kochanska, 2001; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). A child who experiences prolonged exposure to
parental depression, abuse and neglect or family stressors is at an increased
risk of developing emotional regulation difficulties, anxiety, depression or
behavioural problems that impair the development of positive attachments and
emotional self-regulation (Berk, 2012; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, Shore,
1997). Infants of caregivers who consistently provide overstimulating,
disengaged or overly interfering interactions are more likely to be classified
with disorganised attachment (Berk, 2012; Shore, 1997). Disorganised attachments are also associated
with trauma during the early years (Schore, 2001), with trauma causing
physiological changes that affect future social competence and emotional
development (Witten, 2010).
Maternal mental health
and sensitivity
Mothers suffering from depression are
often inconsistent with their interactions toward their infant, often
withdrawing or becoming hostile. Depression
is more likely to contribute to an insecure parent-child attachment as opposed
to a secure attachment (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). A study by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD, 1999) observed mothers and their infants
over a 36 month period, investigating the link between maternal depression, the
mother-child relationship and how these factors influence a child’s behaviour
and outcome at three years. The mother
and child were assessed four times during the 36 month period. The results suggested that maternal
depression is a risk factor for a child’s social and cognitive development.
Furthermore depressive symptoms such as irritability and emotional withdrawal
are more likely to foster decreased sensitivity. Women who experienced chronic depression were
the least sensitive whereas women not depressed displayed increased
sensitivity. An important finding of
this study found that those mothers who were the least sensitive showed a
decline in the rate of sensitivity from the 15 month assessment to the 24 month
assessment. According to researchers
from the NICHD (1999), the decline in sensitivity may correspond with the
child’s increase in autonomy during toddlerhood, thus challenging the mother to
manage her child’s behaviour. This suggestion is consistent with Erikson’s
psychosocial theory, who theorised from the age of one to three, a child’s
conflict revolves around autonomy verses shame and doubt. The conflict can be positively balanced and
resolved if the caregiver provides guidance, responsive and sensitive
caregiving, with the outcome being to foster autonomy. In contrast, caregivers who shame and doubt,
or are controlling, force the child to doubt his or her ability and
independence.
Other factors affecting
attachment
The study by NICHD (1999) also implied
that depression is associated with multiple risk factors such as financial
stress, lack of support or marital conflict, and that research focussing on
maternal sensitivity and the quality of the mother-child relationship together
with other risk factors would be important to further increase our
understanding of the correlation. This
implication is supported by Shonkoff & Phillips (2000) who suggest that
“parental sensitivity is associated with financial stress, marital support and
life circumstances” (p. 262). This
implication can be further understood using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory,
suggesting that children develop within various levels of the community,
affected by interactions and relationships not just within the child’s
immediate surroundings but in the wider community and social environment (Berk,
2012, pp. 25-26). Thus, if a mother has
little outside support within the community or within her family, or is in need
of financial assistance, this has the potential to affect her child’s behaviour
and wellbeing.
In addition, Atkinson et al. (2000)
conducted a meta-analysis based on 35 studies, reviewing the links between
attachment security and social marital support, stress and maternal
depression. Based on their analyses,
they concluded that attachment security is significantly related to marital
support, stress and depression. However,
Atkinson et al. mention that further research into these constructs, including
in what context they are measured as well as using different methods to evaluate
the outcome is warranted.
Parenting
interventions
Given the importance of how positive
attachments can enhance the social and emotional wellbeing of young children, parenting
interventions are seen as an important step in maintaining a positive
parent-child relationship (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Parenting programs such as the “Baby Elmo
Program” (Brito, Barr, Rodriguez , & Shauffer, 2012, p. 27) designed for
incarcerated parents, aims to strengthen the quality of the interactions, the
quality of the parent-child relationship and encourage positive attachments all
of which are useful in providing support for families. Positive outcomes include increased parental
sensitivity and improved health and wellbeing of the parent and child. This is particularly important for parents
who have limited or inconsistent contact with their child (Brito, Barr,
Rodriguez , & Shauffer, 2012; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). The core premise for the framework of an
intervention program is Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory. When applied to a particular circumstance, it
is important to include other significant people that would directly or
indirectly affect the parent-child relationship, and not just the immediate
parent-child dyad (Brito, Barr, Rodriguez , & Shauffer, 2012). This reflects the complexity of
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory but more importantly, the inclusion of other
authority figures in the wider community who also play a significant role in
providing support for the families.
In conclusion, the enhancement of a
child’s social and emotional wellbeing is fostered by positive attachments
during the first three years of a child’s life.
Given that children who are insecurely attached to their caregiver show
an increase in negative emotion and behavioural difficulties as compared to
securely attached children, the importance of the caregiver’s role in
maintaining a positive relationship cannot be underestimated. Attachment security is vulnerable to multiple
risk factors that negatively affect the parent-child attachment; therefore parenting
intervention programs play a crucial role in strengthening the quality of the
caregiver-child relationship and the interactions within. In contrast, parents who are tuned-in to
their child’s emotions and behaviours and provide consistent and sensitive
caregiving, tend to develop a secure attachment with their child. Thus, for a child to develop a healthy social
and emotional wellbeing, positive attachments during the first three years of
life remain fundamental to this outcome.
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