"The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal social and emotional development."
Theory that discusses the social and emotional bonds between children and their caregivers and the impact it has on a child's development and future relationships.
Attachment styles: The different patterns of attachment that children develop based on their experiences with their primary caregiver, including secure, anxious-ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized attachment.
Attachment figures: The people who serve as sources of attachment and provide emotional support and protection to the child in the early years of life, especially the primary caregiver.
Bowlby's attachment theory: The seminal theory that posits that the bonds formed in early childhood with primary caregivers form the foundation of later emotional development, and that children need secure attachment figures to feel safe and thrive.
Separation anxiety: The distress that children experience when separated from their primary attachment figures, which typically peaks around 12-18 months of age.
Maternal sensitivity: The ability of maternal figures to recognize and respond appropriately to the signals and needs of their infants, which is central to the formation of secure attachment bonds.
Internal working models: The mental representations that children develop about the self and others based on their early attachment experiences, which shape their expectations and behavior in future relationships.
Secure base: The notion that attachment figures provide a sense of security and a base from which children can confidently explore and learn about their environment.
Attachment across the lifespan: The ways in which attachment patterns and experiences in childhood can impact later relationships and emotional development, including romantic relationships, parenting, and mental health.
Attachment in different cultural contexts: The extent to which attachment patterns and experiences vary across different cultural contexts and the implications of these differences for psychological development.
Attachment interventions: Techniques and interventions designed to promote secure attachment bonds, particularly for children who have experienced disruptions or trauma in their early attachment relationships.
Secure Attachment: Children with secure attachment feel confident, loved, and safe, and they can explore the world independently knowing they have a secure base to return to. Secure attachment is typically the ideal attachment style, and it occurs when caregivers are responsive and consistent in meeting their child's needs.
Insecure-Avoidant Attachment: Children with insecure-avoidant attachment tend to avoid their caregivers, and they may not seek out their parent when distressed. These children may seem emotionally detached and self-reliant, but they may struggle with emotional intimacy in relationships later in life.
Insecure-Ambivalent Attachment: Children with insecure-ambivalent attachment may be clingy and anxious and may have difficulty calming down even after receiving support from their caregivers. This attachment style may arise when caregivers provide inconsistent care, sometimes being responsive and other times being neglectful.
Disorganized Attachment: Children with disorganized attachment often exhibit both avoidant and ambivalent behaviors, and they may show confusion and fear in their interactions with caregivers. This attachment style is usually related to trauma or abuse.
Reactive Attachment Disorder: Reactive attachment disorder is a more severe form of disorganized attachment that occurs when a child experiences extreme neglect or abuse in early childhood. These children may show emotional numbness, lack of social interactions, and may not form healthy attachments with caregivers or others.
Secure Base Distortion: Children with secure base distortion may have a secure attachment but still perceive their caregivers as unpredictable or unreliable.
Inhibited Attachment: Inhibited attachments often arise in children who have been separated from their caregivers for long periods. These children are often hesitant to interact with others and may appear emotionally reserved.
Anxious Attachment: Children with anxious attachment may experience intense anxiety and insecurity around separation from their caregivers. These children may need constant reassurance and may be overly dependent on their caregivers.
Hostile-Avoidant Attachment: Children with hostile-avoidant attachment tend to show hostility and anger towards their caregivers and may refuse comfort when distressed.
Disoriented Attachment: Disoriented attachment occurs when children show conflicting or inconsistent behaviors towards their caregivers or when they appear to be confused about how they should respond. This attachment style can arise in response to chaotic or neglectful caregiving.
"The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby."
"Infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of proximity to an attachment figure in stressful situations."
"Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them, and who remain as consistent caregivers."
"During the latter part of this period, children begin to use attachment figures (familiar people) as a secure base to explore from and return to."
"Parental responses lead to the development of patterns of attachment; these, in turn, lead to internal working models which will guide the individual's feelings, thoughts, and expectations in later relationships."
"Separation anxiety or grief following the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant."
"She introduced the concept of the 'secure base' and developed a theory of a number of attachment patterns in infants: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and anxious attachment."
"A fourth pattern, disorganized attachment, was identified later."
"Bowlby published the full theory in the trilogy Attachment and Loss (1969–82)."
"Bowlby explored a range of fields, including evolutionary biology, object relations theory, control systems theory, ethology, and cognitive psychology."
"In the early days of the theory, academic psychologists criticized Bowlby."
"Attachment theory has since become the dominant approach to understanding early social development."
"Later criticisms of attachment theory relate to temperament, the complexity of social relationships, and the limitations of discrete patterns for classifications."
"Attachment theory has formed the basis of new therapies and informed existing ones."
"Its concepts have been used in the formulation of social and childcare policies to support the early attachment relationships of children."