Child and Adolescent Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

Development – • John Bowlby (1907-1990)

Bowlby’s and was a British developmental
psychologist.
Ainsworth’s • He had received training in
Attachment Theory psychoanalysis and also in
Dr Sau Yin LAU
psychiatry.
The Open University of Hong Kong • He had worked as a psychiatrist at a
EDU E253F
Spring Term 2020
school for maladjusted children.
• Bowlby believed that separation from the
mother or caregiver was detrimental to
the child he saw.

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Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

• In his study ‘A Two-Year Old Goes to the
Hospital’ with a psychiatric social worker
What is attachment? James Robertson, Bowlby made detailed
Why do babies and infants want records of how a two-year old young girl
to attach to their mothers? respond to the experience of being
separated from her mother.

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Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

• Three phases of maternal separation
experience are identified.
Studies on
• Protest
attachment
• The child is visibly upset and searches for
in monkeys his/her mother. He/She cries loudly and is
hyperalert.
• Despair
• The child becomes withdrawn and
hypoactive. Crying is monotonous and
intermittent.
• The child looks to be ‘settled-in’, but in fact
he/she becomes hopeless.

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 Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• Three phases of maternal separation
experience are identified.
• Detachment (or Denial)
• The child shows more interest in the
surroundings and seems happier.
• However, when his/her mother visits he/she
frequently ignores his/her mother and
hardly cries when his/her mother leaves.
• If the period of separation (e.g. hospital
stay) is long, it seems the child does not
want any mothering at all when he/she
returns home.
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Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• To Bowlby, attachment is a strong
disposition to seek proximity to and
contact with a specific figure and to do so
in certain situations, notably when
frightened, tired or ill.
• Bowlby took an ethological perspective
and argued that babies are pre-
programmed to attach to adults in order
to survive. They are born equipped with
behaviour such as crying, cooing and
smiling to ensure adult attention.
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Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• Bowlby believed that adults are also
biologically programmed to respond to
infants’ signals.
• Bowlby suggested that a primary
attachment relationship developed in the
infant at about 7 months of age.
• He contended that the first 3 years after
birth are the sensitive period for
attachment.
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Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• Bowlby contended that infants try to
remain close to their mother (or mother-
substitute). If their mother is available and
responsive to their needs, they will
establish a sense of security.
• A secure base will then be recreated for
the infants to explore the world.
Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
• If the mother respond to the infants’
needs inappropriately, the infants become
insecure. They become anxious if
separated from their mother for any length
of time, especially in the face of a
perceived threat.
• Those infants are less likely to explore a
strange environment and might develop
social emotional difficulties as they grow
up.
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Procedure
• Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999) devised a
laboratory experiment called the Strange
Situation Procedure to reveal patterns of
mother-child attachment in children of
one to two years old.
• The procedure was designed to recreate a
standardized simulation of a stressful
situation. The researchers could then
investigate children's responds to stress
when mothers leave and their abilities to
calm down and continue exploring.
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 Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Procedure
• There are eight episodes in the procedure,
completed within about 20 minutes.
• Episode 1: Mother and baby enter a room.
• Episode 2: Mother sits and baby plays
freely. She is responsive if baby initiates
play or interaction.
• Episode 3: A female stranger enters and
sits quietly, then talks to mother, and then
sits on floor and engages baby.
• Episode 4: Mother says "bye bye" and
leaves the room.
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Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Procedure
• There are eight episodes in the procedure,
completed within about 20 minutes.
• Episode 5: Mother returns and the
stranger leaves quietly.
• Episode 6: Mother leaves. The baby is left
alone.
• Episode 7: Stranger returns. She picks the
baby up if necessary to comfort it.
• Episode 8: Mother returns and stranger
leaves quietly.
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Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Procedure
• Each baby’s response was observed.
• His/her styles of attachment was then
classified primarily on four interaction
behaviors directed toward the mother in
the two reunion episodes:
• Proximity and contacting seeking
• Contact maintaining
• Avoidance of proximity and contact
• Resistance to contact and comforting
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Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Procedure
• Based on the observation of infants,
Ainsworth identified three main
attachment styles: secure, insecure
avoidant and insecure ambivalent.
• Ainsworth concluded that
these attachment styles
were the result of early
interactions with the
mother.
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Types of Attachment Styles
• Ainsworth (1970) identified three main
attachment styles. A forth attachment
style was later identified by other
researchers (Main, & Solomon, 1990).
• The four types of attachment styles are:
• Secure Attachment
• Insecure Avoidant Attachment
• Insecure Ambivalent Attachment
• Insecure Disorganised Attachment
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Types of Attachment Styles
• Secure Attachment
• Have experienced sensitive and attuned
caregiving
• Have developed a belief that the caregiver
will protect and provide for them
• Feeling secure
• Comfortable with closeness and trust
• Emotionally resilient and self-aware
• Balanced independence/dependence
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 Types of Attachment Styles
• Insecure Avoidant Attachment
• Usually have experienced insensitive,
intrusive or rejecting caregiving
• Avoids physical closeness; feels anxious,
socially uncomfortable with others
• Value accomplishments more than
intimacy with others, very task-orientated
rather than relationship orientated
• Reluctant to ask for help
• Feel safer being in control, could be at risk
of developing compulsive tendencies
• May be prone to sudden outbursts
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Types of Attachment Styles
• Insecure Ambivalent Attachment
• Usually have experienced inconsistent and
largely unresponsive caregiving
• Seeks then resists closeness
• Have separation anxiety; easily frustrated
and may present as attention-seeking
• Can be resentful or hold grudges; Quick to
blame others for upset
• Little experience of being at peace with self
or others
• Relationships can seem superficial – more
concerned about having their needs met than
having genuine relationships with others
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Types of Attachment Styles
• Insecure Disorganised Attachment
• Usually from neglected, abusive and/or
chaotic homes
• Erratic in response, displaying bizarre or
distressing extreme
• Have a high level of anxiety, have a strong
sense of fear, panic or helplessness
• Hyper-vigilance, try to stay in control of
everything
• Present as sensitive to criticism and defiant
• May display contradictory behavior, e.g. one
minute attention seeking the next shouting
to get away
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An Exercise:
Match the type of attachment
style with the child in each case.
• Secure attachment
• Insecure Avoidant Attachment
• Insecure Ambivalent Attachment
• Insecure Disorganised Attachment
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Impacts of Attachment Needs
• In a longitudinal studies (Levy, 1998),
securely attached children were found to
do better in various aspects:
• Self esteem
• Independence and autonomy
• Resilience in the face of adversity
• Ability to manage impulses and feelings
• Long-term friendships
• Relationships with authority figures
• Positive and hopeful belief systems about
self, family and society
• Behavioural performance and academic
success in school
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Impacts of Attachment Needs
• Studies revealed that maltreatment at an
early age can have enduring negative
effects on a child’s health and brain
development and function (Teicher, 2002;
Gerhardt, 2004).
• Stress is a toxic agent that leads to
abnormally high levels of stress
hormones, including cortisol.
• It suppress the immune system.
• It affects the child’s ability to think,
retrieve information and manage his/her
behaviour.
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 Impacts of Attachment Needs
• Overall brain development is inhibited.
• “Scars that won’t heal”
What are the implications to
education?

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Risk Factors of Having Attachment

Difficulties
• In the Parent/Caregiver
• Abuse and/or neglect
• Ineffective and insensitive care
• Maternal depression
• Domestic violence
• Teenage parenting
• Substance abuse
• Intergenerational attachment difficulties
• Prolonged absence

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Risk Factors of Having Attachment

Difficulties
• In the Child
• Difficult temperament
• Premature birth
• Medical complications/conditions
• Neurological impairments
• In the Environment
• Poverty
• Lack of stimulation
• Lack of social support
• Multiple caregivers
• Discrimination

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