Review of General Psychology Copyright 2000 by the Educational Publishing Foundation

2000, Vol. 4, No. 2, 111-131 1089-2680/00/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//1089-2680.4.2.U1

Adult Romantic Attachments:

A Developmental Perspective on Individual Differences
Jude Cassidy
University of Maryland

Attachment theory has, since its inception, contained the proposition that long-term
adult romantic relationships (i.e., relationships described by ethologists as "pair
bonds") are generally attachments. In this article, the possibility that individual differ-
ences in adult romantic attachments may emerge, in part, from individual differences
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

in childhood attachments is discussed. The article begins with an examination of the

developmental precursors of individual differences in two of the behavioral systems
prominent in adult romantic relationships: the attachment system and the caregiving
system. For each of these behavioral systems, theory is discussed and the empirical
literature is reviewed. The remainder of the article addresses the mechanisms of both
continuity across development (i.e., factors that may account for the influences of early
attachments on later romantic relationships) and discontinuity (i.e., factors that may
account for change in the quality of attachments from childhood to adulthood).

Attachment theory has, since its inception,
contained the proposition that long-term adult
romantic relationships (i.e., relationships de-
scribed by ethologists as "pair bonds") are gen-
erally attachments and that these attachments
provide important benefits to both partners
(Ainsworth, 1989; Bowlby, 1979). Although at-
tachment has been studied mostly in infants and
mothers, Bowlby made it clear that attachment
is important "from the cradle to grave" (1979, p.
129) and that people of all ages do best when
they have one or a few trusted attachment fig-
ures to whom they can turn in times of trouble.
Ainsworth (1989) listed six criteria for attach-
ments across the life span, all of which typically
characterize adult romantic relationships: (a)
persistence, (b) specificity to a particular indi-
vidual, (c) emotional significance, (d) desire for
proximity or contact, (e) distress at involuntary
separation, and (0 security and comfort seeking.
More recently, Hazan and Zeifman (1999) have
This article was written with the support of grants from
the National Institute of Mental Health (RO1MH50773 and
RO1MH58907) and the National Institute for Child Health
and Development (RO1HD36635). I am grateful to Jon
Mohr for his thoughtful comments on a previous version of
the article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Jude Cassidy, Department of Psychology, Uni-
versity of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742.
elaborated the reasons for viewing these rela-
tionships as attachments, describing points of
congruence between infant-caregiver bonds
and adult romantic bonds: "[These] include the
nature of physical contact that typifies and dis-
tinguishes attachment bonds; the factors that
influence the selection of attachment figures;
reactions to attachment disruption and loss; and
the role of attachment in biological and psycho-
logical fitness" (p. 341).
Although most long-term adult romantic re-
lationships are considered attachments, theorists
have pointed out that the "attachment behav-
ioral system" (a biologically based system of
behaviors that serves to maintain proximity or
contact between an individual and an attach-
ment figure) is not the only behavioral system
central to these relationships. Ainsworth (1989),
as well as Shaver, Hazan, and Bradshaw (1988),
described these relationships as characterized
by a complex intertwining of (principally) three
behavioral systems: the attachment system, the
caregiving system, and the sexual system. The
attachment system involves behavior organized
around maintaining proximity to or contact with
an attachment figure, particularly in times of
trouble; the attachment figure serves as a "haven
of safety" during such times. The caregiving
system involves the organization of behaviors
that provide care to another, again, particularly
in times of trouble. The sexual system consists

111
 112 CASSIDY
of behaviors related to sexual activity (Bowlby,
1969/1982).
There are individual differences in the rela-
tive importance of each of these behavioral sys-
tems across relationships, and indeed there can
be such differences between partners within re-
lationships. Not only are there variations in the
importance of these behavioral systems, there
are also variations in the competence of couples
across these behavioral systems (e.g., a couple
may function better in relation to attachment
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and caregiving than in relation to sexual behav-
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ior). And within a relationship, partners may
differ in their relative competence across areas
(e.g., one partner may be more competent in
giving care rather than in seeking care, and this
may not be true for the other partner). Further-
more, within an adult romantic relationship, the
relative importance of and competence in these
behavioral systems may change over time.
There is evidence, for example, that the sexual
behavioral system is most active and intense
during the early stages of a relationship (Fisher,
1992) and that attachment, on the other hand,
develops more gradually over the first 2 years
(Hazan & Zeifrnan, 1994; see also Ainsworth,
1989). As Hazan and Zeifman (1999) noted, the
sexual system may serve to keep the couple
together long enough for an attachment to form.
Although these behavioral systems are con-
sidered to be largely independent, each with its
own inherent motivational system (Bowlby,
1969/1982), functioning in one behavioral sys-
tem may influence functioning in another. For
example, a woman grateful that her partner re-
sponded to her attachment signals may be
prompted to improve her own reciprocal care-
giving; or, a man whose insecure attachment
contributes to his hostile ambivalence may be-
have in ways that interfere with the sexual com-
ponent of his relationship.
A defining feature of a behavioral system is
that it increases an individual's ability to trans-
mit his or her genes into future generations
(i.e., increases his or her reproductive fitness;
Bowlby, 1969/1982). The attachment behavior
system serves to keep the individual close to a
protective attachment figure, thereby increasing
the individual's odds of survival through repro-
ductive age (this is true for adults as well as
infants; Bowlby, 1969/1982). Activation of the
caregiving system in adult relationships can be
viewed as increasing reproductive fitness in at
least two ways: Caregiving of an adult partner
increases the likelihood that the partner will
survive (a) to provide the adult with reciprocal
protection and care and (b) to provide the shared
offspring with protection and care. It is perhaps
easiest to see how activation of the sexual be-
havioral system, with the creation of offspring
as the predictable outcome, increases an indi-
vidual's reproductive fitness.
In this article, I discuss how individual dif-
ferences in adult romantic attachments may
emerge, in part, from childhood attachments. I
begin by examining the developmental precur-
sors of individual differences in two of the
behavioral systems prominent in adult romantic
relationships: the attachment system and the
caregiving system. For each of these behavioral
systems, I discuss theory and then review the
empirical literature. In the remainder of the ar-
ticle, I first discuss continuity across develop-
ment (i.e., factors that may account for the
influences of early attachments on later roman-
tic relationships). I then discuss discontinuity
(i.e., factors that may account for change in the
quality of attachments from childhood to adult-
hood). This article is largely speculative: There
are no prospective longitudinal studies that be-
gin with infant-child attachment and examine
later attachment and caregiving within romantic
relationships. Nonetheless, the existing empiri-
cal developmental and adult romantic literatures
offer converging evidence, consistent with at-
tachment theory, that provides a basis for the
speculation presented.
The Adult Attachment and Caregiving
Behavioral Systems: Developmental
Precursors
The Attachment Behavioral System
The attachment behavioral system, a biolog-
ically based system of behaviors most likely to
be activated in times of threat, results in an
individual gaining or maintaining proximity to
an attachment figure (Bowlby, 1969/1982; see
Cassidy, 1999, for a summary). The attachment
system is thought to have evolved because in-
dividuals who sought an attachment figure
when threatened were more likely to survive to
pass on the genes for this tendency. Even
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS
though most sexual pair bonds are likely to be
attachments, they are not all secure attachments.
In this section, I examine the three styles of
adult romantic attachment that Hazan and
Shaver (1987) identified (see Shaver & Hazan,
1993, and Feeney, 1999, for reviews) and dis-
cuss ways in which early childhood attachments
may contribute to these styles. According to
Bowlby, individual differences in secure and
insecure attachment are best understood by con-
sidering what he called "representational mod-
els" (he also called these "internal working
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models") of attachment figures and of the self
(for a review of the working model concept in
adults, see Pietromonaco & Feldman Barrett,
2000). Representational models of the attach-
ment figure are thought to be based on an indi-
vidual's experiences with that attachment fig-
ure; Bowlby described these models as "tolera-
bly accurate reflections of the experiences those
individuals have actually had" (1973, p. 235).
These models are similar to cognitive maps
that permit successful navigation of an organ-
ism's environment; unlike maps, however,
working models are not static representations
but can grow and change. Working models
guide an individual's expectations, feelings, be-
havior, and cognitive processes. For example, a
child who is responded to sensitively and
promptly is likely to form a representational
model of the mother as sensitively responsive;
such a model will guide expectations (that the
mother will respond when needed), feelings
(calmness and security), behavior (seeking the
mother when alarmed and exploring when not
alarmed), and cognitive processes (positive in-
terpretation of ambiguous stimuli). Representa-
tional models are thought to become so deeply
ingrained that the ways in which they influence
the individual may become automatic.
During childhood, when representational
models are first developed, there is, according to
Bowlby (1973), an inextricable intertwining of
the working model of the attachment figure and
the working model of the self. Over time, chil-
dren develop beliefs that their mother will be-
have in certain predictable ways, and they si-
multaneously develop a complementary view of
themselves. If, for instance, children are loved
and valued, they will come to view themselves
as lovable and valuable. If, however, they are
rejected or not loved, they will come to view
113
themselves as not lovable and worth little. This
notion that people learn about themselves from
seeing how others view them is a perspective
central to several theories, beginning with the
earliest theorizing about the self (e.g., Cooley's,
1902, "looking glass self; see also J. Baldwin,
1897; Mead, 1934; and Sullivan, 1953; see
Bretherton & Munholland, 1999, and Main,
Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985, for extensive discus-
sion of representational models; see M. W.
Baldwin, 1992, for a review of similarities be-
tween these models and a variety of constructs
within the literatures of developmental, social,
clinical, and cognitive psychology).
Secure attachment. A well-functioning at-
tachment system in adults is one in which a
person is able to turn to a few appropriately
selected others, effectively, in times of trouble.
Adults whose attachment is classified as secure,
according to Hazan and Shaver's (1987) classi-
fication system, are those who endorse the fol-
lowing description of themselves when asked to
think about their romantic relationships in gen-
eral: "I find it relatively easy to get close to
others and am comfortable depending on them
and having them depend on me. I don't worry
about being abandoned or about someone get-
ting too close to me."
What is needed for such a capacity? Accord-
ing to Bowlby (1988), two factors are impor-
tant. The first is a representational model of
others as available and responsive in times of
trouble. Such a representational model of others
would, according to Bowlby, have emerged in
large part from childhood experiences of attach-
ment figures as available and responsive to at-
tachment-related signals. A number of studies,
beginning with Ainsworth's pioneering obser-
vations of mothers and infants in the home,
have reported that secure infants, more than
insecure infants, have mothers who are sensi-
tively responsive, particularly when the infants
are upset and signal for comfort. These mothers
have been found to be more accepting, cooper-
ative, available, comforting, and tender than
other mothers (e.g., Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters,
& Wall, 1978; Belsky, Rovine, & Taylor, 1984;
Egeland & Farber, 1984). A recent meta-analy-
sis examining 66 studies and more than 4,000
dyads revealed a "moderately strong" associa-
tion between maternal sensitivity and infant at-
tachment (De Wolff & van IJzendoom, 1997).
 114 CASS1DY
Because of this maternal sensitivity, secure chil-
dren are thought to develop representations of
the mother as loving, responsive, and sensitive.
There are an increasing number of studies
that support the proposition that secure attach-
ment (and thus, presumably, experiences of ma-
ternal sensitivity) is associated with positive
attachment-related models. Main and her col-
leagues (Kaplan, 1987; Main et al., 1985) re-
ported the first work examining attachment and
children's representational models with a longi-
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tudinal sample followed from infancy to 6 years
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of age. In that study, attachment to mother was
assessed in infancy with Ainsworth's strange
situation procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978);
children's mental representations related to at-
tachment were tapped at age 6. Children were
asked to discuss photographs of children under-
going increasingly stressful separations from
their parents (e.g., the 1st day of school, the
parents going out for the evening, or the parents
going away for a 2-week vacation). At age 6,
the children who had been securely attached as
babies had more positive representations. For
example, not only were secure children more
emotionally open, they also were able to de-
scribe more active ways of dealing with these
separations, a fact that, according to Main and
her colleagues, reflects the experience-based
representations that children securely attached
as infants have of their mothers as accessible.
A series of studies has followed. Several re-
searchers have examined attachment represen-
tations in preschool and early school-aged chil-
dren (e.g., Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy,
1990; Cassidy, Kirsh, Scolton, & Parke, 1996;
Shouldice & Stevenson-Hinde, 1992; Slough &
Greenberg, 1990; Solomon, George, & De
Jong, 1995). The methods of these studies have
varied. Some presented children with photo-
graphs, and some presented doll stories. In all
cases, the attachment system was activated (the
child was hurt and frightened; there was a sep-
aration). In all of the studies, secure children
were more likely than insecure children to re-
spond in ways reflecting positive representa-
tions of the mother as available, responsive, and
comforting (see Solomon & George, 1999, for a
review of these studies; see also Jacobsen, Edel-
stein, & Hofmann, 1994, and Jacobsen & Hof-
mann, 1997). Bowlby (1973) proposed that,
through the process of generalization, secure
children extend these positive representations of
their mother to positive representations of oth-
ers in general.
A second factor thought to be important for
secure adult attachment is a representational
model of the self as lovable and worthy of care.
What might be the developmental precursors of
such a model? Again, there are convergent data
from several laboratories that secure attachment
in childhood is associated with positive models
of the self. The first evidence of this came from
Sroufe and Egeland's Minnesota Parent-Child
Project; preschoolers who had been securely
attached to their mother as infants had higher
teacher-rated self-esteem (Sroufe, 1983).
In my own work (Cassidy, 1988), I examined
attachment (assessed at 6 years of age with
Main and Cassidy's, 1988, reunion procedure)
and 6-year-olds' representations of self in sev-
eral ways. First, I used a doll story procedure to
examine "representations of the self within the
relationship with the mother." The representa-
tions of secure children were more positive than
those of insecure children: Secure children had
representations of the self as valued and worthy
of care. Second, children's global self-esteem
was assessed with Harter's (1982) Perceived
Competence Scale for Children; attachment se-
curity scale scores were positively correlated
with global self-esteem scores. Third, I tapped
children's self-representations by interviewing
a puppet about the child; the child responded for
the puppet. Securely attached children were
more likely than insecurely attached children to
view themselves in a positive yet realistic light
(e.g., "She usually does the right thing but
sometimes she fights with her sister"). Similar
findings of a connection between security of
child-mother attachment representations and a
positive model of the self were obtained in
a study of Belgian 5-year-olds (Verschueren,
Marcoen, & Schoefs, 1996).
Representational models of the attachment
figure as available if needed and of the self as
effective in eliciting care facilitate the infant's
ability to use an attachment figure as a "secure
base from which to explore," a phenomenon
that Ainsworth (1963) proposed as a key com-
ponent of secure attachment. The infant's rep-
resentation of access to the attachment figure if
trouble arises frees the infant to turn her or his
attention to exploration. (According to attach-
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS
merit theory, the intertwining of attachment and
exploratory behavior systems evolved to ensure
that while the child is protected by maintaining
proximity to attachment figures, he or she none-
theless gradually learns about the environment
through exploration.) In Ainsworth's home ob-
servations during the infant's 1st year, secure
infants were characterized by the most flexible
balance on an "attachment-exploration contin-
uum" (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1971). Ac-
cording to Ainsworth, it was their experience-
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based representations of the attachment figure
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as available if needed that permitted secure in-
fants to follow a simple strategy: seek the at-
tachment figure if needed and otherwise ex-
plore. Insecure infants, lacking a representation
of the attachment figure as available, had a less
flexible attachment-exploration balance, in-
stead emphasizing excessively one end of the
continuum or the other. Attachment, then, is
viewed not as interfering with exploration but as
fostering exploration. Thus, it seems likely that
the capacity in adulthood to balance autonomy
and relatedness—the capacity to feel comfort-
able with closeness while at the same time re-
specting separateness and enjoying times of
solitude—would be rooted in patterns of a
comfortable balance between attachment and
exploration experienced during childhood.
In sum, there are converging data that se-
curely attached children have had positive ex-
periences when they have turned to others for
care. And it is likely that these experiences
foster their capacity for secure attachment in
adulthood by making them comfortable and
confident in seeking care and by contributing to
positive mental representations of others as car-
ing and of themselves as worthy of care. Feeling
lovable—reflecting a positive representation of
the self—means that a person is unlikely to
engage in any of a number of behaviors destruc-
tive to a healthy romantic relationship, such as
seeking endless reassurance from the partner of
his or her own worth, demanding excessive
closeness (or refusing any closeness) to ward
off expectations of being abandoned, refusing
closeness for fear of losing the self by becoming
intimate with another, allowing himself or her-
self to be mistreated, denigrating the partner to
avoid feeling inferior, and insisting on continual
proof of love and commitment. Secure individ-
uals thus bring a set of expectations into new
115
relationships—expectations that others are ac-
cepting of them, imperfections and all—and,
through a variety of self-fulfilling mechanisms,
these positive expectations contribute to the ca-
pacity to form later secure attachments. Conver-
gent with these propositions based on studies of
secure children are a series of studies examining
the recollections of secure adults: In comparison
with insecure adults, secure adults described
their childhood relationships in more positive
terms (e.g., described their mothers as more
caring, accepting, and dependable; Feeney &
Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Miku-
lincer, Florian, & Tolmacz, 1990; see Rothbard
& Shaver, 1994, for a review).
Insecure-avoidant attachment. Adults clas-
sified as avoidant, according to Hazan and
Shaver (1987), describe themselves as follows:
"I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to
others; I find it difficult to trust them com-
pletely, difficult to allow myself to depend on
them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close,
and often, love partners want me to be more
intimate than I feel comfortable being." A con-
verging body of research indicates that these
adults are not interpersonally oriented, are sus-
picious of the intentions of others, limit their
intimacy with others, minimize expressions of
distress, and engage in relatively little self-dis-
closure (see Feeney, 1999, and Shaver &
Hazan, 1993, for reviews).1
What might be the childhood experiences of
such individuals? Ainsworth's home observa-
1
There is increasing evidence that there are two subtypes
of avoidant adults—avoidant-dismissing and avoidant-
fearful—and that these subtypes are associated with differ-
ent patterns of functioning in a variety of areas (e.g., be-
havior with romantic partners and information processing;
Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Fraley, Davis, & Shaver,
1998). Because the majority of adult romantic attachment
research has been conducted with assessment procedures
mat identify a single dimension of avoidance, there is as yet
relatively little known about these subtypes. It is reasonable
to predict that these subtypes are associated with different
developmental precursors. Yet, speculation about these pre-
cursors seems, at this point, not only limited by scarce data
but also theoretically problematic. The tripartite adult ro-
mantic research tradition (which contains a single avoidant
group) is more closely linked theoretically to the conceptu-
alization of individual differences within the developmental
literature; that is, both conceive of individual differences
along two dimensions that can be viewed as (a) security
versus insecurity and (b) emphasis versus deemphasis on
attachment.
 116 CASSIDY

tions of mothers and infants during the 1 st year it is in secure babies (Spangler & Grossmann,
identified a group of babies (later classified as 1993; Sroufe & Waters, 1977). Furthermore,
insecure-avoidant) whose bids for comfort whereas the heart rate of babies truly interested
were rejected (Ainsworth et al., 1978). Their in play typically slows down, the heart rate of
mothers were uncomfortable with close bodily avoidant babies does not slow down, suggesting
contact, and they tended to pick up their babies a lack of true focus on the play (Spangler &
in an abrupt and controlling manner. Mothers of Grossmann, 1993). Thus, it seems that these
these infants were also described as having infants are not shifting attention to the toys but,
restricted emotional expressiveness. Evidence rather, away from the mother. Bowlby bor-
from subsequent studies revealed additional rowed the term "diversionary activity" from the
ways in which the caregiving environment of ethologists to describe this behavior. Bowlby
these infants was associated with rejection and (1973; see also Ainsworth et al., 1978) proposed
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restriction of emotional expression. For in- that sight of the mother might activate the at-
stance, an observational study of toddlers and tachment system (might activate seeking to be
mothers during free play revealed that mothers held or seeking to be comforted, which in the
of avoidant infants joined in play when the past has been met with painful rejection), and so
toddler was content but withdrew when the tod- the baby turns toward play activity, but without
dler expressed negative affect. The pattern was true interest.
reversed among mothers of securely attached Evidence that avoidant children have diffi-
infants, who were more likely to increase inter- culty seeking care also comes from several ad-
action with the toddler (in a facilitative way) ditional studies of young children. In one study
when the toddler expressed negative affect examining infant behavior in the strange situa-
(Grossmann, Grossmann, & Schwan, 1986). In tion, observations of the communication pat-
a study of mothers' emotion socialization prac- terns of mother-infant dyads revealed that
tices, mothers of toddlers who had been inse- avoidant infants communicated directly with
cure-avoidant in infancy reported, as expected, their mothers only when they (the infants) were
the greatest control of their toddlers' emotional feeling well. When distressed, these infants
expressiveness (Berlin & Cassidy, 2000; see tended not to directly signal the mother, and
also Malatesta, Culver, Tesman, & Shepard, they did not seek bodily contact (Grossmann et
1989). Infants in a caregiving environment in al., 1986). In a study of infants during the
which emotional expressiveness is restricted strange situation, avoidant infants did not make
and activation of their attachment system con- visual contact with the mother when they were
sistently leads to painful rejection might under- aroused; they did so only in situations with low
standably develop a strategy in which their at- emotional distress (Spangler & Grossmann,
tachment system would be activated as little as 1993). Findings from this study converge well
possible. Such a strategy would be adaptive to with findings from a study of attachment and
their circumstances (Main, 1990). emotion regulation (Braungart & Stifter, 1991).
There are data suggesting that certain infants Even though insecure-avoidant infants were
appear to actively suppress activation of the just as likely as some secure infants to be dis-
attachment system (i.e., have trouble seeking tressed during separation from their mother dur-
care). Some babies separated from their mother ing the strange situation, they were less likely to
in the laboratory do not seem distressed during seek comfort from (or even interaction with) the
separation and do not seek her for comfort or mother on reunion, engaging instead in self-
even interaction on reunion, as most infants do. soothing behaviors. In another study, avoidant
These infants instead actively avoid the mother children similarly masked negative affect, this
and become focused on toy play (and thus, on time in a social situation—a tower building
the attachment-exploration continuum, an em- game—with an adult stranger (Lutkenhaus,
phasis toward exploration and away from at- Grossmann, & Grossmann, 1985). Children's
tachment; Ainsworth et al., 1978). Yet, physio- affective reactions to winning and losing this
logical data are interesting. Heart-rate data gath- competitive building game were analyzed. The
ered during the strange situation reveal that the avoidant children manifested sadness about los-
attachment system is activated in these babies as ing during the game, but not when the game was
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS
over and the experimenter was available for
social communication. In fact, during the social
communicative exchange, there was a tendency
for the avoidant children to replace sadness with
smiling. In contrast, securely attached children
showed their sadness after the game, when the
adult was more available. Thus, even though
avoidant children felt and displayed sadness,
they did so only when there was no child-adult
eye contact, thereby precluding any comfort or
reassurance the adult might offer.
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As Bowlby's claim that representations are
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largely experience based would lead one to pre-
dict, the attachment-related representations of
avoidant children are not as positive as those of
secure children. In one study, 3-year-olds were
asked questions about stories in which a peer
caused something negative to happen to the
child (e.g., the child's toy was broken; Cassidy
et al., 1996). Children were asked "What did
your mother say to you after this happened?"
The responses of children who had been classi-
fied as insecure-avoidant with the mother in
infancy suggested that they, unlike children
who had been secure in infancy, were unable to
form representations of the mother as being
helpful or comforting. Representations related
to separation and reunion also reflect less opti-
mal experiences. In Main et al.'s (1985) study in
which 6-year-olds were asked about photo-
graphs of separation, children who had been
avoidant infants were unable to suggest how
children might cope with separation (see also
Shouldice & Stevenson-Hinde, 1992). In an-
other study, a similar pattern emerged for
avoidant 6-year-olds: Fears about separation
were not expressed directly, and reunions were
hampered by psychological unavailability of
family members or by delay and distraction
(Solomon et al., 1995).
The representational model of the self of
avoidant children has also been found to be
problematic. Cassidy (1988) used a doll stories
procedure to assess "children's representation
of the self in relation to attachment." The stories
of children classified as insecure-avoidant to
mother at 6 years of age reflected representa-
tions of the self as lacking a supportive relation-
ship with the mother. The doll protagonist was
isolated or rejected, and the importance of rela-
tionships was denied; the existence of conflict
was denied in stressful situations, as was the
117
need for help; and, when there was a successful
resolution, it was brought about entirely by the
child. In the same study, avoidant children re-
sponded to a puppet interview with descriptions
of themselves as perfect in every way, even
when repeatedly pressed. This claim of perfec-
tion is viewed as a form of defensive idealiza-
tion of the self by a child who fears rejection
should any imperfection be found (see Cassidy
& Kobak, 1988, for further discussion of avoid-
ance and defensiveness).
In sum, there is converging evidence that
children who have experienced maternal rejec-
tion and caregiving in which emotional expres-
siveness was restricted, ignored, or discouraged
understandably form representational models
wherein others are not particularly comforting
or helpful. Furthermore, there are data suggest-
ing that attachment-related characteristics of
adults classified as avoidant are foreshadowed
by characteristics of children classified as
avoidant. Avoidant adults are not comfortable
depending on others (Hazan & Shaver, 1987);
avoidant children have representations of others
as not particularly comforting or helpful
(Cassidy, 1988; Cassidy et al., 1996) and have
difficulty remembering stories (in a laboratory
task) involving mothers responsive to distress
(Kirsh & Cassidy, 1997). Avoidant adults are
less likely to turn to others for care (Fraley &
Shaver, 1998; Simpson, Rholes, & Nelligan,
1992), as are avoidant infants (Braungart &
Stifter, 1991; Grossmann et al., 1986). Avoidant
adults emphasize their autonomy (Hazan &
Shaver, 1987); avoidant children report less
loneliness than others (Berlin, Cassidy, & Bel-
sky, 1995). Avoidant adults do not enjoy phys-
ical contact and cuddling within romantic rela-
tionships (Fraley et al., 1998); mothers of
avoidant infants are observed to be more un-
comfortable with close bodily contact than
other mothers (Ainsworth et al., 1978); and
6-year-olds who had been avoidant infants draw
family portraits containing people whose bodies
are tense and rigid and who often have no arms
(Kaplan & Main, 1985). Avoidant adults at-
tempt (sometimes successfully) to suppress ac-
tivation of the attachment system (Fraley &
Shaver, 1997; see also Dozier & Kobak, 1992),
and avoidant infants attempt (relatively unsuc-
cessfully) to do the same (Spangler & Gross-
mann, 1993). Avoidant adolescents are more
 118 CASSIDY
hostile than others (Cooper, Shaver, & Collins,
1998); avoidant toddlers are rated by observers
as more aggressive than others (Main & Stadt-
man, 1981), and avoidant children are more
likely than others to be bullies (Troy & Sroufe,
1987). Avoidant adults report that their mothers
were "cold and rejecting" (Hazan & Shaver,
1987); avoidant infants have been observed to
have mothers who are more rejecting, emotion-
ally restricted, uncomfortable with close bodily
contact, and insensitive than mothers of secure
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infants (Ainsworth et al., 1978).
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Insecure—ambivalent attachment. Adults
classified as insecure-ambivalent, according to
Hazan and Shaver (1987), endorse the follow-
ing description of themselves: "I find that others
are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I
often worry that my partner doesn't really love
me or won't want to stay with me. I want to
merge completely with another person, and this
desire sometimes scares people away." These
descriptions suggest that, despite high activa-
tion of the attachment system, these individuals
do not experience others as sufficiently respon-
sive, and this activation does not lead to comfort
and satisfaction. There is evidence from their
discussion of romantic relationships that these
adults prefer unqualified closeness, commit-
ment, and affection (Feeney & Noller, 1991),
and it seems, from a variety of studies, that they
are particularly distressed by threats to the ro-
mantic relationship (e.g., Feeney, 1998; Feeney
& Noller, 1992; Simpson, Rholes, & Phillips,
1996). This seeming insatiability for closeness
can be considered a hyperactivation of the at-
tachment system that would be likely to con-
tribute to problems within a romantic relation-
ship, because to expect someone else to fill all
of one's needs, to be utterly dependent on an-
other, and to be threatened by another's natural
autonomy strivings are likely to contribute to
ambivalence and resentment in both partners.
Heightened emotionality is also associated with
this pattern: Ambivalent adults reported greater
distress and hostility during a laboratory prob-
lem-centered discussion (Simpson et al., 1996);
in another study, ambivalent adults described
themselves as experiencing greater affective in-
tensity and emotionality in their daily lives than
did others (Pietromonaco & Feldman Barrett,
1997).
A pattern of adult hyperactivation of the at-
tachment system might be rooted in a similar
pattern begun in infancy and childhood. In her
original home observation study, Ainsworth
(Ainsworth et al., 1978) observed that the moth-
ers of a small group of infants (later classified as
insecure-ambivalent) were inconsistent in their
parenting: sometimes loving and responsive,
but only when they could manage, not in re-
sponse to the infant's signals (see Cassidy &
Berlin, 1994, for a review of the maternal be-
havior associated with this pattern). What
would be an adaptive strategy for an infant
whose mother was sometimes responsive but
other times too preoccupied, too overwhelmed,
or too inept to respond? An adaptive strategy
would be staying near, clinging, and monitoring
closely the availability of the mother so that, if
need for her does arise, the infant, who cannot
count on the mother to monitor his or her needs,
will have quick access to her (Cassidy & Berlin,
1994; Main & Hesse, 1990). Main and Solomon
(1986) stated that "in its heightened display of
emotionality and dependence upon the attach-
ment figure, this infant successfully draws the
attention of the parent" (p. 112). This heighten-
ing strategy can be viewed as adaptive if it
serves to gain the attention of an unavailable
caregiver. However, according to Bowlby
(1973), such a strategy can be dysfunctional if
the negative emotionality is so pervasive that it
threatens the existence of the relationship. It can
also be dysfunctional to the extent that it inter-
feres with other developmental tasks such as
exploration. Bretherton (1985) described this
situation as the infant's having to take on more
than her or his share of the burden of maintain-
ing the relationship.
The strange situation behavior of infants clas-
sified as ambivalent is characterized by extreme
distress on separation and difficulty in calming
on reunion; these infants display angry, resistant
behavior toward the parent (Ainsworth et al.,
1978). This heightened negative emotionality
can be viewed as a component of the child's
strategy to gain the mother's attention (Cassidy,
1994; Main & Solomon, 1986). The negative
emotionality of the insecure-ambivalent child
may be exaggerated and chronic because the
child recognizes that to relax and allow herself
or himself to be soothed by the presence of the
attachment figure is to run the risk of then losing
contact with the inconsistently available parent.
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS
A history of exaggerated negative emotionality
may explain findings revealing that these chil-
dren have trouble maintaining a boundary be-
tween another person's distress and their own
(Kestenbaum, Farber, & Sroufe, 1989). An ad-
ditional strategy may involve fearfulness in re-
sponse to relatively benign stimuli. Through
exaggerated fearfulness, the infant increases the
likelihood of gaining the attention of a fre-
quently unavailable caregiver should true dan-
ger arise (Main & Hesse, 1990). However, the
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critical research needed to demonstrate a height-
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ening of negative affect—or, indeed, a height-
ened activation of the attachment system—by
ambivalent infants does uot exist. With the
avoidant pattern, minimization of negative af-
fect does exist; avoidant infants and adults can
feel negatively aroused while suppressing ex-
pression of such feelings (albeit with varying
degrees of success; Dozier & Kobak, 1992;
Fraley & Shaver, 1997; Grossmann et al., 1986;
Lutkenhaus et al., 1985; Malatesta et al., 1989).
Comparable evidence in relation to the ambiv-
alent pattern would consist of a demonstration
that the ambivalent individuals show greater
negative reactivity than they actually feel. The
operationalization of "heightening" has not yet
been attempted.
A child with the experiences typical of am-
bivalent infants might develop a representation
of the mother as inconsistently available and of
the self as able to gain care only by sending
exaggerated signals of need. Studies examining
the representations of young children have not
yielded a consistent picture of the ambivalent
group (which may be due in part to the small
number of children typically classified in this
group). One study producing results that can be
interpreted as reflecting a representation of the
mother as relatively unavailable was conducted
by Solomon et al. (1995). In stories of child-
parent reunion, the reunions of ambivalent
6-year-olds were characterized by "delay and
distraction."
The balance between attachment and explo-
ration of ambivalent infants and children is not
fluid: These children emphasize attachment at
the expense of exploration. There is convergent
evidence that these children show exploratory
deficits: restricted exploration of the general
environment (e.g., Cassidy, 1986; Hazen &
Durrett, 1982), less focused attention and less
119
competence during toy play (e.g., Belsky, Gar-
duque, & Hrncir, 1984; Matas, Arend, &
Sroufe, 1978), and greater fear and inhibition
during peer play (e.g., M. F. Erickson, Sroufe,
& Egeland, 1985; see Cassidy & Berlin, 1994,
for a review). According to attachment theory
(Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1988), this
relatively incompetent exploration would result
from turning attention away from the environ-
ment and toward the mother, provoked by un-
certainty about her availability. Although few
studies have directly addressed the issue of in-
fant attention to mother, several have shown
greater attention to characterize ambivalent ba-
bies; no study has revealed discrepant findings
(e.g., Ainsworth, 1992; Dickstein, Thompson,
Estes, Malkin, & Lamb, 1984; see Cassidy &
Berlin, 1994).
In sum, there is converging evidence that
children who have experienced an inconsis-
tently available attachment figure and who thus
may be unsure of access to her if needed attend
to her more, are more clingy, and show less
competent exploration of the environment, toys,
and peers. There is also evidence that some of
the characteristics of ambivalent adults charac-
terize ambivalent infants and children as well.
Ambivalent adults seek emotional closeness but
do not find it satisfying (Hazan & Shaver,
1987); ambivalent infants seek physical close-
ness on reunion with the parent in the strange
situation but do not find it satisfying (i.e., they
show resistance to contact; Ainsworth et al.,
1978). Ambivalent adults describe desires to
merge with a partner (Hazan & Shaver, 1987);
ambivalent children have difficulty with dis-
tress-related boundary maintenance (Kesten-
baum et al., 1989). Ambivalent adults describe
themselves in relationships in ways classified as
"preoccupied" (Feeney & Noller, 1990); infants
are classified as ambivalent in the strange situ-
ation on the basis of their (unsatisfactory) pre-
occupation with their mother (Ainsworth et al.,
1978). Ambivalent adults report greater loneli-
ness than others (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), as do
ambivalent children (Berlin et al., 1995). Am-
bivalent adults are particularly upset by rela-
tionship breakups (loss of an attachment figure;
Feeney & Noller, 1992); ambivalent infants are
particularly upset by laboratory separation from
their mother in the strange situation (Ainsworth
et al., 1978). (Relatedly, 3-year-olds of mothers
 120 CASSIDY
classified as "preoccupied" with the Adult At-
tachment Interview [George, Kaplan, & Main,
1985] have been shown to exhibit greater anx-
iety than other children when their mothers are
preparing to leave the room during a laboratory
procedure [Crowell & Feldman, 1991].)
The Caregiving Behavioral System
Giving care means being available to an adult
romantic partner in times of trouble, that is,
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serving as a haven of safety in times of alarm. It
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means being able to recognize when the person
needs care and doing what it takes to provide it.
Giving care means being loving: being respect-
ful of the truth of another, accepting of a range
of ways of being and feeling. It involves open-
ness, flexibility, and acceptance. Giving care
also involves serving as a secure base from
which the partner can explore: being comfort-
able with and accepting another's natural
wishes for exploration. There is evidence from
several studies that secure adults are more likely
to give sensitive care to their partners than are
insecure adults (Carnelley, Pietromonaco, &
Jaffe, 1996; Collins & Feeney, in press; Fraley
& Shaver, 1998; Rholes, Simpson, & Orina,
1999; Simpson et al., 1992).
How does the ability to give care develop?
Bowlby, focusing on adult caregiving to infants,
described caregiving as developing partly
through the experience of having been cared
for. This idea is widely held. As Fraiberg (1980)
aptly noted, "We do unto others as we were
done to." Similarly, Sroufe and Fleeson (1986)
pointed out that babies learn both sides of im-
portant early dyadic relationships; at the same
time they learn what it is like to be a baby in a
relationship, they observe how it is to be a
caregiver. According to attachment theory,
adults who, as infants, had experiences with a
sensitive, responsive caregiver will give such
care to their own infants. Conversely, adults
who had mostly negative experiences as infants
will be at higher risk for being insensitive to
their own infants, even though the clinical and
empirical literatures are clear that this is not an
inevitable pathway (Pearson, Cohn, Cowan, &
Cowan, 1994; Phelps, Belsky, & Crnic, 1998).
It is reasonable to expect that some of these
predictions about caregiving of children would
also apply to caregiving of romantic partners. In
fact, studies of caregiving in adult romantic
relationships have revealed that the type of care-
giving that secure adults provide to romantic
partners is similar to the caregiving that secure
infants have received. For example, Kunce and
Shaver (1994) found the dimensions of proxim-
ity (vs. distance), sensitivity (vs. insensitivity),
cooperation (vs. control), and compulsive care-
giving to differentiate adult attachment groups.
The most compelling evidence for this claim
that early care received contributes to later care
given would emerge from longitudinal studies
examining individual differences in the caregiv-
ing within romantic relationships of adults
whose infant attachment classifications were
known. There are as yet no prospective longi-
tudinal data, although infants observed in sev-
eral samples are soon reaching the age when
they will become involved in long-term roman-
tic relationships (e.g., studies conducted by
Egeland and Sroufe, Grossmann and Gross-
mann, and Main). Data from these studies will
provide important insights.
There are already a few studies that provide
suggestions that childhood security may be as-
sociated with a later ability to provide care.
First, a series of studies has shown that securely
attached children behave in ways that reflect
skills related to positive caregiving. For in-
stance, Main (1981) observed toddlers playing
in a laboratory when a clown entered and cried
in distress. Toddlers securely attached to their
mother showed more "concerned attentiveness"
to the crying clown than did insecurely attached
children. Other studies have produced evidence
that secure children are more prosocial, less
aggressive, and less hostile (e.g., Lyons-Ruth,
Alpern, & Repacholi, 1993; Renken, Ege-
land, Marvinney, Mangelsdorf, & Sroufe, 1989;
Suess, Grossmann, & Sroufe, 1992; see Belsky
& Cassidy, 1994, and Weinfield, Sroufe, Ege-
land, & Carlson, 1999, for reviews). Still other
data suggest that secure children are more em-
pathic than insecure children (Kestenbaum et
al., 1989). Second, studies of sibling relation-
ships offer insight into attachment security and
caregiving. Tn one study, preschool children se-
curely attached to their mother were more likely
than others to soothe and give care to a toddler
sibling who was distressed during parental sep-
aration (Teti & Abalard, 1989). In a longitudinal
study, 6-year-olds who had been secure infants
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS 121

were less aggressive to siblings than were chil- cesses and behavior contribute to continuity
dren who had been insecure infants (Veiling & across development.
Belsky, 1992). First, representational models are thought to
guide expectations of the availability and prob-
able responsiveness of others. According to
Continuity and Discontinuity: Moving Bowlby, "the kinds of experiences a person
From Childhood Attachment to Adult has, especially during childhood, greatly affect
Romantic Attachment . . . whether he expects later to find a secure
personal base, or not" (1979, p. 104). Expecta-
Attachment theory contains predictions about tions that others will be responsive if ap-
both continuity and discontinuity of individual proached increase the likelihood that an indi-
differences across development. Bowlby (1979) vidual will feel comfortable with closeness and
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was clear about the extent to which he believed with seeking care, both characteristics of secure
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in a model of continuous development: "There adult attachment.

is a strong causal relationship between an indi-
Second, representational models are thought
vidual's experiences with his parents and his
to guide attributions of the behavior of others in
later capacity to make affectional bonds" (p.
ambiguous situations. In close relationships,
135). More specifically, Bowlby predicted that
there are many times when the cause of a neg-
an individual securely attached in childhood
ative situation is unclear. An example is a per-
would be likely to form secure romantic attach-
son left waiting for a partner who never arrives
ments in adulthood. Yet, Bowlby (1973, 1980)
for a date. There are infinite possible attribu-
was also clear that individual adaptation is al-
tions that the waiting person can make (e.g., he
ways a product of developmental history and
got stuck in an elevator; he was delayed in
current circumstances and that change is always
traffic; he forgot the date; he found something
possible. In this section, Tfirstdiscuss continu-
he preferred doing; he wanted to humiliate me),
ity and describe the mechanisms through which
and which of these is chosen is influenced partly
early attachment experiences are thought to
by the person's representational models of what
contribute to later relationships with romantic
others are like. The interpretation selected, in
partners. I then discuss discontinuity and de-
turn, is likely to influence the behavioral re-
scribe factors from both childhood and adult-
sponse and thus the quality of the relationship
hood that may contribute to a lack of predict-
(see Collins, 1996, for evidence of links be-
ability from early attachment to romantic
tween adult attachment style and attributions
attachment (for additional discussion of conti-
within close relationships).
nuity, see Fraley & Shaver, 2000).
Third, representational models are also
thought to guide attention and memory (Main et
Continuity al., 1985), which in turn structure incoming
information and experience so that they match
For Bowlby (1973), the construct of repre- existing models. The nature of the representa-
sentational models provides the foundation for tional models that secure children develop—of
understanding continuity across development. the self as competent in eliciting care from
As noted earlier, Bowlby believed these models responsive others—means that they can regu-
of others, the self, and relationships to be based late attention relatively flexibly across a variety
largely on repeated daily experiences with par- of environmental stimuli (an attachment figure,
ents. According to Bowlby, these experience- toys, or peers) depending on actual, present
based models play central roles in guiding the conditions. Their confidence that help will be
creation and nature of new relationships. This available if needed allows them to turn attention
idea that existing mental structures are used to to exploration in a calm environment and,
create new ones is compatible with Piaget's should danger or threat arise, to turn attention to
(1955) ideas about the child's "construction of the attachment figure.
reality." Bowlby set forth a series of proposi- Insecure attachment, conversely, can be
tions about how the influences of these repre- viewed as selective inattention. The task of
sentational models on cognitive-affective pro- avoidant children is to maintain sufficient prox-
 122 CASSIDY
imity to elicit care if truly needed from an
attachment figure known to reject attachment
behavior (Main, 1981). Avoidant children are
thought to shift attention away from stimuli that
might activate the attachment system, because,
in the past, such activation was met with rejec-
tion (Ainsworth et al., 1978). A history of such
repeated shifts in attention away from attach-
ment-related stimuli might lead an individual to
have difficulty viewing a partner as a secure
attachment figure in adulthood. Such a history
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of attentional shifts might also interfere with the
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caregiving component of a romantic attach-
ment; sensitive attention to the attachment
needs of another may not be possible (e.g.,
awareness of a wish for comfort in another
would necessitate an attentional shift toward
attachment that might awaken the pain of one's
own childhood rejection; e.g., Fraiberg, 1980).
Fraley, Davis, and Shaver (1998) have delin-
eated an elegant model that addresses the pro-
cess through which an avoidant infant might
become an avoidant-dismissing adult. This
model explains continuity in the context of de-
velopmental change. As the authors pointed out,
there is evidence that infant avoidance is a de-
fensive attempt, albeit a partly unsuccessful
one, to prevent activation of the attachment
system. In adults, however, there is evidence
that avoidant-dismissing individuals are more
successful in dampening activation of the at-
tachment system. The authors proposed a devel-
opmental progression wherein relatively unsuc-
cessful attempts in infancy become increasingly
effective. They proposed that through atten-
tional shifts and a variety of cognitive pro-
cesses, avoidant individuals develop neural net-
works that have relatively few synaptic connec-
tions with the attachment system (because of
motivation to keep it, in essence, separate in the
brain). Fraley and Shaver (1997) found empir-
ical support for their proposition: In two exper-
imental procedures, avoidant-dismissing adults
were, in fact, able to use defensive strategies to
successfully disengage certain components of
their attachment system. Kirsh and Cassidy
(1997) reported evidence of ways in which both
attention and memory processes in avoidant
children may foster this developmental path-
way. When shown attachment-related stimuli,
3-year-olds who had been avoidant infants
turned attention away more than other children.
In a memory task in which children were told
stories depicting various maternal responses to a
child's bids for care after a minor injury, these
children did not have the bias for remembering
responsive child-mother interactions common
to other children. In another study, 6-year-olds
who had been avoidant infants were found to
shift attention away from a photograph of them-
selves and their parents (Main et al., 1985).
Insecure-ambivalent children, conversely,
are thought to shift attention toward attachment-
eliciting situations; thus, such children may, for
instance, selectively attend to the frightening
aspects of the environment, interpreting "an en-
vironment known at some level to be quiescent
as threatening" (Main, 1990, p. 61). A history of
shifting attention toward attachment-related
stimuli might lead to far-reaching negative ef-
fects (e.g., leaving the person so focused on
attachment that he or she not only incessantly
demands care but also cannot focus on another
person's needs for care or on other aspects of
the environment that require considerable atten-
tion). Furthermore, this long-practiced tendency
may lead a person to be uncomfortable with the
autonomy (of both the self and the partner)
required for true intimacy (E. Erickson, 1950;
Reiss & Patrick, 1996). It may be that, through
regulation of cognitive and affective processes,
the neural networks that ambivalent individuals
develop are "supersaturated11 with synaptic con-
nections with the attachment system so that a
relatively large array of stimuli may activate
connections with this system.
It is widely held that—within childhood—
another substantial force for continuity is sta-
bility of the environment (e.g., Lamb, 1984).
For instance, the sensitive parent of an infant is
thought to remain the sensitive parent of a tod-
dler, supportive of later developmental chal-
lenges. If the environment changes whereby a
previously sensitive caregiver becomes less
sensitive, then attachment quality is expected to
change, and in fact there is evidence that this is
the case (M. F. Erickson et al., 1985; Vaughn,
Egeland, Waters, & Sroufe, 1979). Just as sta-
bility of the environment is thought to contrib-
ute to stability of attachment within childhood,
so might stability of the environment contribute
to stability of attachment from childhood to
adulthood. Although children do not select their
parents, by adulthood, individuals are very
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS 123

much active contributors to creating their own
attachment environments (i.e., to selecting their
own romantic partner), and these selections may
contribute to the stability of the environment.
The following are important questions that need
further exploration: To what extent do early
attachments to parents influence selection of
partners? and To what extent do early attach-
ments to parents influence the quality of rela-
tionships with those partners? Insight into these
questions emerged from a study conducted by
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Figure 1 presents a summary model of some
of the processes involved in continuity from
childhood to adulthood attachments. Represen-
tational models, based on experiences with
childhood attachment figures (Path a), guide
cognitive-affective processes (attention, mem-
ory, expectations, and attributions; Path b),
which in turn guide behavior (Path c). Behavior
is thought to guide treatment received from
others (Path d). This treatment, in turn, contrib-
utes to representational models (Path e), usually

Collins and Read (1990, Study 3). Adults' de- in a reinforcing way. This model is useful for
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scriptions of their childhood relationship with
opposite-sex (but not same-sex) parent were
related to the way their partner described him-
self or herself in attachment-related terms.
Women who described their fathers as having
been warm and responsive were more likely to
be dating men who felt they could depend on
others and (marginally) men who felt comfort-
able getting close. Men who described their
mother as cold or inconsistent were more likely
to be dating women who described themselves
as anxious about being abandoned.
understanding how the behavioral responses to
many typically occurring relationship situations
are likely to be (more or less) influenced by
attachment-related representations, based in
part on childhood experiences.
For example, an individual's experiences of a
sensitively responsive mother will contribute to
the formation of a representation of her as sen-
sitively responsive and, through a process of
generalization, to such a representation of oth-
ers more broadly (Path a). Having such a rep-
resentation within an adult romantic relation-

Cognitive/affective processes
(attention, memory, expectations, attributions)

Experiences ^.Representational Models Behavior Towards Others

Treatments
Received From
Others
Figure 1. Processes involved in continuity from childhood to adulthood attachments.
 124 CASSIDY
ship means that an individual is likely to have
positive expectations of receiving care (Path b),
and these expectations guide behavior (Path c;
e.g., comfortable seeking of care when needed;
Fraley & Shaver, 1998); behavior contributes to
treatment received from the partner (Path d;
e.g., the partner's providing comfort; Kobak &
Hazan, 1991); and treatment received contrib-
utes to the representational model (Path e; e.g.,
validation of the existing representational
model: "My partner provides care when I need
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it"). Similarly, during a negative ambiguous
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situation (e.g., the partner failed to do some-
thing she or he promised), models of a secure
individual might contribute to an attribution that
would lead to positive rather than destructive
behavior; this positive behavior would contrib-
ute to being well treated by the partner and
confirmation of the positive representational
model. In a conflict situation, the representa-
tions of a secure individual might mean that he
or she views the conflict within a context of a
committed relationship wherein the partner is
loving and the self is lovable; this view may
influence behavioT within the conflict, and there
is evidence that secure individuals feel better
after a laboratory conflict task than do insecure
individuals (Simpson et al., 1996).
Discontinuity
In this section, I examine factors related to
discontinuity between early attachment experi-
ences and later adult romantic relationships.
The theoretical and clinical empirical literatures
concur that children with insecure attachment
histories and even with histories of abuse can
have successful adult romantic attachment rela-
tionships. In fact, because of the large number
of possible influences on adult romantic devel-
opment and the complexities of personality de-
velopment, one would expect only modest as-
sociations between early and later attachments
in any case. I examine two sets of factors that
could account for discontinuity between early
attachment and adult romantic attachment:
(a) factors in childhood and (b) factors in
adulthood.
Childhood. What sorts of childhood factors
could account for discontinuity between child
attachment to mother and adult romantic attach-
ment? To begin with, of course, the mother is
not the child's only attachment figure. During
the 1st year, most children become attached to
one or a few additional people (typically the
father or a familiar caregiver; Goosen & van
Uzendoorn, 1990), and these attachments will
be influential. Are these additional attachments
as influential as the attachment to the mother?
Do different attachments influence the child in
different ways? What happens when one attach-
ment figure suggests that the child is lovable
and valuable and another suggests that the child
is of little value? Do these conflicted views
become integrated into one representational
model of the self and others? Tf so, through what
process, and when does this occur? Can secure
attachment to one parent serve as a buffer in
light of an insecure attachment to the other
parent? Are cross-sex relationships (i.e, father-
daughter and mother-son) particularly impor-
tant for influencing (heterosexual) romantic
relationships?
Moreover, it is important to remember that
the attachment component of the parent-child
relationship is not the only component of that
relationship likely to influence children's ro-
mantic relationships. The connection between
attachment and nonattachment components of
child-parent relationships is important to con-
sider. The attachment component of the rela-
tionship deals specifically with the parent's
serving as a secure base for the child. But par-
ents are not only attachment figures for their
children. They are also playmates, teachers, dis-
ciplinarians, and care providers, and they influ-
ence their children in these roles. A parent's
ability in one of these roles is at least somewhat
independent of his or her abilities in the other
roles. What are the implications of these differ-
ent types of parenting? Which of these compo-
nents of parenting would have greater influence
on children's later relationships? In sum, we
need to learn more about how much the child's
attachment-related experiences, as compared
with the child's other experiences with the par-
ent, influence romantic relationships.
Relationships with other family members
also may be important. In some families, a
grandparent or an aunt may serve as the child's
principal attachment figure. Or the child may
have important nonattachment relationships
with other relatives within which the child
learns skills relevant to romantic relationships.
 SPECIAL ISSUE: ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENTS
Relationships with siblings may be particularly
important because, like romantic relationships,
sibling relationships are more egalitarian in
structure than are child-parent relationships
(Dunn, 1985). Observation of the parents' mar-
riage is also likely to be important. This is
typically the first romantic relationship the child
experiences. Just as children learn what it
means to be a parent by participating in the
child-parent relationship (Sroufe & Fleeson,
1986), it is likely that they also learn, in part,
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
what it means to be a romantic partner by
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
closely observing the parents' marriage. This is
a case in which components of parental behav-
ior unrelated to the child directly influence the
child's later relationships; in other words, the
child's observation of an attachment relation-
ship of which he or she is not a member may
influence his or her own later attachment
relationships.
Children's wider social network of relation-
ships outside the family is also likely to influ-
ence their representational models. Experiences
with peers are likely to be particularly important
because, along with sibling relationships, these
are the first (relatively) egalitarian relationships
(as opposed to the more hierarchical parent-
child relationship), and children learn much
about compromise, negotiation, cooperation,
victory, and defeat from a different perspective
(Collins & Sroufe, 1999; Furman, 1998). It will
be interesting to explore whether and how chil-
dren's nonattachment relationships influence
their later attachment relationships.
Adulthood. In the remainder of this article,
I address one set of factors contributing to dis-
continuity: experiences in adulthood that mod-
ify representational models of the self and oth-
ers. When models developed within early at-
tachment relationships change, it may be that
current rather than earlier models are more in-
fluential on behavior in new relationships. Fur-
thermore, change can occur not only between
childhood and adulthood but within adulthood
as well (see Davila, Burge, & Hammen, 1997,
and Hazan & Hutt, 1993). A number of factors
in adulthood can contribute to change in these
models.
Experiences of being in new relationships, of
forming new attachments, can bring about
changes in working models of the self and oth-
ers. For instance, experiences with both current
125
and former romantic partners may contribute to
representations of attachment figures and may,
in fact, override the influence of representations
generalized from representations of the parent.
Thus, if a partner truly has hostile intent, if a
partner truly is likely to be hurtful or likely to
abandon the relationship, even an individual
who had been securely attached is likely to
develop negative representations (see Figure 1,
Path e) that will influence both the current and
subsequent romantic relationships. It may also
be that insecure individuals with negative rep-
resentations develop more positive representa-
tions if they are well treated by a partner. For
instance, a person may have negative working
models based on negative childhood experi-
ences and may become involved in a relation-
ship with a person who is loving and responsive
(rather than, for example, controlling and reject-
ing, as the mother had been), and these experi-
ences may change the working model of others
and of the self. This scenario seems less likely,
however, given that individuals with negative
representations may behave in ways that reduce
the likelihood that they will become well
treated. The therapeutic relationship may also
bring about changes in working models, in part,
according to Bowlby (1988), because the ther-
apist serves as a new attachment figure who
directly and indirectly helps the individual re-
work old, problematic models.
Given how greatly working models of the self
can influence the quality of an adult romantic
relationship ("I am lovable" or "I am competent
in eliciting care from others" vs. "I am unlov-
able" or "People will leave me"), any change to
working models of the self may contribute to
change in the nature of the romantic attachment
relationships in which a person engages. Not
only can new relationships change working
models of the self, but situations and events
outside of relationships can contribute to
change as well. A person's newly discovered
talents and successes, for instance, may contrib-
ute to a representation of the self that enhances
adult attachments. An aspect of the working
model of the self that is particularly likely to
influence romantic attachment, and is likely to
emerge largely after childhood, is the view of
one's desirability as a romantic partner ("I am
attractive to potential romantic partners" or "I
can be a good romantic partner"). Emergence of
 126 CASSIDY
this model may relate to many factors, including
experiences of being pursued as a romantic part-
ner, experiences within a relationship, and self-
perceptions of personal attributes (physical
attractiveness, power, money, and emotional
health).
A set of findings within the research literature
based on the Adult Attachment Interview
(George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) is relevant
here. There are some individuals whose "cur-
rent state of mind with respect to attachment" is
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
classified as secure, yet whose childhood expe-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
riences are considered by interview coders to
have been largely negative. These individuals
are able to provide their children with a secure
base, and their children are securely attached to
them (Pearson et al., 1994; Phelps et al., 1998).
(This is not true for individuals with negative
childhood experiences whose current state of
mind with respect to attachment is classified as
insecure.) Thus, there are cases in which the
commonly found connection between a parent's
negative childhood experiences and his or her
child's insecure attachment does not hold. It is
interesting to speculate whether a secure "cur-
rent state of mind" would also help alter a
connection between insecure childhood attach-
ment and insecure adult romantic attachment.
As Berlin and Cassidy (1999) discussed, there is
much to be learned from examining ways in
which relations among relationships can be
changed.
Summary
The nature of the interplay of factors contrib-
uting to continuity and those contributing to
discontinuity is inherently complex. In this sec-
tion, I have described ways in which adult ro-
mantic attachments may be related to both pre-
vious experiences and current circumstances,
treating these two sets of factors as independent
when, in fact, they are not. As Sroufe and his
colleagues (Sroufe, Egeland, & Kreutzer, 1990)
have pointed out, "While in a researcher's mind,
past experience and current environment may
be independent sources of variance, whose rel-
ative power may be assessed in a linear analy-
sis, in reality children play a large role in cre-
ating their own environments, in accord with
past experiences" (p. 1370). There is evidence
of the extensive ways in which individuals,
starting at birth (e.g., Bell & Harper, 1977;
Swann, Stein-Seroussi, & Giesler, 1992), con-
tribute to creating their own environments; spe-
cifically, there is evidence that individuals' ear-
lier attachment history influences the sort of
treatment they elicit from others (Elicker, En-
glund, & Sroufe, 1992; Sroufe & Fleeson,
1986). Within a romantic relationship, an indi-
vidual may be influenced by early attachment to
behave in ways that elicit, for instance, rejection
or withdrawal from the current partner. The
attachment environment within which the indi-
vidual then finds herself or himself is a product
not only of the current treatment she or he
receives but also of early experiences that con-
tribute to eliciting that treatment. Further adding
to the complexity of understanding continuity
and discontinuity is the likelihood that factors
contributing to each are likely to be different for
different people. That is, some people are more
likely to be continually influenced by early ex-
periences, and some are more likely to be open
to change. These variations contribute to the
rich diversity of developmental trajectories.
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